Michael Eisenberg

Great Cash Flow, Good Balance Sheet and Low P/E Make Incredimail a Prime LBO Target

Yes. a strategic buyer is more likely. I think IACI should be the prime candidate. Elan and I were simply trying to show that even a hard nosed financial takeover firm could make a lot of money at 10 bucks a share.


On Nov 23 09:11 AM Silverfox2 wrote:

> I am long MAIL and I agree that MAIL is an attractive takeover candidate
> for the reasons you mentioned, but isn't the most likely buyer a
> strategic buyer/corporation? I wonder if any bank would lend money
> to an LBO firm to buy MAIL when the internet technology landscape
> is changing so quicklly...

Great Cash Flow, Good Balance Sheet and Low P/E Make Incredimail a Prime LBO Target

It is still there. I am simply showing that at a 20% premium from here, even a financial takeover makes sense. You could make the LBO numbers work at higher prices as well based on current FCF.


On Nov 23 02:13 PM 51941 wrote:

> What happened to your $12-$15 price target you had for MAIL in your
> August 30th article?

It's a Large World After All

By the way, same is true for Israel. Israeli carriers have not launched the iPhone yet. However, it seems that everyone in Tel Aviv has one. Bought in Europe or the US, unlocked and in Tel Aviv. It will be interesting to see whether Israeli carriers deal with AAPL pays off.

Incredimail Raises Guidance - Stock Should Really Trade Higher

somebody needed to sell today and puked out 62000 shares on the open.


On Nov 03 02:09 PM Fra... wrote:

> Mike, help me out here, why is it dropping like a rock? I'm very
> very long with it, because I also believe it should be trading AT
> LEAST in the double digits, but it can't seem to pick itself up.
> The short on it is very low, do you really think that Yaron might
> be selling? I guess we'll find out in a couple of days, but man it's
> ridiculous!
>
> Sorry for the rambling... just not sure why people wouldn't it be
> buying it like there's no tomorrow...

Incredimail Raises Guidance - Stock Should Really Trade Higher

I meant daily. They send reports to their partners on a daily basis that reflect daily adsense revenue.


On Nov 02 05:21 PM Fra... wrote:

> > 5. Today is November 2 - Given Google's daily reporting of search
> revenue.
> Did you mean monthly here? Cause if it's daily the fact that it's
> Nov 2 doesn't really add much...

How Much Did 'Cash for Clunkers' Cost?

Two comments:
1. Does the White House and Pres. Obama not have more important issues to deal with than a post at Edmunds.com? That is a tad thin-skinned I would say.

2. The White House is not exactly filled with the best thinkers these days. They are a bit behind the times :) see sixkidsandafulltimejob...

Incredimail Raises Guidance - Stock Should Really Trade Higher

@elanziv posted this comment on the instablog
"Michael, nice job covering this stock over time. I fully agree that this stock is still just too cheap. I also agree that they have managed the street well and likely continue to do so. I think that their estimate of $11mm in operating earnings for the year is conservative."

ME: I agree it is conservative

Vocaltec: A Company with Cash and a Growing Business in Emerging Markets

I agree. It is not a stock to trade. It is one you put away for at least 12 months and then come back to look at it. Really good management team (CEO) that put its money where its mouth is by buying stock on the open market.


On Oct 28 03:04 PM The telescopic investor wrote:

> I agree. I think VOCL will be an incredible growth story. Just after
> you wrote this, they announced another huge deal with Far East Telecom.
> It seems to me that the deals they are making are approaching or
> are in excess of their market cap. This is very unusual.

Vocaltec: A Company with Cash and a Growing Business in Emerging Markets

This belongs over on my MAIL posts and, In fact, Many years ago, I suggested it to ANSW but, alas, it did not happen!

I think MAIL will be fine. I think they will surprise the naysayers this quarter and beyond. It is a thinly traded small cap stock where one of the original founders blew out of a big position which weighed on the stock. There seem to still be some sellers hanging out there. I think the company reports earnings in early November so we can see soon! I think it is a buy at these $7 levels.


On Oct 27 12:13 PM Envoy Global Research wrote:

> MAIL continues to slide. Maybe you can suggest to management over
> at ANSW to takeover MAIL? Seems like ANSW has more credibility with
> Wall Street, so they garner a higher valuation than MAIL, despite
> having a very similar business model and despite MAIL's larger top
> line and better profitability. So an acquisition of MAIL would be
> immediately accretive for ANSW and support a much higher valuation
> for ANSW shares.

In Search of Healthy Currencies

Roger - Good one. I think another point everyone needs to think about is day to day exposure. My case is easy. I live in Israel. Hence I moved almost all of my dollars to shekels about 12 months both to avoid the weak currency and to put most of my eggs in the basket that I have most of my expenses. People living in the US though do not realize that given that many goods are imported, they effectively have currency exposure in their day to day lives as the dollar drops and imported goods become more expensive. It is worth thinking in terms of global currency hedging in terms of COL as well.

Finally, I think Israel has a lot of this correct and the Shekel feels like a good place to be vis a vis the euro and the dollar.

Salary Caps and Driving Innovation: What the U.S. Can Learn from the NFL and NBA

Sam -
I agree. In fact, in Israel I have argued that we need to pay teachers with respect in public so that kids respect them by giving free entrance to public resources such as parks and museums. I am a free market capitalist but as I wrote to Tony there are already "taxes" in place in other professions. Changing values and respect takes longer than changing incentives. I am all for it but we need faster solutions.


On Oct 22 12:50 AM SamRigby wrote:

> Here's the problem: the NBA is inherently socialist (or at least,
> is set up to be socialist) with its revenue-sharing, so to maintain
> the appearance of fairness, they need a salary cap.
>
> For capitalism to function correctly, salaries cannot be capped.
> It must be a meritocracy; if the market places a certain value on
> bankers, then that's what they should be paid. You can't just go
> willy-nilly capping pay in certain industries because those industries
> have the potential to hurt (and help) the economy more than any other.
>
>
> No, for innovation to grow, society needs to place a higher value
> on people working in positions to make a difference. For society
> to do this, it would require a change in values, economic and otherwise.
> People must be encourage into the field of innovation because they
> have the opportunity to make a living there.
>
> And another thing: it's not a zero sum game; that is, if bankers'
> pay is suddenly capped, sure, some would-be bankers might teach instead.
> But capping banker pay wont raise teacher salaries to a point that
> teaching is a drastically more desirable position. It just wont.
> If anything, there will be more people considering teaching as a
> career than there are positions and pay could drop because of a surplus
> of potential teachers. Capping banker pay will just allow the banks
> to keep more of the money they're making.
>
> I'm all for innovation becoming a bigger part of society and the
> economy, BUTBUTBUT, if you look at this from an economist's perspective,
> there's little that capping pay would accomplish, other than making
> the public feel like the bankers are getting what they deserve for
> the economic crisis. Acting from rage and undermining the freedom
> of the economy would be a terrible, terrible mistake.
>
> (This is an underpaid, liberal teacher writing, by the way.)

Salary Caps and Driving Innovation: What the U.S. Can Learn from the NFL and NBA

Tony -
You are correct. However, we actually do this today in a fashion. By forcing people in the US to attend 3 years of Law School after 4 years of college and 8 years of Medical School after 4 years of college, we are essentially taxing them to go into that profession. That graduate school training is a government mandate by another name. The CPA exam tends to create a salary cap on accountant since accounting firms really pay relatively low salaries for uncertified graduates. There is no such "tax" on people entering Wall Street. So the government is involved, albeit indirectly.

I am trying to provoke creative thinking for how one gets the best minds focused on national priorities for economic growth rather than financial engineering. I am open to your own version of carrots and sticks.


On Oct 21 06:08 PM Tony Petroski wrote:

> Mr. Eisenberg:
>
> An interesting article, but there needs to be a distinction between
> a league office running things for a collection (a small collection)
> of franchisees vs. the U.S. government empowering Tsars. Is the
> parallel compelling?

Salary Caps and Driving Innovation: What the U.S. Can Learn from the NFL and NBA

i just want to see if we can carrot and stick the best minds into national priorities


On Oct 21 03:29 AM Mick Weinstein wrote:

> This addresses another problem entirely from the executive salary-cap
> at bailout recipients issue, so I don't see why the direct comparison.
> There's no reason to turn away from the former to consider the latter.
>
>
> Also, the markets for NBA draft picks and smart graduates are entirely
> different (former defined by extreme scarcity), and the NBA salary
> cap - the team-based cap as well - has a entirely different aim than
> what you're proposing.
>
> Do you honestly want to end the open bidding market for young smart
> people out of school? If we have a problem now of Wall St taking
> all the best young minds, why should we make those young people pay
> the price by limiting their options?

U.K. PM Brown Rejects Call to Break Up Big Banks

I agree with King. This is another mess waiting to happen. See my earlier post on Why do We Need Banks at All? seekingalpha.com/artic...

Why Android Is Gaining Ground on Apple

At least go download the Tunewiki app so you can enjoy your music on the Android