Category: Electronics

Sony takes $1bn charge on movie business

Sony has taken a hefty writedown on the value of its movie business as the unit suffers from falling DVD and home entertainment sales. The Japanese firm, which reports its third-quarter results on Thursday, is still assessing whether the impairment charge will affect future earnings.

How Skyworks Solutions Inc Is Growing Beyond Apple

A first quarter earnings beat and a stronger outlook for the ongoing quarter sent its stock soaring to new 52-week highs, as it rose over 13% in a single day. For the fiscal second quarter, Skyworks believes that its revenue will grow 8% year-over-year to $840 million, exceeding the consensus forecast of $818 million, while earnings of $1.40 per share should significantly outpace analyst estimates of $1.24 per share.

This Week in Solar

In 2011, then Secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy Steven Chu launched the SunShot initiative with a goal of cutting the cost of installing a utility-scale solar system for $1 per watt by 2020. At the time, I called the 74% reduction in the cost of solar in a decade ” an audacious goal .”

Dennis to Scrutinize Verizon Request For Use of Municipal Right-of-Ways

Engineer John Gibson reported to Dennis Township Committee Jan. 24 that he received communication from Verizon that it would like to use Dennis’ metal and wood poles along township right-of-way to establish new service antennae or use the poles to expand existing antennae. “Verizon said that there are fewer landlines each year with people moving more and more to cell phones, and some don’t have a landline at all.

Cree Shares Up Nearly 5% On Company’s Earnings, Sales Beat

Shares of Cree Inc. rose nearly 5% late Tuesday after the LED lighting maker reported fiscal second-quarter adjusted earnings and sales above expectations. Cree said it earned $6 million, or 6 cents a share, in the fiscal second quarter, compared with $13 million, or 13 cents a share, for the second quarter of fiscal 2016.

Should NVIDIA Corporation Be Scared of Samsung’s Automotive Potential?

The company has been focusing on emerging trends such as autonomous cars by partnering with the likes of Tesla Motors to deploy its self-driving technology, powered by deep learning and artificial intelligence. Due to its progress in the automotive sector, revenue from this business increased more than 60% year-over-year during the most recently reported quarter.

What Happened in the Stock Market Today

Financial stocks remained popular on a day that saw a new administration take over the executive branch, and that kept the Financial Sector Select SPDR ETF among the most heavily traded exchange-traded funds. Meanwhile, gold price volatility swung in the positive direction for owners of the Direxion Daily Gold Miners Bull 3X ETF Procter & Gamble shares gained 3% following the release of surprisingly strong quarterly earnings results.

Friday’s ETF Movers: SOXX, XBI

In trading on Friday, the iShares PHLX Semiconductor ETF is outperforming other ETFs, up about 1.5% on the day. Components of that ETF showing particular strength include shares of Skyworks Solutions , up about 12.9% and shares of Cirrus Logic , up about 5.4% on the day.

Continental Resources, Inc. Doubled in 2016. Is There Anything Left for 2017?

Those improvements, combined with rising oil prices and strong well results from an emerging growth play, catapulted the company’s stock: Thanks to those gains, Continental Resources’ stock ended the year just 36% below its all-time high, which it set right before oil prices started crumbling in 2014. While a return of triple-digit oil is unlikely for quite some time, Continental Resources does not need oil that high to thrive in the future, thanks to its improving drilling results.

Samsung Succession in Disarray as Lee Criminal Case Advances

The long-orchestrated plan to cement Jay Y. Lee’s position atop Samsung Group may put him in jail instead, raising questions about who would step in to run South Korea’s biggest conglomerate in the aftermath. Prosecutors are seeking Lee’s arrest on allegations including bribery and embezzlement, which if proven could prompt him to relinquish duties at the family business.

Samsung Succession in Disarray as Lee Criminal Case Advances

The long-orchestrated plan to cement Jay Y. Lee’s position atop Samsung Group may put him in jail instead, raising questions about who would step in to run South Korea’s biggest conglomerate in the aftermath. Prosecutors are seeking Lee’s arrest on allegations including bribery and embezzlement, which if proven could prompt him to relinquish duties at the family business.

Don’t Ignore These Great Chip Makers: Cramer’s Top Takeaways

When it comes to the semiconductor sector, why does the market obsess about Nvidia ? That was the question that had Jim Cramer scratching his head on Tuesday’s episode of “Mad Money,” as he called the market’s focus on this single chip maker “repulsive.” As the most recent Consumer Electronics Show just proved, there is a lot of really important technology that relies on chips not made by Nvidia, a stock that rallied 220% in 2016.

An $830,000 Horse, a Presidential Scandal and Samsung Succession

Samsung Group is getting pulled deeper into the scandal engulfing South Korea’s president with prosecutors homing in on whether an $830,000 horse and millions in other payments were made to smooth succession at the top of the country’s largest company. Special prosecutors summoned two top Samsung executives to answer questions Monday about the company’s role in an alleged influence-peddling scheme that has already led to President Park Geun-hye’s impeachment.

4K Uhd Atsc 3.0 TVs from LG

LG Electronics is introducing the first ATSC 3.0-enabled 4K Ultra HD TVs to support the US-wide deployment of the next-gen TV broadcast standard in South Korea. Starting spring 2017 – in advance of the 2018 Winter Olympics – new 2017 models of LG 4K Ultra HD TVs and large-screen LG smart TVs sold in Korea will have both ATSC 3.0 and ATSC 1.0 tuners.

At CES, voice assistants speak up

In the very near future, instead of controlling your gadgets by pressing buttons or tapping on screens, you may just talk to them. Intelligent assistant technology like Apple’s Siri and Amazon’s Echo is starting to spread widely.

Samsung Beats Estimates as Chips Shake Off Note 7 Problems

Samsung Electronics Co. posted profit that beat estimates as buoyant memory chip prices helped the world’s largest smartphone maker bounce back from the death of its fire-prone Galaxy Note 7. Operating income rose 50 percent to 9.2 trillion won in the quarter ended December, its biggest profit in three years, the Suwon, South Korea-based company said in preliminary results Friday.

Why InvenSense, Inc. Stock Skyrocketed 67.4% in December

First, InvenSense stock rose almost 30% in a single day on Dec. 9, 2016, as Reuters reported that TDK had offered $12 per share to purchase the smaller company. That offer would have reflected a 45% premium to InvenSense’s opening price that day, but still only 3% above its 52-week high set around the same time a year earlier.

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Can the memory chip specialist build on this success with another fantastic performance in 2017? First, I have already taken a look at the potential downside for us Micron investors. In short, the risks involved in owning Micron next year are significant but also limited.

Chinese Video Giant Leshi’s in Talks to Raise $1.4 Billion

Leshi Internet Information & Technology Co., the Chinese video-streaming service backed by the billionaire founder of cash-strapped online giant LeEco, said it’s in discussions to raise more than 10 billion yuan from a group of undisclosed strategic investors. The company sometimes described as a local Netflix plans to raise the money through a private issuance of stock and other avenues, it said in a filing with the Shenzhen stock exchange Wednesday.

Qualcomm Fined $853 Million by South Korean Antitrust Agency

South Korea’s antitrust regulator slapped a record 1.03 trillion won fine on Qualcomm Inc. for violating antitrust laws, the latest in a string of government actions that threaten the U.S. chipmaker’s most profitable business. The South Korean Fair Trade Commission said Wednesday that the company licensed its key patents only to mobile-phone makers and didn’t properly negotiate the terms of its licenses.

S.Korea Fines Qualcomm $854M for Violating Competition Laws

South Korea’s antitrust regulator fined Qualcomm Inc 1.03 trillion won for what it called unfair business practices in patent licensing and modem chip sales, a decision the U.S. chipmaker said it will challenge in court. The fine, the largest ever levied in South Korea, marks the latest antitrust setback for Qualcomm’s most profitable business of licensing wireless patents to the mobile industry, at a time when the business is facing headwinds from a cooling smartphone market.

Qualcomm Fined $853 Million by South Korean Antitrust Agency

South Korea’s antitrust regulator slapped a record 1.03 trillion won fine on Qualcomm Inc. for violating antitrust laws, the latest in a string of government actions that threaten the U.S. chipmaker’s most profitable business. The South Korean Fair Trade Commission said Wednesday that the company licensed its key patents only to mobile-phone makers and didn’t properly negotiate the terms of its licenses.

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Revenue began to decline in the middle of 2015, and earnings turned negative earlier this year. Memory prices are now strengthening, leading Micron to return to both growth and profitability in its fiscal first quarter.

Micron’s Stock Surges After Profit, Sales Beat Expectations

Shares of Micron Technology Inc. ran up 7.4% in after-hours trade Wednesday, after the memory chip maker reported its first quarterly profit in a year, that beat expectations. Earnings for the quarter to Dec. 1 were $180 million, or 16 cents a share, down from $206 million, or 19 cents a share, in the same period a year ago.