CEOWORLD Magazine

Varian Semiconductor Equipment Associates (VSEA)– Fab Prospects

Dr. Paul Price — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 15:54:50 +0000

Varian Semi (VSEA, News, Press Releases: 28.665 +0.445 +1.58%, yield: N/A, cap: 2.131B, 1yr target: 36.95) is a supplier of ion implantation systems to semiconductor manufacturers. They hold leading market share of the specialized equipment used to form transistors during the semiconductor fabrication process. Major customers include Intel and Taiwan Semiconductor.

Fiscal 2009 (ended Sep. 30, 2009) marked the low point for this cyclical company although the fourth quarter showed marked improvement with a three-month profit of $0.11 versus a prior year gain of just $0.03 /share. The December quarter was even better with EPS of $0.22 against a fiscal Q1 2009 loss of $0.10 /share.

While earnings predictability is not high for VSEA current FY estimates run from $1.38 (Zacks) to (S&P’s) $1.53 /share. FY 2011 expectations run from $2.04 to $2.26. Varian shares sold off by $1.58 today (-5.3%) to close at $28.22. That puts its multiple at under 19x calendar year projections and about 14x next year’s figures.

Here are VSEA’s per share numbers from continuing operations as reported by Value Line:

FY	Sales	C/F	EPS	Avg. P/E	52-wk. Range
2001	8.61	1.07	0.84	16.6x	9.30 – 22.20
2002	4.04	0.03	d.0.17	NMF	6.10 – 22.60
2003	4.61	0.33	0.15	NMF	8.70 – 23.10
2004	6.47	0.90	0.73	23.3x	11.40 – 22.70
2005	6.80	0.79	0.65	26.1x	13.40 – 20.70
2006	8.77	1.17	0.98	21.1x	17.30 – 31.00
2007	13.93	2.07	1.73	21.2x	26.40 – 58.20
2008	11.61	1.61	1.32	26.6x	14.00 – 41.20
2009	4.95	d.0.20	d.0.40	NMF	16.00 – 36.60

With an outlook for solid profits as the capital spending cycle ramps up I see today’s big decline as a good time to start taking a position. VSEA shares were as high as $37.46 as recently as January of this year and changed hands above $40 in both 2006 and 2007. Standard and Poors rates them as 4-Stars (out of 5) and has a 12-month target of $34.

The company is almost debt free and has almost $300 million in cash and securities on their books.

It’s difficult to have a firm upside target but even 19x the low-end estimate for the calendar year would put these shares back above $30 by next January. That’s probably too conservative but it allows me to use put writing as my investment technique using VSEA as my underlying equity.

Here are some attractively priced puts based on today’s closing prices:

Sell	Put Premium	Break-Even Price	Margin of Safety*
August $25 Puts	$1.50 /sh.	$23.50	16.7%
Jan. 2011 $22.50 Puts	$1.65 /sh.	$20.85	26.1%
Jan. 2011 $25 Puts	$2.55 /sh.	$22.45	20.4%
Jan. 2012 $25 Puts	$4.30 /sh.	$20.70	26.6%
* Margin of Safety = % break-even price is below today’s close.

In each case listed above you can make money if the shares:

* Go up.
* Remain unchanged.
* Decline by less than 16.7%.

On the longer-term puts you are protected against loss as long as VSEA doesn’t drop by more than 20%.

In all cases your maximum upside is the put premium received and your worst case scenario would be having to purchase shares of VSEA at prices 16.7% – 26.6% lower than today’s closing price. At those prices I’d be an outright buyer right now.

Disclosure: Author is short VSEA puts.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades SBUX, ALU, WU, UAM, BSX, GT, PSYS, CAKE, MFC, IRC, UNH, SQNM, KMB, ALXN…

Hendrik L Clarke — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 15:43:57 +0000

Alexion (ALXN, News, Press Releases: 53.81 +0.96 +1.82%, yield: N/A, cap: 4.796B, 1yr target: 56.25) added to Conviction Buy List, $62 target, at Goldman Sachs…
BOK Financial (BOKF, News, Press Releases: 48.43 +1.61 +3.44%, yield: 2.05, cap: 3.284B, 1yr target: 50.20) upgraded to Buy, $57 target, at SunTrust…
Chicago Bridge (CBI, News, Press Releases: 24.3782 +1.0282 +4.40%, yield: N/A, cap: 2.446B, 1yr target: 27.25) upgraded to Outperform, $30 target, at BMO Capital…
Clorox (CLX, News, Press Releases: 63.88 +0.95 +1.51%, yield: 3.11, cap: 8.958B, 1yr target: 67.73) upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight, $71 target, at Barclays…
Compellent (CML, News, Press Releases: 17.60 +0.61 +3.59%, yield: N/A, cap: 557.8M, 1yr target: 21.91) upgraded to Buy from Hold at ThinkEquity…
Cooper Tire & Rubber (CTB, News, Press Releases: 19.6001 +0.7501 +3.98%, yield: 2.23, cap: 1.186B, 1yr target: 23.60) initiated as Overweight at Morgan Stanley…
Coventry Health (CVH, News, Press Releases: 25.08 +0.65 +2.66%, yield: N/A, cap: 3.712B, 1yr target: 24.80) upgraded two notches to Neutral from Conviction Sell at Goldman Sachs…
Green Plains (GPRE, News, Press Releases: 13.51 -0.27 -1.96%, yield: N/A, cap: 337.2M, 1yr target: 25.50) initiated as Overweight at Piper Jaffray…
ICON (ICLR, News, Press Releases: 24.30 +0.66 +2.79%, yield: N/A, cap: 1.425B, 1yr target: 31.09) added to Conviction Buy List at Goldman Sachs…
IFM Investments (CTC, News, Press Releases: 7.30 -0.19 -2.54%, yield: N/A, cap: 333.9M, 1yr target: 1.22) initiated as Outperform at Oppenheimer…
Onyx Pharma (ONXX, News, Press Releases: 32.27 +0.77 +2.44%, yield: N/A, cap: 2.013B, 1yr target: 36.00) upgraded to Buy from Neutral, $37 target, at Goldman…
Pharmasset (VRUS, News, Press Releases: 26.00 +2.03 +8.47%, yield: N/A, cap: 784.1M, 1yr target: 27.50) initiated as Buy at Citigroup…
Sonic (SONC, News, Press Releases: 11.16 +0.67 +6.39%, yield: N/A, cap: 681.7M, 1yr target: 9.64) upgraded to Overweight from Underweight, $12 target, at Piper Jaffray…
St. Jude Medical (STJ, News, Press Releases: 40.05 -0.51 -1.26%, yield: N/A, cap: 13.034B, 1yr target: 42.04) upgraded to Sell from Conviction Sell at Goldman…
Starbucks (SBUX, News, Press Releases: 25.22 +0.80 +3.28%, yield: N/A, cap: 18.749B, 1yr target: 26.31) upgraded to Buy from Neutral, $29 target, at UBS…
Western Union (WU, News, Press Releases: 16.37 -0.34 -2.03%, yield: 0.36, cap: 11.177B, 1yr target: 20.02) initiated as Positive at Susquehanna…
Alcatel-Lucent (ALU, News, Press Releases: 3.45 -0.01 -0.29%, yield: N/A, cap: 7.796B, 1yr target: 3.78) downgraded to Hold from Buy at RBS…
Boston Scientific (BSX, News, Press Releases: 7.08 +0.28 +4.12%, yield: N/A, cap: 10.700B, 1yr target: 8.64) downgraded to Conviction Sell from Neutral at Goldman…
Brinker (EAT, News, Press Releases: 19.43 -0.24 -1.22%, yield: 2.24, cap: 1.991B, 1yr target: 18.54) downgraded to Underweight from Neutral, $16 target, at Piper Jaffray…
Cheesecake Factory (CAKE, News, Press Releases: 26.61 -0.16 -0.60%, yield: N/A, cap: 1.607B, 1yr target: 23.69) downgraded to Underweight from Neutral, $21 target, at Piper Jaffray…
Chordiant Software (CHRD, News, Press Releases: 4.98 -0.01 -0.20%, yield: N/A, cap: 151.2M, 1yr target: 4.63) downgraded to Neutral at B. Riley…
Goodyear Tire (GT, News, Press Releases: 13.65 -0.09 -0.66%, yield: N/A, cap: 3.306B, 1yr target: 15.42) initiated as Underweight at Morgan Stanley…
Inland Real Estate (IRC, News, Press Releases: 9.02 +0.04 +0.45%, yield: 7.17, cap: 762.7M, 1yr target: 8.75) downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Macquarie…
Kimberly-Clark (KMB, News, Press Releases: 60.04 -0.31 -0.51%, yield: 4.08, cap: 24.995B, 1yr target: 66.85) added to Conviction Sell List, $57 target, at Goldman…
Manulife Financial (MFC, News, Press Releases: 20.34 +0.20 +0.99%, yield: 2.92, cap: 35.758B, 1yr target: 23.52) downgraded to Hold from Buy at Argus…
Prospect Capital (PSEC, News, Press Releases: 12.38 -0.03 -0.24%, yield: 13.12, cap: 787.2M, 1yr target: 12.00) downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Macquarie…
Psychiatric Solutions (PSYS, News, Press Releases: 29.48 -0.21 -0.71%, yield: N/A, cap: 1.659B, 1yr target: 27.50) downgraded to Market Perform, $24-30 target, at Wells Fargo…
Sequenom (SQNM, News, Press Releases: 6.22 -1.54 -19.85%, yield: N/A, cap: 381.0M, 1yr target: 6.80) downgraded to Underweight from Equal Weight at Stephens…
Ship Finance (SFL, News, Press Releases: 18.71 -0.51 -2.65%, yield: 4.68, cap: 1.480B, 1yr target: 19.75) downgraded to Neutral from Overweight, $22 target, at JP Morgan…
Superior Well Services (SWSI, News, Press Releases: 15.41 +0.33 +2.19%, yield: N/A, cap: 358.7M, 1yr target: 17.88) downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Stephens…
Teva Pharmaceutical (TEVA, News, Press Releases: 60.16 -0.82 -1.34%, yield: 1.05, cap: 53.242B, 1yr target: 66.83) downgraded to Buy from Conviction Buy at Goldman…
UnitedHealth (UNH, News, Press Releases: 32.62 +0.09 +0.28%, yield: 0.09, cap: 37.759B, 1yr target: 38.07) downgraded to Buy from Conviction Buy at Goldman…
Universal American (UAM, News, Press Releases: 14.58 -0.80 -5.20%, yield: N/A, cap: 1.114B, 1yr target: 15.00) downgraded to Sell at Goldman Sachs…
Western Union (WU, News, Press Releases: 16.37 -0.34 -2.03%, yield: 0.36, cap: 11.177B, 1yr target: 20.02) downgraded to Market Perform at William Blair…
Wyndham (WYN, News, Press Releases: 24.14 -0.61 -2.46%, yield: 0.97, cap: 4.317B, 1yr target: 26.50) downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Goldman…

Amgen (AMGN)– A Profitable Biotech at a Bargain Price

Dr. Paul Price — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 15:56:45 +0000

Amgen Inc. (AMGN, News, Press Releases: 57.32 +0.43 +0.76%, yield: N/A, cap: 56.134B, 1yr target: 68.76) is the world’s largest independent biotechnology medicines company. They discover, develop, manufactures and market medicines for serious illnesses. Their focus is on human therapeutics and AMGN concentrates on medicines based on advances in cellular and molecular biology. 2009 R&D investment was about $2.9 billion or 20% of total sales.

This biotechnology pioneer has been solidly profitable for many years and posted $4.83 per share in 2009 earnings from continuing operations – the highest EPS in its history. Despite its excellent results and record earnings, AMGN shares now trade for 34% less than they did at their peak price of $86.90 set back in 2005 when EPS were just $2.95.

Here are Amgen’s per share numbers (excluding non-recurring items) as reported by Value Line:

Year	Sales	C/F	EPS	Avg. P/E	52-wk range
2001	3.84	1.48	1.18	50.8x	45.40 – 75.10
2002	4.28	1.59	1.39	35.7x	30.60 – 62.90
2003	6.53	2.30	1.69	36.4x	48.10 – 72.40
2004	8.37	2.87	2.19	27.0x	52.00 – 66.90
2005	10.16	3.72	2.95	23.7x	56.20 – 86.90
2006	12.24	4.41	3.51	20.2x	63.50 – 81.20
2007	13.59	4.57	3.31	17.4x	46.20 – 76.90
2008	14.33	5.03	3.90	13.2x	39.20 – 66.50
2009	14.72	6.01	4.83	11.4x	44.96 – 64.76

Earnings estimates for 2010 – 2011 are in a tight range. Zacks comes in at the low end with expectations of $5.04 and $5.41 while Standard and Poors sees $5.08 and $5.46. Value Line notes that AMGN’s ‘earnings predictability’ ranks in the 95th percentile of their 1700 stock universe (with 100th being best).

At this morning’s quote of $56.90 AMGN’s multiple is a historically low 11.3x the low-end estimate for this year and < 10.6x the Zacks estimate for 2011. Based on P/E, this is perhaps the best time in history to be picking up Amgen shares.

Amgen was holding over $13.4 billion in treasury cash as of December 31, 2009 and carries Value Line’s top ranks for both safety and financial strength. Surprisingly it also has a below average (0.65) Beta which is unusual for a biotech issue.

While the health care picture remains unclear it is unlikely for AMGN to regain the ultra-high valuations it commanded 5 – 10 years ago. I do think it will bounce back to at least a 14 – 15x multiple, though. Even fourteen times this year’s bottom estimate would bring these shares back to over $70 – a gain of 24%. By the end of 2011 that same P/E will lead to a target price of almost $76 if the EPS come in as expected.

Are those goals reasonable? Standard and Poors rates AMGN as a 4-Star stock (out of 5) and carries a 12-month target of $67 /share. They see ‘fair value’ as an even higher $77.40 in their latest full report. Morningstar has a ‘fair value’ of $65 and a long term ‘consider sell’ price of $91 /share.

Amgen shares hit peak prices of $64.76 – $86.90 in each of the past seven calendar years and fundamentals are better now than ever before.

The current low price appears to offer an attractive entry point for potential gains of 20 – 50% over the next year or two.

If you’re comfortable with options trading you might want to consider writing (selling) some LEAP puts on this high quality issue. Here are some that look very tempting at the moment:

Sell	Option Premium	Break-Even Price	*Margin of Safety
Jan. 2012 $50 Puts	$5.30 /share	$44.70	21.4%
Jan. 2012 $60 Puts	$9.90 /share	$50.10	11.9%
Jan. 2012 $70 Puts	$16.30 /share	$53.70	5.9%
* The % that the break-even price is below the current quote

Disclosure: Author is short AMGN puts.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades WMT, HBC, DWA, CF, GMXR, LM, JDSU, ACI, MSPD, BECN, IBKR, HR, ICE, HCP, RVBD, SNIC…

Caroline Mittermair — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 15:00:33 +0000

American Railcar (ARII, News, Press Releases: 11.58 -0.37 -3.10%, yield: 0.50, cap: 246.7M, 1yr target: 11.38) upgraded to Buy from Hold, $24 target, at KeyBanc…
Finisar (FNSR, News, Press Releases: 14.64 -0.17 -1.15%, yield: N/A, cap: 953.2M, 1yr target: 15.04) initiated as Buy at Auriga…
Gamestop (GME, News, Press Releases: 19.145 -0.255 -1.31%, yield: N/A, cap: 3.154B, 1yr target: 25.14) maintained Buy, price target raised to $32 from $27, at Needham…
Greenbrier (GBX, News, Press Releases: 10.63 -0.29 -2.66%, yield: N/A, cap: 181.6M, 1yr target: 12.00) upgraded to Buy from Hold at KeyBanc…
Heckmann (HEK, News, Press Releases: 5.98 -0.05 -0.83%, yield: N/A, cap: 650.3M, 1yr target: 13.50) initiated as Buy at Roth Capital…
Hibbertt Sports (HIBB, News, Press Releases: 25.91 +0.35 +1.37%, yield: N/A, cap: 742.8M, 1yr target: 26.81) maintained Buy, $28 target, at Needham…
JDSU (JDSU, News, Press Releases: 11.40 +0.08 +0.71%, yield: N/A, cap: 2.499B, 1yr target: 10.38) initiated as Buy at Auriga…
Legg Mason (LM, News, Press Releases: 29.41 +0.29 +1.00%, yield: 0.41, cap: 4.781B, 1yr target: 30.17) upgraded to Market Perform from Underperform, $33 target, at FBR Capital…
Mac-Gray Corporation (TUC, News, Press Releases: 11.04 -0.12 -1.08%, yield: 0.45, cap: 150.3M, 1yr target: 16.00) initiated as Buy at Roth Capital…
Millicom (MICC, News, Press Releases: 88.38 +2.14 +2.48%, yield: 1.44, cap: 9.602B, 1yr target: 103.57) upgraded to Overweight from Neutral, $100 target, at HSBC…
Mindspeed Technologies (MSPD, News, Press Releases: 8.375 -0.185 -2.16%, yield: N/A, cap: 243.9M, 1yr target: 8.74) maintained Buy, price target raised to $10 target, at Needham…
Novavax (NVAX, News, Press Releases: 2.30 -0.05 -2.13%, yield: N/A, cap: 215.0M, 1yr target: 7.19) initiated as Buy at Roth Capital…
Oclaro (OCLR, News, Press Releases: 2.61 +0.06 +2.35%, yield: N/A, cap: 554.2M, 1yr target: 2.59) initiated as Buy at Auriga…
Wal-Mart (WMT, News, Press Releases: 55.8575 +0.4375 +0.79%, yield: 2.02, cap: 212.5B, 1yr target: 61.56) upgraded to Buy from Hold, $65 target, at Citigroup…
Arch Coal (ACI, News, Press Releases: 25.75 +1.13 +4.59%, yield: 1.46, cap: 4.184B, 1yr target: 27.32) downgraded to Neutral from Overweight, $30 target, at HSBC…
Auxilium Pharma (AUXL, News, Press Releases: 32.79 -0.16 -0.49%, yield: N/A, cap: 1.549B, 1yr target: 36.00) downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform, $35 target, at Leerink…
Beacon Roofing Supply (BECN, News, Press Releases: 18.54 -0.07 -0.38%, yield: N/A, cap: 841.1M, 1yr target: 19.21) downgraded to Hold from Buy at BB&T…
Brown Shoe Company (BWS, News, Press Releases: 14.80 +0.32 +2.21%, yield: 1.93, cap: 615.7M, 1yr target: 15.00) downgraded to Hold from Buy, $16 target, at Soleil…
Cathay General (CATY, News, Press Releases: 10.99 +0.18 +1.67%, yield: 1.02, cap: 841.0M, 1yr target: 11.71) downgraded Buy at B. Riley…
CF Industries (CF, News, Press Releases: 97.14 +0.76 +0.79%, yield: 0.42, cap: 4.719B, 1yr target: 98.43) downgraded to Sell, $81 target, at UBS…
Dreamworks (DWA, News, Press Releases: 41.978 -0.182 -0.43%, yield: N/A, cap: 3.654B, 1yr target: 44.68) downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Janney Montgomery…
GMX Resources (GMXR, News, Press Releases: 9.85 +0.41 +4.34%, yield: N/A, cap: 276.5M, 1yr target: 16.80) downgraded to Hold from Buy at Canaccord…
Hasbro Inc. (HAS, News, Press Releases: 38.0575 +0.4275 +1.14%, yield: 2.13, cap: 5.190B, 1yr target: 40.62) downgraded to Buy from Strong Buy, $45 target, at Needham…
HCP (HCP, News, Press Releases: 32.62 +0.49 +1.53%, yield: 5.74, cap: 9.585B, 1yr target: 30.60) downgraded to Hold, $31 target, at Jefferies…
Healthcare Realty Trust (HR, News, Press Releases: 23.35 +0.45 +1.97%, yield: 6.35, cap: 1.433B, 1yr target: 22.50) downgraded to Hold, $25 target, at Jefferies…
HSBC Holdings (HBC, News, Press Releases: 51.79 -0.06 -0.12%, yield: 3.28, cap: N/A, 1yr target: 62.55) downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at KBW…
Interactive Brokers (IBKR, News, Press Releases: 16.43 +0.11 +0.67%, yield: N/A, cap: 677.2M, 1yr target: 18.42) downgraded to Underperform, $15 target, at Keefe Bruyette…
Intercontinental Exchange (ICE, News, Press Releases: 108.655 -0.235 -0.22%, yield: N/A, cap: 7.998B, 1yr target: 119.74) downgraded to Market Perform, $120 target, at Keefe Bruyette…
KLA-Tencor (KLAC, News, Press Releases: 28.65 +0.56 +1.99%, yield: 2.14, cap: 4.930B, 1yr target: 33.93) downgraded to Underperform, $25 target, at Oppenheimer…
Lam Research (LRCX, News, Press Releases: 33.38 +0.70 +2.14%, yield: N/A, cap: 4.270B, 1yr target: 41.20) downgraded to Market Perform, $35 target, at Oppenheimer…
Riverbed Technology (RVBD, News, Press Releases: 27.585 -0.405 -1.45%, yield: N/A, cap: 1.936B, 1yr target: 26.82) downgraded to Neutral from Overweight, $28 target, at Piper Jaffray…
Sonic Solutions (SNIC, News, Press Releases: 10.04 -0.05 -0.50%, yield: N/A, cap: 306.2M, 1yr target: 12.00) initiated as Neutral at Merriman…
Syntroleum (SYNM, News, Press Releases: 2.21 +0.01 +0.45%, yield: N/A, cap: 163.8M, 1yr target: 1.90) downgraded to Underweight at HSBC…
Ulta Salon (ULTA, News, Press Releases: 22.78 +0.67 +3.03%, yield: N/A, cap: 1.324B, 1yr target: 24.43) downgraded to Hold from Buy, $25 target, at Jefferies…
Zumiez (ZUMZ, News, Press Releases: 19.59 +0.36 +1.87%, yield: N/A, cap: 592.7M, 1yr target: 20.55) downgraded to Hold from Buy, $19 target, at Jefferies…

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades BMY, SCCO, SAAS, KMT, HAL, LULU, PCYC, SGI, BTE, ULTI, LMNX, MJN, MWA, EDU, DNDN…

Germaine Lombardo — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 14:07:26 +0000

Aeropostale (ARO, News, Press Releases: 28.48 +0.15 +0.53%, yield: N/A, cap: 2.747B, 1yr target: 32.26) upgraded to Neutral from Underweight, $31 target, at Piper Jaffray
Amylin Pharma (AMLN, News, Press Releases: 23.12 -0.38 -1.62%, yield: N/A, cap: 3.277B, 1yr target: 21.45) initiated as Buy at Jefferies
Dendreon (DNDN, News, Press Releases: 36.3899 -0.3801 -1.03%, yield: N/A, cap: 4.881B, 1yr target: 39.27) initiated as Outperform at RW Baird
Halliburton (HAL, News, Press Releases: 31.50 +0.47 +1.51%, yield: 1.16, cap: 28.510B, 1yr target: 41.16) reiterated Conviction Buy at Goldman
Kennametal (KMT, News, Press Releases: 29.665 +0.045 +0.15%, yield: 1.62, cap: 2.419B, 1yr target: 31.13) upgraded to Sell from Conviction Sell at Goldman
Lululemon (LULU, News, Press Releases: 35.94 +0.27 +0.76%, yield: N/A, cap: 2.527B, 1yr target: 31.44) reiterated Buy, target raised to $40 from $38, at Goldman
Luminex (LMNX, News, Press Releases: 17.38 -0.13 -0.74%, yield: N/A, cap: 727.2M, 1yr target: 17.23) initiated as Buy at Jefferies
Mead Johnson (MJN, News, Press Releases: 51.41 -0.36 -0.70%, yield: 1.35, cap: 10.513B, 1yr target: 51.50) maintained Buy, target raised to $57 from $52, at Goldman
New Oriental Education (EDU, News, Press Releases: 84.82 +1.29 +1.54%, yield: N/A, cap: 3.195B, 1yr target: 78.87) initiated as Buy at Deutsche Bank
Pharmacyclics (PCYC, News, Press Releases: 5.72 +0.07 +1.24%, yield: N/A, cap: 288.3M, 1yr target: 6.30) initiated as Buy at Roth Capital
Southern Copper (SCCO, News, Press Releases: 31.8201 +0.5201 +1.66%, yield: 2.41, cap: 27.047B, 1yr target: 36.92) upgraded to Buy from Hold, $38 target, at Deutsche Bank
Ultimate Software (ULTI, News, Press Releases: 34.12 +0.01 +0.03%, yield: N/A, cap: 847.0M, 1yr target: 30.36) upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at JMP Securities
Baytex Energy Trust (BTE, News, Press Releases: 34.45 +0.86 +2.56%, yield: 4.39, cap: 3.801B, 1yr target: 32.35) downgraded to Hold from Buy at Canaccord
Bristol-Myers (BMY, News, Press Releases: 25.80 -0.15 -0.58%, yield: 4.82, cap: 44.225B, 1yr target: 25.69) initiated as Hold at Jefferies
InContact (SAAS, News, Press Releases: 3.13 +0.07 +2.29%, yield: N/A, cap: 99.5M, 1yr target: 3.83) downgraded to Hold from Buy, $3.50 target, at Roth Capital
Mueller Water (MWA, News, Press Releases: 4.702 +0.032 +0.69%, yield: 1.54, cap: 725.6M, 1yr target: 6.40) downgraded to Conviction Sell from Sell at Goldman
Pacific Sunwear (PSUN, News, Press Releases: 5.28 +0.27 +5.39%, yield: N/A, cap: 349.1M, 1yr target: 4.65) downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform, $5 target, at FBR Capital
Silicon Graphics (SGI, News, Press Releases: 11.6401 -0.0699 -0.60%, yield: N/A, cap: 353.8M, 1yr target: 16.50) initiated as Market Perform at Morgan Keegan

Top Best Stock Picks for Beating the Market in 2010

Amarendra Bhushan — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 13:14:23 +0000

Applied Materials (AMAT, News, Press Releases: 12.395 +0.165 +1.35%, yield: 1.96, cap: 16.650B, 1yr target: 15.94)- Applied Materials, Inc. is the global leader in Nanomanufacturing Technology solutions with a broad portfolio of innovative equipment, service and software products for the fabrication of semiconductor chips, flat panel displays, solar photovoltaic cells, flexible electronics and energy efficient glass. At Applied Materials, we apply Nanomanufacturing Technology to improve the way people live.

China Security & Surveillance Technologies Inc (CSR, News, Press Releases: 7.23 +0.12 +1.69%, yield: N/A, cap: 495.2M, 1yr target: 9.75)- China Security & Surveillance Technology, Inc. (CSR) is engaged through its indirect Chinese subsidiaries, in the manufacturing, distributing, installing, and servicing of surveillance and safety products and systems and developing surveillance and safety related software in China.

The Company’s customers include governmental entities, such as customs agencies, courts, public security bureaus, and prisons; non-profit organizations, including schools, museums, sports arenas, and libraries and commercial entities, such as airports, hotels, real estate, banks, mines, railways, supermarkets and entertainment venues.

China North East Petroleum Holdings Ltd. (NEP, News, Press Releases: 8.9501 +0.1701 +1.94%, yield: N/A, cap: 231.4M, 1yr target: 11.00)- China North East Petroleum Holdings is engaged in the extraction and production of crude oil in a region of Northern China. Its current operations are focused on four oilfields located in China’s Jilin province, where it operates about 250 producing wells. It operates in tandem with oil giant PetroChina to exploit a number of 20-year leases held by PetroChina. China North East Petroleum Holdings has proved reserves of approximately 5.5 million barrels of crude oil equivalent. Large-scale commercial drilling at the Jilin Quinan Oil Field started in 1986.

Fluor (FLR, News, Press Releases: 45.64 -0.04 -0.09%, yield: 1.09, cap: 8.160B, 1yr target: 53.78)- Fluor is a FORTUNE 500 company that delivers engineering, procurement, construction, maintenance (EPCM), and project management to governments and clients in diverse industries around the world. For nearly a century, clients have selected Fluor as their company of choice to complete challenging projects in remote parts of the world.

Founded as a construction company in 1912, Fluor quickly built a reputation for applying innovative methods and performing precise engineering and construction work within the emerging petroleum industry. Today, Fluor continues to develop and implement innovative solutions for complex project issues in diverse industries, including chemicals and petrochemicals, commercial and institutional (C&I), government services, life sciences, manufacturing, mining, oil and gas, power, renewable energy, telecommunications, and transportation infrastructure.

Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. (FCX, News, Press Releases: 81.75 +1.09 +1.35%, yield: 0.19, cap: 35.199B, 1yr target: 102.40)- FCX is a leading international mining company with headquarters in Phoenix, Arizona. FCX operates large, long-lived, geographically diverse assets with significant proven and probable reserves of copper, gold and molybdenum. FCX has a dynamic portfolio of operating, expansion and growth projects in the copper industry and is the world’s largest producer of molybdenum.

The company’s portfolio of assets includes the Grasberg mining complex, the world’s largest copper and gold mine in terms of recoverable reserves, significant mining operations in the Americas, including the large scale Morenci and Safford minerals districts in North America and the Cerro Verde and El Abra operations in South
America, and the Tenke Fungurume minerals district in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

HQ Sustainable Maritime Industries (HQS, News, Press Releases: 7.0274 -0.7726 -9.91%, yield: N/A, cap: 103.0M, 1yr target: 11.25)- HQ Sustainable Maritime Industries, Inc. was initially incorporated on September 21, 1989 under the laws of the State of Nevada. It is a vertically integrated aquatic product producer, processor, and farmer (e.g. through cooperative arrangements with pond farmers) with operations in the PRC of toxin free tilapia, other aquatic products, and marine bio and healthcare products. It uses state-of-the-art and environment-friendly technologies in its production, processing, and cooperative farm operations.

The Company’s business operations consist of two segments, the marine bio and healthcare product segment and the aquaculture product segment. The Company’s aquatic farming and processing operations are in Hainan Province, an island in the South China Sea which is situated within the most desirable latitude for raising tilapia. Hainan Province in southern China is designated by the Chinese government as a green province, where only environmentally friendly agri-food related industry and tourism are permitted.

Petrobras (PBR, News, Press Releases: 46.61 -0.02 -0.04%, yield: 1.09, cap: N/A, 1yr target: 0.00)- The most important company in Brazil is the world leader in ultra deep water oil and gas exploration. The 4th world energy company in market value. The 3th world energy company in proved oil reserves. 71000 holding employees and 211000 people working for contracted companies. Revenues of US$79,3 billion and profits of US$11 billion for 1Q + 2Q 2008.

PriceSmart (PSMT, News, Press Releases: 22.66 -0.18 -0.79%, yield: 2.19, cap: 674.4M, 1yr target: 27.00)- PriceSmart, headquartered in San Diego, owns and operates U.S.-style membership shopping warehouse clubs in Central America and the Caribbean, selling high quality merchandise at low prices to PriceSmart members. PriceSmart now operates 26 warehouse clubs in 11 countries and one U.S. territory (five in Costa Rica; four in Panama; three each in Guatemala and Trinidad, two each in Dominican Republic, El Salvador and Honduras; and one each in Aruba, Barbados, Jamaica, Nicaragua and the United States Virgin Islands).

Smith & Wesson (SWHC, News, Press Releases: 4.02 +0.01 +0.25%, yield: N/A, cap: 240.2M, 1yr target: 5.50)- Smith & Wesson is one of the world’s most recognizable brands, and for good reason. Since we first opened our doors, we have focused on designing and manufacturing innovative solutions that are unparalleled in the field of personal safety and protection. Almost every major law enforcement and military agency in the world has used Smith & Wesson products, and to this day, most police departments in the United States depend on our firearms and accessories.

Sonic (SONC, News, Press Releases: 11.16 +0.67 +6.39%, yield: N/A, cap: 681.7M, 1yr target: 9.64)- Sonic is the nation’s largest chain of drive-in hamburger restaurants. Sonic’s drive-ins recreate the diner feel of the 1950s featuring American classics and rollerskating carhops. The company operates more than 3,350 drive-ins coast to coast, of which approximately 80% are franchised. Sonic is primarily concentrated in the Deep South with its top 5 markets (including Texas, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Arkansas and Missouri) representing over half of its store locations.

Stec Inc. (STEC, News, Press Releases: 12.17 -0.43 -3.41%, yield: N/A, cap: 612.3M, 1yr target: 11.10)- STEC is a leading global provider of Solid State technologies and solutions tailored to meet the high-performance, high reliability needs of original equipment manufacturers (OEMs).

With headquarters in Santa Ana, California and worldwide locations, STEC leverages nearly two decades of Solid State knowledge and experience to deliver the industry’s most comprehensive line of Solid State Drives. STEC’s mission is to provide the world’s highest level of quality, reliability and innovation to the storage industry with the directive to advance Solid State technology for emerging storage applications.

Syngenta (SYT, News, Press Releases: 56.11 +0.06 +0.11%, yield: 0.19, cap: 26.086B, 1yr target: 59.07)- Syngenta is one of the world’s leading companies with more than 24,000 employees in over 90 countries dedicated to our purpose: Bringing plant potential to life. Through world-class science, global reach and commitment to our customers we help to increase crop productivity, protect the environment and improve health and quality of life.

North American Energy Partners Inc (NOA, News, Press Releases: 9.97 +0.08 +0.81%, yield: N/A, cap: 359.4M, 1yr target: 9.81)-North American Energy Partners, Inc.. The Group’s principal activities are to provide mining, heavy construction, piling and pipeline services in Western Canada. The services are provided to large oil, natural gas and resource companies with a principal focus on the Canadian oil sands. The operations are carried out through three business segments: Heavy Construction and Mining: Provides mining and site preparation services, including overburden removal and reclamation services, project management and underground utility construction, to a variety of customers throughout Western Canada. Piling: Provides deep foundation construction and design build services to a variety of industrial and commercial customers throughout Western Canada. Pipeline: Provides both small and large diameter pipeline construction and installation services to energy and industrial clients throughout Western Canada.

Bank of Ireland Plc (IRE, News, Press Releases: 6.84 +0.16 +2.40%, yield: N/A, cap: 1.697B, 1yr target: 4.79)- The Governor and Company of the Bank of Ireland (BOI or Bank of Ireland) is one of the largest financial services groups in Ireland with total assets of 189 billion (US$251 billion) at March 31, 2007. The company conducts its business through 295 full-time retail bank branches, of which 251 were in Ireland and 44 in Northern Ireland at March 31, 2007. There are no full-service retail bank branches in Britain. Operations in the rest of the

world are undertaken by Bank of Ireland Asset Management through offices located in the US, the UK, Australia, Canada and Japan, Corporate Banking through offices located in the UK, France, Germany and the US, and Global Markets through offices located in the UK and the US. The company operates through four main divisions: Retail Republic of Ireland (accounting for 40% of pretax profits in the fiscal year ending March 31, 2007), Capital Markets (29%), UK Financial Services (23%), and Bank of Ireland Life (8%).

Allied Irish Bank Plc (AIB, News, Press Releases: 3.9799 +0.1599 +4.19%, yield: N/A, cap: 1.798B, 1yr target: 5.82)- Allied Irish Banks, p.l.c., together with its subsidiaries, provides retail and corporate banking, investment banking, and asset management services in the Republic of Ireland and internationally. The company accepts demand deposits, time deposits, and current accounts, as well as provides lending services, such as vehicle, plant, machinery, and equipment leasing; retail and investment property loans; vehicle, plant, machinery, and equipment hire purchase; and personal loans. It also offers wealth management services, as well as a range of life and pension products. In addition, the company provides corporate finance, treasury, risk management, stock broking, and outsourced financial services.

Further, it offers specialist services comprising home mortgages, credit cards, invoice discounting, asset finance, loans and overdrafts, payment services, and foreign exchange services; and electronic banking services, which facilitate account accessibility via telephone, mobile phone, and the Internet. Additionally, Allied Irish Banks provides financial planning and custody services; and mutual funds, and leasing and factoring products. The company was founded in 1825 and is headquartered in Dublin, the Republic of Ireland.

General Steel Holdings Inc (GSI, News, Press Releases: 3.99 -0.39 -8.90%, yield: N/A, cap: 183.4M, 1yr target: 7.50)- General Steel Holdings Inc., through its subsidiaries, operates a portfolio of steel companies serving various industries primarily in the Peoples Republic of China. The company manufactures hot-rolled carbon and silicon steel sheets for use in the production of tractors, agricultural vehicles, shipping containers, and in other specialty markets; spiral-weld steel pipes, which primarily serves customers in the oil, gas, and petrochemical markets; and integrated steel, pig iron, crude steel, reinforced bars, and high-speed wire for the construction industry and infrastructure. It sells its products primarily to distributors. The company was founded in 1988 and is based in Beijing, the Peoples Republic of China.

Navigant Consulting Inc. (NCI)– An Earnings Rebound Should Lead to Gains

Dr. Paul Price — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 19:19:53 +0000

Navigant Consulting (NCI, News, Press Releases: 12.045 +0.015 +0.12%, yield: N/A, cap: 602.2M, 1yr target: 16.63) provides numerous services through its three business segments: North American Dispute and Investigative, North American Business Consulting and International Consulting. Navigant Consulting is a specialized, international consulting firm combining deep industry expertise and integrated solutions to assist companies and their legal counsel in enhancing stakeholder value, improving operations, and addressing conflict, performance and risk related challenges. The Company focuses on industries undergoing substantial regulatory or structural change, including financial services, insurance, healthcare and energy. Navigant has offices in over 40 cities in North America, Europe and Asia.

NCI is a classic ‘buy low’ opportunity right now. The shares are close to their lows from the previous eight years while only trading for about half their old highs from 2004 – 2008. Earnings dropped from 2008 to 2009 and took the stock from a spring 2008 high of $22.80 back to a March 2009 low of $10.60 /share. NCI traded as high as $15.40 in January this year.

Here are NCI’s per share numbers from continuing operations as reported by Value Line:

Year	Sales	C/F	EPS	B/V	Avg. P/E	52-wk range
2002	6.13	0.45	0.21	3.43	28.0x	3.50 – 7.00
2003	7.07	0.63	0.40	4.20	28.1x	4.80 – 20.00
2004	9.42	1.04	0.82	5.64	25.9x	17.30 – 27.10
2005	11.37	1.39	0.98	7.60	22.3x	15.30 – 26.30
2006	12.65	1.50	1.05	9.03	19.1x	17.30 – 23.50
2007	16.75	1.62	0.80	7.48	21.7x	12.00 – 22.60
2008	17.13	1.62	0.89	7.73	19.5x	10.90 – 22.80
2009	14.54	1.32	*0.68	8.61	19.7x	10.60 – 16.20

* excludes $0.24 non-recurring loss

Zacks, Value Line and other leading analyst services project 2010 and 2011 earnings of $0.81 and $1.00 respectively. That level of earnings seems quite likely given they fall right in the range actually achieved in the five years from 2004 through 2008.

If those estimates prove reliable then NCI shares now trade at about 14.9x this year’s and 12x the 2011 expectations. Compare those multiples with the historical ones from the chart above. Navigant also is very cheap based on price/book value. NCI is trading at about 1.4x last year’s ending book value versus peak levels of 2x – 3.5x in all previous years.

A rebound to even 2x book value could take these shares back to $17 or higher. In fact, Morningstar now list present day ‘fair value’ as $16 /share in light of the improved 2010 outlook and assigns Navigant a 4-star rating (with 5-stars being best). Value Line sees EPS expanding to $1.60 by the 2013 – 2015 time frame and assumes an 18 multiple for the long term. That puts their mid-point 3 – 5 year price target at $30 or 149% above today’s close.

Even during the worst of times in 2008 and 2009 these shares never went below $10.60. The dead lows in 2004-2005-2006-2007 were $17.30, $15.30, $17.30 and $12.00 respectively. From the $12.05 closing quote there does not appear to be a lot of risk.

Overall I see upside of 20% – 50% balanced against about 10% risk.

Investors fluent in options might want to consider this 7.25 month trade:

	Cash Outlay	Cash Inflow
Buy 1000 NCI @ $12.05 /share	$12,050
Sell 10 Oct. $12.50 calls @ $1.10 /share		$1,100
Sell 10 Oct. $12.50 puts @ $1.55 /share		$1,550
Net Cash Out-of-Pocket	$9,440

If NCI shares rise to at least $12.50 [+ 3.8%] by the Oct. 16, 2010 expiration date:

* The $12.50 calls will be exercised.
* You will sell your shares for $12,500.
* The $12.50 puts will expire worthless.
* You will have no further option obligations.
* You will end up with no shares and $12,500 in cash.

That best-case scenario result would be $12,500 – $9,440 = $3,060

$3,060/$9,440 = + 32.4%

achieved over just 7.25 months on shares that only needed to gain 3.8% or better.

If NCI shares remain < $12.50 through Oct. 16, 2010: * The $12.50 calls will expire worthless. * The $12.50 puts will be exercised. * You will be forced to buy another 1000 NCI shares. * You will need to lay out an additional $12,500 in cash. * You will have no further option obligations. * You will end up with 2000 NCI shares. What’s the break-even on the whole trade? On the original 1000 shares it’s the $12.05 /share purchase price less the $1.10 /share call premium = $10.95 /share. (Just coincidently) on the ‘put’ shares it’s the $12.50 strike price less the $1.55 /share put premium = $10.95 /share. Your break-even is thus $10.95 or 9.1% below the trade origination price. NCI could fall almost 10% without causing a loss on this trade. Summary: Navigant Consulting has rarely been offered at such an attractive valuation. Upside appears to be 20 – 50% while downside looks limited to about 10% based on historical trading data. Investors who buy shares and simultaneously sell October $12.50 calls and puts will see cash-on-cash returns of > 32% over the next 7 ¼ months if NCI finishes above $12.50 on October 16th.

Disclosure: Author is long NCI shares and short NCI options.

Psychiatric Solutions Inc (PSYS)– Crazy Pricing for Big Potential Returns

Dr. Paul Price — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 16:27:04 +0000

Psychiatric Solutions, Inc. (PSYS, News, Press Releases: 29.48 -0.21 -0.71%, yield: N/A, cap: 1.659B, 1yr target: 27.50) is a pure-play provider of inpatient behavioral health care services. They offer its services for children, adolescents, and adults through acute inpatient behavioral health care facilities and residential treatment centers. Services include 24-hour nursing observation and care, daily interventions and oversight by psychiatrists. These services are all coordinated by physician-led teams of mental health professionals. PSYS also provides contract management and managed care plans involving the development, organization, and management of behavioral health care and rehabilitation programs within medical/surgical hospitals. As of year-end 2009, it owned and leased inpatient behavioral health care facilities with approximately 11,000 beds in 32 states, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

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PSYS came public during the stock market’s boom years and was priced accordingly at $21.25 /share even though they were yet to show earnings. Losses ensued through the year 2000 before the company turned consistently profitable in 2001. Since then, six of the past eight years have shown year-over-year improvement and EPS surged from $0.10 in 2001 to $2.10 last year. Revenues grew from $113.9 million to $1.81 billion over that same eight years.

Here are PSYS’s per share numbers as reported by Value Line:

Year	Sales	C/F	EPS	B/V	Avg. P/E	52-wk Range
2001	6.03	0.43	0.10	d.1.20	17.6x	0.50 – 2.50
2002	14.72	0.96	0.86	3.95	2.8x	1.20 – 3.80
2003	24.60	1.21	0.73	7.65	7.2x	2.20 – 10.50
2004	23.80	1.31	0.97	11.95	12.8x	8.80 – 18.70
2005	13.88	0.80	0.59	10.29	39.6x	17.30 – 29.90
2006	19.22	1.54	1.14	11.75	28.2x	25.60 – 38.80
2007	26.89	1.98	1.40	13.70	26.9x	31.80 – 42.90
2008	31.57	2.65	1.92	15.91	17.5x	22.90 – 40.90
2009	32.60	2.83	2.10	18.01	10.4x	12.50 – 30.14

At this morning’s quote of $23.94 these shares are offered at just 11.4x trailing 12-month earnings and about 10.4x forward estimates of $2.30 for 2010. That seems extremely cheap for a company that has shown historical growth that often merited much higher multiples in the recent past.

Even 14x forward projections would bring PSYS back to $32.20 or up 34% from the current quote. Value Line is using an 18 multiple in calculating their 3 – 5 year target zone. Standard and Poors and Morningstar both agree that PYSY seems undervalued. Their ‘fair value’ estimates [reflecting their views of today’s true worth] are now at $27.30 and $30 respectively.

Is my goal of $32.20 realistic? PSYS shares hit a peak price of $29.90 in 2005 when EPS were only $0.59 and these shares changed hands at highs of $38.80 – $42.90 during parts of each calendar year from 2006 through 2008 (also times when revenues and earnings were significantly lower than today’s).

Any expansion of health care benefits to a wider group of patients would seem to add to the potential pool of users of psychiatric treatments in this crazy world we live in.

Despite the good fundamentals and the big market rally from last March’s low, PSYS shares still trade at a very reasonable valuation. In fact, the current price is lower than the lows from the entire period running from late in 2005 right through most of 2008.

I’m a buyer of PSYS shares with a one-year target of $30.00 – $35.00.

If you’re option savvy and want a relatively low risk play for just over six months you might want to consider this trade:

	Cash Outlay	Cash Inflow
Buy 1000 PSYS @ $23.94 /share	$23,940
Sell 10 Sep. $25 calls @ $2.35 /share		$2,350
Sell 10 Sep. $25 puts @ $3.20 /share		$3,200
Net Cash Out-of-Pocket	$18,390

If PSYS shares rise modestly to at least $25 [+ 4.5%] by Sep. 17, 2010:

* The $25 calls will be exercised.
* You will sell your shares for $25,000.
* The $25 puts will expire worthless (a good thing for you as a seller).
* You will have no further option obligations.
* You will end up with no shares and $25,000 in cash.

That’s a best-case scenario profit of $25,000 – $18,390 = $6,610

$6,610 / $18,390 = + 36.9% net cash-on-cash return

achieved in 6.25 months on shares that only needed to rise by 4.5% over the same period.

What’s the downside?

If PSYS shares remain < $25 on Sep. 17, 2010:

* The $25 calls will expire worthless.
* The $25 puts will be exercised.
* You will be forced to buy another 1000 PSYS shares.
* You will need to lay out an additional $25,000 in cash.
* You will have no further option obligations.
* You will end up with 2000 PSYS shares.

What’s the break-even point on the whole trade?

On the original 1000 shares it’s the $23.94 purchase price less the $2.35 /share call premium = $21.59 /share.

On the ‘put’ shares it’s the $25 strike price less the $3.20 /share put premium = $21.80 /share.

Your overall break-even point will be $21.70 /share or 9.37% below the trade inception price.

Diwakar Nigam, Managing Director and CEO– Newgen Software Technologies Ltd

Elizabeth Haggar — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 15:53:03 +0000

In 1992, Mr. Diwakar Nigam started Newgen with the vision of “One World, One Workplace”. The vision has now become a reality with Newgen enabling companies to be able to work from anywhere, across the world, and by having 750 installations across 35 countries throughout the world.

Mr. Nigam is an entrepreneur with over 30 years of experience. He is a founder member of NASSCOM, and a member of its anti-piracy group. Mr. Nigam was recently featured on CNBC TV 18’s Emerging India 2008 as a leading entrepreneur.

While starting out in 1992, Mr. Nigam could envisage the need for Imaging-based Process Automation and Management solutions. At that time, the processing power was limited, memory was costly, but he rightly anticipated that it was bound to grow with time and be affordable, and one would eventually be able to support DMS and Imaging capabilities through a software. Therefore, he invested in building robust Imaging capabilities to act as a solid foundation for our Document Management Software (DMS) and Business Process Management (BPM) software products and solutions.

Mr. Nigam had a firm belief that BPM will be the next great wave after ERP, and that every organization will have to essentially adopt BPM in order to sustain and thrive in the dynamic business environment. What ERP does to manufacturing sector, BPM does to the operations in the services sector. It streamlines processes, increases workers productivity and provides real-time visibility and control of the business processes. Newgen was ready with relevant products and solutions as early as 1998, and had major successful installation by 1999. However, this coincided with the Y2K phenomenon and the dotcom era. This resulted in BPM being pushed back on the organizations’ priority list – process efficiency went into backburner. By 2002, BPM again came into reckoning and gained attention of the leading organizations across the verticals. The BPM wave was well and truly on by the year 2003.

A key imperative for Newgen was to establish its credibility and prove its longevity in the marketplace to convince customers that Newgen was there for the long term. Companies investing in enterprise-level products are always fearful of the risks involved and tend to pick vendors that appear financially robust, with a strong customer base and considerable experience.

In the Indian market, during the start-up phase, one of the key challenges encountered by the Newgen Software was the lack of awareness about the products that we offered. Newgen Software not only spread the cause but also spelt out what its products and services meant. Internationally, too, the company initially faced big hurdles, as it met fierce competition from large competitors having an established strong presence in the market. However, a consistent focus on offering high quality products and services – that went beyond implementation, at acceptable price points to multinational corporations in the developing markets, and replicating these successes in the developed markets – helped Newgen Software overcome these challenges and made it a partner of choice for the leading companies worldwide.

Creating unique products is also a tough call. While price could be one of the differentiators, companies have to focus on the features as well. At the same time, companies have to evolve a business model where they kept adding new components to their offering to provide continuous value to the customer and generate fresh revenue streams for themselves. Thus, it is essential to build add-on capability into the products.

Initially, it was very difficult to sell products in the foreign markets. The mindset of foreign customers regarding Indian software product companies was a huge challenge to overcome. Therefore, initial few years were more focused on changing the mindsets by offering best-of-breed products. The perseverance of Mr. Nigam as an individual and Newgen Software as a company has paid rich dividends with Newgen Software scaling new heights and entering new territories and successfully challenging much bigger competitors on heir own turfs.

Right from its incorporation, Newgen Software Technologies chose to be a company with a difference. Newgen started selling software products at a time when other Indian IT majors were focused on selling their IT services. Our focused approach towards providing an end-to-end BPM & ECM solutions and sticking in verticals like BFSI, Telecom, Manufacturing BPO and SSC enabled us to compete with the global giants like IBM ,Microsoft ,Oracle, etc. Today, Newgen is a leader in these segments in Europe, Middle East, Africa and India.

As its first major success, Newgen helped Citibank (1996) create a global hub for back-office processing (e-Serve). It started with few processes and extended to more than 500 processes on Newgen’s workflow platform. Hence, Newgen had developed the domain and technical expertise for automation of BPO much before the outsourcing boom arrived .Today, Newgen BPM platform is a preferred choice for the leading BPO’s , with 18 out-of-top non-voice BPO’s operating on Newgen BPM solution.

Today, Mr. Nigam has established Newgen as a leader in the field of Business Process Management and Enterprise Content Management, in India, Middle East, Africa and other countries in APAC. We have installations in 35 countries, where our products are being used for mission critical operations in Banks, Insurance companies and Telecom operators. Mr. Nigam has plans to expand Newgen to 100 countries in the near future.
Today Newgen is an organization of over 1000 people. A core team of highly skilled professionals has been with the company since its formative years. The top management team representing HR , Product Development , Implementation ,Marketing & Sales has to its credit many achievements including development of innovative products, filing of technology patents, deployment of large-scale and mission-critical solutions, domain expertise and building a global blue-chip customer base.

Newgen is recognized by distinguished analyst firms like Gartner in its report “Magic Quadrant for Business Process Management Suites, 2009” and IDC in its exclusive report “Newgen Software: Global Leader in Business Process Management and Document Management Solutions.”

In recent years Newgen Software Technologies has been focusing on building its brand internationally and Analysts around the world have acclaimed us. Frost & Sullivan recognizes Newgen Software as a ‘Hot Company to Watch for’ in the ECM Market, 2009. Gartner included Newgen Software as a sample vendor in the Hype Cycle for Business Process Management in 2009. It is a remarkable fact that in the Hype Cycle’s BPMS for the BPO category, 5 out of 11 vendors listed, use the Newgen platform for their suites.
Also very recently, Newgen Software is positioned as a niche player in the Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Content Management (ECM), 2009. In 2010, Newgen emerged out as the Red Herring Global top 100 winner.

Newgen implementations have won various awards and nominations. Newgen implementation at Fullerton India had won Gold Award at the 15th Global Awards for Excellence in BPM and Workflow 2009. Newgen BPM implementation at MNYL was among the finalists at the Gartner BPM awards 2009.

Newgen is also the winner of prestigious awards, such as CNBC-TV18 & ICICI Bank “Emerging India Award 2008”, Frost and Sullivan’s “Market Leadership Award for Document Management System and Workflow Software & Services” and “Distinguished Application Product Company” by NASSCOM. Newgen has also received the Red Herring Global 100 award, 2009.

Top Best Social Network Sites for Corporate Business Marketing Professionals

Amarendra Bhushan — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 13:27:32 +0000

1) Facebook – For most Marketing Professionals, Facebook Pages are the best place to start. Pages allow them to collect “fans” the way celebrities, sports teams, musicians and politicians do. More and more businesses are jumping into social media as the ROI of Inbound Marketing continues to show that online Social Network Sites are an effective and inexpensive way to reach potential buyers.

Facebook is a social networking website intended to connect friends, family, and business associates. You can also join Facebook groups to meet people like you, or browse the profiles to find new friends. Facebook users create a profile page that shows their friends and networks information about themselves. The choice to include a profile in a network means that everyone withing that network can view the profile. The profile typically includes the following: Information, Status, Friends, Friends in Other Networks, Photos, Notes, Groups, and The Wall. In this website, you will be able to post your pictures, discuss your interests and hobbies as well as do other great things.

Now, if you have an online business, you will see that Facebook can significantly help you promote your website and your business. Facebook marketing is now one of the hottest trends among online entrepreneurs today.

2) Twitter- Twitter is a free ‘micro-blogging’ service which allows users to exchange short updates (up to 140 characters long), termed ‘Tweets’ in a way similar to SMS. Unlike SMS, these updates are generally public (although private messages are possible). They are delivered via the internet to either the Twitter website or a separate client to a user’s PC or mobile device. Any Twitter user simply clicks a ‘follow’ button to receive another user’s public messages in their Twitter feed (becoming a ‘follower’). Please don’t forget to follow us on Twitter @ceoworld

3) Myspace -MySpace has a high value because of it’s massive userbase, which in turn provides a potentially rich source of advertising income. Given the audience is a young demographic it’s a very lucrative market for advertisers. However if you are willing to dig a little deeper you can find some legitimate companies and organizations who are using MySpace.

One of the key factors you’ll need to accept if you are going to take advantage of marketing opportunities on MySpace is it’s a hangout for the hip and trendy set, and not neccisarily just teens. If you’re potential customer is more likely to drive a Toyota Scion instead of a Jaguar then you are in the right spot.

4) Linkedin- LinkedIn is a sales and marketing accelerator. You can get Thousands of visitors to your website or product page, you can get hundreds of leads, market to millions of people. LinkedIn is a contact network consisting of your direct connections, the connections of each of their connections (termed second degree connections) and also the connections of second degree connections (termed third degree connections). First and foremost, get in the habit of connecting with all your business contacts. When you get a business card at an event, find the contact on LinkedIn and invite them to join your network.

Expand your network by browsing or searching for second or third degree connections you wish to meet. LinkedIn let’s you search by a variety of powerful terms. In addition to Name, search by Company, Title, Location, Industry and group affiliations. Then, use the Get Introduced feature to obtain an introduction through a mutual and trusted contact.

5) CEOWORLD Exchange-More and more professionals are using CEOWORLD Exchange nowadays, to connect with colleagues and business contacts. CEOWORLD Exchange is a professional niche social networking site. On CEOWORLD Exchange, you can connect with professional colleagues, meet new people, find recommended services and find new contacts in your current network. Currently, you can reach “more than 100,000” professionals on the service, including many of the Fortune 500 companies.

6) Meettheboss -MeettheBoss.com is the premier industry networking, communication, and content delivery site for senior management, across all vertical industries. While not solely a networking tool, MeettheBoss.com’s industry leading technology ensures that the communication taking place between members is far superior to that of any other existing ‘business networking’ site.

7) Ryze Networking -Ryze helps people make connections and grow their networks. You can network to grow your business, build your career and life, find a job and make sales. Or just keep in touch with friends.

Xing -XING is the leading European network for business contacts. Far more than a directory of business contacts, XING makes your professional network an active part of your life, enabling members to discover professional people, opportunities and privileges through its unique discovery capability and advanced contact management tools.

9) Ecademy -Ecademy connects business people all over the world. It is a self-development, business and branding tool, which enables business people to achieve immediate visibility. The relationships, advocates and knowledge subsequently shared through the network provides individuals with the credibility they need to grow their business.

Ecademy’s core intention is to help business people to be more successful and promotes the values of a business community who no longer wish to be broadcast to, but demand engagement and conversation.

10) Gather -Gather is a place where people come together around hot topics and the things they are passionate about. Members share their expertise, advice, and views on the news of the day and are paid for the popular content they contribute.

11) Plaxo -Plaxo helps millions around the world enrich their connections with the people they know and care about. The company operates the largest and fastest growing network of networked address books, hosting over 50 million accounts, and is bringing those address books to life with a next-generation social network, Pulse, which makes it easy to share content with fine-grained control. Plaxo is a unit of Comcast Interactive Media.

12) Biznik -Biznik is a social networking environment for entrepreneurs who are heads of companies without payrolls, in other words, small businesses where the owner and maybe one or two other people work. Biznik started out in Seattle and is, consequently, very big on the West coast. They’ve been covered by The Wall Street Journal, NPR, and others, and are fast earning a reputation as a great resource for business owners.

13) cmypitch -cmypitch.com is a social network for small business, connecting entrepreneurs with investors and service providers. The video-based website has five distinct business communities for anyone starting, running, growing or selling a business. With a directory of 70,000 service providers to small and growing businesses, as well as a dedicated “Entrepreneur TV” channel featuring exclusive interviews with hugely successful business leaders, cmypitch.com provides a platform to help entrepreneurs succeed.

14) E.Factor -”E.Factor” stands for “The Entrepreneur Factor” and represents a vibrant online community and virtual marketplace designed for entrepreneurs, by entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs love E.Factor.com because it’s a place where they can focus exclusively on making business connections, negotiating deals, exchanging information, and advertising their products and services. Comprised of businesspeople and investors across an array of industries around the globe, the E.Factor community is ideal for entrepreneurs looking to increase their brand exposure, establish a network of high quality contacts, and acquire the funding needed to take their enterprise to the next level.

15) Fast Pitch -Fast Pitch is a Global Network of Professionals connecting online with the primary goal to add value to their business and the community as a whole. Business networking and marketing is the life blood of local and global economies. By combining sophisticated and simple tools online with a social networking platform, professionals can receive real return on their investment.

16) PartnerUp – PartnerUp is a social networking community where you can connect to other small business owners like yourself and find solutions to your everyday problems. As an Aplus.net customer, you will receive an upgrade to a Premier membership with PartnerUp at no extra cost. Premier status allows you to connect with people outside of your network and provides extra exposure for your business with a free one-year listing in the PartnerUp Resource Directory. Connect on PartnerUp today to begin utilizing these free resources.

17) aSmallWorld -ASMALLWORLD is the world’s leading private online community that captures an existing international network of people who are connected by three degrees of separation. Members share similar backgrounds, interests and perspectives. ASMALLWORLD’s unique platform offers powerful tools and user generated content to help members manage their private, social and business lives.

You can find other important resources for Corporate Business Marketing Professionals here: A complete List of business Networking Websites for CEO’S and Entrepreneurs, Complete List of social networking websites and Tools for Running a Business Online

Worlds Top Best Job, career Web Sites for Job-Seekers

Elizabeth Haggar — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 13:45:44 +0000

YAHOO! HotJobs

As a leader in the online recruiting industry, Yahoo! HotJobs (www.hotjobs.com) has revolutionized the way people manage their careers and the way companies hire talent. Yahoo! HotJobs’ tools and advice put job seekers in control of their careers and make it easier and more cost-effective for employers and staffing firms to find qualified candidates. In addition to its popular consumer job board, Yahoo! HotJobs provides employers, recruiters, and staffing agencies with progressive recruiting solutions.

Jobcentral

JobCentral National Labor Exchange is a service of DirectEmployers Association (DEA), a nonprofit consortium of leading U.S. corporations, in alliance with the National Association of State Workforce Agencies (NASWA). In accordance with its corporate by-laws, the business and affairs of the Association are managed by a board of directors consisting of member company representatives. Daily operations are managed by an executive director and operations staff at the direction of the president and board of directors. The Association’s purpose is to develop and manage the JobCentral National Labor Exchange and related Internet systems and software to help employers increase labor market efficiency and reduce recruiting costs.

Net-temps

Net-Temps is the leading job board for temporary, temp-to-perm and full time employment through the staffing industry. Membership to Net-Temps is exclusive to staffing companies and therefore, candidates featured on our site are accessible only to our subscribers, not direct employers. This puts our customers in a non-compete position with their own clients for the best candidates.

Simplyhired

Simply Hired is a vertical search engine company based in Silicon Valley, and we’re building the largest online database of jobs on the planet. Our goal is to make finding your next job a simple yet effective, enjoyable journey. We can’t always promise you’ll discover your dream job, but we’ll give you the best chance possible to get a bigger paycheck, a more considerate boss, or a shorter commute.

Indeed

Indeed.com is a search engine for jobs, allowing job seekers to find jobs posted on thousands of company career sites and job boards.

Jobfox

Jobfox is now the fastest growing job site on the Internet. We provide what no other job site can – Introductions between highly matched job seeking professionals and employers.

Monster

Looking for a new job? Know of someone who is? Let’s work together to connect the right people with the right jobs and Keep America Working.

careerbuilder

As the global leader in human capital solutions, we help organizations target and attract their most important asset – their people. We use world-class technology, data-analysis, a comprehensive partner network and superior customer service to match the right people with the right jobs.

Theladders

TheLadders.com offers online job search resources and content for the $100k+ job seekers and recruiters. Our specialized job search engines are an invaluable asset to top-earning job seekers in Sales, Marketing, Finance, Human Resources, Law, Technology, Operations, and all other $100k+ fields.

ExecuNet

ExecuNet can connect you to the people, insights and opportunities you’ve been looking for to achieve the success you deserve. Through the ExecuNet network, you’ll connect with thousands of trusted business leaders, executive career advisors and recruiters; gain expert career and business insights; access proprietary research and intelligence on the executive employment market; and tap into hidden $150K+ executive jobs. And you’ll quickly discover something else that has been our hallmark since 1988: that ExecuNet is formed around a core of exceptional, personal service to our members.

Executivesontheweb

executivesontheweb.com is the No1 UK executive jobs and career site offering senior management and executive jobs across all industry sectors in the UK, Europe and the Middle East. We have established a reputation for providing the best senior management jobs and customer service online today.

Dice

Dice.com, a Dice Holdings company, is the leading career website for technology and engineering professionals, and the companies that seek to employ them, in the United States. Our mission is to help our customers source and hire the most qualified technology and engineering professionals and to provide those professionals with the best job opportunities in their respective fields. With a 19-year track record in meeting the ever-changing needs of companies and recruiters, our specialty focus and exposure to highly-skilled technology and engineering professionals enable employers to reach hard-to-find, experienced candidates.

Hcareers

Hcareers, the leading online hospitality job board in North America, is celebrating ten years as the top recruitment source for connecting employers and candidates within the hospitality industry.

eFinancialCareers

eFinancialCareers, a Dice Holdings company, serves the global financial community as the leading network of career sites for professionals working in banking and the financial markets and those firms seeking to employ them.

For financial services professionals our mission is to provide the best job opportunities, job market news and analysis, salary surveys and career advice.

Jobster

Tired of searching countless job boards and company web sites for the ideal gig? Us too. That’s why we created Jobster. Find all the jobs with one search, on one site.

job.com

Job.com is your source for local jobs, career advice, and services to manage your job search, and, more importantly, your career. Whether you are looking for employment today, or researching employment opportunities for tomorrow, Job.com is here to connect you with hot jobs from some of today’s best employers. With so many local job listings, you are sure to find a job you’ll love. Start your job search now by browsing Sales Jobs, Tech Jobs, Management Jobs, Healthcare Jobs, Accounting Jobs, Construction Jobs, and Customer Service Jobs, or go to our Advanced Job Search to find jobs in your industry.

Guru

Guru.com’s mission is to provide businesses with the most efficient platform to connect and perform transactions with freelance professionals locally, nationally, and globally.

Beyond.com

Beyond.com is the world’s largest network of niche career communities, providing access to thousands of top-tier industry and local web sites. Our career search services and networking tools enable job seekers and employers to create targeted connections across thousands of online communities. We deliver a one-of-a-kind recruitment solution that provides the targeted exposure of a specialized job board, reinforced by the breadth and volume of a larger career network.

Craigslist

CareerBuilder drops Widen &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp; Kennedy, takes advertising in house!

Top best Employee, staff Scheduling planning & Workforce Management Software Solutions for you

Janina Energin — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 10:15:08 +0000

Business needs to be profitable. As a business manager, workforce strategy is your responsibility and without an effective strategy your business will suffer.

Being in the service business, you realize that a big part of success depends on how well you schedule your employees and equipment. The typical office spends a great deal of time on employee scheduling, invoicing and payroll. With TimeCurve Scheduler you’ll instantly recognize who, what, when and where your resources are going.

ClockIt- es-software.net

Easy Schedule Creator is a fast and easy to use employee & labor planning software. The user friendly interface and powerful query features make it the ideal tool for creating custom schedules. Spending to much time on scheduling your employees? Use our Automatic Scheduling tool and ClockIt: Easy Schedule Creator will do the planning for you!

This schedule maker allows you to easily create shift schedules for your staff. Different tools are included for fast calculation of worked hours and shifts, displayed per day, month, employee, … Not enough? Well, then: create your own queries with the provided tool!

ResSched- Madrigal Software

Sophisticated, but easy-to-use resource and employee scheduling software for rooms, equipment, staff (technicians, professionals, health care workers, others), vehicles, rooms, or other resources.

Whether your organization schedules resources by fraction of an hour or by the week, ResSched can help. ResSched reduces costs by minimizing time spent scheduling, improving resource utilization, and avoiding costly double booking and schedule conflicts. At the same time, ResSched improves service to your clients or staff by reducing the time it takes to make a booking or appointment. Access ResSched from anywhere with our Wide Area version or post schedules to your web server automatically.

Employee Scheduling Software- ESPSoftware, Inc.

Employee Scheduling Software is a complete employee scheduling software package. It is very powerful yet easy to use. ESP uses the Microsoft Windows environment to allow easy schedule creation with an interface any windows user can understand. Making a schedule is as simple as clicking a few buttons.

Point and click, make a schedule without touching the keyboard. Click a button and ‘esp’ will fill your schedule with employees automatically. You will never have to juggle schedules again. Click a button to replace absent employees. A list of available employees with phone numbers will appear. Click another button and ‘esp’ will dial your phone (modem required). Click a single button to print all desired reports. Click a button and the online coach will give helpful hints to new users. Click a button for the first time users checklist to ensure easy setup and schedule creation.

AceShiftOne Online- BMJ Consulting Services Pty Ltd

The software program at this web site is for the creation of shifts for employees. Some people call this a roster, some a rota, and others call it a schedule.

AceShiftBasic is the simplest version that you would choose if all your shifts are at the one location and you do not need to distinguish between the positions held by your personnel. A typical situation would be a small retail store at one location.

AceShiftOne is a simple version that you would choose if all your shifts are at the one location. A typical situation would be a call centre where you would like to distinguish between, say a supervisor and an operator. The centre operates from only one location.

Employee Scheduling Assistant- Guia International

For businesses that have mostly full-time employees or employees that work regular shifts. The program keeps track of vacations, shift assignments and rotations. Print out weekly or monthly schedules. Publish the schedules on the web. Keep track of performance information. This program is most often used by Corporations, Hospitals and Police departments.

Schedule24 Standard- Intellicate, Ltd.

Schedule24 automates much of the staff scheduling process and schedule production. It completely automates compliance checks and conflicts arising from staff availability. Publishing schedules that are not compliant or that contain conflicts will no longer be an option.

Schedule24 unique context-based scheduling enables better decision making. This is achieved by combining the workflow with access to layers of information in the same work area. A user can move between discrete scheduling processes and different levels of information at the same time. Whatever your focus during scheduling, decisions will be made without having to leave the visual context of data displayed in the schedule view.

Schedule24 comprehensive features are integrated into one smooth workflow and delivered with Microsoft Office familiarity. It can be rapidly deployed without specialist IT support or infrastructure, and is backed by full helpdesk support and access to workforce factor expertise spanning a wide range of business operations.

WhenToWork- WhenToWork.com

WhenToWork Scheduling Program is the most advanced online employee scheduling software available. You can automatically assign your schedule shifts based on employee work time preferences.

Also included: automatic e-mail and text message notifications, employee tradeboard, company bulletin board and employee tracking…all for HALF THE COST of other employee scheduling programs- Better Scheduling, Save Time & Money, Improve Communication, Be Better Informed, Scheduling with Security & Flexibility.

Time Tracker- Asgard Systems Inc.

Time Tracker scheduling software allows you to automate and analyze staff schedules efficiently. Costly errors are reduced and adjustments are easily made. Schedules are generated in seconds.

Time Tracker is more than just employee scheduling! Time Tracker tracks vacation time, sick time, compensation time, and user defined other time. It analyses past activity and prepares data for payroll.

TimeCurve Scheduler- TimeCurve Software

Designed specifically to meet staff and employee scheduling needs of small and mid-size businesses such as Home Care agencies, HVAC Technicians, Pet Sitting and Cleaning services, and in general, any business that needs to schedule employees to service clients and/or locations.

With TimeCurve Scheduler , finding a meeting time or an available employee for a client call is a simple click on the proposed day and a glance across the schedules. Created specifically for the service industry, TimeCurve Scheduler is the most advanced software for managing your service business with dramatically greater efficiency and fewer headaches. TimeCurve Scheduler is modern, feature rich and powerful employee scheduling system.

Schedule It Software

‘Schedule It’ resource scheduling software. Complex projects, short or long term planning, staff scheduling, office equipment, meeting room planning, or employee planning you decide.

Use ‘Schedule It’ to plan and schedule just about any resource or task with detailed filtering, reporting and cost analysis for each. Automatic email alerts keeps everybody informed of any schedule changes.

Some of our clients include: Microsoft, IBM, Shell, Shell Lubricants, Fujitsu-siemens, O2, NHS Trusts, Wellsfargo, L-3 Communications, Whirlpool Corporation, Waitrose, NorthPower, Bromley Government, Ufton Court Educational Trust, Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, Lonsdale and Partners, Parafix, Southwest Airlines, Waterford Airport, Timing New Zealand, Bystronic Germany, Bystronic UK Service, Bystronic Sweden Service, University of La Verne, House Of Play, Phoenix Software, NVT Group, Abbott Laboratories, Pools & Spas of Excellence Inc., Cedar City Public Library, TAC Software, Gerber Service, Your Concierge Ltd, Yale University, Corrigenda limited, Morecambe Bay Hospitals, etc.

DRoster Employee Scheduling Software

No matter what your business or organization – nurse staffing, medical staff, hotel and hospitality , restaurant, academic institution, delivery services, cleaning and maintenance personnel, trainees, help desk employees, transportation services, flight attendants, real estate, travel agency, retailer, convenience store, construction, volunteers organization – You need to run your business smoothly, efficiently.

DRoster’s unique industry neutral design coupled with its rule engine flexibility enables you to customize DRoster to your industry-specific and department-specific employee scheduling needs, regardless of your organization’s size.

Snap Schedule- Employee Scheduling

Quickly create employee schedules, shift rosters, and rotating work schedules. Manage unlimited numbers of employees, shifts, vacations, paid time off, unpaid time off, and on call assignments. Automatically generate shift schedules, avoid employee scheduling conflicts, and optimize shift scheduling coverage. Select best employees for shifts based on availability, labor cost, work hour limits, skills, seniority and other criteria. Use smart visual scheduling tools for shift rota design. Print, publish, distribute, and e-mail employee work schedules.

celayix Software

Celayix is a leading provider of Employee Scheduling and Workforce Management Solutions. Through its industry leading suite of products, the company helps manage tens of thousands of employees across a variety of industries every day. Celayix has offices in the USA and Canada and has been providing Employee Scheduling and Workforce Management Solutions since 2000.

Hakuna Scheduling Software

The majority of our competitions software has a very MS excel like interface. While this makes sense for data comparison, it is not an intuitive interface for regular people. Hakuna breaks the mold by providing a user friendly interface that makes the scheduling writing process easier for managers.

Avery Dennison Corporation- AVY– A Stationary Target

Dr. Paul Price — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 09:57:27 +0000

Avery Dennison Corporation (AVY, News, Press Releases: 33.73 +0.12 +0.36%, yield: 3.01, cap: 3.552B, 1yr target: 38.25) manufactures pressure-sensitive materials, office products and a range of tickets, tags, labels and other converted products. AVY also makes and sells a range of office products and other converted products such as binders, organizing systems, markers, fasteners, business forms, tickets, tags, radio-frequency identification (RFID) inlays and imprinting equipment for retail and apparel manufacturers. They operate three segments: Pressure-sensitive Materials, Retail Information Services and Office and Consumer Products.

2009 was a year to forget for AVY. EPS dropped from $3.30 to $1.97 (excluding a $9.18 /share charge for discontinued operations) and the dividend was cut from $0.41 to $0.20 quarterly. Even so, 2010 looks to be a recovery year. Estimates for 2010 range from $2.50 – $2.65 and for 2011 the consensus is centered on $3.00 per share.

The (already reduced) current yield is a decent 2.6% and is likely to begin rising again as the earnings ramp up from last year’s depressed level. AVY had shown improved year-over –year results in 11 of the past 15 years. The low 2009 quarterly earnings will make for easy comparisons as 2010 unfolds.

Here are AVY’s per share numbers from continuing operations as reported by Value Line:

Year	Sales	C/F	EPS	Div.	Avg. P/E	52-week Range
2001	38.86	4.08	2.47	1.23	21.4x	43.30 – 60.50
2002	42.23	4.34	2.81	1.35	21.9x	52.10 – 69.70
2003	47.83	4.46	2.65	1.45	20.7x	46.30 – 63.80
2004	53.35	4.94	3.04	1.49	20.1x	53.50 – 66.60
2005	54.88	5.41	3.36	1.53	16.7x	49.60 – 63.60
2006	56.72	5.88	3.78	1.57	16.1x	54.90 – 69.30
2007	64.11	6.31	3.91	1.61	15.7x	49.70 – 71.40
2008	68.22	6.14	3.30	1.64	13.4x	24.30 – 55.00
2009	56.70	4.45	1.97	1.22	15.0x	17.02 – 40.23

Some things that jump out at me after looking over the chart:

1. Avery Dennison clearly has ‘earnings power’ of $3 – $4 /share in a normalized economic period.
2. AVY’s current P/E of a12.3x is well below any previous multiple (excluding the bottom of the 2008 – 2009 meltdown.
3. AVY’s absolute share price is well below the lows from the entire 7-year period 2001 – 2007 and also significantly under the highs of market challenged 2008 – 2009 as well.

Avery Dennison is a healthy company. Value Line assigns them an ‘A’ for financial strength while rating them ‘above average’ for safety. Value Line also notes their 80th percentile ranking for ‘stock price stability’ and a 70th percentile ranking for ‘earnings predictability’ (with 100th being best). Standard and Poors gives AVY a 4-Star rating (with 5-Stars being best).

AVY’s 10-year median multiple has been 20x while the average of the nine years on the chart above is 17.9 times earnings. A rebound to even 15x the low-end projected 2010 earnings of $2.50 would bring AVY shares back up to $37.50. That’s 21.7% above this morning’s quote.

If it takes a year to reach that goal you’d have a total return of almost 25%. Is that a rational target price? Sure. Standard and Poors carries a 12-month projection of $40 and Value Line is using a 16 multiple in figuring their 3 – 5 year share price projections.

I noted earlier that even during 2008 and 2009 AVY shares changed hands at above $40. They closed at $40.07 on January 9th of this year as well. If anything, my expectation is likely too conservative rather than being over aggressive.

Summary: Avery Dennison seems to offer very good risk/reward characteristics with well-defined upside of 20 – 40% and only moderate risk. The 2.6% current yield is better than what can be earned right now on most multi-year bank CDs or Treasury Notes.

****************************************************************************

Investors that are well-versed in options might want to consider writing (selling) some October 2010 puts on AVY. Here are some currently available premiums and their associated data points:

October 16, 2010 Exp.	Premium /share	Net Cost (if Put)	Margin of Safety
$30 Puts	$2.30	$27.70	10.06%
$35 Puts	$5.30	$29.70	3.57%

The margin of safety is the percentage drop from today’s $30.80 quote to your break-even price if the puts were to be exercised.

Disclosure: Author is long AVY shares and short AVY puts.

Interactive Brokers Group (IBKR)– Buying at a Cyclical Low Point

Dr. Paul Price — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 09:44:03 +0000

Interactive Brokers Group, Inc. (IBKR, News, Press Releases: 16.43 +0.11 +0.67%, yield: N/A, cap: 677.2M, 1yr target: 18.42) is a web-based, global electronic market maker and broker specializing in routing orders and executing and processing trades in securities, futures and foreign exchange instruments on more than 80 electronic exchanges worldwide. As a market maker, IB provides bid and offer quotations on approximately 577,000 securities and futures products listed on electronic exchanges. As a direct market access broker, IBKR serves customers of both traditional brokers and prime brokers. They provide customers with state-of-the-art order management, trade execution and portfolio management at consistently rock-bottom commission rates.

IBKR came public via the same ‘Dutch Auction’ process that Google used when it held its IPO. The April 2007 starting price was set by its bidders at $30.01 /share during the final stages of the last bull market. IBKR shares high peak prices of $34.25 and $35.93 in 2007 and 2008 before breaking down with the overall market in late 2008 – early 2009.

The shares bottomed at $12.68 almost exactly one year ago, rebounded to $20.99 last October, and then dipped again into the $16 range in late January 2010 after posting poor Q4 earnings. At this afternoon’s quote of $17.15 IBKR shares offer great potential for investors with a one to two year time horizon.

IBKR earned $1.16 per share in the nine-month stub period from its IPO through year-end 2007 and $1.82 in their first four quarters. They earned $2.24 /share for the full year 2008 despite the nasty market environment. EPS fell off to just $0.87 in 2009 due to compressed overall volume and almost no ability to earn money on free cash balances due to the near-zero interest rate environment.

Expectations for 2010 range from S&P’s $0.89 to Reuter’s view of $1.11 and Value Line’s $1.32 guesstimate. All three services see much improved earnings for 2011 with current estimates of $1.38 – $1.47 /share.

With the market averages in solid rebound mode and the assurance that, eventually, U.S. interest rates will rise again I am more bullish than they are for both this year and next. IBKR trades FOREX, Futures and Options in addition to their basic equities and fixed income businesses and these are all high growth areas.

How do I come to a target valuation here?

Year	Annualized EPS	P/E Range	Book Value	P/BV Range	52-Wk. range
2007	$1.54	13.7X – 22.3x	$10.17	2.1x – 3.4x	$21.00 – $34.25
2008	$2.24	5.7x – 16.0x	$12.68	1.0x – 3.8x	$12.72 – $35.93
2009	$0.87	14.2x – 24.1x	$13.95	0.9x – 1.5x	$12.68 – $20.99

Before the market collapse of late 2008 – March 2009 IBKR had never traded below 2.1x book value. When times were good IBKR hit levels of > 3x book value in both 2007 and 2008. Even in the unusually depressed climate of 2009 it hit 1.5x book value at its peak even though earnings were still well below prior years’ levels.

Book value should reach at least $14.90 by year-end 2010. Even 1.5x that figure would see IBKR shares back at $22.35 or about 30% above today’s quote. The high end goal would be much higher if earnings surpass the very pessimistic projections now on the street.

Using a 15 multiple as a low-end ‘normalized’ P/E and looking out a year or so brings me to a similar minimum target based on forward earnings for 2011 of at least $1.50 share.

I have no special access to information regarding Interactive Brokers Group but I have heard rumors that CEO and President Thomas Peterffy might be considering taking the company private again while the share price is depressed. It would make sense if he has access to enough capital considering that he got over $30 /share during the 2007 IPO.

If you’d like to play with IBKR but don’t see a near-term catalyst then you might consider selling some January 2011 puts at very attractive prices. Here are some good ones and today’s prices…

January 21, 2011 Expiration	Premium /Share	Net Cost if Put	Margin of Safety*
$15.00 Puts	$0.85	$14.15 /sh.	17.49%
$17.50 Puts	$2.00	$15.50 /sh.	9.62%
$20.00 Puts	$3.70	$16.30 /sh.	4.95%

*The ‘margin of safety’ in the chart refers to how far the break-even point ‘if put’ is below the current price of $17.15 /share.

You give up some safety as you write more aggressively but the trade-off is for higher potential profits as the premium income is much higher with the $17.50 and $20 strike price puts.

Disclosure: IBKR is one of my largest long positions and I am also short IBKR options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades DIS, KO, BA, BBT, FDX, RCL, CBEY, DFG, FITB, MTB, MSG, SBX…

Irina Waqar — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 15:39:55 +0000

Anadarko Petroleum (APC, News, Press Releases: 71.05 -0.25 -0.35%, yield: 0.50, cap: 34.997B, 1yr target: 83.26) reiterated Outperform, price target raised to $90 from $75, at FBR…
BB&T (BBT, News, Press Releases: 31.18 +0.40 +1.30%, yield: 2.99, cap: 21.535B, 1yr target: 29.88) upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Bernstein…
Big Lots (BIG, News, Press Releases: 36.43 +0.44 +1.22%, yield: N/A, cap: 2.979B, 1yr target: 41.20) maintained Overweight, price target raised to $41 from $38, at Piper Jaffray…
Boeing (BA, News, Press Releases: 68.93 -0.47 -0.68%, yield: 2.42, cap: 50.110B, 1yr target: 63.27) upgraded to Neutral, $68 target, at UBS…
China Distance Education (DL, News, Press Releases: 5.79 -0.06 -1.03%, yield: N/A, cap: 200.8M, 1yr target: 7.60) upgraded to Neutral from Underweight, $7 target, at Piper Jaffray…
Coca-Cola (KO, News, Press Releases: 53.74 +0.09 +0.17%, yield: 3.11, cap: 123.9B, 1yr target: 61.62) upgraded to Buy from Neutral at UBS…
Disney (DIS, News, Press Releases: 33.50 -0.22 -0.65%, yield: 1.04, cap: 64.974B, 1yr target: 34.70) upgraded to Buy from Neutral, $42 target, at BofA/Merrill…
FedEx (FDX, News, Press Releases: 88.72 +0.89 +1.01%, yield: 0.50, cap: 27.762B, 1yr target: 97.27) upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Morgan Keegan…
Liberty Starz (LSTZA, News, Press Releases: 52.06 -0.31 -0.59%, yield: N/A, cap: 2.696B, 1yr target: 61.00) initiated as Buy at UBS…
Meredith (MDP, News, Press Releases: 33.49 +0.15 +0.45%, yield: 2.71, cap: 1.518B, 1yr target: 37.25) upgraded to Buy, $40 target, at Benchmark…
OmniVision (OVTI, News, Press Releases: 15.615 +0.065 +0.42%, yield: N/A, cap: 801.1M, 1yr target: 18.56) upgraded to Outperform at Baird…
Royal Caribbean (RCL, News, Press Releases: 30.94 +0.38 +1.24%, yield: N/A, cap: 6.627B, 1yr target: 31.35) upgraded to Neutral from Sell, $27 target, at Goldman…
Spirit AeroSystems (SPR, News, Press Releases: 21.16 +0.40 +1.93%, yield: N/A, cap: 2.978B, 1yr target: 21.53) upgraded to Neutral from Sell at UBS…
Transatlantic (TRH, News, Press Releases: 52.21 -0.21 -0.40%, yield: 1.51, cap: 3.466B, 1yr target: 58.00) upgraded to Market Perform from Underperform, $51 target, at Keefe Bruyette…
VF Corp (VFC, News, Press Releases: 79.84 +0.13 +0.16%, yield: 2.99, cap: 8.829B, 1yr target: 84.46) maintained Overweight, price target raised to $86 from $80, at Piper Jaffray…
Zumiez (ZUMZ, News, Press Releases: 19.59 +0.36 +1.87%, yield: N/A, cap: 592.7M, 1yr target: 20.55) upgraded to Overweight from Neutral, $20 target, at Piper Jaffray…
Amylin Pharmaceuticals (AMLN, News, Press Releases: 23.13 -0.37 -1.57%, yield: N/A, cap: 3.279B, 1yr target: 21.45) downgraded to Underperform, $12 target, at BMO Capital…
Avery Dennison (AVY, News, Press Releases: 33.73 +0.12 +0.36%, yield: 3.01, cap: 3.552B, 1yr target: 38.25) downgraded to Neutral, $35 target, at BofA/Merrill…
Cbeyond (CBEY, News, Press Releases: 11.99 -0.03 -0.25%, yield: N/A, cap: 361.9M, 1yr target: 16.00) downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight, $15 target, at Stephens…
Celera (CRA, News, Press Releases: 6.9443 -0.0057 -0.08%, yield: N/A, cap: 569.0M, 1yr target: 7.56) downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at JMP Securities…
Convergys (CVG, News, Press Releases: 12.77 -0.14 -1.08%, yield: N/A, cap: 1.573B, 1yr target: 13.41) downgraded to Sell from Hold, $11 target, at Kaufman Bros…
Delphi Financial (DFG, News, Press Releases: 24.42 +0.06 +0.25%, yield: 1.64, cap: 1.342B, 1yr target: 26.63) initiated as Market Perform at Wells Fargo…
Fifth Third Bancorp (FITB, News, Press Releases: 13.38 0.00 0.00%, yield: 0.30, cap: 10.636B, 1yr target: 12.82) downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Bernstein…
M&T Bank (MTB, News, Press Releases: 81.04 +0.73 +0.91%, yield: 3.49, cap: 9.618B, 1yr target: 74.22) downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Bernstein…
Madison Square Garden (MSG, News, Press Releases: 19.31 +0.33 +1.74%, yield: N/A, cap: N/A, 1yr target: 25.00) initiated as Neutral at UBS…
Medivation (MDVN, News, Press Releases: 12.77 -0.13 -1.01%, yield: N/A, cap: 427.9M, 1yr target: 19.83) downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at JP Morgan…
RailAmerica (RA, News, Press Releases: 11.55 +0.07 +0.61%, yield: N/A, cap: 627.9M, 1yr target: 15.17) downgraded to Peer Perform from Outperform at Wolfe Research…
SeaBright (SBX, News, Press Releases: 10.41 +0.20 +1.96%, yield: N/A, cap: 225.6M, 1yr target: 13.20) downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform, $11 target, at Keefe Bruyette…

Indian MRCA competition, who will win?

Amarendra Bhushan — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 12:11:34 +0000

The Indian Air Force Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) Competition, commonly known as the MRCA Tender, is an ongoing competition to supply the Indian Air Force with 126 Multi-Role Combat Aircraft.

The air force requirement for the MMRCA is based on a maximum all-up weight of 14,000-30,000 kg. (31,000-66,000 lb.). India plans to procure 18 aircraft in flyaway condition and produce 106 locally under license through technology transfer. Delivery starts within 36 months of contract signing and will be completed 48 months later.

Six aircraft were bid for this multi-billion dollar contract, which has been touted as India’s single largest defence deal ever. These represent some of the latest combat aircraft being developed or fielded today.

Dassault Rafale
Eurofighter Typhoon
Lockheed Martin F-16IN Super Viper
Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet
Saab Gripen NG
Mikoyan MiG-35

Dassault Rafale:

The Rafale is a twin-engined, delta-wing, multirole fighter designed and built by France’s Dassault Aviation. RAFALE supportability and mission readiness capitalise on the undisputed track record of the current generation of French fighters such as the combat-proven Mirage 2000.

Powered by two Snecma M88 turbofans (prototype examples used two General Electric F404-400s), the Rafale has a top speed of over Mach 1.8 (1,900km/h) and a combat radius of 1,000nm (1,850km).

Eurofighter Typhoon:

The four nation Eurofighter Typhoon is a foreplane delta wing beyond-visual-range and close air fighter aircraft with surface attack capability. Eurofighter has high agility at supresonic speed and ’supercruise’ capability, that is it can fly at sustained speeds of over Mach 1 without the use of afterburner.

The company carrying out the development of the aircraft is Eurofighter Jagdflugzeug GmbH based in Munich and wholly owned by Alenia of Italy, British Aerospace of the UK, CASA of Spain and DASA of Germany. The company responsible for the development of the EJ200 engine is Eurojet GmbH, in Munich which is owned by Rolls Royce, Motoren und Turbinen Union, Fiat Aviazione and ITP.

The EJ200 engine has been developed by Eurojet GmbH, in Munich which is owned by Rolls-Royce, MTU Aero Engines, Fiat Aviazione and ITP.

Lockheed Martin F-16IN Super Viper

The F-16IN Super Viper is a unique new fighter sharing a heritage with the world’s only fifth generation fighters – the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter and the F-22 Raptor. Evolutionary integration of fifth generation technologies makes the F-16IN the most advanced fourth generation fighter in the world today.

Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet

The Super Hornet is about 25% larger than its predecessor, the F/A-18C/D but contains 42% fewer structural parts. The single seat F/A-18/E and the two seat F/A-18/F flies greater ranges, with heavier payloads, uses a more powerful engine and provides greater survivability.

Saab Gripen NG

The JAS 39 Gripen is a fourth-generation fighter manufactured by Swedish company Saab. Designed as a swing-role type capable of performing multiple missions.

Powered by a single Volvo Aero RM12 afterburning turbofan based on the General Electric F404, the Gripen is capable of speeds of up to Mach 2 and has a maximum range of 2,800km (1,510nm).

Weapon options include a 27mm Mauser internal cannon, Raytheon AIM-9 Sidewinder and AIM-120 AMRAAM air-to-air missiles and Raytheon Paveway II laser-guided bombs. The aircraft is also being used to support the development of MBDA’s Meteor beyond visual-range air-to-air missile.

Mikoyan MiG-35 (Fulcrum-F)

The Mikoyan MiG-35 is a further development of the MiG-29M/M2 and MiG-29K/KUB technology. It is classified as a 4++ generation jet fighter by its manufacturer. The MiG-35 is now classed as a medium-weight aircraft because its maximum take-off weight has increased by 30 percent which exceeds its previous criteria of classification.

With an increase to its MTOW as much as 30 percent, the MiG-35 is now considered in the medum weight class. The aircraft is codenamed “Fulcrum-F” by NATO and is considered a full-fledged multi-role platform utilizing the latest in targeting and tracking systems comparable to Western aircraft types.

Advanced computerized avionics in control of fly by wire flight surfaces combined with thrust vectoring give the aircraft a speed range from 0 mph forward speed to supersonic, all the while maintaining the maneuverability to simultaneously evade enemy missiles while engaging numerous targets. The MiG-35 can deliver up to 12,000 lbs. of ordnance against air, ground and maritime targets with pinpoint accuracy.

Considerations: Strategic considerations may influence government’s final decision.

MiG-35

Zhuk AE AESA radar the most powerful amidst the MMRCA contenders.
Russia, on top of a full technology transfer, is offering India help in building its own advanced radar.
100 per cent technology transfer for the MiG-35, including the radar and all its systems.
Airframe barely improved from MiG-29
Life cycle cost of Russian fighters is traditionally high

Super Hornet

Battle-tested, frontline fighter with the US Navy
can function as refuelling tanker with external fuel tanks
US restrictions on modifications and end usage
Earlier generation design, dating back to 1980s
Heavy, 30-ton aircraft, expensive

Super Viper

Tested modern fighter, has logged over 100,000 combat missions globally
Single-engine, 19-tonne fighter, price competitive
Advanced Northrop Grumman APG-80 AESA radar
Four F-16 production lines functioning world-wide
Earlier vintage F-16s in service with Pakistan Air Force

Typhoon

Contemporary fighter, still evolving
High performance, high-end technology, including supercruise
Offering India development partnership
No end user restrictions, easy transfer of technology
EADS already helping to develop India’s LCA
No combat experience
Heavy, 25-ton aircraft, expensive
AESA radar still under development

Gripen

Can land, refuel, rearm and take off in 10 minutes
Light, single-engine, highly cost-effective
Selex Raven AESA radar with advanced swashplate technology
Willing to hand over source codes for high-tech equipment
SAAB offering an advanced version of a state-of-the-art a second generation AESA (advanced extended search array radar), The radar will come with its software source code.
Gripen is way to dependent on other countries (engine, radar, or the main weapons), what would be a problem if India face sanctions again and it could not share any techs with LCA without permission of them.
Has US components, including engines and avionics
India has never operated a Swedish fighter

Rafale

France deploys on land and aircraft carriers
IAF’s Mirage-2000 fleet creates comfort level with Dassault
Transfer of technology smooth; no end user restrictions
Only non-US fighter with deployed AESA radar
Limited combat experience
25-tonne, twin-engine aircraft, expensive

EUROJET Offers it’s EJ200 Engine for the Tejas, LCA Indian Light Combat Aircraft

International Business Machines (IBM) job cuts 2010- What a shame!

Bettina Padurano — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 12:10:20 +0000

Technology giant, International Business Machines Corp. (IBM, News, Press Releases: 128.33 +0.50 +0.39%, yield: 1.72, cap: 166.7B, 1yr target: 141.40) this week reportedly cut over 2,500 jobs, mostly in the United States. The website Alliance@IBM , which first broke the news of a “RA,” or “resource action,” that could affect IBM employees in the company’s Raleigh, North Carolina office. Alliance@IBM/CWA Local 1701 is an IBM employee organization that is dedicated to preserving and improving our rights and benefits at IBM.

Facing increasing competition, IBM has been cutting staff for years. The company laid off about 10,400 people last year in North America. However, in 2009 IBM hired 18,873 workers in India, 13,376 in the Asia-Pacific region and 7,112 in Latin America. Meanwhile, only 3,514 hires were made in the U.S. during 2009.

IBM spokesman Douglas Shelton said: “We continually remix our skills and structure to meet the changing needs of our clients. Even with the tough decisions companies like ours make, IBM is still the No. 1 technology employer in the U.S., and the world.”

The layoffs started Monday with may reports that the resource action victims are offered other jobs in IBM instead. The worse hit was the IBM CIO Application and Infrastructure division which reportedly lost 160 workers last night along with 99 people loss in the Software Group Information management group.

* STG Technology Development: 24
* STG Sales Support: 80
* CIO Application and infrastructure: 160
* Software Group WPLC: 50
* Software Group Information management: 99
* GBS Global Account: 98
* GTS Security Systems: 41
* ITD Transition, Quality and Service Managment: 276
* ITD Application Hosting and Database: 158
* ITD Service Management Delivery: 66
* ITD Storage Management: 178
* ITD Distributed Server Management: 318

Apparently rumors suggest somewhere between 5% and even 50% of jobs could be lost at certain offices across North America.

As of last October, IBM employed 105,000 workers in the U.S., compared to 115,000 in 2008. In 2007, IBM had 121,000 U.S. employees. It employs about 400,000 globally.

Should India be given a permanent seat in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) ?

Caroline Mittermair — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 11:33:03 +0000

India’s bid for permanent United Nations Security Council (UNSC) membership has been unequivocally backed by permanent members France, Russia and the United Kingdom. China has recently supported the bid. India has in the last few years, worked hard to garner support for a significant number of the member-countries in favour of its inclusion in the Security Council. U.S. has not yet endorsed India. There is no question that the support of the U.S. would be necessary for India.

Moreover, India’s neighbor, Pakistan, is a nuclear-armed power beset by instability and radicalism. The Taliban and al Qaeda have made Pakistan’s tribal regions their base of operations. As the security situation in Pakistan worsens, the chances of nuclear warheads falling into the hands of extremists will certainly increase. A strong Indo-U.S. partnership is essential to confront this threat.

There are compelling reasons to consider India’s appointment as a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council. India has more than a billion people, representing about one sixth the population of the whole world, and it is the largest functional and stable democracy in the world. It is a role model for the third and post communist worlds. It is one of the fastest growing economies in the world as a result of liberalization of trade policies in the last decade. India, with its ancient civilization, rich heritage, deep rooted democratic system and growing economic potential has the credentials to champion the cause of the developing nations which need proper representation in the Council.

Indian society is comprised of 1 billion Hindus and 150 million Muslims — the second-largest Islamic population in the world — reflecting the diverse religious tolerance that is critical. India’s million-troop army is one of the world’s largest, and it is well-trained in counter terrorism and a strong participant in peacekeeping and civil-relief activities. India’s navy, by far the most capable in the region, protects vital sea lanes in the Indian Ocean and projects power and influence across a vast strategic arc spanning southern and eastern Africa, the South China Sea and Australia.

At the present time, the Council does not fully represent the world population, such as developing countries. India had always been looked upon by the third world to provide a moral leadership in voicing its views. India could emerge as a model for other countries in establishing a secular order. However, to be an effective player on the world’s most prominent stage will require a major retooling on the part of the Indian foreign policymaking establishment.

The case for India’s permanent seat and veto power in the body responsible for maintaining international peace and security is as compelling as it is simple. India is the world’s largest democracy, soon to be the world’s most populous country, and home to over 15 per cent of the world’s population; it possesses nuclear weapons and strategic missiles; it has at various times taken a global leadership role, not least in its co-founding of the Non-Aligned Movement in 1955; and as an early champion of the concept of ‘peaceful co-existence’ between the communist bloc and the free world, India has been a leading advocate of ‘peaceful’ foreign policies and non-aggression.

The Security Council today is a body which has France as a permanent member, but not Germany; Britain but not Japan; China but not India-and no representation from Africa and Latin America at all. Can it be called a legitimate body in modern times ?

Chitika Premium Upgraded to Chitika Select for Non-Search Traffic

Caroline Mittermair — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 10:16:50 +0000

Chitika, a leading on-line advertising network serving over two billion monthly impressions across more than 80,000 websites, has upgraded its Chitika Premium ads and renamed it Chitika Select. The new feature allow Chitika ads to display non-search traffic.

What this means is your Chitika ads will now show to some of your non-search traffic so you can earn more revenue. Chitika | Select ads will display only when there is a higher chance the ad will be clicked. The percentage of non-search traffic that will see the Select ads will vary from site to site.

The good thing is, you do not have to make any changes to your Chitka ads; this will happen automatically starting Monday, March 8th, 2010.

According to Chitika, The new Chitika | Select unit incorporates the search targeting technology that has made Chitika a go-to revenue solution for webmasters, so the look, feel, and intent-driven reliability of the ads will not change – the base of users who will be able to consume the ads will simply be increased.

Chitika estimates Select ads could give bloggers a 5 – 10% revenue increase on top of Premium alone. If you are not yet using Chitika, sign-up for Chitika and check out if this is working for you.

360 Capital Partners is investing $2.2 million in Paris-based Social Dating Site Smartdate

Amarendra Bhushan — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 23:53:21 +0000

European venture fund 360 Capital Partners is investing $2.2 million in SmartDate.com, a social dating service that uses Facebook Connect to match singles. Smartdate is an intelligent way to meet people online. With powerful matching technology and a close integration with Facebook and other social networks, Smartdate makes online dating safer and more enjoyable than ever before. After only a couple of months of product development led by industry experts, Smartdate has launched an Alpha version.

Francois Tison and Emanuele Levi, partners at 360° Capital, said the way in which Smartdate leveraged the power of Facebook to revolutionize the online dating experience made it an attractive addition to his investment portfolio. “We strongly believe that online dating is ripe for disruption and Smartdate has the right vision and execution capability to become a leading player in the next few years”

Fabrice le Parc, Founder & CEO of Smartdate said: “I am thrilled to have had the chance to find financial partners with acute vista on our business, and are great individuals with whom I am sure to entertain a close personal relationship beyond the business one – which was definitely a key element to me. It’s not just a business deal to me, but a true human adventure”

360° Capital Partners is a Venture Capital firm, investing in Innovation at full scale, in Europe and more particularly in France and Italy. The new 360 Capital fund – a Luxembourg based Sicar – has reached a total capital commitment of over €100m.

360° Capital Partners is managed by a consolidated team which has cumulated 50+ years of Venture Capital experience in investing in, following-up and/or exiting from over 60 companies and which have more than €200 million under management, provided by top tier international investors. 360° Capital Partners leverages an important international network, it co-invested with major international Venture Capital funds in over 8 countries and have proven a top quartile track record as individuals and as a team in very different economic environments.