YenKenZen

Online Financial Tools Sized Up

This is interesting article.. discount / do-it-yourself brokers have been trying to up the ante by offering variety of "do-it-yourself" features.. It will be interesting to see how many keep it up in this nuclear winter!

You can always find up-to-date feature list and easy comparison of broker features on YenKenZen.

Apple's iTunes Chump Change for Hollywood

"chump change"? it may be useful to see how does it affect to the bottom line (and not just top line).. and yes, have to agree that GE's market cap is irrelevant..

eCommerce Stock Pair Trade: Amazon vs. eBay

The risk of pair trade just based on technical analysis is that you can get it doubly wrong.. specially when you are betting against the company gaining market share, in this case Amazon.

Kindle + College Textbooks = A Huge Opportunity for Amazon

Scott,

What Kevin didnt explain was that students need to buy more than one book - typically 8+. So now you can do the math.

I would love to see this happening even for my high-schooler. There are challenges, but this can work and could be big if students catch up on Kindle.

Google Wins the Verizon Wireless Sweepstakes

I echo User138602's request.

I like both of VZ and GOOG but I want to buy one. VZ ofcourse is more complex to address because of its combination of fixed line business as well as wireless business - however may have lot better valuation compared to GOOG.

Apple & Google: A Detailed Comparison

Brewer, thanks for placing the history into context..

IF you do want to compare Apple and Google, compare their market share of the their relevant markets and see where they can go..

FCF comparison is meaningful.. but for growth companies, market share is what matters and I feel Apple has much more headroom.

Inflation a Huge Drag as Energy Costs Transform Consumer Behavior

agree.. but aren't these things all already factored into the market?

Can Eaton Vance's Tax-Advantaged Dividend Fund Sustain Its Yield?

EVT is dividend capture fund and ETV (intechange the letters!) is a buy-write fund which offers high dividend (11%+ currently) primarily thanks to call writing income.

Book Review: Vitaliy Katsenelson's 'Active Value Investing'

very interesting and passionate review.. convinced me to add the book to the list!

Why Isn't Wall Street Skeptical About Starbucks' Increased Prices?

Vahan,

I have generally found your stock picking skills pretty good, however I have to say that you are missing the mark here. Though SBUX may be good for shorting for valuation or other reasons, I agree with smorales that the 9c increase isnt going to affect their business at all. In fact vast majority of SBUX customers may not even notice it..

five_whys

Home Depot Selling Supply Business, Issuing $22.5B Buyback

Echo, thanks for sharing this - if you are planning to follow on your "crude" estimate with more considered estimate, I would certainly look forward to it.

Also do you see the recent CEO change as any positive for HD?

Amazon Moves to DRM-free Music; Subscription Sites Lose Big

I cant get this - what does it take for RNWK, YHOO, NAPS to offer DRM free, subscription free music? literally nothing.. they already sell music on per track basis.. subscription is just one of the options.

I agree AMZN entry it-self is a threatening to these guys but hey, its apple who has to lose.. no one else have any market share anyway!

Berkshire Hathaway: Hold Off Until Buffett Steps Down

Overall Todd, you made a strong point - though I wonder if this is a reflection of Buffet's "play safe" attitude or he is just not convinced of any available good "swings" for the size of money he is holding. Lets not forget that we are in the record Dow Jones Index territory..

Reading Between the Lines To Spot the Next Cisco

Good discussion & information here.. thanks for sharing your paper Yishai.

This proves back William's point as well - going "lean" does sound like a cover, at-least for last quarter.

One another point though, if you look at the PCB b-b ratio, Q4 b/b was

Red Hat: Grasping The Open Source Software Concept

Agree with your comments about difference bet'n "software" company v/s "service" company.

I feel though that RHT's valuation simply reflects the growth it has been seeing and cash on hand.. if you look at enterprise value / EBIT, the valuation doesnt seem outrageous for a company thats grown 4 times in 4 years ($93M in 2003 to >$400M in trailing 12 months per my Morningstar screen).