Technology and the Future

31-Aug-2011 | Reggie | Market Outlook Technology

Here in Canada there isn’t a whole lot of talk regarding technology.  With commodities having been super hot over the past few years, and RIM seemingly in decline, technology has taken a back seat in many investor’s minds.  However technology has not become less important since the tech bubble burst 10 years ago.  There are many ways in which technology will change our lives and the entire world.

Mobile computing through hand-held devices has spread like wildfire.  It’s estimated that some time this year more people will be using smart phones than regular cell phones.  These people will then be connected to the internet 24/7.  It’s not just the availability that has increased, it’s the number of things you can do using the internet.  Physical credit cards and debit cards are in the process of being replaced by smart phones.  Services such as Netflix and Hulu are changing the way we watch television and movies.  Complicated programs are being written to calculate whether oil and gas wells are economical and the best possible way to optimize production.  Social networking, cloud computing, and mega-fast computers are among the myriad of technological innovations that will probably have a drastic impact on the world as a whole.

Companies like Google and Apple are at the forefront of the latest and greatest in technology thanks to the likes of the mobile Android operating system and iPhone and iTunes.  They may be the big boys that are running the field, but there are many companies that are discovering ways to capitalize on the shift.  Many are composed of engineers and software developers, while others like Wi-Lan are composed of lawyers that sue and enforce different patents on the technologies themselves.  Microsoft and Nintendo changed how people play video games with their movement recognition technologies.  While these technologies are major breakthroughs, there is still much more to come.

Many believe that it is only a matter of time before we are no longer using gasoline and diesel to power our vehicles, but there is no question that computers, internet, and mobile devices are here to stay.  These are technologies that will continue to develop and expand to the masses.  New technologies, features, and abilities will be added constantly to add more and more ways to use the devices in everyday business and consumer life.

 

This blog has been prepared by the Retire First Team. The blog expresses the opinions of the writers and not necessarily those of Retire First Ltd. Statistic and factual data are from sources Retire First believes to be reliable but their accuracy can not be guaranteed. This blog is furnished on the basis and understanding that Retire First is under no liability whatsoever in respect thereof. It is for informational purposes only and is not be construed as an offer or solicitation for the sale or purchase of securities. Retire First Ltd. And its officers, directors, employees and their family may from time to time invest in the securities discussed in this blog. This blog is intended for individuals where Retire First Ltd is registered as a dealer in securities.

Retire First is a member of the Canadian Investors Protection Fund.

Commission, trailing commissions, management fees and expense all may be associated with mutual funds. Please read the prospectus before investing. Mutual funds are not guaranteed, their values change frequently and past performance may not be repeated. A recommendation of any of the mentioned investments would only be made after a personal review of individual portfolio. Third Party research has been used in formulating the writer's opinions.

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$50 Billion Dollars in Cash: A shareholders worst nightmare

19-Jan-2011 | kate | Investment Ideas Investment Tools New Announcements Stocks Technology The Wise Investor Uncategorized US Markets

Apple has 50 billion dollar in cash sitting on their books, which is expected to grow to 70 billion dollars by the end of the year and investors aren’t happy about it. The company has been hoarding cash, which to Apple Investors without Steve Jobs around is like taking a “11% cash advance and putting the advance in .75% savings account”.

But what should Apple do with all this cash?

Apple has a couple options such as a issuing a dividend, share buy backs and look for potential suitors to acquire.

If Apple choose to issue a dividend, the would be able to pay a 4% and still grow their cash pile by over $10 billion dollars this year alone. The problem with announcing a dividend is that Apple would be admitting that they currently do not have any positive NPV projects for the company to invest in. Dividend and growth companies do not typically go hand in hand and the dividend would be admitting that they no longer have any positive NPV projects for the cash to be used for.  Now some investors might be having a flashback to a couple years back when Microsoft announced their first dividend and the company changed from a growth company to a mature company and hasn’t had any break through technology in recent memory.

A share buy back program on the other hand, could use up the cash on the balance sheet preventing the new CEO from misusing the cash in negative NPV projects. Another benefit of share buy back programs are that they are usually only agreed upon by the board and managers when there is consensus that the share price is undervalued and has the potential to increase the share price. If the share buy back conveys no information, the share price will just continue on its normal path. Bernstein Research calculated that Apple could buy back $20 billion in shares and grow their cash pile by $10 billion dollars.

Finally, Apple could look at an acquisition target like Netflix. Netflix streams digital and physical movies at a tune of 5 million rentals a day, even split between physical discs and streaming.  Apple rents 475,000 TV shows and movies a day for about $60 million in rentals and $50 million in purchases, a far cry from Net Flix who makes $550 million in rentals per quarter! According to an analyst, Net Flix could be acquired for 12 billion, which would leave Apple with plenty of money for a share buy back.  But would Apple be able to integrate Net Flix in with their existing culture and would their business model based on subscriptions fit in with Apple’s technological drive?

Needless to say, investors were happy to have Steve Jobs hold on to their cash, but with a new man at the reins investors aren’t too sure what projects Apple will take on with the billions of dollars sitting on the books. Too much cash allows for pet projects and venturing into  new territories which are usually not for the best. Investors are anxious to find out what Apple’s next step will be and so am I.

This blog has been prepared by the Retire First Team. The blog expresses the opinions of the writers and not necessarily those of Retire First Ltd. Statistic and factual data are from sources Retire First believes to be reliable but their accuracy can not be guaranteed. This blog is furnished on the basis and understanding that Retire First is under no liability whatsoever in respect thereof. It is for informational purposes only and is not be construed as an offer or solicitation for the sale or purchase of securities. Retire First Ltd. And its officers, directors, employees and their family may from time to time invest in the securities discussed in this blog. This blog is intended for individuals where Retire First Ltd is registered as a dealer in securities.

Retire First is a member of the Canadian Investors Protection Fund.

Commission, trailing commissions, management fees and expense all may be associated with mutual funds. Please read the prospectus before investing. Mutual funds are not guaranteed, their values change frequently and past performance may not be repeated. A recommendation of any of the mentioned investments would only be made after a personal review of individual portfolio. Third Party research has been used in formulating the writer's opinions.

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Hewlett-Packard snaps up Palm for $1.2 Billion

28-Apr-2010 | Reggie | Communications Technology

The offer made earlier today is for $5.70 per share and represents a 23% premium to todays closing price of $4.64.  Although Palm products haven’t sold like hot cakes over the past few years compared to some of their competitors, their technology offers a lot of appeal to many of the technology firms out there.  The Palm Pre was released a few years ago to the accolades of the tech community.  Many were enthralled with the touch screen interface, the smooth and fast operating system that allowed for multiple programs to be open simultaneously, and slick styling.  Before the Pre was for sale to the general public, there was speculation that the Pre would be an iPhone killer.

When it was reported that Palm was shopping around for a buyer, there was a lot of speculation that Research In Motion would be the ones to pull the trigger.  It was thought that the technologies behind Palm would mesh nicely with the Blackberry makers.  Some think that the Blackberry operating system is preventing the device from catching on with the average personal use consumer.  While extremely proficient at handling emails and attachments, many find the blackberry lagging behind its competitors when it comes to internet browsing and media use.

Hewlett Packard making the purchase shouldn’t come as a big surprise.  Handheld devices are really becoming the next frontier in the world of technology.  Apple becoming the 2nd largest publicly traded company in the United States is evidence of this.  All the biggest players making a move to get a foothold on the sector.  Google, Windows, Sony, HTC, Research in Motion, Nokia, Apple, and soon to be HP.  This is great news for consumers as the market becomes far more competitive as the developers struggle to out-innovate and out price one another.

This blog has been prepared by the Retire First Team. The blog expresses the opinions of the writers and not necessarily those of Retire First Ltd. Statistic and factual data are from sources Retire First believes to be reliable but their accuracy can not be guaranteed. This blog is furnished on the basis and understanding that Retire First is under no liability whatsoever in respect thereof. It is for informational purposes only and is not be construed as an offer or solicitation for the sale or purchase of securities. Retire First Ltd. And its officers, directors, employees and their family may from time to time invest in the securities discussed in this blog. This blog is intended for individuals where Retire First Ltd is registered as a dealer in securities.

Retire First is a member of the Canadian Investors Protection Fund.

Commission, trailing commissions, management fees and expense all may be associated with mutual funds. Please read the prospectus before investing. Mutual funds are not guaranteed, their values change frequently and past performance may not be repeated. A recommendation of any of the mentioned investments would only be made after a personal review of individual portfolio. Third Party research has been used in formulating the writer's opinions.

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Smart Phones set to become more popular than Cell Phones

30-Mar-2010 | Reggie | Communications Technology

A research study conducted by Nielson concluded that by fall of next year, sales of Smart Phones will make up 50% of total wireless devices.  Not just for the business type anymore, Smart Phones hold a mass appeal thanks to the huge amount of utility and fun they play.  While the devices of yesterday were limited to sending and receiving messages, now they are fully fledged media devices that have high resolution Cameras, MP3 players, and social networking devices with fully functioning and fast internet browsing, all for the price of Chinese food for six. (On select 3 year terms of course)  Makers such as Apple, Research in Motion, Samsung, and Motorola have seen their sales increasing by leaps and bounds as users upgrade to these new devices.

With all these features packed into a device smaller than your wallet, its no surprise that demand for these devices has gone through the roof.  This is fantastic news for the wireless providers and makes it easy to see why Telus and Bell invested big bucks into their networks over the past few years.  In order to tell your friends what you had for breakfast on twitter, post a picture of a goat you drove past on the highway on Facebook, or watch a You Tube video of a fat guy falling off a bicycle.  This means that the total amount of data usage is increasing quite substantially.  Charging for data is big bucks for the telecom companies and the average cellular bill with data is nearly double that of just a phone plan.  This could make for a significant trend that should bolster the profits of the telecoms and the handset makers as people continue to upgrade their devices.

This blog has been prepared by the Retire First Team. The blog expresses the opinions of the writers and not necessarily those of Retire First Ltd. Statistic and factual data are from sources Retire First believes to be reliable but their accuracy can not be guaranteed. This blog is furnished on the basis and understanding that Retire First is under no liability whatsoever in respect thereof. It is for informational purposes only and is not be construed as an offer or solicitation for the sale or purchase of securities. Retire First Ltd. And its officers, directors, employees and their family may from time to time invest in the securities discussed in this blog. This blog is intended for individuals where Retire First Ltd is registered as a dealer in securities.

Retire First is a member of the Canadian Investors Protection Fund.

Commission, trailing commissions, management fees and expense all may be associated with mutual funds. Please read the prospectus before investing. Mutual funds are not guaranteed, their values change frequently and past performance may not be repeated. A recommendation of any of the mentioned investments would only be made after a personal review of individual portfolio. Third Party research has been used in formulating the writer's opinions.

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Obama says Yes to Nuclear Energy

16-Feb-2010 | Reggie | Commodities Green Investing Market Outlook Oil & Gas Technology

Today US President Barack Obama announced an $8.3 billion loan guarantee to help Southern Co. build a nuclear power plant in Georgia.  This loan signifies the US taking a positive stance on nuclear power as a reliable and clean source of energy.  Since the accident that occurred in Pennsylvania in 1979 at Three Mile Island, the US has not licensed another nuclear power plant to be built.  That, along with the Chernobyl disaster, and the difficulty in storing and disposing of nuclear waste has created quite a controversy over the topic.

The creation of additional nuclear power in the United States has quite a few pros to it.  For one, the construction, maintenance, and operation of the plant should result in thousands of jobs for residents in the Georgia area.  It also means that the US will be investing in reliable home made power with a small to non-existent carbon footprint.  The United States has been making reliance on foreign states for it’s energy needs a priority for many years.  Going back to nuclear power will be a big step in the right direction for sustainable and clean energy.

Although this is only 1 plant, the announcement has several future implications for the uranium, and coal sectors.  As technology super powers resume work to develop nuclear power into a safe and consistent source of energy, we can hopefully look forward to seeing nuclear power take the place of the smog and particulate inducing coal plants that dirty up much of the country side.

This blog has been prepared by the Retire First Team. The blog expresses the opinions of the writers and not necessarily those of Retire First Ltd. Statistic and factual data are from sources Retire First believes to be reliable but their accuracy can not be guaranteed. This blog is furnished on the basis and understanding that Retire First is under no liability whatsoever in respect thereof. It is for informational purposes only and is not be construed as an offer or solicitation for the sale or purchase of securities. Retire First Ltd. And its officers, directors, employees and their family may from time to time invest in the securities discussed in this blog. This blog is intended for individuals where Retire First Ltd is registered as a dealer in securities.

Retire First is a member of the Canadian Investors Protection Fund.

Commission, trailing commissions, management fees and expense all may be associated with mutual funds. Please read the prospectus before investing. Mutual funds are not guaranteed, their values change frequently and past performance may not be repeated. A recommendation of any of the mentioned investments would only be made after a personal review of individual portfolio. Third Party research has been used in formulating the writer's opinions.

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