Alibaba Q3 15A – Mobile menace

Reply to this post           The move to mobile is causing problems. Alibaba reported Q3 15A results that missed expectations as revenue growth was weaker than expected. This raises immediate concerns regarding Alibaba’s sensitivity to the slowing Chinese economy and whether or not it is beginning to saturate its core market. It also raises question marks...

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Samsung Q4 14A – Storm rigged.

Reply to this post           Steady results show better weathering of the handset storm. Samsung reported reasonable Q4 14A results and some signs have emerged that management has regained a degree of control over the handset business. Revenues / EBIT were KRW52.73tn / KRW5.29tn which was comfortably within the range given on January 8th. Consumer electronics,...

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Apple and Yahoo! – Chalk and cheese.

Reply to this post           Results highlight the differences between these two players. Investors greeted the results announcements of both companies with enthusiasm but for very different reasons. Apple Apple reported Q1 15A results that beat expectations as the iPhone performed much better than the street had forecast. Q1 15A Revenues / EPS were $74.6bn /...

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Microsoft Q2 15A – Honeymoon ending.

          Honeymoon end obscures long term upside. Microsoft reported in-line Q2 15A results but guided weakly as the corporate upgrade from Windows XP to Windows 7 has begun to tail off. Q2 15A Revenues / EPS were $26.5bn / $0.71 compared to consensus forecasts of $26.4bn / $0.71. However guidance was soft with Q3 15E revenues...

Qualcomm & Samsung – Hot silicon

          Overheating very unlikely to be a Qualcomm design flaw. There is enough noise in the market to make it likely that there has been a problem of some description with the Snapdragon 810 in the early version of the Samsung Galaxy S6. These problems seem to have been bad enough for Samsung to consider dropping...

Google – Control freak.

          Google’s move to be an MVNO is all about control. It looks very likely that Google will launch its own branded MVNO during 2015 using the networks of T-Mobile Inc. and Sprint.  This is not good news for either T-Mobile or Sprint despite the share reactions to the news. While they will get more traffic...

Microsoft – The price is right.

          Free upgrade is excellent news for the Microsoft ecosystem. Microsoft’s ambition to become an ecosystem company have crystalised further as upgrades to Windows 10 from 7, 8.1 and Windows Phone will be free. Microsoft gave a deeper preview of Windows 10 at its event yesterday and at the same time launched its own foray into...

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HP – The eggs have landed.

          HP loses more face over Autonomy. The end of the criminal investigation into HP’s allegations of fraud at Autonomy leaves the management of HP with egg all over its face. The UK Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has declined to proceed with fraud charges against the former executives of Autonomy stating that there is not enough...

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Xiaomi – Circumnavigation.

          Xiaomi must have exclusive services to succeed. Xiaomi is following in the footsteps of its rivals in building an ecosystem via purchasing small shareholdings but this is not enough. Most recently, Xiaomi has purchased 2.98% of productivity software company Kingsoft for $68m. This is in addition to a $205m purchase of a 1.98% stake in...

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BlackBerry – Roller-coaster.

          There is no reason why Samsung would want BlackBerry. BlackBerry has had a wild couple of days as rumours surfaced that Samsung was willing to buy BlackBerry for around $7.5bn or $14.4 per share. This is what was responsible for a 29% rally in the share price only to be almost all given back today...

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