Taser’s (TASR) stock looks like it’s ready for its next leg up, coinciding with Senator John Kerry’s promotion in this video:

Article Summary
How is Europe placed in the global image sensor market? Tom Hausken of market analyst Strategies Unlimited looks at regional revenue shares and the consequences of a fabless versus integrated manufacturing approach.

Great article on the chip manufacturing industry, not just image sensors as the title suggests.  Almost qualifies as a industry research report.  This is a wonderful read for those of us who don’t work in chip design or manufacturing- so we understand industry trends, challenges, and supply chain strategies are working now so we can look for them and listen for them from company management.  My friend from NVidia agrees with the article’s conclusions so I’ll take this article for what its worth.  Gotta sign up for a free account, but this site has great info so you should be signed up already! (no i’m not affiliated with them…just an honest promotion of a good product)

At the Fiber-to-the-Home Conference on Sept. 30 - Oct. 3, Corning (GLW) is set to introduce its full suite of optical fiber, cable and hardware and equipment solutions based on its nanoStructures technology platform. On July 23rd, Corning announced the gigantic breakthrough in fiber optic technology- optical fiber cables based on nanoStructures technology that allows cabled fiber to be bent around very tight corners with virtually no signal loss.

Optical fiber is superior in all aspects to traditional copper cables in transmitting everything from broadband internet, TV, and digital telephone- all aspects except maintaining the quality of the signal in bends, twists, and other abusive configurations. The reason is the light used to transmit the signal travels in a straight line. Having not been able to bend optical fiber as you could copper cable, using optical fiber in tight installations such as in apartments were not possible…leaving a large untapped market. It is unclear how Corning’s geniuses figured out how to overcome this old problem handicapping the use of fiber optic cables. The nanoStructures technology used suggests the glass composing the fiber optics have been engineered to the smallest microscopic detail such that the light transmitting the data always travels in a straight line. This is similar to how a super-closeup of the edge of a circle will look like a straight line. Read the rest of this entry »

Apologies for the lack of updates recently. Had some personal business to take care of. Some of my favorite names that I’ve written about have reported. Industrial stocks Boeing (BA), ABB (ABB), and my new addition Manitowoc (MTW) had stellar earnings and are the first to bounce back after last week’s selloff. On the other hand, Caterpillar (CAT), Johnson Controls (JCI) came in slightly below my expectations and I was definitely disappointed in favorite tech Akamai Technologies (AKAM), and not just because Akamai slid more than 20% after earnings. Read the rest of this entry »

Wow, was that IBM quarter a thing of beauty…I don’t think it gets better than that. Double digit revenue increases across the GLOBE except for the U.S., which still increased up to 6%. For me, Mark Loughridge, SVP & CFO, seemed to hammer home the point that while the U.S. business is picking up, this quarter’s success was due to 3 things:

1. IBM’s unique portfolio of products, a lot of which have been in R&D for a long long time.
2. IBM’s execution.
3. Virtualization is in demand, and is also the factor helping convert sales by making products worthwhile for customers. Read the rest of this entry »
   
   

Here we go with some Mid-cap and small-cap partners/suppliers for the Dreamliner…dreamteam members 4 through 10.

Mid-Cap
4. Rockwell Collins (COL) - [Displays, communications/ surveillance systems, pilot control system] With an $12 Billion market cap, Rockwell Collins is much smaller than Honeywell, so, relatively, the avionics it’s supplying for the 787 should provide more revenue impact. Avionics is pushing the future of flight, part of the “smart” revolution where the chips and circuits monitor and control all aspects of the flight. This is definitely one of the greatest value added to today’s aircraft and provide the most flexibility for upgrades. This is similar to how you get a lot of software upgrades on your computer before you have to buy a new computer. Rockwell Collins does provide avionics for all types of aircraft, Read the rest of this entry »

The Boeing 787 Dreamliner may not revolutionize airplanes like Apple’s iPhone revolutionized the cell-phone. Still, I think the Dreamliner is the commercial airplane of the future and deserves the honorary i-Plane that Fast Money gave the 787. A quick scan of the Dreamliner’s International Team leads me to a couple of conclusions. Boeing broke the 787 down into A LOT of subcomponents and subsystems and as many partners/suppliers for each. But where are all the public American companies to buy for a Dreamliner trade? Dreamliner parts come from all over the world from Japan to Germany and France(why France??). The remaining partners/suppliers are either a internal division of Boeing (c’mon, spread the wealth!) or small private aerospace companies. Worry not. There still are a handful of well-known and some not-so well-known public companies that could fly with the Dreamliner. Read the rest of this entry »

My favorite tech stock, Akamai Technologies, will be added to the S&P 500 at the close of trading on July 11!  Look at that nice after-hours bump of 4%+

My Akamai articles - click this. 

On Sunday 7-8-07, Boeing premiers its first new commercial airplane in 12 years, the 787 Dreamliner. This premier is only an exhibit of the structure of the plane, none of the components from seats to flight controls are installed yet. Still, I believe the 787 will fly as scheduled at the end of August. Boeing estimates that a Dreamliner will only take 3 days to manufacture once production and manufacturing capabilities are in full swing. Even though Boeing is still in the development stage this test flight “prototype” for the August, the manufacturing and production methods are likely being developed alongside the prototype construction. Thus, with the components being developed and tested independently, it is reasonable to assume the completed components can be fully installed in a matter of days. The only difference with the actual production model is the prototype will still require time for the components to be tested together in the plane and ultimately, a test flight at the end of august. With the first scheduled delivery in May 2008, I believe all these concerns about shortage of bolts and cost overruns will be solved by then. The much more efficient production methods of the 787 should more than make up for any cost overruns in the early stages of the 787 production. And remember, about 50% of Boeing’s business is defense, which is also in super-bull mode. Don’t just look at Boeing as a commercial plane manufacturer. If Boeing can blow up million dollar test rockets for fun and you never see it hit its EPS, some cost overruns for the 787 wouldn’t matter much either. Read the rest of this entry »