Tag - Dish

Small-cap stocks opened higher, lifted by a rescue package for the nation’s No. 2 bank, which eased bank failure worries. In addition, optimism about President-elect Obama’s economic advisory team bolstered stocks Friday and remained in play today ahead of a news conference to announce his appointments. Some of today’s small-cap gainers are China Natural Resources Inc. (Nasdaq:CHNR), Omrix Biopharm (Nasdaq:OMRI) and CBRL Group Inc. (Nasdaq:CRBL).

Other Market Watch highlights today included:

• Copper prices were up 7% in China trading and a steep drop in the U.S. dollar against the euro should provide a lift to commodity markets.  
• Crude oil prices were up about $1.50 a barrel shortly after the open, down from the overnight peak, but still supported by the stock market upside push.
• In a radio address this weekend, Obama said he wants a two-year stimulus plan to have a goal of creating 2.5 million new jobs.  
• The rescue package for Citigroup Inc. includes $306B in loan guarantees on toxic debt assets and $20 billion in direct cash injection.

Small Cap Gainers:

• China Natural Resources Inc. was up 18% without any apparent fresh news other the general rise in commodities today. See (Nasdaq:CHNR).  
• Johnson & Johnson to acquire Omrix Biopharm for $438 Million; shares of OMRI up 17% in pre-market. See (Nasdaq:OMRI).  
• CBRL Group Inc. is up 12% after the parent of Cracker Barrel restaurant and gift shops beat the earnings forecast. See (Nasdaq:CRBL).


Small Cap Losers:

• Cascade Bancorp down 13.6% on light volume in pre-market. See (Nasdaq:CACB).  
• Fundtech down over 7% in pre-market after lowering its Q4 FY2008 outlook earlier this month. See (Nasdaq:FNDT).  
• Dish Network Corp. announces agreement with Rentrak Corporation for audience measurement reporting; shares are down nearly 3% in pre-market. See (Nasdaq:DISH).  
• Barr shareholders approve pending Teva acquisition; shares down 2% in pre-market. See (Nasdaq:TEVA).

Small-cap stocks are expected to open mildly higher after a strong recovery Tuesday afternoon from bear market territory. Stock index futures pulled higher in after-hours trading but gains were trimmed briefly when the ADP payroll report came in weak. The Russell 2000 (NYSE:IWM) was expected to open about 0.3% higher, which would translate to an opening near 693.

European shares were higher overnight, boosted by a bounce in financial shares, spurred by comments from Deutsche Bank that the company does not need to raise additional capital. Analysts at JP Morgan also said that the worst is over for European banks on the capital raising front.

The ADP National Employment Report showed a decline of 79,000 in payrolls, which marked the largest decline since November 2002. In addition, ADP revised last month’s gain downward. The ADP report sparked a bounce in Treasury futures, trimmed overnight gains in the dollar against the yen and sparked a pullback in overnight gains in stock index futures. The weak ADP figures were troubling ahead of the . . .

Despite a slowed U.S. economy, outsourcing of select business services continues to grow at a healthy pace due to the cost and efficiency advantages they provide. Keeping trot at that pace are EPIQ Systems (Nasdaq:EPIQ) and CSG Systems (Nasdaq:CSGS), two providers of business software and services that are poised for double-digit earnings growth this year.

EPIQ Systems provides software and services to the legal profession. The company’s software streamlines processing for bankruptcies, litigation, financial transactions and regulatory compliance. EPIQ’s clients include law firms, corporate legal departments, bankruptcy trustees and other professional advisors. The company operates from nine locations worldwide, serves over 1,000 clients and counts 39 of the top 50 global law firms among its customers. EPIQ’s electronic discovery business segment provides processing, search and review services utilizing the company’s proprietary eDataMatrix software for analyzing, filtering and de-duplicating documents. Its bankruptcy trustee segment supplies software that allows bankruptcy trustees to administer large caseloads simultaneously. The settlements and claims segment offers back-office administration support services that include notifying claimants and creditors and administering funds related to settlements.

Electronic documents are transforming the legal profession by streamlining discovery and litigation processes. According to a 2007 survey, electronic discovery revenues increased 51% in 2006 to $2 billion, rose 33% in 2007 to $2.7 billion and are forecast to grow 28% in 2008 to $3.4 billion. Due to the complexity and volume of documents generated for most legal cases, law firms are eagerly embracing electronic evidence management systems. EPIQ also addresses a large market for bankruptcy filings, estimated at more than 1 million filings per year. Bankruptcy filings have increased in each of the last seven quarters.  

Although EPIQ’s 2007 revenues of $174 million were below prior-year revenues of $224 million, this was because deferred revenues of $59 million were recognized in 2006. Per-share earnings were also lower at $0.21 in 2007 versus $1.05 in 2006. EPIQ is off to a strong start in 2008, however, with first-quarter revenues up 25% year over year to $43.9 million from $35.1 million and non-GAAP net income up 54% year over . . .

Massive insider buying, a badly beaten-down stock price, a strong balance sheet and a still solid market position make for an interesting situation at a small-cap interactive TV solutions provider.

Founded a decade ago, San Francisco, Calif.-based OpenTV Corp. (Nasdaq: OPTV) survived the tech crash and today is one of the world’s largest providers of solutions for the delivery of digital and interactive television. OpenTV’s middleware solutions have been deployed by more than 40 network operators in over 96 million digital set-top boxes and digital TVs. Clients include EchoStar Communications (Nasdaq: DISH), BSkyB, Sky Italia and FOXTEL. OpenTV believes that it holds 60% market share worldwide in the middleware market.

While these are all impressive sounding numbers, OpenTV’s survival skills and large installed customer base hasn’t historically resulted in steady profits. As of this writing, OpenTV trades for a paltry $1.25 a share, near the bottom of a 52-week range of $0.93 to $2.85. Once a Wall Street darling, OpenTV attracts little analyst coverage these days. The stock suffered from a string of missed expectations and lowered guidance in 2007. The $175 million market capitalization firm’s competitors are a potent group, which includes heavyweights Microsoft Corporation (Nasdaq: MSFT), Scientific-Atlanta, a unit of Cisco Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq: CSCO), and NDS Group plc (Nasdaq: NNDS), which is controlled by News Corp. (NYSE: NWS).

Given the stagnant stock price, its unprofitable ways and a scary group of competitors, it might be easy to write-off OpenTV on first glance. However, every dog has its day and, under closer review, this looks like a dog that may still have some bark in it. For starters, OpenTV ended its most recent quarter with more than $71 million in cash (over $0.50 share) and no debt on its balance sheet. Revenue inched up to $71.8 million from $70.1 million for the first nine months of 2007, while earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) flipped to a negative $3.8 million from a positive $3.9 million in the year-ago period. Given OpenTV’s sturdy balance sheet and modest cash burn, it isn’t going out of business anytime soon.

TiVo Inc. (Nasdaq: TIVO) shares are rising after the maker of digital video recorders announced after Wednesday’s close that it signed a deal with media agency Carat to provide second-by-second ratings data. Also before the opening, J.P. Morgan upgraded TiVo to “overweight” from “underweight.” TiVo has a 70% chance of winning its patent case versus EchoStar Communications (Nasdaq: DISH) over digital video recording functionality, the investment bank said.

“TiVo data adds a critical element to understanding what is really going on in DVR homes.  Having recently integrated our traditional and digital marketing capabilities, we were impressed with the depth and breadth of TiVo’s audience research services,” Carat CEO Sarah Fay said in a statement. “This model for aggregating television audience viewing patterns complemented our vision for the future of marketing communications.”

On Wednesday, TiVo reported that it is partnering with software company Nero AG to bring TiVo’s video service to personal computers.

“The partnership with TiVo extends the TV experience for the connected digital home, enabling easy access anytime, anywhere to the most extensive TV content,” Nero CEO Richard Lesser said in a statement. “Our core technology enables the creation of new categories in consumer electronics, changing the way that users interact with both hardware and software. Our proven technology adds media functionality to the world’s leading consumer electronics, personal computing and software products.”

On Tuesday, TiVo signed a deal with NBC Universal Inc. to provide ratings data.

The Russell 2000 small cap index has risen above its record close level this morning.  Among specific small stocks, shares of IsoTis, Inc. (Nasdaq: ISOT) are gaining on news the company has prolonged relations with its supplier, while Genomic Health, Inc. (Nasdaq: GHDX) said it expects more than $43 million from the public offering of its stock.

At 11:33 a.m. ET the Russell 2000 had added 1.54 points, or 0.18%, to 835.19.  Its May 9 record close was 834.77.  The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 4.71 points, or 0.03%, to 13,547.59.