SmallCap Stocks on the Move: SLTD; INAR; MFTH

Tomahawk, WI 7/17/12 (StreetBeat) -- Smallcap stocks are usually very volatile and can be great ways to get significant returns without allocating the capital for say an investment in big market names like Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) or Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) that trade in the high dollar ranges.

Solar3D, Inc. (OTCBB: SLTD) was up 2 percent on heavy volume of heavy volume of more than 3 million shares, as I write. SLTD only averages about 112,000 shares traded per day and has a market cap just over $6 million. Solar3D is developing 3D technology to maximize the value of converting sun light into electricity.

InternetArray (PINKSHEET: INAR) is a sub-penny stock and was down 7 percent on heavy volume of more than 15 million shares, as I write. INAR has a market cap just under $2 million and today, launched StockPlay.com, which is the company’s social media site designed for investors focusing on stocks from the OTC markets.

Medisafe 1 Technologies Corp. (OTCBB: MFTH) is also a sub-penny stocks that was down 20 percent on volume of more than 30 million shares, as I write. MFTH has initiated an aggressive share buyback program that should bring it back from the sub-penny realm soon enough. The company is developing an innovative security measure for the administration of drugs via hypodermic needle… In order for the drug to be administered, it must pre-match positively with its intended patient.

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Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) tie-up, network sale among RIM options

Palm Beach, FL 6/29/12 (StreetBeat) -- Research In Motion Ltd's (Nasdaq: RIMM) board is under mounting pressure to consider unpalatable options such as selling its network business or forming an alliance with Microsoft Corp (Nasdaq: MSFT) after the Blackberry maker again delayed the release of its next-generation smartphones, said three sources familiar with the situation.

Shares in the Canadian company, which announced a steeper-than-expected quarterly operating loss on Thursday, plunged 18 percent in extended trading, slashing its market value to $4.1 billion. The stock has fallen about 70 percent in the past year.

RIM said the launch of BlackBerry 10 mobile devices has been postponed to early 2013 - more than a year later than initially promised - because the development of its new operating system had "proven to be more time-consuming than anticipated."

The latest setback has increased pressure on RIM's board to more seriously explore other options, including measures that would amount to an admission that it cannot survive by sticking to its current strategy, said the sources, who declined to be identified because the information was confidential.

One of these options is for RIM to abandon its own operating system and adopt Microsoft's upcoming Windows 8. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer had approached RIM in recent months, looking to strike a partnership similar to the one the software giant has with Nokia Oyj, the sources said. Under that partnership, Nokia will use Microsoft's latest Windows operating system on its smartphones.

In such a scenario, RIM could also look for Microsoft to buy a stake in the company and fund marketing and other expenses, the sources said. However, this option is not attractive to RIM because it would mean the end of the Waterloo, Ontario-based company's technology independence, they said.

The RIM board prefers to see through the efforts to develop the new BlackBerry 10 operating system, according to the sources.
Microsoft could also be interested in RIM's wireless patents, the sources said.

RIM and Microsoft declined to comment.

Another option for RIM would be to sell its proprietary network to a private equity firm or a technology company. The buyer could then open up RIM's network operating centers to other smartphone providers, allowing them to also provide highly secured emails and other services to companies and government agencies, the sources said.

In that scenario, however, RIM's device business is seen to have no future, they said, adding that private equity firms have been considering how to separate the hardware business from the network business.

RIM has in the past considered opening up its network to rivals, under a plan led by former co-CEO Jim Balsillie. That could offer RIM a way forward as demand for its BlackBerry phones faces fierce competition from Apple Inc's iPhone and Google Inc's Android phones.

The idea would be to clearly define the network as an asset that could exist without BlackBerry handsets - an operational precursor that could have led to a possible legal split if the handset business ultimately proved untenable.

RIM is "going to have to be much more open minded to the idea that Jim Balsillie was working on before he was ousted of opening their network to third parties," said Eric Jackson, a hedge fund manager at Ironfire Capital in Toronto.

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Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) Tablet: Finally Some Competition for Apple’s iPad?

Atlanta, GA 6/26/12 (StreetBeat) -- Apple (Nasdaq:AAPL) has cemented its dominance in the tablet market, but that hasn't stopped competitors from trying to chip away at the iPad's market share and fight for the runner up position. The latest entrant, Microsoft's (Nasdaq:MSFT) "Surface," was introduced last week with strong fanfare. But its time in the spotlight may be short-lived as Google (Nasdaq:GOOG) is expected to unveil their own tablet, the Nexus 7during this week's I/O developer's conference.

"For Google this is certainly a big opportunity," says David Garrity of GVA Research, adding that the tech behemoth may be better positioned to beat out Microsoft due to its history across software and hardware, especially after acquiring Motorola Mobility.

"Google I think could potentially have a product that does pose a threat. However, that said, Apple is still the name to beat in terms of the space," says Garrity. He points to Apple's unparalleled momentum and years of brand equity as primary reasons why Google and just about any other competitor will have trouble making significant dent in the tablet market.

As for Microsoft and the aforementioned Surface, Garrity suggests they may not even be competing for the same customers. He predicts the company's foray into hardware (Xbox not withstanding) will put the Surface more in line with Ultrabooks in terms of pricing rather than slightly cheaper tablets. Garrity says Microsoft won't "throw over a business model that has served them reasonably well for about the last 30 years to come out and transform wholly into an integrated provider of hardware and software." Rather, in his view the Surface is a product that will highlight the strengths of Windows 8 and what the platform is capable of.

With Apple, Google, and Microsoft leading the tablet pack, Garrity reminds us not to discount the old guards like Dell (Nasdaq:DELL) and Hewlett Packard (NYSE:HPQ). He argues both have perfectly good reasons to enter the fray, but whether or not they do depends on Microsoft loyalty for Dell and whether Meg Whitman can, or even wants to, succeed in a market that her HP predecessors clearly avoided.

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Microsoft's (Nasdaq: MSFT) long and tortured history in tablets

Palm Beach, FL 6/19/12 (StreetBeat) -- For decades, the tablet computer was like a mirage in the technology industry: a great idea, seemingly reachable on the horizon, that disappointed as hopeful companies got closer. Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) has experienced this cycle of hope and disappointment many times.

The device unveiled by the Redmond Wash.-based software giant on Monday —the Surface— isn't the first tablet it envisioned. Indeed, the company's engineers have been trying to reshape personal computing for as long as there's been a PC.

The first PCs had keyboards, borrowed from the typewriter. But people quickly started wondering whether pens, which are more comfortable writing tools, wouldn't be a better basis for personal computing.

Several companies worked pen-based computing in the late 1980s, and Microsoft jumped on the trend. By 1991, it released "Windows for Pen Computing," an add-on to Windows 3.1 that let the operating system accept input from an active "pen" (really a stylus). Several devices used Microsoft's software, and are recognizable as the ancestors of today's tablets: They were square, portable slabs with a screen on one side. They weren't designed to respond to finger-touches, however: the reigning paradigm was that of the notepad and pen.

The pen-computing fad subsided in the 90s. While PenWindows tablets got a lot of attention, mainstream computing remained stubbornly keyboard-based.

In 2002, Microsoft founder Bill Gates said these early tablet ventures were "almost painful to recall," but not to worry. He had something much better, a device that would fulfill "a dream that I and others have had for years and years," he said. It was Windows for XP Tablet PC Edition. This time, hardware makers like Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ), Samsung Electronics, Toshiba Corp. (OTCBB: TSYY) and Acer Group played along, producing tablet PCs.

Like the earlier generation, some of these looked like today's tablets, but inside, they were really PCs. Compared to an iPad, they were expensive — at around $1,500 — heavy, and didn't last long on battery power. Buyers paid a lot for the ability to enter things on the screen with a pen.

Another problem was that the pen-based adaptations were skin-deep. Windows remained a thoroughly keyboard-and-mouse-based operating system, and many functions were simply hard to get to with a pen. Third-party applications weren't converted for pen use at all. As a backup, many of these tablets had keyboards, just like laptops.

The tablet PCs found homes in a few business settings, where a PC that could be used while standing, at least for short periods, was welcome. But they remained a niche product, and the number of manufacturers who made tablet PCs steadily shrank.

In parallel with the Tablet PC push, Microsoft prompted partners such as Fujitsu and ViewSonic to create Smart Displays. These were big tablets intended for home use, and each one was linked to a PC through Wi-Fi, making it something of an expensive monitor with short-range portability. This was supposed to be a cheaper alternative to a full-blown tablet, but the devices reached shelves at $1,000 and more in 2003. While a Smart Display was in use, the associated PC could not be used. Very few were sold, and Microsoft cancelled the project the same year.

Microsoft gave tablets another try in 2006, launching "Project Origami" with some of its partners. The idea was to make really small PCs with screens sensitive not just to pens, but to fingers. This time, fewer companies followed along. One of them was Samsung, which had high hopes for its "Q1".

But Microsoft hadn't learned much from its Tablet PC adventure. Windows was still hard to use with anything other than a keyboard. The "Ultra-Mobile PCs" were still expensive and suffered from very short battery life — the Q1 could surf the Web for about 2 hours. One thing they did get right was weight — the Q1 weighed 1.7 pounds, just a bit more than a first-generation iPad.

In 2008, reports emerged of yet another tablet computer, or rather a "booklet computer," being developed by Microsoft. Code-named "Courier," it had two screens joined by a hinge, and facing each other. It was designed for pen and finger input. Microsoft cancelled the project in 2010, saying it was just one of many projects it tests to "foster productivity and creativity."

One touch-based computer that did see the light of day in 2008 was Microsoft Surface. It was more of a table than a tablet: the computer was a big box that sat on a floor, with a big, horizontal screen on top. It was intended not for home use but for store displays and similar applications. Unusually, Microsoft didn't rely on hardware partners for this product, but made and sold it on its own. Intended as a niche product, it has remained one.

Microsoft has had one notable success in the tablet space — if you apply a broad definition to the term. Its "Pocket PC" operating system, which is distinct from Windows, ran on phone-sized hand-held "personal digital assistants" starting around 2000. The devices were powerful compared to Palm's PDAs, the market leaders of their time. The Pocket PCs supported color screens, and could recognize casual handwriting. Compaq made good use of Microsoft's Pocket PC software in its popular iPAQ line. But PDAs were a small market, and when Pocket PC moved over to smartphones and was renamed Windows Mobile, it soon found tough competition in the shape of BlackBerrys and then iPhones.

The company that finally cracked the tablet code in 2010 was Apple, not Microsoft. Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) made the iPad a success by scaling up a phone rather than scaling down a PC, which is what Microsoft had been trying to do with the Tablet PC and Origami. Phone chips are cheap and last much longer on batteries, which meant that the iPad was both light, inexpensive and had good battery life. In addition, the iPhone software it used was designed from the ground up for touch input.

Microsoft's new strategy is similar. For Windows 8, it's borrowing design features from Windows Phone, its new smartphone system. Most importantly, one version of the software is designed to run on phone-style chips, rather than the PC-style chips that have been the mainstay of Windows since it was created in the 1980s. It remains to be seen whether Microsoft can make its tablet vision a reality, or if it will stay a mirage.

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Nokia (NYSE: NOK) to cut 10,000 jobs as Q2 weak

Northern, WI 6/14/12 (StreetBeat) – Nokia (NYSE:NOK) plans to cut one in five jobs at its global cellphone business as it loses market share to rivals Apple (Nasdaq:AAPL) and Samsung (OTCBB:SSNLF) and burns through cash, raising new fears over its future.

In a second profit warning in nine weeks, Nokia said on Thursday that its phone business would post a deeper-than-expected loss in the second quarter due to tougher competition.

Once the world's dominant mobile phone provider, Nokia was wrongfooted by the rise of smartphones and is struggling to keep up with Apple, Samsumg and Google (Nasdaq: GOOG). It is also losing market share in cheaper, more basic phones.

Chief Executive Stephen Elop is placing hopes of a turnaround on a new range of smartphones called Lumia, which use largely untried Microsoft Corp (Nasdaq: MSFT) software. But Lumia sales have so far been slow, disappointing investors.

"The job cuts and profit warning underline the seriousness of the challenges Nokia is facing, particularly in light of the eye-watering competition from Apple and Samsung," said Ben Wood, head of research at CCS Insight.

Nokia, whose cash position is increasingly scrutinized by investors, also said restructuring-related cash outflows would be around 650 million euros in the remaining three quarters of 2012 and around 600 million in 2013.

Shares in Finland-based Nokia were down 10.5 percent to 1.99 euros, below the psychologically important 2 euros mark last, not seen since 1996. The stock has crashed more than 70 percent since it announced the switch to Microsoft's software in February 2011.

Analysts have said that even with the dramatic fall in the share price, the worsening outlook made it hard to judge how much lower the shares could go.

"I won't comment on the stock price anymore, since it's been seen over and over, that there is no definitive bottom," said Evli analyst Mikko Ervasti.

"People are worried over Lumia sales. I think expectations for the third quarter will be cut," said Nordea analyst Sami Sarkamies.

The job cuts, which include the closure of Nokia's only plant in Finland, bring total planned cuts at the group since Elop took over as chief executive in 2010 to more than 40,000.

The move will result in additional restructuring charges of around 1 billion euros by the end of 2013.

The company said it expects its operating margin in the second quarter to be below the negative 3 percent level reported in the first quarter. It previously forecast it would be similar to or below that level.

Nokia also said it would sell luxury phone business Vertu to venture firm EQT and revamp its management team.

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Research in Motion (Nasdaq: RIMM), Struggling, Ponders a Dim Future

Orlando, FL 6/1/12 (StreetBeat) -- After rejecting the idea of a sale for months, Research in Motion (Nasdaq: RIMM) acknowledged on Tuesday that it was considering "strategic business model alternatives" - or in banker's speak, RIM, which makes the BlackBerry, said it was pondering a potential deal for all or parts of the company.

But did it wait too long?

A year ago, RIM, a Canadian company, became the subject of takeover rumors, after Google’s (Nasdaq: GOOG) $12.5 billion deal for Motorola Mobility. Then, analysts believed that RIM would draw interest from Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT), Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN) or any number of Chinese phone manufacturers who could afford what would have been a pricey deal.

The company's executives rebuffed the idea, arguing that RIM was on the verge of a turnaround. New phones were coming that combined touch-screens with BlackBerry's e-mail and security features. And the PlayBook, with an industrial-strength operating system, could stand toe to toe with the iPad.

But RIM's prospects have withered since. In March, the company disclosed that its quarterly sales had plunged 20 percent from the previous quarter, as customers migrated to iPhones and Android devices. The company warned on Tuesday that it expected another loss.

The weakness is reflected in the stock's sharp decline. RIM's market value is just $5.4 billion, down roughly 76 percent from a year ago. Its share price fell slightly on Thursday, to $10.33.

"Buying this stock is like going to the casino," analysts at National Bank Financial wrote in a research note on Wednesday.

Now, executives appear to be reluctantly admitting they need to make a change. On Tuesday, the company said that it is conducting a strategic review. As part of its effort, RIM tapped JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) and RBC Capital Markets to help assess its potential options.

Those efforts may not lead to a sale, but instead partnerships with other companies or the licensing of BlackBerry software. Earlier this year, RIM's chief executive, Thorsten Heins, disavowed any need to consider "drastic change."

Ehud Gelblum, an analyst at Morgan Stanley, wrote in a note - entitled "No Happy Ending in Sight" - on Wednesday that he did not believe RIM was seeking to sell itself as a whole, but may consider outsourcing its network operating center or selling off parts.

That may be the best option. Earlier this year, the sales prospects for RIM did not look promising. A few analysts believed that RIM did not have "much to offer" a potential buyer.

The company's prospects may have deteriorated in the intervening months. Some analysts indicate that RIM may only be worth the total value of its patents and its cash, roughly $1.8 billion. It is unclear what the patents may fetch, though analysts at Jefferies estimated last fall that the intellectual property could bring $1 billion to $2.5 billion.

Should RIM put itself on the auction block, it may find the universe of potential buyers remains fairly small. Microsoft, long considered a possible suitor, has been focused on its new Windows operating system and its tie-up with Nokia. Amazon.com has cast its lot with a version of Google's Android. And buyers in China and India may face complaints from important BlackBerry customers like the United States and Canadian governments.

And patience isn't necessarily a virtue in deal-making.

Take Yahoo (Nasdaq: YHOO), which Microsoft offered to buy for nearly $45 billion in 2008. The talks quickly cratered, and a deal never panned out. Yahoo has since run through three chief executives and cast about for a new business model.

It has agreed to sell about half of its stake in the Alibaba Group of China, a move that will generate cash that can be paid out to investors. And it has revamped its board.

But it is unclear whether such efforts will make up for Yahoo's 58 percent drop in value since Microsoft's takeover attempt.

Then there is Palm Inc., which is often compared with RIM at this stage. Having failed to gain traction with a series of devices built on its own smartphone operating system, the company began a sales process several years ago, drawing in five bids.

One suitor, Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HP), was pressured into raising its offer by 20 percent, and ultimately paid $1.2 billion to win the bidding. The deal represented a 23 percent premium to the smartphone maker's closing price from the day before the offer was announced in 2010. Yet by that point, Palm's stock price had dropped 50 percent over the previous 12 months.

Still, there's some hope left for RIM. Motorola Mobility had largely been left for dead by August 2011, trailing Samsung and H.T.C. in the race for Android device dominance. Then Android's creator, Google itself, arrived with a bid carrying a whopping 63 percent premium, spurred by the valuable patents that Motorola held.

Please contact www.thestreetbeat.com for interest in our latest investor relations platform the “CEO Interview Series” with its host Steve Kanaval. The package includes a one-on-one interview with a seasoned industry professional; published segment to our web site with embedded audio/video file; and a compressed file that can be easily e-mailed out to your current and/or potential investors. Please e-mail bflautt@gmail.com or call (662) 392-0740 for pricing and scheduling.

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LargeCap Stocks to Watch Today

Tomahawk, WI 4/19/2012 (StreetBeat) -- Microsoft (MSFT), the giant software maker, is seen by analysts Thursday posting fiscal third-quarter earnings of 57 cents a share on revenue of $17.18 billion.

The stock has risen nearly 20% this year. It releases Windows 8 later in 2012.

Bank of America (BAC) is expected by analysts Thursday to post first-quarter earnings of 12 cents a share on revenue of $22.51 billion.

The stock has risen 60% in 2012, making it the biggest gainer in the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

Analysts are calling for Morgan Stanley (MS) to post-quarterly earnings of 45 cents a share, down from profit of 46 cents a year earlier.

Analysts see revenue of $7.31 billion, down from $9.49 billion last year.

DuPont (DD), the chemicals maker, is seen posting quarterly profit of $1.55 a share on revenue of $11.21 billion.

Other Dow components reporting Thursday are Travelers (TRV) and Verizon (VZ).

American Express (AXP), the credit card company, reported quarterly earnings Wednesday of $1.26 billion, or $1.07 a share, in the March-ended period, on revenue net of interest expense of $7.61 billion. Analysts were expecting profit of $1 a share on revenue of $7.57 billion.

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Ahead of the Bell: All eyes on Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) stock

Northern, WI 4/17/12 (StreetBeat) -- Investors are wondering what is in store for Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) after shares of the world's most valuable public company closed down 4 percent on Monday, their fifth straight drop. But analysts remain upbeat on the iPhone and iPad maker's shares, encouraging investors to buy the stock after its decline.

The Cupertino, Calif., company has lost $50 billion of its market capitalization over the past five days and was worth about $541 billion on Tuesday — still well ahead of Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM), the world's second-most valuable company, at $395 billion.

The stock slide comes after a rally that had driven Apple's shares up nearly 60 percent in 2012, driving its market cap to $600 billion. Only one other public company, Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT), has been worth that much. Shares peaked at $644 on April 10.

Before the market opened Tuesday, Apple stock dipped $2.68, or less than 1 percent, to $577.45.

The drop in stock price and market cap is a cause for concern for the stock market. Not only is Apple a bellwether for the technology industry, it is also the biggest stock in the Standard & Poor's 500 index and the largest on the Nasdaq Composite index. Its decline weighs on broader stock measures.

The drop in the company's shares comes about two weeks after an analyst set a $1,001 price target on Apple's shares, the highest yet. That implies a company value of $933 billion, well above what any company has ever been worth. But since that price target was set by Topeka Capital Markets' Brian White on April 2, shares of the maker of iPads and iPhones have dropped 6.2 percent.

One cloud hovering over the tech giant this month is the U.S. government's accusations that it conspired with major book publishers to raise the price of e-books. Apple denied that accusation on Friday.

Many market watchers wonder if Apple's stock may just be coming back down to earth. The company's shares have risen 77 percent over the past year and are still up 43 percent in 2012. Apple's stock price ascent this year has been fueled by blowout sales of iPhones and iPads in the holiday quarter, plus the announcement that the company will start paying a dividend this summer and buy back shares. That's a way to reward shareholders by tapping Apple's $97.6 billion cash hoard.

Sterne Agee & Leach's Shaw Wu maintained a "Buy" rating and $750 price target for Apple, saying that the company remains a top pick and that investors should take advantage of the recent stock price decline.

Baird's William Power echoed that, reiterating his "Outperform" rating and $700 price target on the company's shares.

Please contact www.thestreetbeat.com for interest in our latest investor relations platform the “CEO Interview Series” with its host Steve Kanaval. The package includes a one-on-one interview with a seasoned industry professional; published segment to our web site with embedded audio/video file; and a compressed file that can be easily e-mailed out to your current and/or potential investors. Please e-mail bflautt@gmail.com or call (662) 392-0740 for pricing and scheduling.

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AOL (NYSE: AOL) to sell 800 patents to Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) for $1 billion

Orlando, FL 4/9/12 (StreetBeat) -- AOL Inc (NYSE: AOL) said it would sell over 800 of its patents and related applications to Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ: MSFT), and would grant Microsoft a non-exclusive license to the patents it retains, for slightly over $1 billion in cash.

AOL's shares jumped 37 percent to $25.16 in trading before the bell on Monday. They closed at $18.42 on Friday on the New York Stock Exchange.

The Internet company said it plans to return a "significant portion of the sale proceeds" to shareholders.

AOL will continue to hold over 300 patents including advertising, search, and mapping, and said it received a license to the patents being sold to Microsoft.

"This is a valuable portfolio that we have been following for years and analyzing in detail for several months," Microsoft's General Counsel Brad Smith said.

Last month, media reports said that AOL had hired Evercore Partners after being pushed by activist shareholder Starboard Value LP who believed the company's patent portfolio could produce more than $1 billion in licensing income if properly monetized.

The transaction, which is expected to be completed by the end of 2012, includes the sale of an AOL unit on which AOL expects to record a capital loss for tax purposes.

Evercore Partners and Goldman Sachs acted as financial advisors to AOL. Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz and Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner acted as legal counsel.

If the deal falls through, Microsoft will pay AOL a termination fee of $211.2 million, AOL said in a regulatory filing.

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Red Hat (NYSE: RHT) stock touches 5-year high after quarterly profit beat

Northern, WI 3/29/12 (StreetBeat) -- Shares of Red Hat Inc (NYSE:RHT) rose to their highest in five years after the business software maker reported a profit that beat analysts' expectations for the fifth straight quarter.

The stock of the world's largest distributor of the Linux operating system was up 14 percent at $58.67 after touching a high of $59.97 earlier in the session.

"Overall we remain bullish on the long-term outlook for Red Hat that includes several new products and realistic long term expectations," analysts at RBC Capital Markets wrote in a note to clients.

Brokerage Credit Agricole said the company is benefiting from the broad migration to cloud-related data center build-outs by enterprise customers, who are looking to build their own private or public clouds.

New products such as the RHEV 3.0 position Red Hat as a strong alternative to VMWare's (NYSE: VMW) or Microsoft's (NASDAQ: MSFT) virtual stack, Credit Agricole said in a note to clients.

The growing migration to cloud computing has been a key driver of revenue growth for Red Hat's Linux server software, as has expanding IT budgets after the recession years.

For the fourth quarter, the company posted billings growth of 31 percent, that outpaced its revenue growth for the fourth time in the past five quarters. It also announced a $300 million share buyback program.

Several analysts raised their price targets on the stock.

Please contact www.thestreetbeat.com for interest in our latest investor relations platform the “CEO Interview Series” with its host Steve Kanaval. The package includes a one-on-one interview with a seasoned industry professional; published segment to our web site with embedded audio/video file; and a compressed file that can be easily e-mailed out to your current and/or potential investors. Please e-mail bflautt@gmail.com or call (662) 392-0740 for pricing and scheduling.

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Domark International (OTCBB:DOMK): Hot New Solapad AAPL iPad Accessory is a Big Hit at the PV America West Show

Orlando, FL 3/21/12 (StreetBeat) -- Domark International Inc’s (OTCBB:DOMK.OB - News) new wholly-owned subsidiary Solawerks, Inc. announced today that the Company’s hot new Solapad iPad accessory is drawing large crowds at the 2012 PV America West show this week in San Jose, CA. Company management reports that lines were forming just to see the new product and take pictures as soon as it was put on display. Several nationwide retailers attending the show are already in talks to distribute the new cutting edge product. The new Solawerks Solapad is an electronic sleeve manufactured specifically for all versions of the Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL - News) iPad. The Solapad contains a large, high-efficiency solar panel on its back, plus an additional internal battery to keep the iPad charged at all times.

The Company believes the popularity of the hot new iPad accessory is partially driven by Apple’s record sales of the new version of the iPad that some are calling the iPad 3.

Future versions of the Solapad are being engineered to incorporate other items and capabilities that are designed to make a customer’s iPad much more powerful and functional. The Company also intends to offer unique design enhancements that could make the Solapad a very desirable product for purchase and use by the US Military.

More details about the new Solawerks Solapad can be seen atwww.solawerks.com

About Solawerks:

Solawerks, Inc. is a newly formed subsidiary, wholly owned by Domark International Inc. Solawerks’ current focus is to develop and distribute the Solapad, a combined cover and charging system for Apple’s iPad, competing in a market that also includes Research in Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM - News), Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT- News) and the Sony Corporation (NYSE: SNE - News).

Domark International, Inc.’s corporate website may be seen at: www.domarkintl.com

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Apple's (Nadaq: AAPL) Stock Surges to $500; Market Value Near $500 Billion

Orlando, FL 2/13/12 (StreetBeat) – Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL), whose price hit $500 for the first time on Monday, could be the first company ever to reach a trillion dollar valuation.

The tech giant's valuation is now nearly halfway to the 10-figure mark, with speculation Apple will launch iTV later this year driving shares to new record highs. Yet, Apple still has a way to go to become the most valuable company of all time.

Apple shares are up more than 20 percent year to date.

And with its price now around $500, the company's valuation is about $460 billion-roughly $8 billion more than the market caps percent of Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) ($198 billion) and Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) ($257 billion) combined.

If Apple shares continue to hit new record levels, its market cap will reach $500 billion when the price reaches $537. Still, shares will need to rise another $100 above that level to put Apple in contention for the most expensive company ever.

According to Standard and Poor's, ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM) was the most recent company to see a valuation north of $500 billion, back in 2007 when oil prices were at record highs.

Not surprisingly, it was the Tech Bubble of the last decade that first launched companies into rarified half trillion dollar market valuations levels. Between 1999 and 2000 Intel (Nasdaq: INTC), Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) and General Electric (NYSE: GE) all saw their valuations peak at around $500 billion. (GE is a minority shareholder in NBCUniversal)

While Microsoft may not excite investors like it did in Y2K, the software behemoth still holds the record for the most expensive valuation. Its market cap closed out 1999 at just over $600 billion according to Standard and Poor's, before peaking north of $650 billion during the tech bubble in 2000.

The high analyst price target on the street for Apple right now is $700. At that price, its market cap will handily surpass Microsoft's Y2K record.

The Apple TV was one of the last product initiatives spearheaded by Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, before his death. If the entertainment device and platform prove as big a game changer as the company's iTunes, iPhone and iPad, Apple shares could well continue their record run.

With its current float of about 932 million shares outstanding, Apple shares would need to top $1073 to reach the Trillion Dollar mark.

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Apple's (Nasdaq: AAPL) Gain Is Nuance's (Nasdaq: NUAN) Pain

Palm Beach, FL 2/10/12 (StreetBeat) – Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) is edging ever closer to $500 a share, but not all of its suppliers are basking in the iPhone maker's glow. Just ask Nuance Communications (Nasdaq: NUAN).

Apple has long been known to drive a hard bargain with its suppliers. The company continually tries to find a way to maximize its own margins, while squeezing those of its partners. Apple products are largely deemed must-haves, and suppliers are willing to do whatever they can to insert their products into the iPhone and iPad.

CEO Tim Cook may continue to drive harder bargains in the future than his predecessor Steve Jobs did, as Cook's experience and intellect are on the operational side of the business.

Nuance Communications reported weaker-than-expected first-quarter earnings as the company said its relationship with mobile companies has become "more comprehensive and complex" lately. Nuance makes part of the technology that goes into Siri, the personal and voice recognition assistant in the iPhone 4S.

This could eventually mean that Apple and other handset makers like Research In Motion (Nasdaq: RIMM) and phones that use Google's (Nasdaq: GOOG) Android operating system may wind up developing their own technology, or potentially moving on to another partner, squeezing Nuance shares even further.

Wedbush Securities analyst Scott Sutherland believes this could eventually happen, as he wrote in a recent earnings note. He believes Apple could eventually build its own automatic speech recognition (ASR), as Google has already done and Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) has done with Kinect.

"...[W]e believe Apple will follow Microsoft's and Google's lead and build its own ASR, especially after Siri's co-founder indicated Nuance ASR could be swapped out," Sutherland wrote in his note. He rates Nuance shares underperform with a $18 price target.

Sutherland also said he believes that the other handset makers Nuance works with could squeeze Nuance even more..

Deutsche Bank analyst Nandan Amladi also suggested that other handset makers may eschew Nuance's products in the future, as they have developed in-house alternatives. Amladi maintained his buy rating and $30 price target on Nuance following the earnings report.

Nuance reported quarterly earnings of 34 cents a share on revenue of $360.6 million, well below what analysts were looking for. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report earnings of 36 cents a share on $391.6 million in revenue.

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Majesco (Nasdaq: COOL) shares plunge on weak outlook

Palm Beach. FL 1/18/12 (StreetBeat) -- Majesco Entertainment Co's (Nasdaq: COOL) shares fell as much as 30 percent after the video game publisher forecast a weak 2012 as it expects higher selling and marketing costs.

The company expects the costs, primarily related to the launch of its new Zumba title -- Zumba Rush -- for Microsoft's (Nasdaq: MSFT) Xbox 360 Kinect, to grow by about 20 percent this year.

The "Zumba Fitness" game, launched in 2010 and based on motion-sensing technology, has sold more than 6 million copies worldwide and continues to be one of the top-ranked games in the United States and the United Kingdom. It contributes about 70 percent to Majesco's revenue.

Shares of the Edison, New Jersey-based company were down 26 percent at $2.20 in early trade. They touched a more than three-month low of $2.10 earlier in the session. The stock was the top loser on the Nasdaq.

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Ahead of the Bell: Yahoo Up On Takeover Talk

Orlando, FL 12/1/11 (StreetBeat) --Yahoo (Nasdaq:YHOO) jumped more than 5 percent in premarket trading Thursday after further reports that private-equity companies are looking to buy the company, or at least take a major stake.

Late Wednesday, Reuters and Bloomberg News said Blackstone Group and Bain Capital are looking at a joint bid with Alibaba Group of China and Softbank Corp. of Japan. The companies could bid more than $20 per share, the reports said. Neither Yahoo, nor the private capital firms, would comment on the reports.

Others reported to be interested in at least buying a major stake in Yahoo Inc. include Silver Lake Partners, Providence Equity Partners and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.

Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq:MSFT) also has signed a confidentiality agreement to gain access to Yahoo's books, but the world's largest software maker doesn't appear to be in interested in buying the entire company like it was in 2008.

Youssef Squali at Jefferies & Co. said he believes a likely scenario is the sale of a Yahoo stake just under 20 percent, avoiding a shareholder voting requirement under Delaware law. The goal would be to set the company up for a tender offer to buy 50 percent control.

The stock rose 5.5 percent, or 86 cents, to $16.56 before the market opened in electronic trading.

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LargeCap Stocks to Keep an Eye on Today

Shawshank, VA 10/6/2011 (PennyPayDay) – Co-founder and former Apple CEO Steve Jobs died Wednesday, the tech giant confirmed in a statement. Jobs was 56.

Apple shares fell 0.5% to $376.41 in premarket trading Thursday.

OCZ Technology, a provider of solid-state drives for computing devices, said it expects fiscal year 2012 revenue to be in the range of $320 million to $350 million, compared with $190 million in fiscal year 2011, after swinging to profit in the second quarter.

Shares were surging 16.5% to $5.79.

Sports apparel retailer Zumiez said it now expects earnings of 40 cents to 41 cents a share in its third quarter. The company's prior forecast was for a profit of 37 cents to 39 cents a share.

The current average estimate of analysts polled by Thomson Reuters is for earnings of 39 cents a share.

Shares were surging 14.4% to $21.50.

Restaurant operator Ruby Tuesday said Wednesday that its fiscal first-quarter earnings fell 75% as sales dropped. The company reported a profit of 5 cents a share, meeting estimates. The company said it expects to lose 4 cents during the current quarter, and cut its full-year forecast.

Shares were tumbling 9.2% to $6.50.

Wine company Constellation Brands reported second-quarter earnings of 77 cents a share vs. the average analyst estimate of 66 cents a share.

Shares were jumping 6.8% to $19.99.

Reuters reported Wednesday that software giant Microsoft was mulling an acquisition bid for Internet company Yahoo!. The report has since been shot down by other outlets.

Yahoo! shares were falling 4.1% to $15.27.

Chipotle Mexican Grill has been downgraded to market perform from outperform at William Blair.

Shares were falling 2.9% to $292.

Retailer Target net retail sales for the five weeks ended Oct. 1 increased 6.5% to $5.923 billion from $5.562 billion for the comparable five-week period a year ago.

September comparable-store sales increased 5.3%.

Shares were gaining 2.7% to $51.10.

Microsoft is set to win European Union approval for its planned $8.5 billion acquisition of online telephone service Skype, according to the Financial Times.

Microsoft shares were up 0.5% to $26.02.

Hotel operator Marriott International seesearnings of 40 cents to 45 cents a share for the fourth quarter vs. the consensus view of 49 cents.

For the third quarter, Marriot booked a net loss of $179 million, or 52 cents a share, compared with a year-earlier profit of $83 million, or 22 cents. Costs related to the timeshare business dragged down the hotelier's third-quarter results.

Excluding those charges, adjusted earnings came to $104 million, or 29 cents a share, topping analysts' consensus call by 2 cents.

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Attunity (OTC:ATTUF) Gets Paid $3.55M from Microsoft (Nasdaq:MSFT)

Shawshank, VA 9/21/2011 (PennyPayDay) – Attunity Ltd. (OTC:ATTUF),a provider of real-time data integration software, today announced, in a press release, it has received payments in the aggregate amount of $3.55 million from Microsoft Corporation, initially expected to be received only during November 2011. As I write, shares of ATTUF were up 3 percent at $0.65 per share on volume of nearly 50,000 shares.

The payments were made pursuant to the previously announced OEM agreements with Microsoft surrounding the delivery of Change-Data-Capture (CDC) and Open-Data-Base-Connectivity (ODBC) components.

"We are excited to take part in the delivery of the CDC and ODBC components into the market through these OEM agreements. Our established relationships with OEM partners such as Microsoft have allowed us to advance our position as a leader in supporting large and small enterprises manage their big data and use the cloud," commented Shimon Alon, Chairman and CEO of Attunity. "The proceeds from these payments will be used to further advance and finance the expansion of our product and service offerings, including our recent acquisition of RepliWeb."

Attunity is a provider of real-time data integration software that enables information access and availability across data centers and the cloud.

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Mid-Day Market Update

Northern, WI 9/21/2011 (PennyPayDay) – Stocks are turning in a relatively lackluster performance in early trading on Wednesday, as traders look ahead to the Federal Reserve's policy statement. While the tech-heavy Nasdaq has moved firmly into positive territory, the Dow and the S&P 500 are lingering near the unchanged line.

Currently, the major averages are all positive, although the Nasdaq is outperforming its counterparts by a notable margin. The Nasdaq is up 16.37 points 0.6 percent at 2,606.61, while the Dow is up 6.81 points or 0.1 percent at 11,415.47 and the S&P 500 is up 1.00 point or 0.1 percent at 1,203.09.

The choppy trading comes as investors seem reluctant to make any significant moves ahead of the Fed's announcement at about 2:15 pm ET, with the central bank widely expected to announce further measures to stimulate the economy.

The Fed is reportedly considering reinstituting a policy known as Operation Twist, which involves replacing short-term securities in its bond portfolio with longer-term securities in an effort to push already low long-term interest rates even lower.

Despite the lack of direction being shown by the broader markets, substantial weakness has emerged among railroad stocks. The Dow Jones Railroads Index has plunged by 4.9 percent amid steep losses by CSX Corp. (CSX) and Norfolk Southern (NSC).

While trucking and steel stocks are also seeing early weakness, considerable strength is visible among software and biotechnology stocks.

Oracle (ORCL) is leading the software sector higher after reporting first quarter results that exceeded analyst estimates. The business software giant also forecast second quarter earnings in line with analyst estimates. Shares of Oracle are up by 6.8 percent after reaching a nearly-two month intraday high.

Adobe Systems (ADBE) is also trading higher after the publishing and design software maker reported better than expected third quarter earnings and forecast fourth quarter results towards the high end of analyst estimates.

On the other hand, Microsoft (MSFT) is moving to the downside after the software giant announced a 25 percent increase in its quarterly dividend to $0.20 per share. The company also said it is continuing its $40 billion share repurchase program.

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region closed mostly higher on Wednesday, although Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index bucked the uptrend. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index edged up by 0.2 percent, while China's Shanghai Composite Index surged up by 2.7 percent.

Meanwhile, the major European markets are moving to the downside on the day. While U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index has fallen by 0.5 percent, the French CAC 40 Index and the German DAX Index are down by 0.9 percent and 1.1 percent, respectively.

In the bond market, treasuries are seeing modest strength ahead of the announcement from the Fed. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is down by 1.2 basis points at 1.935 percent.

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LargeCap Stocks to Keep an Eye on Today

Tomahawk, WI 9/21/2011 (PennyPayDay) – Orexigen Therapeutics is restarting development of its rejected obesity drug Contrave after U.S. regulators agreed to allow the company to conduct a potentially shorter follow-up clinical trial.

Shares were soaring 72.1% to $2.53.

Shares of Walter Energy were plunging 11.5% to $66.40 after the metallurgical coal producer said a slower-than-expected recovery from the 100-year record rainfall experienced in Northeast British Columbia during the second quarter and slower-than-expected recovery from the difficult geology experienced at Mine No. 7 in Alabama will cause a delay in the company's anticipated production growth and associated improvement in savings.

Shares of Alpha Natural Resources were tumbling 7.5% to $24.90 after the coal producer lowered its full-year shipment guidance to a range of 102.5 million tons to 109.5 million tons compared with the previous range of 104 million tons to 112 million tons.

Software make Adobe edged Wall Street's profit expectations for its third quarter. The company reported earnings of $273 million, or 55 cents a share, with revenue coming in at $1.01 billion, up from $990.3 million in the same period a year earlier.

Shares were jumping 6.4% to $26.22.

Oracle deftly sidestepped weakness in the global economy to post solid first-quarter revenue and earnings after markets closed on Tuesday.

The database software maker brought in revenue of $8.43 billion and earnings of 48 cents a share, up from $7.5 billion and 42 cents a share in the prior year's quarter. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters were looking for sales of $8.35 billion and earnings of 46 cents a share.

Shares were adding 4.1% to $29.50.

Equity real estate investment trust Realty Income has begun an underwritten public offering of 6 million common shares.

Shares were down 2.4% to $33.61.

Independent energy company Apache said its subsidiary Apache North Sea Ltd. agreed to buy Exxon Mobil's Mobil North Sea assets, including the Beryl field and related properties, for $1.75 billion.

Apache shares were down 0.3% to $94.25, and Exxon shares were down 0.3% to $73.80.

Microsoft hiked its dividend, citing the company's recent strong performance.

The software maker's board declared a quarterly dividend of 20 cents a share, an increase of 4 cents, or 25%, on the prior quarter's dividend.

Shares were trading sideways at $26.99.

Boeing is in "very advanced discussions" with Chinese airlines to revitalize sales of its 787 Dreamliner, according to a Wall Street Journal report.

PharMerica, a national provider of pharmacy and hospital pharmacy management services, said its board voted unanimously to reject the unsolicited offer made by Omnicare to buy the company for $15 a share in cash.

Food giant General Mills said first-quarter earnings declined but adjusted profit of 64 cents a share matched year-earlier results. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters were expecting General Mills to earn 62 cents a share.

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LargeCap Stocks to Keep an Eye on Today

Tomahawk, WI 9/15/2011 (PennyPayDay) – Transcept Pharmaceuticals announced a plan to resubmit the new drug application for its proposed insomnia drug Intermezzo by the end of the month.

Shares were surging 41.3% to $4.72 in premarket trading Thursday.

Online movie rental company Netflix on Thursday said it was lowering is third-quarter domestic subscriber estimates.

"We know our decision to split our services has upset many of our subscribers, which we don't take lightly, but we believe this split will help us make our services better for subscribers and shareholders for years to come," the company said in a statement.

Shares were plummeting 15% to $177.51.

UBS, the Swiss bank, said Thursday it discovered an estimated $2 billion of losses caused by a rogue trader.

Shares were tumbling 10.6% to $11.34.

Shares of Microsoft were inching up 0.9% to $26.73 as the software products company said 500,000 copies of the preview version of Windows 8 have been downloaded since its debut this week.

Shares Intel were up 0.8% to $21.28 as Bloomberg reported the chipmaker sold $5 billion of five-, 10- and 30-year bonds -- its first sale of non-convertible debt since 1987.

Shares of Hewlett-Packard were ticking up 0.6% to $23.08 as Bloomberg reported that HP options traders have been at their most bullish in two years amid optimism that the company's transition away from personal computers will prove to be successful.

BlackBerry maker Research In Motion is expected by analysts Thursday to report second-quarter earnings of 88 cents a share vs. last year's earnings of $1.46 a share. Shares were down 0.2% to $29.65.

General Motors and Chrysler agreed with the United Auto Workers to extend contracts after the parties failed to reach a new agreement by a midnight deadline.

GM shares were flat at $22.17.

Food and beverage giant PepsiCo announced a management shake-up at its biggest unit, the Americas beverage division. The unit has been losing its edge to arch rival Coca-Cola.

Shares were trading sideways at $61.63.

Filtration and industrial products maker Clarcor posted a profit of $32.1 million, or 63 cents a share, for the third quarter on revenue of $284.8 million, up from its year-ago equivalent earnings of $28.3 million, or 55 cents a share, on revenue of $262.8 million. The earnings were below the average estimate of analysts polled by Thomson Reuters for earnings of 66 cents a share in the period on revenue of $295.3 million.

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