Written by Trefis Staff
Below is a summary of the activity at Trefis during the past week that Trefis thought Econintersect readers would find interesting.
Trefis is a financial community structured around trends, forecasts and insights related to some of the most popular stocks in the US. It provides the unique feature of allowing the user to model future valuation based upon projected changes in components of each business. It also provides communication capabilities among members, including consensus of member analysis compared to Trefis staff analysis and blogging opportunities for members.
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Some of the 101 top stories this week include:
- Multiple stories on Google, Facebook and AT&T;
- Two stories about Tesla;
- Three stories about Alcoa;
- Several stories in the Energy segment about natural gas; and
- Eight stories about the rebound in bank stocks and earnings news.
See all 101 investment stories of the week below.
Tech, Media, Telecom
Yahoo Earnings Preview: Turning Around A Ship Takes Time on April 14th Last year was a tough year for Yahoo (NASDAQ:YHOO) as its gross revenues declined over 20% and the company’s top management…
Intel Earnings Preview: What We Are Watching on April 13th Intel (NASDAQ:INTC), which competes with AMD (NYSE:AMD) in the PC microprocessor business, is set to announce its Q1 2012 results…
Weekly Tech Summary: Microsoft & Amazon on April 13th This week was quite eventful for the tech sector, with a lot of significant developments related to major companies like Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) …
Weekly Internet Update: Google & Facebook on April 13th This week, we saw some significant developments related to Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) and Facebook, which could impact their value in the coming years…
Google’s Founders Float New Stock Structure Plan To Split Stock While Retaining Control on April 13th While Google ‘s (NASDAQ:GOOG) Q1 2012 earnings were mostly a happy affair with strong revenue and profit growth, the main highlight…
Weekly Telecom Notes: AT&T, Verizon and Sprint on April 13th The past week saw quite a few developments on most carrier fronts in the telecom sector. AT&T (NYSE:T) announced that …
Google’s Q1 Earnings Impress; Future Hinges on Mobile and Social Efforts on April 13th Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) reported its earnings for Q1 2012 on April 12, with gross revenue of $10.65 billion, up 24% year-on-year. It …
Adobe Announces Buy Back, Sharpens Focus on a SaaS Model on April 13th Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program up to $2 billion in common stock which will…
Amazon Takes on Google and Microsoft with CloudSearch on April 13th Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) has unveiled the latest product from its cloud factory – Amazon CloudSearch. It is a new web service which …
YouTube Adds Additional Monetization Options for Live Streaming Publishers on April 13th Last year Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) rolled out YouTube Live, a service which allows users to share live streaming videos with their audience. This…
AT&T’s Experience Shows The Stickiness Of iPhone Users on April 12th This time a year ago, AT&T (NYSE:T) had just lost its iPhone exclusivity to Verizon (NYSE:VZ) and investors …
Yelp Upgrades Search With New Filters Though Stock Still Wildly Expensive on April 12th Yelp (NYSE:YELP) is one of the largest online business search, review and recommendation services, which enables consumers to access ratings and read…
Survey On Video Delivery Highlights The Role Of Personalization And Engagement on April 12th A recent survey commissioned by Time Warner (NYSE:TWX) and conducted by Innerscope Research suggests that the new age video viewers are flipping through…
LinkedIn Rolls Out New Tools to Boost Ads & Marketing Revenue on April 12th LinkedIn (NASDAQ:LNKD) has rolled out two new tools – Targeted Updates and Follower Statistics – both of which are aimed to…
AT&T Ditches Majority Stake in Yellow Pages In A Desperate Move on April 12th AT&T (NYSE:T) announced Monday a majority stake sale of its advertising and publishing division to private equity firm, Cerberus Capital …
Time Warner Cable’s Android App Will Help Streaming Efforts on April 12th Time Warner Cable (NYSE:TWC) has announced that it will introduce its live TV streaming app in a few weeks for Google’s…
Verizon Introduces Smartphone Upgrade Fee; Looking For iPhone Subsidy Relief on April 12th Verizon (NYSE:VZ) has finally given in. After rival AT&T (NYSE:T) hiked its activation fee on phone upgrades from …
Google+ Hits 170 Million Users With Fresher Design, New Features on April 12th Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) has refreshed the design of Google+, its social networking service which competes with the likes of Facebook, Myspace, Twitter…
Nokia Scrambles To Fix Lumia Data Bug With Company’s Turnaround At Stake on April 12th Barely have the wraps been taken off the new Lumia 900 before a glitch has surfaced with the phone that is causing a loss of…
Sina May Generate Additional Revenue by Selling Social Data Streams on April 12th Sina (NASDAQ:SINA) announced its intentions to focus on accelerating its monetization efforts in 2012 in a bid to generate revenue from its popular…
How Instagram’s Acquisition Will Help Apple Sell More iPhones on April 11th The recent acquisition of mobile app maker Instagram by Facebook for a billion dollars is the hottest news this week with investors eager to know…
Comcast, Time Warner Cable Rely On Broadband Business As TV Programming Costs Soar on April 11th The U.S. pay-TV industry is saturated given that pay-TV penetration has reached extremely high levels. The housing growth has slumped in recent years as…
Sprint Promotes LTE Phone, Unlimited Data Plan Despite Lacking 4G Service on April 11th With Verizon (NYSE:VZ) and AT&T (NYSE:T) aggressively promoting their LTE plans, Sprint (NYSE:S) is fighting for …
Activision Blizzard $20 Fair Value: New Games, Industry Trends Support Growth on April 11th Video gaming giant Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ:ATVI) has finished a record year, posting the highest revenues and profits in its history for a …
Facebook’s Latest Acquisition Makes Sense Despite The Sticker Shock on April 11th Facebook recently acquired a very popular mobile photo sharing service, Instagram, for more than $1 billion, in order to bolster its position in …
Yahoo Restructures To Focus On Online Media, Social And E-Commerce on April 11th Yahoo ‘s (NASDAQ:YHOO) CEO has outlined some major details about Yahoo’s restructuring plans following major layoffs last week, which…
Constant Contact Adds Social Gamification Features to Improve Email Marketing on April 11th Constant Contact (NASDAQ:CTCT) announced the integration of social gamification features into its email marketing offering through a partnership with Fanplayr, which specializes …
Gartner Estimates For iPad Sales Raises Outlook For Apple on April 11th It seems that Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) is not ready to relinquish its dominance in the tablet market anytime in the next 4-5 years…
SAP Expands Mobile Enterprise Foothold By Acquiring Syclo on April 11th SAP (NYSE:SAP) has announced its plan to acquire Syclo, a SAP partner and a leading provider of enterprise mobile applications and technologies,…
Verisign Launches Domain Hashlink To Drive Domain Registrations on April 11th Verisign (NASDAQ:VRSN) has launched a new feature called Domain Hashlink, which enables domain name owners to create small, easy-to-remember URLs to improve…
Google and Microsoft Chip Away At Apple’s Dominance in Tablets on April 11th Gartner has just launched updated forecasts for the global tablet market. It predicts that Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) will lose much of its market …
Apple Faces U.S. Suit Over E-Book Price Fixing Allegations on April 11th Apple, Macmillan and Penguin could be sued by the U.S. Department of Justice for allegedly colluding to keep the prices of ebooks high after…
Lexmark Looks At Managed Printing Services To Counter Falling Margins on April 11th Lexmark International (NYSE:LXK) won a five-year, $50 million contract from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to provide Managed Printing …
Hewlett-Packard Heads To $39 With Converged Cloud For Big Businesses on April 11th Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:HPQ) has announced an initiative called the HP Converged Cloud, which has been set up to take advantage of large corporations …
Nvidia Is Worth $21 And Here’s One Way To Look At It on April 10th Our price estimate for Nvidia stands at $21.26 implies a premium of about 40% to the current market price. In the past, we wrote…
Why Investor Concerns on the Googlorola Deal Falling Apart Are Premature on April 10th After trending higher for most of February as regulatory bodies in Europe and the U.S. signed off on its acquisition by Google (NASDAQ:GOOG…
Big Blue Sambas To $220 With New Brazilian Partner EBX on April 10th IBM (NYSE: IBM) has agreed to buy a 20% stake in SIX Automação, a subsidiary of Brazilian conglomerate EBX that provides technology services…
Microsoft’s Patent Grab Defends Technology Moat And Licensing Revenues on April 10th AOL (NYSE:AOL) resorted to sale of a major portion of its patent portfolio to assuage shareholders and raise some cash by running a…
Pandora’s Growth Marches On At Slower Pace, Stock Worth $10 on April 10th Pandora Media (NYSE:P) recently released its business metrics for the month of March 2012. It appears that although the company is still …
AMD Will Gain From Higher Penetration Of Discrete GPUs In Notebooks on April 10th While AMD (NYSE:AMD) lives in the shadow of Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) in the PC microprocessor market, it competes neck-to-neck with Nvidia …
Not Wild About Comcast’s Wet ‘n Wild Theme Park Business on April 10th Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) holds a controlling stake in NBCUniversal, which also runs theme parks apart from its cable networks and broadcasting businesses, but…
AOL Sells Off 800 Patents to Microsoft for $1 Billion; Stock Jumps 40% on April 10th AOL (NYSE:AOL) sold off more than 800 patents to Microsoft in a deal worth more than $1.05 billion.Following the deal, AOL will …
Facebook Snaps Up Instagram To Secure Online Pics Leadership on April 10th Facebook has acquired Instagram, an extremely popular mobile photo sharing platform for $1 billion in cash and equity. Instagram was a 15 month old…
HP Builds Private Cloud For The U.S. Army on April 9th Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:HPQ) was recently awarded a partial contract by the U.S. Department of Defense to build a private cloud network. HP will…
Google Earnings Preview: Ads, Mobile & Social in Focus on April 9th Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) is the global leader in online search and advertising space where it competes with the likes of Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT)…
Sirius XM And SoundExchange Square Off In The Battle Over Royalty Rates on April 9th Sirius XM (NASDAQ:SIRI), which has significantly expanded by utilizing automotive channel and partnering with car makers such as Ford (NYSE:F) …
News Corp Readies To Challenge ESPN’s Sports Empire on April 9th News Corp (NASDAQ:NWS) is looking to build a sports network that could rival Disney’s (NYSE:DIS) ESPN. News Corp …
Pandora’s Growth Highly Dependent On Defending Mobile Growth on April 9th Pandora (NYSE:P) is the leader in Internet radio in the U.S. and stands out with its ability to offer unique and personalized …
Dell Acquires Make Technologies, Lays Emphasis On Service on April 9th Dell (NASDAQ:DELL) has acquired Make Technologies, its third acquisition last week alone. Make Technologies is a software modernization company which competes in…
Consumer
Gaming Sector: Video Game Sales Decline 26% in March, PS Vita Fails To Impress Gamers on April 13th Video games sales continue to tread the negative trend in 2012, with retail video gaming software sales declining by 26% in March 2012 compared …
Dunkin’ Updates: Experiments With Menu As Baskin-Robbins Intl. Expansion Continues on April 13th Dunkin’ Donuts, which is owned by Dunkin’ Brands (NASDAQ:DNKN), is among one of the many restaurant chains that are…
New Rivals Challenge Zipcar’s Monopoly In Washington D.C. on April 13th A month after Hertz On Demand came to Washington, D.C., a market currently dominated by Zipcar (NYSE:ZIP), automotive maker Daimler launched…
Tesla’s Small Conveniences And Government Incentives Pay Big Dividends In Norway on April 13th Tesla Motors (TSLA:NASDAQ) is starting to develop a good following in Norway due to the small benefits which are being offered to electric…
Green Car Diaries Part 1: Toyota’s Hybrids In The Driver’s Seat on April 13th Green cars are the next big thing for major automobile companies. With oil prices shooting higher and concerns of exorbitant gas prices at the …
Spring 2012: The Season Of Recalls For Auto Giants on April 13th A number of big automotive companies have announced that they will be recalling select cars in April after discovering minor faults. Although recalls are …
Ford’s China Growth Hits Speed Bumps on April 12th Ford (NYSE:F) has been trying hard to catch up with rival General Motors ‘ (NYSE:GM) sales in China, which …
Rite Aid Earnings Preview: Better Quarter But Stock Isn’t Cheap on April 11th Rite Aid (NYSE:RAD), the third largest drug retailer in the U.S., is due to announce its fourth quarter results on April …
Tesla Dips After Abu Dhabi Sale, Stock Worth $38 On Electric Vehicles Demand on April 11th Tesla Motors (TSLA:NASDAQ) lost one Abu Dhabi investor as the Abu Dhabi National Energy Co. sold its 7% stake in the company …
Zipcar & Ford Expand Successful University Program To Canada on April 11th After teaming up with Ford to popularize its University Program across the U.S. colleges last August, Zipcar (NYSE:ZIP) is now collaborating with…
Dr Pepper Snapple New Coverage: $39.50 Trefis Price Estimate on April 10th Dr Pepper Snapple Group (NYSE:DPS) is the third largest beverage company in the U.S. with an additional presence in Canada, Mexico and…
Kraft Bets That Trident Can Chew Up Rivals On Gum Market Growth on April 10th Kraft Foods (NYSE:KFT) is no leaving stone unturned before it readies to spin-off as it continues to focus heavily on non-core divisions, …
Coca-Cola Pours Into Brazil And China, Pushes PepsiCo Aside In The U.S. on April 10th Coca-Cola Co . (NYSE:KO) continues to place big bets on emerging markets as it announced plans to invest heavily in China and Brazil…
Lowe’s Makeover Attempts Could Drive Results This Year But Priced In on April 10th Eager to expand in Canada, Lowe’s (NYSE:LOW) expressed an interest in acquisitions, which brought its Canadian rival Rona into the…
Honda Gains Ground In The Indian Two-Wheeler Market on April 9th Global automobile manufacturer Honda (NYSE:HMC) has for the first time in its history in India since it separated from its JV with Hero…
What PepsiCo Is Doing To Address Flagging Soft Drink Sales on April 9th Earlier this year, PepsiCo (NYSE:PEP) announced its plan to spend an additional $500-600 million on marketing and advertising its products in …
Home Depot Leans On ‘Spring Black Friday’ Deals During Busiest Season on April 9th Home Depot (NYSE:HD) has jumped in early with its annual Spring Black Friday deals late last month, in a rush to beat …
Unilever Update: U.K Trade Unions Submit To New Pension Scheme on April 9th Unilever (NYSE:UL) can finally move ahead with its new pension scheme after the U.K. trade unions finally submitted to the company’…
Zipcar Raises Prices in D.C. Despite Increasing Competition on April 9th Zipcar (NYSE:ZIP) has raised its prices in Washington D.C., one of its biggest markets. The car sharing company has hiked its …
After Avon Rejects Coty’s Bid, Newly Appointed McCoy Will Boost Confidence on April 9th Direct-selling beauty products company Avon Products (NYSE:AVP) recently rejected an unsolicited $10 billion takeover bid from fragrance maker Coty, a company less …
Rite Aid Posts Solid March Sales on April 9th Rite Aid (NYSE:RAD) recently announced its March sales with its same store sales continuing to climb. The drug retailer has come a …
Walgreen’s March Sales Decline Without Express, Concerns Rise Over Medco Contracts on April 9th Walgreen ‘s (NYSE:WAG) same store sales dipped by 6.8% last month mainly owing to its split with pharmacy benefits manager Express …
Energy
U.S. Companies Eye LNG Export Market As Prices Slide on April 13th The U.S. government may soon decide on the request from Cheniere Energy (NYSE:LNG) to build an LNG export terminal that allows the …
Kinder Morgan Benefits Regardless Of Volatile Oil And Gas Prices on April 12th Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMP) is a unique company that is benefiting from higher oil prices while also maintaining healthy natural gas margins despite a…
China’s Unconventional Gas Options To Compete With Australian LNG Supply on April 12th China has aggressive plans to increase the role of natural gas in meeting its burgeoning energy needs. Estimates suggest that the country may as …
$2 Natural Gas Could Hit Halliburton’s Exploration Business on April 12th Natural gas prices in the U.S. slipped below $2 /MBtu this week, hitting their lowest levels in a decade. Analysts predict that the…
Schlumberger Completes Wilson International Deal; Reduces Footprint in Distribution on April 11th Oilfield services player Schlumberger (NYSE:SLB) announced that it had finalized a deal to sell its distributions business under Wilson International Inc. National …
Duke’s Renewable Energy Push: A Big Bet On Future Demand on April 11th Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) cis one of the most well-diversified companies in power generation. The company’s strategic focus has focused on the …
Chevron’s Interim Q1 Report Shows Higher Profit On Oil Prices; Refining Margins Improve on April 11th Oil major Chevron (NYSE:CVX) came out with its interim results for Q1 2012, reporting that its profits for the period would be …
LDK May Reduce Workforce As Industry Conditions Deteriorate on April 11th Chinese solar equipment manufacturer LDK Solar (NYSE:LDK) may be considering reducing its workforce, according to some reports. With solar panel prices continuing…
Transocean Could Reach $58 On Renewed Demand In The Gulf Of Mexico on April 10th Over the past couple of years, Transocean (NYSE:RIG) has been focusing on the deepwater and ultra-deepwater segments of offshore drilling in order …
ConocoPhillips Worth $80: Downstream Spinoff Will Focus On Chemicals, Transport on April 10th Oil major ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) will spin off its refining, transport and chemicals business into a separate entity on May 1st. The newly…
Halliburton Worth $46 Despite Natural Gas Glut on April 10th The natural gas glut in the U.S. could send prices down further as excess production overwhelms the country’s underground storage capacity. According…
Federal Funds Start Flowing In For First Solar’s Antelope Project on April 9th Funds from the Department of Energy (DoE) for First Solar ‘s 230 Megawatt Antelope project have started to flow in, easing concerns…
Conoco May Sell Idled Mid-Sized Refinery To Delta Airlines on April 9th ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) is reported to be in talks with Delta Airlines to sell its mid-sized Trainer refinery in Pennsylvania for an estimated $100…
Financial Services
RBS Investing Banking Head Brings More Unwanted Attention To Executive Compensation on April 13th John Hourican, who heads the investment banking division at The Royal Bank of Scotland (NYSE:RBS), recently sold a major slug of his…
Goldman Q1 Earnings Preview: Trading Should Lift Results, Investment Banking A Question on April 13th Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) will announce its performance numbers for the first quarter of 2012 next Tuesday. And this time around, we expect…
Banks Line Up Bids For Maiden Lane III on April 13th No matter what experts and investors believe about the future of the real-estate market as a whole, one thing is crystal clear – …
JPMorgan & Wells Fargo’s Earnings Confirm The Banking Recovery Is On Track on April 13th Both JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM) and Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) showed some reversal of fortunes with better-than-expected earnings for the first quarter of…
Financials Weekly Notes: U.S. Bancorp & Deutsche Bank on April 13th In a week marked by considerable volatility in the stock market, bank shares continued the fall they began late last week on Monday and …
U.S. Bancorp Expands Wholesale Business; Stops Student Loans on April 13th U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) has recently been fine-tuning its business model to ensure a profitable run in the times to come. Notably, …
Citigroup Q1 Preview: Looking For Good News Post-Stress Test Let Down on April 11th Citigroup (NYSE:C) is expected to release its first quarter earnings next Monday, and the global banking group could use some good news …
Bank Stocks Bounce Back After Spain, Macro Pressure on April 11th Bank stocks have bounced back on Wednesday after Alcoa (NYSE:AA) – the first company to report earnings – came out with an…
Wells Fargo Q1 Earnings Preview: What We’re Watching on April 10th Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) seems to have some good news to share this quarter in order to justify its decision to move up its…
JPMorgan Q1 Earnings Preview [4/13]: What We’re Watching on April 9th JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM) will kick-start the earnings season for the banks as it prepares to detail its performance for the first quarter of…
Basic Materials
DuPont Opens Ballistic Facility In India; Bets On Growth In U.S. Food Industry on April 13th DuPont (NYSE:DD) continues to bet on emerging markets as it has opened its world-class ballistic facility in India. In March, the company…
Alcoa: $12 Price Estimate After Earnings Surprise on April 12th Alcoa (NYSE:AA) brought some much-needed good news to the market when it reported a surprise profit in the first quarter as productivity improved…
Alcoa Cutting Alumina Capacity Due To Falling Prices on April 11th Aluminum producer Alcoa (NYSE:AA) has announced that it plans to curtail its alumina refining capacity, an expected move following a slump in …
Alcoa Q1 Earnings Tuesday: Loss Likely, Long-Term Fundamentals Strong on April 9th Alcoa (NYSE:AA) will kickoff this quarter’s earnings season when it announces its Q1 results after the market closes on Tuesday. …
Health Care
Johnson & Johnson Q1 Earnings Preview: What We’re Watching on April 13th Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) will announce its earnings for Q1 2012 on April 17. Over the past few years, JNJ has…
JNJ Updates: Quill Technology IPR Acquisition & Doxil Shortage on April 10th Ethicon, a segment of the diagnostics division of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ), recently decided to purchase certain Quill intellectual property from…
Industrials & Transportation
Corning Acquires A Majority Stake In Becton Dickinson’s Lab Unit on April 12th Corning (NYSE:GLW) recently announced its plans to purchase Becton, Dickinson & Co’s Discovery Labware unit for $730 million. This…