Posted on 02 July 2010 by admin
Tom Lydon submits:
Israel’s country-specific ETF may be an attractive international play, given that it performs like an emerging market. The country’s economy is actually considered to be developed, with strong biotechnology, technology and pharmaceutical sectors. Health care reform could be the tipping point.
Israel’s GDP diminished a scant 0.3% in 2009, compared to the 2.4% drop in the United States and the 4% decline in the European Union, writes Don Dion for TheStreet.
Posted on 02 July 2010 by admin
Shlomi Cohen submits:
Today I am adding Ceva (CEVA) to my portfolio tracked by "Globes". Ceva is listed as a US company, but most of its operations are in Israel. The funds to buy Ceva shares come from a partial sale of two holdings that have yielded a very high return, Apple (AAPL) and Google (GOOG).
Ceva, led by CEO Gideon Wertheizer, began trading on Nasdaq about seven years ago, after being spun off of DSP Group (DSPG). Ceva’s business model is similar to what Saifun tried to do, which is to sell licenses to its intellectual property [IP] in the chip sector, in return for advances and royalties based on sales.
Posted on 02 July 2010 by admin
Shlomi Cohen submits:
Among the Israeli stocks which I hold in my portfolio tracked by “Globes”, several reported better than expected earnings, including Mellanox Technologies Ltd. (Nasdaq:MLNX; TASE:MLNX), Amdocs Ltd. (NYSE: DOX), and SanDisk Corporation (Nasdaq:SNDK). Sandisk’s share price is up 55% so far in 2010, five times the return of the Nasdaq 100 Index in which it is included.
Mellanox’s share price is up 42% this year. Founder and CEO Eyal Waldman saw $8 million added to the company’s coffers during the quarter from business activities, and the mountain of dollars that seeks an acquisition target grew to $221 million, about 25% of the company’s market cap.
Posted on 02 July 2010 by admin
David Hunkar submits:
The State of Israel has a population of 7.5 million. The GDP grew 0.5% in 2009 to reach about $207.0B. Just a couple of decades ago, the economy of Israel was primarily based on agriculture, clothing and other industries.
However, that has changed. In about twenty five years, Israel has transformed its economy into a highly developed economy with greater emphasis on knowledge-based and high tech industries. Despite the occasional violence and constant security concerns, Israel offers many excellent investment opportunities.
Posted on 02 July 2010 by admin
Shlomi Cohen submits:
The technology sector correction stood out among chip stocks, with the Philadelphia Stock Exchange’s Semiconductor Index dropping 4.5% on Friday. Shares of companies in the memory sector, like Micron (MU)(down over 8%) and SanDisk Corporation (Nasdaq:SNDK) (down more than 5%), dropped, and silicon wafer producer MEMC (WFR) collapsed 19%. At least for this specific correction, it’s possible to free the Greeks from blame and place it on the Koreans.
On Friday, before the open of trading in New York, Samsung (SSNLF.PK) held a conference call with the publication of its strong earnings, and in a bizarre turn, the good things it said about its investment plans were the excuse for the sharp correction in chip stocks. Samsung said that demand for chips was so strong that it had no choice but to significantly increase its investment in new and existing production lines, beyond what had been known by the market before. Samsung did not provide numbers, but a Korean economic newspaper claims that the huge sum of up to $17 billion over the next two years is being discussed.
Posted on 02 July 2010 by admin
Stephen Rosenman submits:
A few weeks ago, Cramer touted Teva Pharmaceuticals (TEVA), the large generic and proprietary drug company. He couldn’t move the stock higher. Usually he gets something for his efforts. He made some great points (see here) but Cramer missed the two key reasons to buy TEVA.
First, starting now, TEVA no longer has to pay an onerous 25% royalty payments to Sanofi Aventis (SNY) for its blockbuster drug copaxone’s U.S. sales. Mark that. That is not a typo. 25% of sales, not earnings. And copaxone is gigantic for TEVA. Last quarter, U.S. sales were $513 million, for FY 2009 they were $1.9 billion.
Posted on 02 July 2010 by admin
Benchmark VC Michael Eisenberg submits:
As the markets this morning are flying higher from the "Shock and Awe" bailout plan from the ECB and the eurozone, it is worth considering where this shock and awe came from and how it is changing market dynamics. For decades, we all considered the role of the central bank, the Fed and others to be a steady hand guiding fiscal policy and moderating the economy. Hence, we hung on the minute nuances of statements from Greenspan, Bernanke, Trichet and others. They were careful with their words and even more measured in their actions. We had incremental moves in interest rates, hesitant and well-telegraphed intervention in markets and government debts and generally well-anticipated and expected policy decisions.
One man changed all of that over the last 24 months: Stanley Fischer, Governor of the Bank of Israel. The world looked on as Israel (and Australia) were first out of the recession, avoided bank failures and kept its currency relatively stable in the tornado of global currency fluctuations. The world looked on and learned. They watched what Fischer did and learned. And here was the conclusion: as markets turn more volatile and the world becomes more interconnected, the job of the Central Bank has changed. The Central Bank needs to keep markets guessing. It needs to create black swans (to borrow from Nassim Taleb) and needs to surprise the markets.
Posted on 02 July 2010 by admin
Shlomi Cohen submits:
As I estimated last week, Cisco (CSCO) has become a major customer of EZchip Semiconductor Ltd. (Nasdaq: EZCH; TASE:EZCH), through Marvell Technology Group (Nasdaq: MRVL), and in the first quarter contributed 11% of sales. It is actually much more, as EZchip gets royalties from Marvell – that is, just the bottom line. Revenue is recorded with Marvell.
The strong growth trend of Cisco as a customer will continue in the second quarter as well, because the guidance for a high gross profit margin of around 75% is an indirect way for EZchip’s management to tell the market that there will be growth in royalties from Marvell.
Posted on 02 July 2010 by admin
Wealth Daily submits:
By Christian A. DeHaemer
Over the past twenty years, the up-and-coming Israeli stock market has taken on the world and come out winning.
Posted on 02 July 2010 by admin
Shlomi Cohen submits:
No quarterly results by leading tech companies are expected this week, but for the chip sector the positive momentum from Friday may continue in light of the good results published last week by two leading firms – Applied Materials (Nasdaq: AMAT) and Marvell Technology Group (Nasdaq: MRVL), which has a large presence in Israel.
Applied Materials rival Novellus (Nasdaq: NVLS), as is its quarterly custom, will update its guidance (on Thursday) for the second quarter, which will end in about a month. Analysts expect an upward revision toward the top level of its recent guidance.
