I don't have too much news for you 'Thing' fans today, so here it is.
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London, Jan. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Rupert Murdoch, chairman and chief executive of News Corp., the world's fifth-largest media company, said that many companies in the Internet industry are overvalued and unlikely to meet profit projections, the Financial Times reported, citing Murdoch. His statement came as Internet stocks, including shares in Yahoo!, American Online and Amazon.com Inc, broke their rally of recent weeks, the paper said. News Corp. would ''certainly not be making takeovers of large, or already over-capitalized companies'', Murdoch said.
On Jan. 11 Amazon.com Inc. shares have soared more than 20- fold in the past year and more than doubled in a month and if the online bookseller keeps the pace its market value will reach $400 billion by May, topping No. 1 software maker Microsoft's value of $367.8 billion (Financial Times 1/13, p 1; www.FT.com)
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Brussels, Jan. 13 (Bloomberg) -- The following is a comment on the U.S., European stock markets after Brazil let its currency devalue faster and the president of its central bank, Gustavo Franco, resigned.
''Whoa! That's bad news,'' said Johan Vystavel, a fund manager at HWB Capital as news of the Brazil central bank president flashed across news monitors. ''Confidence in the Brazilian economy will get worse, the dollar will fall and the U.S. stock market will fall with it.''
Commenting on why investors didn't react earlier to concerns that Brazil would devalue its currency. Those concerns had pushed Brazil's benchmark stock index down 19.3 percent in four days.
''It is strange that this has been ignored by the market when that speculation has been around the past few days,'' said Vystavel, who declined to say how much his fund is worth. ''Sometimes people just concentrate on the good news and it took a headline to bring them around. It hasn't really been all over the media.
''My strategy this year is to be cautiously invested in less stocks than I had last year,'' he said. ''This is going to be a year when timing is important. Selling stocks if they rise and getting back in when they fall.
''I don't think we're going to fall like we did last year. There isn't so much speculative money in the market now that the hedge funds have unwound a lot of their positions.
''I'm beginning to look at some car stocks like Peugeot,'' he said. ''It is very cheaply priced, with a price-earnings ratio of about 12 and yet we'll probably see something happen to the sector. There are too many car makers in Europe.
''Cap Gemini is a darling of the fund. Only about 8 percent of its revenue come from dealing with the year 2000 bug. It's still going to have business after that.
''I've taken some profit on ASM Lithography and I'll probably buy back into it once it drops.'' ASM Lithography Holding NV, the world's second largest maker of wafer steppers, which are used to make computer chips, gained as much as 40 percent this year. It fell 3.5 euros to 31 today, still 19 percent up on the year.
''This year I think it may pay off to be underweight in the U.S.,'' he said. ''On average, U.S. companies are leveraged about four times more than European companies, and more and more U.S. houses are setting up funds for U.S. investors to invest in European equities. <<
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FAIRLAWN, Ohio--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 13, 1999--FineLine Properties Inc. (NASDAQ OTC\BB:FNLN) Wednesday announced that it will introduce its new "signature" line of cartoon inspired merchandise and apparel items in 1999 on the company's E-Commerce Web site, finelineproperties.com.
Like Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN), FineLine will cut out the high cost middleman and sell direct to the customer. The company expects to make higher margins because FineLine will be retailing its own product line, which is closer in line with Dell's (Nasdaq: DELL) business model. The items offered include affordable, high quality apparel, T-shirts, sweatshirts, caps and more.
FineLine's Cartoon characters have enjoyed great successes in recent times. The company's Moodie characters have been in promotions with Wendy's hamburgers, Kellogg's Rice Krispies, Daiwa Securities of Japan, and have adorned over 450 products in over 20 countries.
"1998 is a breakthrough year in terms of the publicity and general awareness of cartoons," stated President Robert Petry. "1998 has seen the greatest number of animated feature films ever released, and as a result the popularity of cartoon related properties has reached unprecedented heights."
The Cartoon licensing and merchandising industry is a $150 billion market. Major industry players include Disney, Warner Bros., Steven Speilberg's Tiny Toons, Rug Rats, Marvel Comics and others.
FineLine expects to drastically increase E-Commerce sales. With over 77 million U.S. households subscribed to some Internet service provider, cyberspace reaches every corner of the globe. E-Commerce moves over $23 billion of merchandise, with 1999 estimates running as high as $75 billion.
"The 'F' in FineLine stands for fun," continued Petry, "and our new signature line has been carefully researched to reflect that, while remaining stylish." With over 120 characters, character groups like the Moodies, the Tasties, the Hogstturrs, the Hoopsters, the Majors with more on the way, FineLine is living up to it's corporate slogan -- "Where Life is a Cartoon!"
Statements in this release are made pursuant to the "Safe Harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Investors are cautioned that such forward-looking statements involve risk and uncertainties, including without limitation, continued acceptance of the company's services, increased levels of competition for the company, and dependence on the performance of the management of the company.
>>Santa Clara, California, Jan. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Yahoo! Inc. shares plunged as much as 17 percent because the No. 1 Internet directory service's fourth-quarter earnings didn't surpass some investor expectations for stronger growth.
Investors and executives also raised concerns about the U.S. and world economy after Brazil allowed its currency, the real, to plunge 9 percent, pushing down the shares of Yahoo and other Internet-related companies.
Yahoo dropped 6 1/8 to 395 7/8 in early afternoon trading. Earlier, the shares fell as low as 332. The company said late yesterday that profit before charges rose to $25 million, or 21 cents a share, from a profit before a charge of $1.91 million, or 2 cents, a year earlier. That beat a forecast of 16 cents a share, according to the average estimate of analysts polled by First Call Corp.
''The earnings were great, but there's no way to characterize them as better than the high end of expectations, '' said Keith Benjamin, an analyst at BancBoston Robertson Stephens Inc. in San Francisco, who has a ''buy'' rating on Yahoo. ''Stocks can't go up forever. It's not higher math.''
Other analysts agreed that the Santa Clara, California-based company's results were impressive. Still, they raised questions about how to value the high flier.
''They had a great quarter, but a lot of people looked at it and said, 'This is terrific, but how does this justify a $46 billion market cap?''' said Dalton Chandler, an analyst at Needham & Co.
Concern Over Economy
Yahoo Chairman and Chief Executive Tim Koogle attributed the drop in his company's shares to the concern about the overall economy.
''I think it's just a general overall market thing that's going on,'' Koogle said in an interview on CNBC. ''The Brazil thing hit the market broadly, and now it seems there is an abatement in all this stuff.''
Other Internet stocks plunged amid investor concern that many of these companies, with little revenue and large losses, are overvalued. Broadcast.com Inc., the Internet broadcast service, fell 30 to 193. Amazon.com Inc., the No. 1 online bookseller, fell 3 7/8 to 159 1/2.
Investors are concerned that U.S. growth could slow if Brazil's falling currency leads to broader economic problems that could spill over into other countries. Brazil is the U.S.'s biggest South American trading partner and the region's largest economy.
Higher Traffic
In its earnings report, Santa Clara, California-based Yahoo said traffic on its network of Web sites increased to an average of 167 million page views a day in December, compared with 144 million in September. A page view is one electronic page of information displayed in response to a user request.
Still, Yahoo might not be able to maintain the growth that it's been accustomed to seeing, one analyst said.
''Eventually, the growth figures for traffic are going to slow down, just simply because of the math involved,'' said Daniel King, an analyst at LaSalle Street Securities Inc. in Chicago, who has a ''buy'' rating on Yahoo shares. ''They're building off such a huge base of page views and registered users.''
The company's registered users rose to 35 million from 25 million. Registered users are those who provide personal information to the company, such as age, educational background and gender. The data help Internet companies define their audience.
13:30:40 01/13/1999<<
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Santa Clara, California, Jan. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Yahoo! Inc. shares fell 8 percent because the No. 1 Internet directory service's fourth-quarter earnings didn't surpass some investor expectations for stronger growth.
Investors and executives also raised concerns about the U.S. and world economy after Brazil allowed its currency, the real, to plunge 9 percent, pushing down the shares of Yahoo and other Internet-related companies.
Yahoo dropped 34 to 368 in trading of 12.1 million, nearly double the three-month daily average. The company said late yesterday that profit before charges rose to $25 million, or 21 cents a share, from a profit before a charge of $1.91 million, or 2 cents, a year earlier. That beat a forecast of 16 cents a share, according to the average estimate of analysts polled by First Call Corp.
''The earnings were great, but there's no way to characterize them as better than the high end of expectations,'' said Keith Benjamin, an analyst at BancBoston Robertson Stephens Inc. in San Francisco, who has a ''buy'' rating on Yahoo. ''Stocks can't go up forever. It's not higher math.''
Other analysts agreed that the company's results were impressive. Still, they raised questions about how to value the high flier.
''They had a great quarter, but a lot of people looked at it and said, 'This is terrific, but how does this justify a $46 billion market cap?''' said Dalton Chandler, an analyst at Needham & Co.
Concern Over Economy
Yahoo Chairman and Chief Executive Tim Koogle attributed the drop in his company's shares to the concern about the overall economy.
''I think it's just a general overall market thing that's going on,'' Koogle said in an interview on CNBC. ''The Brazil thing hit the market broadly, and now it seems there is an abatement in all this stuff.''
Other Internet stocks plunged amid investor concern that many of these companies, with little revenue and large losses, are overvalued. Broadcast.com Inc., the Internet broadcast service, fell 53 to 170. Amazon.com Inc., the No. 1 online bookseller, fell 15 3/8 to 148.
Investors are concerned that U.S. growth could slow if Brazil's falling currency leads to broader economic problems that could spill over into other countries. Brazil is the U.S.'s biggest South American trading partner and the region's largest economy.
Higher Traffic
In its earnings report, Santa Clara, California-based Yahoo said traffic on its network of Web sites increased to an average of 167 million page views a day in December, compared with 144 million in September. A page view is one electronic page of information displayed in response to a user request.
Still, Yahoo might not be able to maintain the growth that it's been accustomed to seeing, one analyst said.
''Eventually, the growth figures for traffic are going to slow down, just simply because of the math involved,'' said Daniel King, an analyst at LaSalle Street Securities Inc. in Chicago, who has a ''buy'' rating on Yahoo shares. ''They're building off such a huge base of page views and registered users.''
The company's registered users rose to 35 million from 25 million. Registered users are those who provide personal information to the company, such as age, educational background and gender. The data help Internet companies define their audience.
17:05:03 01/13/1999<<
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For the week of Jan. 11, here are some of the top stories reported in major U.S. technology trade publications.
INTERNET WORLD
Online transactions between U.S. companies and European customers could be interrupted unless those companies address strict privacy rules enforced under the European Union's directive to protect citizens of its 15 nations, Internet World reported in its Jan. 11 edition.
Talks are scheduled to resume this month, Internet World said.
COMPUTERWORLD
Companies are choosing to upgrade their information technology systems now instead of later in the year when efforts to prepare equipment for the Year 2000 date change are expected to bring a third and fourth quarter freeze on IT overhauls, Computerworld reported in its Jan. 11 edition.
Health care providers are accusing medical device makers of leaving them in a potential lurch come Year 2000 by failing to give them sufficient warning that their equipment could fail to function, Computerworld reported.
ELECTRONIC BUYERS' NEWS - In a move that may shed computer giant IBM Corp.'s image as the most vertically integrated original equipment manufacturer, IBM last week tapped Solectron Corp. <SLR.N> as the exclusive maker of motherboards for its notebook PCs, Electronic Buyers' News reported in its Jan. 11 issue.
The three-year deal is worth up to $800 million annually and could boost Palo Alto, Calif.-based Solectron's position in the customized manufacturing services industry, Electronic Buyers' News reported.
Intel Corp.'s low end strategy in the chip market is creating buying opportunities for PC manufacturers and putting pricing pressures on competitors such as Advanced Micro Devices Inc., <AMD.N> Electronic Buyers' News reported in its Jan. 11 issue.
Analysts told the magazine the price wars could result in another first quarter oversupply of chips.
ELECTRONIC ENGINEERING TIMES - Analogic Systems, of Peabody, Mass., is about to launch a bomb-detection system that goes beyond the capabilities of conventional X-rays, Electronic Engineering Times reported in its Jan. 11 issue.
It received FAA approval in November for the system and plans to begin field trials with certain airlines this spring, the magazine reported.
About 29 manufactures have planned to create a common format for digital video disks (DVD) that is aimed at cutting through the mess of competing approaches to rewritable DVD.
INFORMATIONWEEK - Heavy industry is joining the rush to the Internet with Milacron Inc <MZ.N> among the latest old-line manufacturers to launch Web commerce sites, InformationWeek reported in its Jan. 11 issue.
A survey of 250 managers in the health-care industry found that many had not yet developed Year 200 contingency plans, in part because the industry is so fragmented and complex, InformationWeek reported.
INFOWORLD - Computer Associates will roll out in the next year to 18 months its new Common Computing Infrastructure using Java and CORBA technologies, InfoWorld reported in its Jan. 11 edition.
INTERACTIVE WEEK- Warner Bros. <TWX.N> Online is planning to launch an entertainment portal, called Entertaindom, in the first half of the year, Interactive Week said in its Jan. 11 issue.
It will combine new music releases, online games, movie trailers from different studios and will be marketed through Internet service provider and computer maker partnerships.
Others, including Sony, are also looking at the Web for new opportunites, the magazine reported.
With Amazon.com's <AMZN.O> soaring success and rocketing stock price, expectations have been raised and it has become the model of electronic commerce success, the magazine reported. It will almost have to hold a monopoly in its chosen field to justify the high expectations, Interactive Week reported.
18:02 01-13-99 <<
That's it folks. |
