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Mid-Week Update 07-01-09

An impressive quarter is now in the books. The second quarter of 2009 saw the S&P 500 rally almost 16 percent, its best quarterly return since 1998. Of course, this is on the heels of the sharpest market downturn in 80 years. Despite the rally, which took stocks deserving and undeserving alike from cheap valuations, there are still some bargains to be had.
 
Case in point is one of the most dominant companies on the planet – Intel (INTC). Intel is the leading semiconductor chip maker, with a global market share of approximately 80 percent. The company manufactures microprocessors, chipsets, flash memory and motherboards for computing and communications products under two business segments: the Digital Enterprise Group and the Mobility Group.
 
In Fiscal 2008, the Digital Enterprise Group accounted for 56 percent of the company’s $37.6 billion in total sales. With chips for desktop computers, servers, and enterprise applications, the group boasts high margins, and account for nearly three quarters of Intel’s annual profit of $5.2 billion. Meanwhile, the Mobility Group, with products for notebook computers and netbooks accounted for most of the remainder.
 
The Mobility Group is also an area in which Intel is concentrating on growth – centered on its new Atom processor.
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Weekly Update 11-06-06

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Image by Getty Images via Daylife

 

Stocks retreated marginally from their highs of last week, but there’s no strong evidence to suggest the short-term bullish trend is over. Nonetheless, like a swarm of black flies buzzing around the back of your head, a few items are starting to make us nervous.

First and foremost, the Dow Transportation Index gave a pretty poor showing last week. It appears to have broken its short-term uptrend, and is less likely to confirm the recent highs in other market averages. (To recap: according to Dow Theory, no confirmation by transports = no sustained bull market.) Last summer, we predicted new highs in most averages, with the caveat that the transports needed to join the party. Since then, while most averages have indeed been enjoying new highs, the transports remain sitting in the parking lot, looking for an excuse to call it a night.Read more...