Michael Comeau

How the Dollar's Continued Rise Affects Exports

The strong dollar will take a huge toll on a great many companies - this is one of the reason I'm short AMZN. In addition, I'm very cautious towards names like HPQ and IBM - the weak dollar used to help them beat estimates. It looks like that trend is over.

Ballmer Needs to Live Up to the Hype

I should add - MSFT will likely keep the majority of its share in enterprise business, but they will lose enormous share on the consumer side.

Ballmer Needs to Live Up to the Hype

MSFT's problem is that is the world's worst allocator of capital. It has spent huge amounts of money to break into new markets and has consistently failed to generate new profit drivers. At the same time, the core business is being eaten alive by companies like AAPL.

As far as next O/S goes, it will have an even smaller impact than Vista did because people have been let down by MSFT way too many times.

Many Corporations Crippled By Bad Currency Bets

It's funny, the average person out there thinks the dollar has been weak! I was early in identifying the strong dollar trade which I believed would kill the cyclicals and big cap tech, but I only put one small short on! Stupid silly me!

Toward a Google Buyback

The idea that a share repurchase is a return of cash to shareholders does not hold any water. The cash is not going into the shareholders' pockets and there is no guarantee that the company's share count will even go down due to option issuance.

People Still Have To Spend: Eleven Dividends for Even Conservative Investors

I find a lot of these staples companies to be overvalued. The reduction in input costs is definitely a positive but the stronger dollar will hurt overseas growth.

What's Holding the Pound and Euro Down, Plus Interest-Rate Outlook

I'll throw a question out here for f/x experts - could the dollar's recent strength be a result of the unwinding of short positions at hedge funds? Shorting the dollar has been a popular trade over the years, so could the collapse of hedge funds explain the strength?

Research in Motion Outlook a Coin Toss - Citi

The best way to play RIMM from the long side might be to short puts. According to my handy dandy thinkorswim screen, you can sell the October $40's for ~$1.30. If the stock goes down I wouldn't mind being long RIMM at $38.70, and if it stays above $40 you're getting a decent return for a crappy market. IV readings are sky high so in my opinion out of the money puts make a lot of sense right now.

Apple Beats on Profits, Misses on Sales, Cautions on Future

I think Apple will serve as an excellent test for the health of the broader markets. So few companies can sustain rallies after even the most impressive of earnings report, so if Apple finishes in the green for the week I'll be very impressed.

The Long Case for Yahoo

I've never found multiples of cash to be useful unless you're talking 2 -3 times cash - plenty of companies with 30% or more of their market caps in cash have been absolutely crushed. You may find Giant Interactive (GA) interesting.

Jeremy Grantham on 'The Curse of the Value Manager'

I've been slowly getting long via covered calls and short put positions. However, I think where I've seen a few value investors go wrong is that they were buying stocks in clear downtrends while earnings estimates were also coming down.

It is extremely difficult to when all the bad news is priced in the market let alone any particular stock. Within 6 months, I believe value will be THE place to be as far as style categories go, but for now cash is better than the average stock.

New Economic World Order: U.S. No Longer On Top

Well, it's difficult for any empire to stay on top with a declining economy. However, maybe the rest of the world will also fall apart, which could push the US further up the ladder.

J.P. Morgan's 16 Picks in Troubled Times

With the strength of the dollar, I'd be a little bit careful with these major multinationals. Hopefully, the impact of a stronger dollar will be offset by lower input costs, but it is a headwind worth noting.

Twitter: Hunting for a Business Model

When Google started it was traffic with no revenue model. It may take a long time for Twitter to figure out how to make money. But, the service itself has to remain free or people will abandon it.

Akamai's $95M Bet on Better Ad Targeting

Keep in mind that AKAM has a lot of exposure to web retailers - something like 60 of the top 100 if my memory serves correctly, helping to keep those sites running properly during periods of heavy traffic. AKAM might be using Acerno as a way to increase ARPU by cross-selling.