Upgrades for four of our stocks: ADSK, BX, LADR,and QCOM.
QCOM raised its quarterly dividend by 20% to $0.42 per share for a yield of 2.3% based on last night’s close. It added $5 billion to its buyback program, bringing the total authorization up to $7.8 billion. Thus far this year, the company has bought back 7.6 million shares for $2 billion.
Microsoft’s new CEO, Satya Nadella, couldn’t be less inspiring if he tried. He just sent out his second company-wide email. It includes pablum, “One of my consistent themes has been a point I made in my original mail – we all need to do our best work, have broad impact and find real meaning in the work we do. Coming together as teams fuels this on a day-to-day basis.”
In the 1970s this crap was called PMA — positive mental attitude. The only thing that works in a tech company is a Vision for new products that excite. Windows 8 is a dud. Office has stalled. No one uses Microsoft’s search engine Bing, which eats money. Microsoft’s cloud stuff is too late. Where’s the beef?
The best oozer of PMA is Warren Buffett. And I mean that as a serious complement. He’s a joy to listen to and to read.
The Indian Wells (California) Tennis Tournament is on The Tennis Channel. It continues for two weeks. Susan and I will float on over today and see some of the early matches.
I wish there weren’t a three hour difference. It’s hard to get up at 4:00 AM.
I played tennis with a couple of Canadians from Edmonton. They told me the wind-chill factor was minus 41 the day they left. By the afternoon, one of them was actually complaining of “sunstroke.” Here it is 75 and the sun is nicely relentless.
It’s good that Putin has diffused the crisis. I guess he figured there were lots of nasty things the West could do without actually declaring war on Russia — like cut off his bank accounts, not buy his natural gas, impose trade sanctions, cut American tourism, etc.
The Ukranian crisis may end up having two huge benefits for us. Europe will buy more of our natural gas. Europe will finally embrace fracking. We may be able to export a lot of our fracking technology.
Harry Newton who recommends — based on his own consumption — all the sub-block makers’ stocks. Claire tells me it’s 12 in Boston. Yuch. California got some rain. There is now snow on the mountains surrounding the Coachella Valley. And stocks will bounce back today.
