finally, it looks to move....heavy block volume yesterday with no price movement suggests to me that a stock swap occurred, with the long-term seller at 5 being cleared out. Keep an eye on it now with earnings coming 1/31 eTRU
....finding those companies that will succeed in 2001 amidst all of the market trends is no easy task.
.... But I like the market and what investing has to offer in the long-term, so I decided to save my fingers and stay focused on the task at hand.
...........Finding a few "winners" for 2001.
One company that I have followed for some time (thankfully making a little $ along the way) is eTRU....I've posted recently that I like them, but I figured it was time to make a rudimentary presentation about them.
enterTrust Technologies is Digital Rights Management software company -
entertrust.com
...awareness of the "importance" of rights protections....big business wants to remain big business....and with the proliferation of digital devices coming (as in this article link provided by someone here at HOME)
ce.org
rights management will play a large part in the viability and profitability of portable devices.
For a good understanding of dRM, I found a company that provides a diversity of services in this arena -
reciprocal.com
It would be worthwhile/educational to read through many of their links....that way, I don't waste anyone's time by trying to regurgitate information better explained elsewhere. Also, it would be worthwhile to read through Microsoft's offerings for more DRM info:
microsoft.com
Microsoft also provides DRM software, in the form of its Windows Media Rights Manager....and one thought I've had is that Microsoft can bundle its software into other packages and essentially give it away for free....Netscape knows something about this <g>....but Microsoft obviously didn't fare well politically for this method, so it would seem that InterTrust may survive this tactic.
However, I don't know enough to say which product is "better." So, it would seem right to look at the alliances and partnerships being made. Here is a list of eTRU's in the portable player arena:
biz.yahoo.com
Also, here is their PR with Adobe:
biz.yahoo.com
So you have the likes of Compaq, Adobe, BMG....one thing I haven't answered yet is how MSFT and ITRU can both have relationships in the portable player arena with the same companies (compaq IPAQ 01/04/01 release as an example):
microsoft.com
webnoize.com
Unless the software is able to integrate, or at least share space, or did Compaq switch to eTRU, or....
The difficulty, as usual, is finding the revenue streams....the Napster issues are still not fully resolved.
But, IMO the music rights issues are just the tip of the DRM iceburg....
eTRU has relationships with AOL (and eventually TWX) and Blockbuster, Philips, etc. for video, publishing:
intertrust.com
as well as further DRM video through its acquisition of Passedge from INTC:
biz.yahoo.com
ITRU is developing DRM solutions for the healthcare industry as well:
biz.yahoo.com
The list of relationships seems endless, however reveneue speaks volumes these days....I'm researching those avenues, but I believe the potential is there.
And that is the key - potential. For a stock at these levels, I'll take the risk....
There are many more things to be said about ITRU, but presentations have never been my strong suit.
Disclaimer: I have a good sized position established the first week of January '01 when eTRU was in the 3's....this was at the time that the MIT professor on CNBC-zure presented DRM as a cutting-edge technology (but I promise I didn't use his testimony as impetus to begin an investment).
As always, do your own DD.
sorryi me public coping text such stockjunkie,me
Digital Hollywood Index takes the stage
By Michael Sisk
Redherring.com, November 02, 2000
To many it seems an urgent question: will the triumvirate of Napster, MP3.com (Nasdaq: MPPP), and Gnutella bring the entertainment goliaths to their knees? Our response: Please.
The Internet rewards imagination, yes, but it's not a fantasy world. (At least not anymore.) Time Warner (NYSE: TWX), Sony (NYSE: SNE), and Disney (NYSE: DIS) are going to be just fine. Why? Because people love entertainment, they love new and creative forms of it, and the behemoths have more money to throw at that wall than anyone else.
That's not to say some innovative technology players won't push the envelope in ways impossible for these larger companies, bedeviling them along the way and rewarding diligent technology investors. No indeed, that's what's going to keep things interesting -- and that's why Red Herring is launching an index called Digital Hollywood.
THE ENVELOPE PLEASE
The index is made up of 25 companies, from the iconic Disney to the fresh-faced Wink Communications (Nasdaq: WINK), that the assembled editorial brain trust considers the most relevant players in the digital revolution that's washing over and soon will engulf all forms of entertainment. Why bother with such an index? Because you could convincingly argue that of all the possible applications of technology -- the ones that excite and inspire the most -- are the possibilities for entertainment, whether it's music, interactive TV, movie graphics, DVD, or gaming. In short, entertainment has a lot to live up to, and we're gonna keep tabs for investors.
The index, which is market capitalization-weighted and now live on Redherring.com, includes companies that vary in terms of what they do, how much money they make doing it, and what investors are currently willing to pay for the stocks.
For starters, it includes the $25 billion-plus revenue club mentioned above -- Disney, Sony, and Time Warner. Not surprisingly, these three are among the "cheapest" stocks in the group on a price-to-sales basis. At the other end of the spectrum are five companies that notched a combined $63.3 million in sales over the past year. Four of the five -- ACTV (Nasdaq: IATV), OpenTV (Nasdaq: OPTV), TiVo (Nasdaq: TIVO), and Wink Communications -- have bet their businesses on some manner of television-based interactivity. The last, Intertrust Technologies (Nasdaq: ITRU) -- which has developed a digital rights management platform to protect entertainment -- is just as cutting-edge.
Despite the firms' lack of revenue, investors have placed big bets on these stocks -- bets it's too soon to evaluate. In between the two extremes, we've aimed for a balance of companies participating in every manner of the digital revolution -- from cable company Comcast (Nasdaq: CMCSK) to digital animation studio Pixar (Nasdaq: PIXR) and digital video management company Seachange International (Nasdaq: SEAC).
OMISSIONS
The most glaring absence from the list (besides America Online (NYSE: AOL), which will join if its merger with Time Warner is ever completed) are Internet music distribution outfits like MP3.com (Nasdaq: MPPP), Liquid Audio (Nasdaq: LQID), and EMusic (Nasdaq: EMUS). We simply don't think they have viable long-term business strategies.
We'll point out right off the bat that this is not a list of "must-buy" companies; digital entertainment stocks are definitely an enter-at-your-own-risk game. Indeed, some of these young companies' valuations would make a Sherpa dizzy. Take TiVo, for instance. Though we all love the idea of TV without commercials, we have a hard time advocating purchase of a stock that's trading for 355 times its trailing 12-month revenue of $1.4 million. Likewise, Realnetworks (Nasdaq: RNWK) -- despite its leadership position in streaming audio and video -- is a tough pill to swallow at 93 times forward earnings. And since we started tracking the index's performance on September 29, it is down about 9.7 percent. Understand what we mean about risk?
Our caveats in place, we'll reiterate our belief that digital Hollywood is about to make its debut. Optical lines are laid, wireless communication is part of everyday life, and broadband access is fairly abundant. In other words, we're primed and waiting to be dazzled. To the world's entertainment execs, we have this to say: it's show time.
THE REST OF THE LIST
The remaining companies in the index:
Avid Technology (Nasdaq: AVID)
Eastman Kodak (NYSE: EK)
Echostar Communications (Nasdaq: DISH)
Fox Entertainment Group (NYSE: FOX)
Gemstar-TV Guide (Nasdaq: GMST)
Hughes Electronics (NYSE: GMH)
Liberate Technologies (Nasdaq: LBRT)
Macromedia (Nasdaq: MACR)
Macrovision (Nasdaq: MVSN)
News Corporation (NYSE: NWS)
Scientific-Atlanta (NYSE: SFA)
USA Networks (Nasdaq: USAI)
Viacom (NYSE: VIA)
SOURCE: TrustData Solutions Corporation and Medicheck, Inc.
Medicheck, Inc. Selects TrustData Solutions to Provide Trusted Privacy and Security Solutions for the Protection of Medical E-Commerce Transactions
Partnership Enables HIPAA Compliance Initiatives; Persistently Protects Privacy
SAN JOSE, Calif. and LOS ANGELES, Oct. 30 /PRNewswire/ -- Medicheck, Inc. today announced that TrustData Solutions has been selected to provide trusted, privacy and security solutions for Medicheck's healthcare portal that will be launched later this year. The portal will allow Medicheck's customers, healthcare payors and providers, to exchange mission-critical healthcare information in a protected environment that controls and measures the usage of confidential information over its entire lifecycle. TrustData Solutions will provide a secure, trusted transaction environment based on InterTrust(TM) Technology's (Nasdaq: ITRU - news) leading Digital Rights Management (DRM) platform that enables healthcare participants to define rules governing the authorized use of any kind of digital information and to have those rules enforced whenever and wherever use takes place.
Two major influences -- the Internet and HIPAA are shaping healthcare technology today and in the future. The Internet addresses one of the biggest issues facing the healthcare industry - relay speed - the time it takes to execute many mission critical transactions. HIPAA, a Federal regulation that healthcare organizations are hurrying to comply with, is a proposed set of regulations for securing the electronic transmission of healthcare information and for protecting the privacy of sensitive medical information. Together the Internet and HIPAA are challenging healthcare technology professionals to implement efficient systems that address confidentiality, data integrity, timely access and access rights to the usage of healthcare information.
``The ability to manage mission-critical transactions and confidential communications by protecting the rights associated with sensitive healthcare information, is essential to the success of the eHealth revolution,'' said Dave Schmidt, CEO, Medicheck, Inc. ``TrustData's technology is the cornerstone of our strategy to persistently protect the privacy and data integrity of our core business transactions, including eligibility and cash management. Medicheck is now uniquely positioned to protect the privacy of our customer's confidential healthcare information and to comply with any final HIPAA privacy and security regulation when issued by the government.''
More specifically, this agreement teams TrustData's rights-enabled commerce software with Medicheck's healthcare expertise to create solutions that persistently protect and manage information that contains sensitive data such as social security number, date of birth, and medical information. In conformance with privacy agreements, Medicheck's rights-enabled healthcare portal will also provide audit information showing the circumstances under which protected information was used regardless of whether it was used on-line or off-line.
``We are very excited about our strategic relationship with Medicheck and the ability to deliver to the healthcare industry trusted e-commerce solutions that persistently protect sensitive healthcare information from unauthorized access and use,'' said Larry McArthur, chairman and CEO of TrustData. ``These solutions will be a cornerstone of Medicheck's HIPAA-compliance initiatives that address the privacy of personally identifiable, mission-critical healthcare information.''
About Medicheck
Medicheck, Inc. provides electronic business solutions to the healthcare community. The company maintains a national network of payor connectivity that furnishes vital financial and administrative information to Medicheck's client base across the country. Their broad range of electronic solutions includes eligibility verification, credit/ATM card processing, check guarantee service, identity/address verification and cash management tracking and reporting. Medicheck offers these services over a variety of platforms including P.O.S. terminals, PC software, Internet processing and network environment integration |
