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Technology Article

ABB Ltd. Buys Smart Grid Software Maker to Jump Ahead in Energy Management Industry

By , Associate Editor, Money Morning - • Print | Email

Swiss engineering company ABB Ltd. (NYSE ADR: ABB) today (Wednesday) announced it will buy software maker Ventyx for over $1 billion to strengthen its position among energy management competitors by offering smart grid electricity distribution.

ABB will integrate Ventyx into its power-systems division, allowing it to provide modern smart grid software to grid operators who want to run a more efficient distribution system. The deal represents electrical engineering companies' need to prepare energy management networks to handle an increasing supply of renewable sources, like wind and solar.

"The big advantage for energy companies, utilities and industrial customers is that they will now have a single supplier of enterprise-wide information technology platforms and power automation systems," said ABB Chief Executive Officer Joe Hogan. "The advantage for our shareholders is a cash-generating acquisition in an exciting growth market, with a strong management team, a highly complementary offering and geographic scope, and an attractive return on capital employed."

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Hot Stocks: The iPad Proves It's Not What Apple Sells, It's How Apple Sells It

By , Associate Editor, Money Morning - • Print | Email

Apple Inc.'s (Nasdaq: AAPL) iPad has lived up to the hype, garnering rave reviews and meeting sales expectations. That success is particularly impressive because previous attempts by other companies to launch similar products were met with abject failure.

Because they make up less than 1% of the personal-computer market, few observers realize that so-called tablets have been around for about twenty years now.

The first models offered detachable keyboards, pen-based applications, and were priced in the thousands. A few contributed to companies declaring bankruptcy shortly after their debuts. Most were as pricey as a laptop but without nearly as much memory or competitive features – "underpowered and overpriced" were the usual complaints.

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Google Unveils Another Surprise Twist in China Drama

By , Money Morning - • Print | Email

For the first time in two months there is a new development in Google Inc.'s (Nasdaq: GOOG) feud with China. The search engine today (Monday) began redirecting traffic from its China page, google.cn, to its uncensored Hong Kong page, google.com.hk.

Google said the move is "entirely legal," and said it will continue research and development activities in China. Some market observers had expected Google to announce its total withdrawal from the country today, as the company's disagreement with Beijing had reached a standstill. But Google's new approach is another surprise development.

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Buy, Sell or Hold: Juniper Networks Inc. (NYSE: JNPR) Will Be the Next Company to Profit from the Broadband Boom

By , Contributing Editor, Money Morning - • Print | Email

Given the lightening fast expansion that we are seeing in broadband market – something I mentioned last week in my recommendation of Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: CSCO), we are going to look at another strong beneficiary in the sector: Juniper Networks Inc. (NYSE: JNPR).

Juniper Networks beat estimates by a mile in its recent earnings report. It beat both on sales and margins expectations. However, some analysts have raised questions about the company's strategy. And I am one of them.

Let me explain.

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Hot Stocks: New Media Player Just One Reason to Like Seagate Technology

By , Contributing Writer, Money Morning - • Print | Email

Disk drive makers are usually seen as the poor stepsisters of the consumer electronics world.

While their more glamorous cousins like Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL), and Sony Corp. (NYSE ADR: SNE) bask in the spotlight, storage providers like Seagate Technology (Nasdaq: STX), while equally important, draw little fanfare.

Few realize for instance that shares of Seagate, the largest disk maker in the world, have just about quadrupled in the past year.

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Profit From the Broadband Explosion With Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: CSCO)

By , Contributing Editor, Money Morning - • Print | Email

Last Friday I unveiled my two most compelling stock ideas to the readers of my Money Map VIP trading service. They are the best ways to hop onto an exploding trend that I recently discovered and researched extensively – the exponential explosion in broadband traffic.

To learn more about this broadband explosion – and the two top stock picks I isolated from my research – check out this new report. It's a huge issue – with the potential to cause the kinds of network breakdowns and outright outages that could cost the economy billions of dollars and that could even cost people their lives.

In the course of my research, I discovered a third company that's perfectly positioned to benefit from this broadband paralysis. My conclusion: Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: CSCO) is going to see a lot of upside from this trend, too.

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Toyota Recall Messages Lost in Translation

By , Contributing Writer, Money Morning - • Print | Email

On the face of it, Toyota Motor Corp.'s (NYSE ADR: TM) recall of more than 8 million vehicles appears to be a serious-yet-simple matter of a carmaker facing up to a long list of manufacturing errors. But an in-depth examination of the case reveals a much deeper cultural disconnect.

Like two people from two distinctly different cultures who find themselves locked in an uneasy marriage, the U.S. consumer and Toyota management are suffering from a failure to communicate.

And unless Toyota very quickly makes an all-out effort to close the communications gap, the Japan-based carmaker could find itself relegated to also-ran status, says Keith Fitz-Gerald, a recognized expert on Asian business who is also the chief investment strategist for Money Morning and The Money Map Report.

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Price Wars Likely to Spur Smartphone Explosion in 2010

By , Contributing Writer, Money Morning - • Print | Email

Are you one of those holdouts who hasn't yet jumped into the high-tech world of smartphones? Well get ready, because the mobile-phone makers of the world are about to make you an offer that will be very difficult to refuse.

This may be the year when cheap prices finally drag millions of behind-the-curve consumers into the blossoming smartphone market, unleashing unprecedented strains on broadband networks as handset makers wage a price war in the midst of booming demand.

"The smartphone market will become ultra competitive in 2010," analyst Neil Mawston from Strategy Analytics told Reuters.

More than 1 billion mobile devices will access the Internet in the New Year, research firm International Data Corp. (NYSE: IDC) says. That's catching up to the 1.3 billion users that use a PC to go online, and the rate of growth for mobile users is 2.5 times the growth rate for PC use.

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Will Taiwan Arms Sale Ground Boeing?

By , Money Morning - • Print | Email

Roughly $400 billion in revenue would be a heavy price to pay for selling 12 missiles to Taiwan, but that potentially is what The Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) is facing as China continues to fume over U.S. arms sales to the renegade island.

The Obama administration last week approved a $6.4 billion weapons deal with Taiwan. The deal, which was brokered by the administration of George W. Bush in 2001, included UH-60 Black Hawk military helicopters and additional Patriot PAC-3 missile defenses, but not additional F-16 jets, which the government deemed "too provocative."

The sale infuriated China, which considers Taiwan its territory. Beijing has vowed to unify the region peacefully if possible and forcefully if necessary, but the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act obligates the United States to "provide Taiwan with arms of a defensive character." That makes Taiwan the most sensitive issue in bilateral relations between the two nations.

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Hot Stocks: Apple's iPad Picks Up Where Amazon's Kindle Left Off

By , Money Morning - • Print | Email

When it unveiled the Kindle e-reader in late 2007, Amazon.com Inc. (Nasdaq: AMZN) created a whole new market for digital books, newspapers and magazines.

Now industry innovator Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) is taking that market to an entirely new level.

After months of spirited speculation, Apple on Wednesday introduced a full-color e-reader that doubles as a netbook.

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