Saturday, April 28, 2012

Stephens Upgrades Equinix to Overweight

from www.dailypolitical.com:

>>Equinix (NASDAQ: EQIX) was upgraded by Stephens from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note issued on Thursday.

Citigroup Boosts Equinix Earnings Estimates

from www.dailypolitical.com/:

>> Analysts at Citigroup (NYSE: C) increased their earnings per share (EPS) estimates on shares of Equinix (NASDAQ: EQIX) in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday. The firm currently has a “buy” rating and a $180.00 price target on the company’s shares.

Friday, April 27, 2012

Jim Cramer Vs. Data Center Sector: If You Can't Beat Them, Join Them

Read the whole article at Seeking Alpha: 

>>In the past few years, few people have been completely wrong on the data center sector like Jim Cramer. Back in October 2009, he covered Equinix (EQIX) in his "sell block" on CNBC, with several negative comments on the whole industry that can be resumed by the following highlights:
Get out of the data-center stocks.
I think the data center industry is in decline.
I see an industry that's about to be brought low by new technology, so I think you should sell, sell, sell.
(the video is still available at Data Center Knowledge, at this link)

Jefferies Raises Equinix's PT

from http://www.benzinga.com: 

>>In the report, Jefferies commented, "EQIX reported 1Q12 results that beat our/Street ests across the board. These results highlight why we like the stock from an execution perspective and its valuation relative to growth. Additionally, we continue to believe there is optionality on potential conversion to REIT structure. We expect Equinix to discuss the issue in greater detail at the June 20 Analyst Day. We reiterate our Buy rating and are raising target price to $175."

Estimate A Company’s CDS (Risk Indicator)

Read the whole instablog at Seeking Alpha: 

>>Ploutos recently published a very interesting article here at Seeking Alpha:

Credit Default Swap Spreads And S&P 500 Constituents
This article discusses an institutional topic, credit default swap spreads, in a way that hopefully connects with individual investors. Credit default swaps are insurance-like agreements where the seller of protection agrees to compensate the buyer of protection in the event of a default by the underlying company. In exchange, the seller of protection is paid quarterly premiums over the life of the contract. The standard contract is five years, and the spreads below will reference this tenor, but maturities are often quoted from 3 months to 10 years. The higher the premium paid, then the greater the likelihood of default by the underlying company as priced by an institutional marketplace.
The article goes on examining what CDS Spreads may mean for investors, why they are important while evaluating a business risk profile, and even why an increasing CDS Spread may be good news for shareholders, and bad news for bondholders, under special circumstances.
From Bloomberg, I can pull in credit default swap spreads on 288 of the 500 constituents.
Private investors, unfortunately, face a harder time when looking for CDS data.

Apple, Samsung: IHS, Strategy Analytics Can’t Agree Who’s No. 1

from http://blogs.barrons.com:

>>Strategy Analytics this morning reports that Samsung sold 44.5 million phones, putting it in the top spot ahead of Apple. IHS iSuppli, on the other hand, says they estimate Samsung sold only 32 million units. Hence, IHS put out its own press release saying Apple retained the smartphone crown.

Strategy Analytics announces:
Samsung shipped 44.5 million smartphones and overtook Appleto become the world’s number one smartphone vendor by volume.
IHS writes:
Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. in the first quarter overtook Nokia Corp. to become the world’s largest cellphone brand for the first time. However, Samsung remained in second place in the smartphone segment of the cellphone market, behind Apple Inc.

Samsung Q1 2012 results

from the c.c.: 

>>YoY
· Smartphone growth to continue (over 30%↑YoY)



Jamba splits with Nestlé, targets consumer products

from http://nrn.com:

>>White said Jamba’s relationship with Nestlé has been “very strong and collaborative,”
But given the size of the giant global manufacturing brand, White said he was concerned that, “Jamba will not always be a top priority.”
The energy drink line has not been without challenges. Jamba first introduced the energy drinks in 2008 with Nestlé, but the beverages were pulled citing manufacturing problems. It took another two years to get the latest version to market.

Samsung overtakes Nokia as world's top handset vendor -Strategy Analytics

from Yahoo: 

>>Samsung sold 93.5 million handsets in the first quarter, taking 25.4 percent of the global mobile phone market, Strategy Analytics said.
Nokia sold 82.7 million phones and had 22.5 percent of the market, followed by Apple's 9.5 percent.

Thursday, April 26, 2012

Stifel Nicolaus raised its target on Equinix

from http://wallstcheatsheet.com:

>>Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX): Stifel Nicolaus raised its target on Equinix, as the firm thinks that the company reported strong Q1 results which indicate that its growth momentum is continuing. The firm reiterates a Buy rating on the stock.

Monday, April 23, 2012

Immersion Strengthens Its Position In Japanese Smartphone Market

Read the whole article at Seeking Alpha: 

>>Last week, Immersion (IMMR) announced the launch of the haptic-enabled DoCoMo Medias ES N-05D smartphone and DoCoMo Medias Tab N-06D tablet in the Japanese market. These devices are manufactured by NEC Casio Mobile and NEC, respectively.
NTT DoCoMo is Japan's premier provider of mobile services, with roughly 60 million customers in its domestic market alone. It is one of the world's largest mobile communications operators.
NEC and NEC Casio Mobile Communications were announced as new licensees during Immersion's latest conference call:
We are also excited to announce NEC as the latest OEM to join our expanding mobile customer base, with the introduction of its first devices leveraging TouchSense 3000.

SIX Swiss Exchange upgrades platform; introduces co-lo services

SIX Swiss Exchange has successfully completed the upgrade of its trading platform. The upgrade was developed in collaboration with Nasdaq OMX.

At the same time, SIX Swiss Exchange is launching a co-location service for the new platform in association with Equinix. Starting today, SIX Swiss Exchange offers participants the most modern trading technology in the world.
SIX Swiss Exchange has successfully completed the upgrade of its SWXess trading platform with the X-stream INET technology developed by NASDAQ OMX. SIX Swiss Exchange is the first exchange globally to combine the triedand- tested capabilities of the X-stream platform with INET trading technology - the world's fastest.

On April 23, SIX Swiss Exchange launched equity trading using the very latest technology. With this step, SIX Swiss Exchange is investing in the future and in the international growth of Switzerland as a highly successful trading center. Together with the new co-location service, the system upgrade means that much higher order volumes (capacity) can be matched and executed in a significantly shorter time (latency). This is supported by the efficient and standardized trading protocols, which are also in use at various trading venues. Tests under trading conditions have shown that average round-trip latency is just 37 microseconds.
Each and every participant benefits from this low latency, which is unparalleled on any exchange world-wide. Thanks to low latency, participants can put their investment decisions into effect and adjust and reduce their investment risk even faster. Rapid trading, and market data that is distributed with equally low latency, are also key to participants investing or market-making in ETFs, ETPs or structured products. The latest enhancements allow price movements in underlyings to be identified more quickly, and the corresponding investment and market-making decisions to be executed more effectively.

Current differences in system performance which have resulted from non-Swiss participants' geographical distance from the trading platform, for example, will be a thing of the past following the launch of the co-location service. Existing and new SIX Swiss Exchange clients can now operate their trading systems in close proximity to the Exchange's matching engine, with the same performance for all.
Christian Katz, CEO SIX Swiss Exchange: "We have seen the number of participants, the number of securities listed and the number of trading transactions rise strongly in the last two years. By upgrading our trading platform and launching our co-location service, we are keeping pace with the expansion of SIX Swiss Exchange. Today represents the next major milestone in our continuous pursuit of best-in-class services. Client focus combined with state-ofthe- art technology are essential to attracting additional liquidity. Right now, we are setting a new standard for trading, risk management and the future growth of SIX Swiss Exchange."
Lars Ottersgård, Senior Vice President NASDAQ OMX Market Technology: "SIX Swiss Exchange has always been in the technology forefront and today's technology upgrade truly reinforces their position in the global exchange arena. The ultra-low latency enabled by X-stream INET, in combination with functionality and throughput advantages, puts SIX Swiss Exchange in a prime position to attract new volumes and members to its markets."
Marco Dottarelli, Managing Director, Equinix (Switzerland) GmbH: "Switzerland continues to be one of the most competitive financial centers in the world. With Platform Equinix we are fully committed to fulfill the specific requirements of exchanges and other financial services institutions. The Xstream INET platform and the colocation service inside our Zurich data center will provide an even more attractive offering to the financial services community. This guarantees very low latency and the possibility for market participants to increase their trading capacity constantly."

Large enterprises handing off data center builds

from www.networkworld.com:

>>Even companies such as Google and Yahoo, which are known for building their own cutting-edge data centers, are supplementing in-house development with third-party providers including Equinix, which specializes in network-neutral data centers and interconnection services.
"They'll come to Equinix for the network hubs when they need low latency and access to multiple networks," says Mark Adams, chief development officer at Equinix. "We're a critical component in many of the major content companies' architecture and infrastructure."