Josh

Stock Search Plug-In for Firefox

Great addition David!

China's New Rules for Internet Cafes: Bad News for Online Game Companies? (NTES, NCTY, SNDA)

Do you think this helps mobile game providers?

TheStreet.com's Revenue Grows 25%, But Insiders Sell and Company Gives Up Selling Itself (TSCM)

Nice analysis: Two additional thoughts on the recent call:
1. The CFO is resigning to "pursue other [undisclosed] interests". Often, but not always, a red flag.
2. Mad Money may have blocked the sale of the company. They will never admit this of course. But would News Corp. or Time Warner, for example, really consider a strategic purchase of an internet property that was tied to a television show on a competing channel? I doubt it.
[no position]

Roundup of Reactions to Google's Earnings (GOOG)

Thanks for your explanation David. If any accountants are reading this and can confirm I would appreciate it.

Roundup of Reactions to Google's Earnings (GOOG)

I read that David, I just don't understand how the "true up" concept mixes with accounting principles. They knew the revenue and expense mix from prior quarters and reported it on the 10Q. If they made a mistake in determining taxes in prior quarters dont they need to restate the tax expense of those quarters instead of "truing up" with a one time expense.

Roundup of Reactions to Google's Earnings (GOOG)

How is it that the company was taxed at a rate of over 40% for the quarter? That seems to be above the top US corporate tax rate, whereas it should be below that rate due to: (1) allocation of part of income to international taxed at lower rates; (2) $90M donation to Google foundation. Perhaps instead of saying they are doing no evil, they should just give a thorough explanation.

BellSouth Joins the Payola Internet Club (BLS, SBC, VZ, T)

Even if they get a legislative carve out exempting pay-for-performance from fair trade laws, it could violate the contracts with subscribers as well as consumer fraud laws (based on the representations the companies make in advertising). I know I don't pay comcast $50 a month to cripple certain websites.

Microsoft's WindowsLive Custom Domains Threatens Domain Registrars (MSFT, RCOM, TCOW, VRSN)

David I think the Tucows chart is wrong. Tucows used to be symbol TCOW on the OTCBB, but it moved to the Amex where it trades under the symbol TCX. Pull up a chart of that -- its slightly less impressive.

VoIP Rush: Microsoft Buys Teleo, News Corp to Buy Skype, Vonage IPO? (MSFT, NWS)

CallWave is used to add VoIP features (real time and unified messaging, etc.) to existing services including cell phones.
This release will give you some insight into the features they are working on: release
I have not specifically reviewed their patents or conducted an analysis of that nature so I cannot estimate the degree of protection their IP will be afforded. It is not as exciting as Vonage, but then again it is cash flow positive and quite reasonably valued. I also expect it to be a beneficiary of Vonage hype.

VoIP Rush: Microsoft Buys Teleo, News Corp to Buy Skype, Vonage IPO? (MSFT, NWS)

I think its time to look into public VoIP companies ahead of the blizzard of hype we will see with the Vonage filing. I have taken small positions in CALL and VTEK, both of which are profitable, reasonably priced, and have good balance sheets. CALL is a direct competitor of Vonage, and also owns some intellectual property related to integrating VoIP and wireless technologies. VTEK makes VoIP equipment that can save large and small businesses a tremendous amount of money. Any other good picks in this area? I am looking into WQNI but have not formed an opinion on that one yet.

Comparing the Two Indian Internet Stocks REDF and SIFY

David,
I am no expert on Indian stocks, so please take this with a grain of salt. MTE is I think primarily govt. owned. I hate that situation, and will stay away for that reason alone. Last I looked, the ADR's traded at a pretty large premium. Another black mark in my book if that is still true. That said, the chart looks decent but not inspiring, and the fundamentals seem reasonable.

Comparing the Two Indian Internet Stocks REDF and SIFY

I have traded REDF dozens of times over the past 4 years, on both the short and long side (no position now). The important thing to realize with this stock imo is that it does have a tendency to make strong runs. Its online business is improving (we should net out the publishing business because nobody gets those kind of valuations for a magazine). However, the revenue ramp remains pathetic. After 4 years of adding everything from phone card sales to auctions to SMS to VoIP to games to blogs to contextual advertising, you would think REDF could manage to show some top line growth. REDF is not showing the growth of a GOOG or even a BIDU. SIFY is also fairly pathetic at delivering results (which is why the parent company cut it loose). To me, this indicates that the Indian market is ready for another player to come and take it by storm. Granted, REDF and SIFY could be a target for a company looking to enter this market, but we have seen a lot of Indian internet plays come and go. Can you name the largest market cap. Indian internet play in 2000? I can, as I still have some short shares that I cant cover since there is no market for it anymore. Global Online India (GOLX) once had a market cap of over $500M. Now it is worth less than $100k. I dont think REDF shares the same future, but it is certainly not the Google of India.