Beneficiary Of Healthcare Reform

The healthcare industry is set to undergo the most fundamental set of changes since the establishment of Medicaid in 1965 following the signing of the much-debated Health Care Reform Bill. The act, signed a few weeks ago, guarantees access to medical insurance to nearly 30 million Americans who currently lack it. It will require nearly 16 million more Americans to sign up for health insurance coverage to help subsidize private coverage for the low- and middle-income population. The act will regulate private insurers more closely and will cost the government an estimated $938 billion over ten years. While insurance companies will be impacted the most, other healthcare-focused companies, such as athenahealth, will also benefit from the additional volume and focus that the sector will generate. >>>

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LeapFrog’s Turnaround Moving Along Nicely

A recent report by the NPD Group said that U.S. toy sales were retlatively flat over the year at $21.47 billion in 2009 compared to $21.65 billion in 2008, with overall unit sales falling 0.5% over the year. Toy makers launched promotional events during the holiday season, which helped keep the revenues flat despite a 4% fall in volumes sold. The educational toy maker, Leapfrog (NYSE:LF), also had latest quarter results that were better than the market’s expectations. >>>

Brocade, 3Com, And Cisco

Yesterday, we looked at how the Oracle–Sun deal upset the balance of the storage industry. Cisco is another game changer, and its data center plans have similarly changed the dynamics of the networking industry. HP’s $2.7 billion 3Com deal is seen as a counter move to challenge Cisco’s dominance in the networking industry. Let’s take a closer look at networking players Brocade (NASDAQ:BRCD) and 3Com (NASDAQ:COMS). >>>

NetApp And Red Hat Near 52-Week Highs

IDC reports that the storage software market is starting to show signs of recovery as it reported return of sequential and y-o-y growth. The exponential growth of data makes storage management a top priority. Let’s take a closer look at storage and data management solutions provider NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) and Red Hat (NYSE:RHT), the open source giant. >>>

Online Education Catering To Demand In Critical Areas

A Reuters report released in October of last year indicates that online education grew 13% over the year, compared with growth of over 20% in earlier years. But while growth may have slowed, it hasn’t stopped. Nearly 25% students take at least some college courses online, compared with 10% in 2002. A significant two million students take all their courses online, and another two million take one or more online courses. >>>

The Micron-Numonyx Deal: Why Bother?

In February, Micron (NYSE:MU) announced its plans to buy Numonyx and its NOR Flash technology for $1.27 billion. With this acquisition, Micron will broaden its portfolio and rival Samsung as a one-stop shop for memory. Let’s take a closer look. >>>

Verizon, iPhone, And RIM

I live in Menlo Park, California, just off the famed VC hub, Sand Hill Road. AT&T’s cellular network is downright pathetic around here, but Verizon’s is excellent. Dominique, my husband, is on iPhone/AT&T, while I am on BlackBerry/Verizon. He has the better phone; I have the better network. But soon, that may change. >>>

Consumer Internet Acquisitions And Targets

Consumer Internet companies have seen some excitement recently, with Monster buying HotJobs from Yahoo! I would have liked to see the reverse happen, but Yahoo!’s strategy defies logic as far as I am concerned. Anyway, let’s take a closer look. >>>

Intel Eyeing Xilinx?

Christopher Danely, an analyst with J.P. Morgan Securities, recently speculated that Intel, which has about $13 billion in cash, will acquire Xilinx. A detailed analysis of his argument is available at EETimes. Hans Mosesmann of Raymond James Equity Research disagrees with this view, saying that Intel really wants to be relevant in wireless and smartphones, and that it has already tried its hand in programmable logic and sold its PLD business to Altera in 1994, so it is not likely to get into it again.

Meanwhile, China Mobile and China Unicom, two of the three major telecommunications companies in China, recently lowered their 2010 capital expenditure forecasts. This is bound to affect the programmable logic device (PLD) sector, which last year got a boost from the expansion of 3G mobile networks in China. Let’s take a closer look at the dominant players in this sector, Xilinx Inc. (NASDAQ:XLNX) and Altera Corp (NASDAQ:ALTR). >>>

Accenture On Oracle’s Radar?

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) seems to be struggling to keep up with the market’s expectations. Q2 results for the current fiscal were disappointing, with revenues of $5.2 billion falling 2% over the year. On a constant currency basis, revenues would have been 8% lower. EPS of $0.60 marked a decline of 5% over the previous year. The market was expecting revenues of $5.21 billion with EPS of $0.61. >>>