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We operate four ticket facilities in Las Vegas where we sell more than 2000 tickets every day, and for next year we anticipate selling about a million tickets. The idea is that we sell the leftover seats that the show has not been able to sell, just hours before the show time, and there are thousands of such unsold seats every day because Las Vegas currently has about 85 shows, and we sell 70 shows every day. We open at 11 every morning with lines down the street at all of our locations. It’s actually very exciting to see.

For the six months ended June 30 of this year, we at Tix4Tonight did $15.4 million dollars of gross ticket sales, and we would project that into about $32 million dollars for the year because the second half of our year is usually typically better than the first six months. For all of last year, we did $23.2 million dollars in gross ticket sales. That represents a 38 percent growth.

We’re working right now on getting a fifth location in Las Vegas, a very major location if we’re able to obtain it, and if we do, we think that for the rest of the year it would add about another $3 million dollars in gross ticket sales so that we’d have about $35 million dollars in gross ticket sales, which would represent about a 51 percent growth factor over last year.

Typically our revenues are higher this year than last year, so our revenues, we would think, would go up at an even higher percentage than the 51 percent growth.

Please note that when we report to the SEC, we’re only able to report commissions and service fees that we charge because our gross revenue when reporting to the SEC is that we only pay for tickets that we sell, so SEC only lets us report those commissions and service fees, which are typically about 24 percent of our gross ticket sales.

We have approximately 3000 people at our booths in Las Vegas every day, and realize that we could be selling them additional complimentary discount products. We developed Tix4Dinner, which offers up to 50 percent off entrees at Vegas restaurants and buffets, and we’re already doing approximately 300 to 500 dinner reservations every day. Typically we send people to a hotel for shows and offer restaurants in those hotels the discounts, so that basically we are able to keep people in those hotels for the whole evening, which obviously increases gambling for those hotels. They love it. That’s actually their mantra to keep people there all day and all night.

Source: Conf call from Aug 2007

More on TIXC:

  • A brief clip with TIXC ceo.
  • Latest technical analysis on TIXC.
  • Podcast of interview with TIXC ceo. The podcast date is 09/22/09. Interview with Mitch Francis is near the end of the podcast.
  • Analyst comments on TIXC.
  • Details on TIXC’s current buyback plan. “Under the previous stock repurchase program that commenced August 25, 2008, the Company had repurchased the maximum 1 million shares authorized under that program”.
  • Exhibit Merchandising (EM) division of TIXC.  Sample of items available.
  • Details on acquisition of EM by TIXC.
  • More on EM.

Global Semiconductor Sector downgraded at BofA/Merrill
BofA/Merrill downgraded the Global Semiconductor sector to Negative from Positive. The firm’s analysis indicates that the rapid inventory replenishment and normalization of semi shipments suggest that inventories in the supply chain are approaching a “modest overshoot vs. equilibrium levels.” The analyst views risk/reward in the sector as unattractive given the potential for an inventory correction. The firm downgraded the following stocks: Intel (INTC), Texas Instruments (TXN), LSI Corp (LSI), Marvel (MRVL), to Neutral from Buy, and Maxim (MXIM), Microchip (MCHP), ARM Holdings (ARMH), ASML Holdings (ASML), National Semi (NSM), and Power Integrations (POWI) to Underperform from Neutral.

Source

Instead of the usual Bull & Bear tussle, for a change we have Wolves & Sheep battling it out in a nice little game. For those who have played chess: A Wolf in this game has the same power as the Queen piece of chess.

I thoroughly enjoyed this 1 hour BBC program on Warren Buffet and I highly recommend it.

In this program you will see

  • 1)WB in his office in Omaha
  • 2)The HQ of Berkshire Hathaway
  • 3)Meet Charlie Munger
  • 4)Interviews with his children. Daughter says ” In 56 years, I have never seen him drink a glass of water”. He loves Coke. ;-)
  • 5)See the house where he lives. Gives an excellent answer as to why he has lived there for ages
  • 6)Meet his wives
  • 7)Learn about the food he likes and dislikes
  • 8)How we started investing
  • 9)His rules of investment

and much more…

More details on the content and Download links

Streaming links at Youtube Part 1 Part 2

Wet Seal reports Oct same store sales -1.3% vs -7.3% Briefing.com consensus; guides above consensus for Q3 (3.28 ) :

Co issues upside guidance for Q3 (Oct), sees:

  • EPS of $0.04 vs. $0.03 First Call consensus;
  • Q3 (Oct) revs of $141.5 vs. $138.87 mln consensus

Earnings will be reported on Nov 19.

Source

TIXC to report on Nov 9.

Meanwhile Ashraf Iqbal continues to buy this week.

More on TIXC

DIVX gets an upgrade

DivX upgraded to Buy at Maxim Group; tgt $8.50 (5.20 ) : Maxim Group upgrades DIVX to Buy from Hold and sets target price at $8.50 to reflect limited downside risk, industry data points which suggest better-than-expected 4Q09-1Q10 results, CE manufacturers, particularly TV, becoming more interested in connectivity to stream Internet video and the improving visibility for DIVX’s content distribution.

Link

Things to keep in mind/Caution:
DIVX is another cheap stock. But it lacks catalysts.

iPass has already executed on its commitment to distribute $20 million of capital to stockholders through a special $0.32 per share cash dividend that was paid in September 2009; this second $20 million distribution will be comprised of two parts:

  • a special cash dividend of $10 million or $0.16 per share, and
  • the launching of a $10 million stock repurchase program.

Dividend details:
The special cash dividend of $10 million or approximately $0.16 per share will be paid in the fourth quarter of 2009; the record date for the special cash dividend is December 4, 2009 and the payment date will be December 18, 2009. The special cash dividend is anticipated to be a return of capital to stockholders in 2009.

Stock repurchase details:
The $10 million stock repurchase program goes into effect on November 15, 2009 and extends through March 31, 2011. Under the terms of the program, iPass may purchase up to $10 million of its common stock through open market, block and/or negotiated trades. Additionally, in the event that the full $10 million has not been used to repurchase the company’s stock by March 31, 2011, the company has committed to dividend to stockholders any remaining balance by April 15, 2011.

Source

IPAS reported earnings last evening. Company lowered guidance:.
“Additionally, we expect a continued, albeit a sequentially smaller decline in dial-up revenue in Q4. Given these factors, we anticipate total revenues for Q4 to be in the range of approximately $39 million to $41 million. So far as our cost, as we move through the fourth quarter, we still see and expect to have some challenges that likely impact our ability to maintain profitability in the quarter”.

Source

An article that discusses 4 tech value stocks. The last line of the following paragraph is very crucial to keep in mind when investing in such stocks.

“For the most part, the easy money is squarely off the table. But there are areas of potential interest – namely those issues trading at or below net cash or significantly below book value. This creates one potential compelling catalyst – that a liquidation or distribution of the cash results in a tidy return to investors. Rule number one when playing in this space: pay very close attention to management. An asset rich company today could be a debt-ridden company tomorrow if management decides to spend that money on value destroying acquisitions”

Things to keep in mind/Caution:

All of the 4 stocks discussed are super cheap and they lack catalysts.

  • SIMG: Revenues keep on declining despite rebound in economy. Once profitable, now losing 10m a quarter!
  • ZRAN: 400m to 500m in revenues and struggling to make a penny.
  • TRID: New entity after merger with NXP/Phillips. Might turn profitable in very late 2010. Merger atleast increases revenues nicely.

The full article can be read here.

Lord Steinberg passes away.

  • Details on Lord Steinberg.
  • Major share holder in EGMI.
  • Roth defends today’s weakness in EGMI.

Electronic Game Card weakness a buying opportunity, says Roth Capital
Roth Capital attributes the weakness in Electronic Game Card shares to reports that the company’s executive Chairman, Lord Steinberg, passed away last night. The firm does not seem meaningful risk from this unfortunate event and would buy the stock on the pullback

Semiconductor sector downgraded to Cautious from Attractive at Morgan Stanley.

Morgan Stanley downgraded the Semiconductor sector based on peaking fundamentals and said the group is “in the final innings of the semi cycle.” The analyst downgraded Altera (ALTR), Intel (INTC), Micron (MU) and Xilinx (XLNX) to Equal Weight from Overweight and cut ARM Holdings (ARMH), Nvidia (NVDA), and On Semiconductor (ONNN) to Underweight from Equal Weight. The firm upgraded Linear Tech (LLTC) and Maxim (MXIM) to Overweight from Equal Weight.

On Semiconductor downgraded to Underweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley.Target to $6 from $9.

Source

Every Monday, Karl Denninger holds an hour long radio show starting from 4.30pm EST. Karl talks about the Capital Markets along with both political and business issues related to them.

Even though I may not agree with all his viewpoints, I find him to be extremely knowledgeable, energetic, patient, willing to explain/teach/answer questions from his listeners. His show is free and today’s and archived shows can be accessed here.

Happy Listening.

Semi stocks have been weak since about September 15.  Around that time, Texas Instruments had raised guidance nicely.

Things to keep in mind/Caution:

I do not believe in astrology. But a lot of other people do. I rely more on  fundamental valuation rather than technical data. But a lot of people trade purely technically. Even so, I have to respect what the other group thinks. Simply, because they could be carrying a ton of financial power to move the markets.

Having said that, here are some rules that many follow while trading semi stocks. I may not agree with all of them but I do respect what price movements the believers can bring.

 

Bloomberg reports George Soros says the global recovery is ‘liable to run out of steam’ says ‘double dip’ may follow in 2010 or 2011, says US to ‘lose the most’ in financial crisis.

 

Things to keep in mind/Caution:

  • One needs to be extra cautious heading into the next few quarters.
  • Stimulus has aided the recent recovery in 2009 and going forward earnings will be difficult to match.
  • Comparisons in 2010 will be against stimulus backed 2009 numbers.
  • Plus interest rate hikes or simply talks about it will likely be another headwind.

Market has been weak and TIXC has fallen from 4$ to 3$ in just 3 days.  Meanwhile, Ashraf Iqbal continues his buying spree.

Things to keep in mind/Caution:

  • TIXC has had a big run.
  • Mkt is in profit taking mode.
  • TIXC has very few shares and like most small cap companies can be volatile.

The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged a securities broker from Merrick, N.Y., with securities fraud for repeatedly creating and then distributing fake press releases to manipulate the stock prices of multiple publicly traded companies.

  • The next day, Ballas issued another press release falsely claiming that IMAX Corporation had been acquired by Disney. Once again, he followed up by posting links to the phony release on a stock message board, telling other potential investors that he had bought 10,000 IMAX shares and that his broker “just called me to tell me at the crack of dawn.
  • Ballas continued his scheme on October 1, issuing a phony press release stating that California search engine company Local.com was being acquired by Microsoft. Ballas again followed up by posting messages and links to the Local.com release on stock message boards. In one posting he stated: “Local just bought out by Microsoft, at $12.50 per share including patent ownership.” In after-market trading, Local.com’s stock price rose nearly 80 percent.
  • Later that night, Local.com issued a corrective release saying that the Microsoft release had been false — there was no Microsoft acquisition. Undeterred, the next day Ballas issued another phony release, this time stating that it was Google, and not Microsoft, that was acquiring the company.  More..

Galleon Group LLC, the hedge-fund firm that’s liquidating after billionaire founder Raj Rajaratnam was charged with insider trading, sold more than 90 percent of its investments, according to a person familiar with the matter. The holdings were sold over three days, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the information is private. The firm, with client assets of $3.7 billion, owned stakes in large technology companies. More

Mouth watering pics. Recipes included.

Enjoy.

Last week Cirrus Logic reported “Beat and Raise” numbers due to strong demand for their audio products. This audio product group includes chips used in a variety of devices such as home theatre systems, portable media players, smart phones, media-centric computers, and car audio amplifiers.

  • Cirrus Logic sees Q3 revenue $58M-$62M vs. consensus of $53.96M.
  • Cirrus Logic reports Q2 EPS 11c vs. consensus of 10c.

Transcript of Q2 earnings conference call gives further details.

  • Net revenue for the September quarter was $55.7 million; audio products contributed $41.3 million in revenue.
  • Sales of audio products grew 35% year-over-year and are up sequentially 67% from the June quarter.
  • Sales of energy products were $14.4 million. Revenue for our energy products was down 36% year-over-year.
  • Total GAAP operating expenses for the September quarter were $22.5 million compared to $19.8 million in the previous quarter.
  • Gross margin for the September quarter was 52%.
  • Ended the quarter with $124 million in total cash and marketable securities.
  • Recorded GAAP net income for the quarter at $6.8 million or $0.10 per share based on $65.5 million diluted shares.
  • Have a $20 million stock repurchase program approved. Have not completed any stock repurchases under this program to date.
  • With audio revenue growing 35% year-over-year, we expect that momentum to continue to build into next year.
  • Our long-term business model is for annual revenue growth of 15%, gross margins of 55%, and net operating profit of 20%. We expect to be very close to the revenue growth goal for this year and looking towards next year we believe we are ahead of our goal. We are also continuing to work on our product costs and managing expenses in order to achieve this overall model.

CRUS is executing well and has raised guidance for 2 quarters in a row. Company has a good balance sheet (and has about 2$ per share in tangible assets) despite doing a massive buyback last year. With top-line expected to grow at 15% (quarterly revenues above 50m), gross margins at 52% and costs well under control near 22m, CRUS can deliver about 40cents EPS.

A recent Zack’s report on Cirrus.
Recommend buying on weakness.

Caution: Some semi stocks have been selling off since mid Sept(around the time TXN raised guidance). Watch out for continued profit taking in the sector. Also quarter following Dec, is a seasonally weak quarter.

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