Oracle Will Shop SaaS in 2009

Oracle (NASDAQ:ORCL) reported its Q209 results on December 18. Revenue was up 6% to $5.6 billion, missing analyst estimates of $5.84 billion. However, as the company cut costs aggressively across the board, non-GAAP EPS of $0.34 met analyst estimates for earnings. Operating margin improved 166 basis points to 35% versus 34% last year. GAAP net income was down 1% to $1.3 billion. >>>

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Sector Overview: Handsets

An IDC report released last week said that the mobile phone market will slow down in 2009, with mobile phone volumes expected to decline 1.9% due to the global economic crisis. However, the converged device market is still expected to grow, although at a slower pace of 8.9% in 2009. IDC expects the handset market to recover by 2010, with the converged device market expected to return to 24% growth and mobile phones to about 5% growth. Let’s take a closer look. >>>

Adobe Delivers Solid Results

This Tuesday, Adobe Systems Incorporated (NASDAQ: ADBE), the leading maker of creative applications, reported its Q4 and FY08 results. Earnings matched the top end of the company’s lowered forecast from earlier this month. >>>

Sector Overview: Semiconductors

The atmosphere is gloomy in the semiconductor sector: preliminary findings from research firms Gartner and iSuppli show decline in chip sales of 4.4% and 2% respectively. Earlier TI, Broadcom, and NSM cut back their respective outlooks. And according to Gartner, 2009 is going to be worse than this year. But there is a silver lining for investors looking to buy: stocks of star performers like Qualcomm and Broadcom are going for very cheap. Let’s take a look. >>>

Sector Overview: SaaS

The SaaS sector has been relatively unaffected by the weak economy. Since the SaaS business model helps cut costs, business has been good, with most companies beating estimates quarter after quarter. However, the stock prices have taken a beating in the later half of the year. This presents a great opportunity for the stronger players to consolidate and investors looking for a bargain to buy. Let’s take a look at which companies should best be able to withstand the recession. >>>

Semiconductor Infrastructure Sector Overview

2008 was a particularly bad year for many industries, and for the already failing semiconductor infrastructure industry the recession could not have come at a worse time. Here is a quick discussion of how semiconductor infrastructure stocks fared during the year. >>>

Sector Overview: Internet Stocks

Here is a quick glance at how the year was for some of my favorite Internet stocks. >>>

Sector Overview: Media

If 2007 was an unpleasant year for the media industry, 2008 was no better. The economic headwinds have troubled both traditional and new media companies, and stock prices have slipped by 15%-60% over the year. Here is a brief analysis of the year that was for my top 8 media stocks.  >>>

National Semi Leads Chip Sector’s Lowered Forecasts

Yesterday, National Semiconductor Corp. (NYSE:NSM) reported a weak second quarter. As the economic conditions deteriorated, the company saw demand for its products weaken. It has cut back its forecasts, as have leading semiconductor players, TI and Broadcom. >>>

Sector Overview: Networking

The economic downturn has slowed down sales in the networking world: a recent report, “Service Provider Routers and Switches”, from Infonetics Research shows that sales of service provider switches and IP core and edge routers have declined 4% sequentially to $3.3 billion in Q308. Networking giant Cisco, which was the first to warn of an economic slowdown, has seen its revenue growth slow down and its market share slide while competitors have gained share. Let’s take a closer look. >>>