Online Meeting & Video Conferencing Stocks that Should Benefit from the Corona Virus

Please note that this is a sister publication of WallStreetNewsNetwork ( https://WStNN.com ) and eventually everything on this site will be transferred over there.

by Fred Fuld III

Businesses across the country have been changing their travel policies. Over the last several years, many companies with diverse geographical footprints have moved towards video conferencing instead of meetings in person, in order to save on travel, hotel, and car rental costs.

Now companies are stepping up their online meetings for the health and safety of their employees, due to the outbreak of the Coronavirus, also known as COVID-19.

There are several companies that will benefit from this massive change in how company employees interact with other employees, vendors, customers, suppliers, and others.

One example is Cisco Systems (CSCO), the large hardware and software network company. The company owns the web conferencing applications WebEx and Jabber. However, these divisions are only a small part of Cisco’s business. In the last month, the stock has dropped by over 22%. It trades at 13.5 times trailing earnings, and pays a dividend yield of 3.9%.

In terms of the purer plays, there are a couple stocks to choose from. LogMeIn (LOGM) is a collaboration service company that owns the popular GoToMeeting product, along with Join.me. However, the company has agreed to be acquired for $4.3 billion by the private equity companies Francisco Partners and Evergreen Coast Capital Corp., with the closing taking place sometime this year.

Then there is Zoom Video Communications (ZM), the remote conferencing company which offers its Zoom conferencing product. The company is generating earnings but has a nosebleed high forward price to earnings ratio of 256.

Other companies in this industry are similar to Cisco, in that the video conferencing makes up a small portion of their business. These include Alphabet’s (GOOG) (GOOGL) Google Hangouts, Microsoft’s (MSFT) Skype and Teams, Adobe (ADBE) Connect, and RingCentral (RNG).

Let’s hope the Coronavirus is eliminated quickly. But in the meantime, at least we have a way of communicating with each other without meeting in person.

Disclosure: Author owns MSFT.

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How to Buy Stocks at a Discount with Discounted CEFs

Please note that this is a sister publication of WallStreetNewsNetwork ( https://WStNN.com ) and eventually everything on this site will be transferred over there.

by Fred Fuld III

Do you realize that it is possible to buy stocks at a discount to their current trading prices? Here is how.

You can invest in closed end funds, also known as CEFs, that are trading at a discount to Net Asset Value, also known as NAV. The NAV is similar to the book value of stocks. In other words the NAV is calculated by adding up the value of all the stocks in the portfolio, and dividing that amount by the number of outstanding shares.

A closed end fund is similar to a regular mutual fund except that they trade throughout the day while the market is open and the trading price of the CEFs can fluctuate way above or way below the NAV. In addition, the number of shares is fixed. There are many closed end funds that are trading at a discount of over 10% of their net asset value. Many investors invest in these discounted CEFs in the hopes that the gap between NAV and price per share will eventually narrow.

One example is RMR Real Estate Income (RIF) managed by RMR Advisors. The fund is trading at a 16.3% discount to net asset value and based on their latest stockholdings, owns Prologis (PLD) and Sun Communities (SUI). The expense ratio is a high 3.08%.

If you are concerned about real estate stocks, another deeply discounted Dividend and Income Fund (DNI),managed by Bexil Advisors, which is trading at a 16% discount to NAV. The fund’s stockholdings include Comcast (CMCSA), AutoZone (AZO), Intel (INTC) and Amgen (AMGN). The fund’s expense ratio is 2.12% and pays a generous dividend yield of about 7.5%.

Another example is Central Securities (CET) which trades at a discount to NAV of 15.2%. It has a yield of 4.1%. The fund’s stockholdings include Intel (INTC), Citigroup (C), and Alphabet / Google  (GOOG) (GOOGL). Investors should be aware that over 22% of the portfolio’s assets are invested in The Plymouth Rock Company, which is not publicly traded. Also, over 3% of the portfolio in invest in treasury bills. The fund’s expense ratio is a reasonable 0.67%.

However, there are several risks with investing in discounted CEFs. First, the gap may exist for a long time, and can even widen. Second, the gap could theoretically narrow but the stocks in the portfolio could drop, so the fund would drop in price also. Third, is that many CEFs hold illiquid, private, or non-trading stocks, and the NAV is based on how the company valuates those shares, which may be a much higher value than what they could get if they tried to liquidate those stocks. Plus, some funds may own real estate or mortgages, which are very hard to value.

Sometimes activist shareholders buy up a large amount of shares of heavily discounted CEFs and force the liquidation of those CEFs, in order to realize the net asset value. Before investing in any of these, check out the web site of the CEFs to see what stocks they own, and how many are invested in illiquid shares.

Hopefully, you can find bargains with a closed end fund.

Disclosure: Author did not own any of the above at the time the article was written.

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Top Untaxed Foreign Earnings Stocks

The United States has one of the highest tax rates in the world for corporations. In the past, the U.S. Government might have thought that this was a great source of income for the government, yet the risk of unintended consequences has taken place.

Companies that have earnings in other countries have decided to leave those earnings there in order to avoid the U.S. taxation, creating what is called untaxed foreign earnings. If the money is brought back to the United States, it becomes taxable at 35%. Over one third of the income is a pretty big chunk of money to be removed from the corporate coffers.

So what are the unintended consequences? Companies that are forced to leave their profits overseas due to the oppressive taxation, can’t use that money to hire more Americans, can’t use it to improve machinery and plants, and can’t use it to pay out higher dividends which could benefit income investors and pension plans. It also can’t be used to buy out smaller companies. Basically, it prevents money from flooding the US economy.

The current administration has proposed a 10% tax on repatriated funds, which would be a huge benefit to many corporations, primarily in the areas of technology and health care.

So there may be a play in some of the stocks that are holding huge amounts of money in other countries. For example, Apple (AAPL) holds more money outside the U.S. than any other publicly traded company, somewhere around $200 billion (give or take $25 billion; when you’re talking about that much money, who’s counting).

Other companies with a lot of funds held overseas include:

Alphabet [Google] (GOOG)

Cisco (CSCO)

General Electric (GE)

IBM (IBM)

Intel (INTC)

Microsoft (MSFT)

Oracle (ORCL)

Pfizer (PFE)

It may be a while before the untaxed foreign earnings tax break takes place, but when it does, the benefits to the companies should be swift.

Disclosure: Author owns AAPL and MSFT

5 Ways to Protect Yourself From a Stock Market Crash

Don't be the fish in a Bear Market

The first day of this year, 2016, the stock market tanked. As I write this on Wednesday, January 6, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 237 points.

If you are concerned about the stock market and you think we are heading into a bear market, there are certain ways to protect yourself on the downside.

Here is a list of five ways to trade which can provide some protection during a period of falling stocks.

Short Stocks 

1. You can short stocks. If you have never shorted a stock before, this is what happens in simple terms. You borrow stock, you sell the stock, and eventually you have to buy the stock back eventually to return the stock that was borrowed, hopefully at a much lower price. (You don't actually see all this happening; it all happens electronically.) The different between what you sale the stock for and the price you buy it back is your profit (or loss). Traders should be aware that this can be a very risky trade and the potential loss from selling short is infinite.

Buy Put Options 

2. You can buy put options to protect stocks that you currently own, or you can buy a put on a stock you believe is going to drop. A put is the right to sell a stock at a certain price within a set period of time.

Here is an example. A stock is trading at 50, you buy a put with a strike price of 49. The strike price is the price at which you can put the stock to someone. You pay 1 for the option. If the stock drops to 45, your one dollar option increases to at least 4 (the difference between the 49 and the 45). If the stock closes at 49 or higher, then the option expires worthless, so your loss is limited to the cost of the put.

Writing Covered Calls

3. Writing calls against your stocks is one way to help protect your portfolio on the downside. Maybe you don't want to sell out of you stock positions, but you want some way to help reduce the loss on the downside. You can write covered calls. There is the chance that your stock could get called away if the stock starts to rally, but it just means that you made money on the transaction.

An example would be if the stock sells at 50 and you write a call with a strike price of 51 for 1. If the stock remains at the same price at option expiration, you make 1 per share. If the stock goes up to 53, you will get called away at 51 making 1 on the stock plus you collect another 1 for the sold option, for a total profit of 2. If the stock drops to 47, you lose 3 on the stock but you make 1 on the sold call for a net loss on 2. Without the written call, your net loss would be 3 on the stock.

Bearish ETFs 

4. Bearish exchange traded funds, also known as Bearish ETFs are investments that have a goal of providing the daily inverse of a stock index. The bearish ETFs are very volatile investments that are designed for short term trading, and not as long term investments. They achieve their performance through the use of various financial instruments including futures contracts, options,  collars, swap agreements, short positions, and other derivatives.

Double and Triple Bearish ETFs 

5. Double and triple bearish ETFs can provide a 200% or 300% opposite return of a sector or market. Listed at WallStreetNewsNetwork.com are over a dozen commonly traded triple bearish ETFs which investors can use to get a 300% play.

An example is the Direxion Daily S&P 500 Bear 3X Shares ETF (SPXS). This ETF has the goal of making 300% of the inverse of the performance of the S&P 500. What that means is, if the S&P 500 drops 2% in one day, the ETF should go up in value by 6%. Alternatively, if the S&P 500 rises by 2%, the ETF should drop by 6%, which would be a significant loss.

Another one of the bear market protection tools is an ETF called the ProShares Trust UltraPro Short QQQ ETF (SQQQ). The goal of this fund is to replicate three times the inverse of the NASDAQ 100 index using various types of derivatives. An example of what that means is that if the stock market, in terms of the NASDAQ 100 drops by 1%, this ETF should rise by 3%.

This index includes such stocks at Amgen (AMGN), Apple (AAPL), Baidu (BIDU), Cisco (CSCO), eBay (EBAY), Facebook (FB), Google (GOOG), Intel (INTC), Microsoft (MSFT), Netflix (NFLX), Starbucks (SBUX), Tesla (TSLA), Whole Foods (WFM), and Yahoo (YHOO).

Investors can be more specific in terms of what sectors will drop, or will drop the most. If you think energy stocks will tank, you could buy the Daily Energy Bear 3X Shares ETF (ERY), which attempts to track 300% of the inverse of the Energy Select Sector Index. For financial services companies, an option is the Daily Financial Bear 3X Shares ETF (FAZ).

For those that are bearish on gold, a triple bearish gold ETF called the Daily Gold Miners Bear 3X Shares ETF (DUST) is available. The ETF's objective is to make 300% of the opposite of the NYSE Arca Gold Miners Index.

For a free list of the most commonly traded triple bearish ETFs which can be downloaded, go to WallStreetNewsNetwork.com.

Just remember that losses on the double and triple bearish can be substantial when the stock market rises.

One other option is to just ride out the market drops. Let's hope for a nice bull market for this year.

Disclosure: Author has various positions, including bullish, bearish, and neutral option positions, in DIS, AAPL, EBAY, YHOO, and TWTR.

By Stockerblog.com

How to Invest in Autonomous Cars

Autonomous cars are the wave of the future, and the future is here. An autonomous car is a self-driving car, and many major companies are involved in producing them. If you saw the 60 Minutes episode recently, you know the capabilities of these vehicles.

Obviously, for most of these companies, autonomous vehicles will be a small part of their business. Here are the big players:

Google (GOOG) (GOOGL)
Apple (AAPL)
Delphi Automotive (DLPH)
Nissan Motor (NSANY)
Tesla (TSLA)
General Motors (GM)
Daimler (DDAIY)

Investors might also want to take a look at the suppliers.

Tesla and General Motors used products made by Mobileye (MBLY), which designs and develops software and technologies for camera-based advanced driver assistance systems.

The  chips made by NVIDIA (NVDA) are used by Google, Tesla, Delphi, and Audi (AUDVF)

LG Chem (LGCEY) is the South Korean company that makes batteries for Google's autonomous cars.

I hope I'm steering you straight, as I don't think any of these companies will crash and burn. Hopefully some of these companies will drive your portfolio to new highs. Check out these stocks on some of the free stock lists at WallStreetNewsNetwork.com.

Disclosure: Author owns AAPL, NSANY, DDAIY.

By Stockerblog.com

The ABCs of Google Using the XYZ Domain

In case you haven't heard, there is a relatively new top level domain that is starting to become popular, and is called .XYZ. This is in addition to the common ones, such as .COM, .ORG, .and NET, and even the country domains and exotic domains such as .CO, .LY, ME, .XXX, and .TRAVEL. There are literally hundreds and hundreds of these domains.

Well, Google (GOOG) (GOOGL) has taken the lead with the .XYZ domain, by registering ABC.XYZ. Why ABC you might ask?

Google is creating a new parent company called Alphabet and will become a publicly traded entity. According to Larry Page on the Alphabet website:

"Alphabet Inc. will replace Google Inc. as the publicly-traded entity and all shares of Google will automatically convert into the same number of shares of Alphabet, with all of the same rights. Google will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Alphabet. Our two classes of shares will continue to trade on Nasdaq as GOOGL and GOOG."

Protect Yourself From Crashing Stock Markets with the SQQQ ETF

Last Friday morning at 8am, I wrote an article called 5 Ways to Protect Yourself in a Bear Market. Since then, the stock market has, well to put it bluntly, crashed. Using the Dow Jones Industrial Average (since that is the index that the media likes to use), by the end of the day on Friday, the index was down over 530 points. Then yesterday, Monday, the stock market was down 588 points (and had actually dropped around 1100 points intra-day). Today, the market tanked again, falling over 200 points. Hopefully, you did something to protect your portfolio.

One of the bear market protection tools is an ETF, an exchange traded fund, called the ProShares Trust UltraPro Short QQQ ETF (SQQQ). The goal of this fund is to replicate three times the inverse of the NASDAQ 100 index using various types of derivatives. What that means is that if the stock market, in terms of the NASDAQ 100 drops by 1%, this ETF should rise by 3%.

This index includes such stocks at Amgen (AMGN), Apple (AAPL), Baidu (BIDU), Cisco (CSCO), eBay (EBAY), Facebook (FB), Google (GOOG), Intel (INTC), Microsoft (MSFT), Netflix (NFLX), Starbucks (SBUX), Tesla (TSLA), Whole Foods (WFM), and Yahoo (YHOO).

Since the close last Thursday, SQQQ has risen from 24.33 to 31.10, an increase of 27%. The nice thing about using an ETF such as this is that you don't have to short stocks, you don't have to use options, and you don't have to use margin. Not a bad over three business days.

However, you should be aware that if the market goes against you, in this case if the market rises, your loss on the ETF can be substantial. If the market goes up 1%, you would lose 3% on the ETF.

The triple bearish ETFs are just another tool at your disposal to protect your portfolio and make money when stocks drop. They should only be used on a short term basis. For a free list of other triple bearish ETFs, go to WallStreetNewsNetwork.com.

How to Get In on IPOs and Invest in Stocks Commission Free

If you had the ability to buy a stock without paying a commission, would you be interested? How about if you could sell the stock without paying a commission? How about if you could make an investment for as little as $10 in Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-A)? If that wasn't enough, how about if you could get in on some initial public offerings, better known as IPOs?

Well now is your chance. There is a brokerage firm called LOYAL3 which can provide you with all of the above. LOYAL3 provides the ability to invest as little as $10, in many stocks, fee-free. Enrollment involves only three steps and takes just a few minutes.

Investors can buy fractional shares, in custom amounts or various increments, with the option to invest once or with automatic monthly stock purchases. There are no account management fees, account minimum fees, or cancellation fees. LOYAL3 makes its money by performing services for companies on its platform, and charges them for those services. The link below provides more information on the fee-free stock investing.

Invest Fee-Free. LOYAL3 is the only online stock platform that charges $0 fees. Enroll!

But that is just the beginning. Let me tell you about the icing on the cake. LOYAL3 participates in various IPOs, which allows the small investor to get in on some deals that generally wealth investors and institutions can only get. Some of the IPOs that LOYAL3 has participated in include AMC (AMC), Globant (GLOB), GoPro (GPRO), and Santander  (SAN). Click the link below for more on the IPO opportunities.

IPO Stock at LOYAL3.comOwn IPO stock in 3 easy steps.Learn more at LOYAL3.com.

I should let you know that I have an account with LOYAL3 and participated in one the recent IPOs that the company was able to get some shares in, and made roughly 60% the day the stock went public.

Here are the limitations that you should be aware of. First, there are only a certain group of stocks that you can purchase but they are extremely popular companies, many of which you probably do business with. Here are some of them:
Apple (AAPL)
GoPro (GPRO)
Google (GOOG) (GOOGL)
Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-A)
Amazon (AMZN)
Alibaba (BABA)
Walt Disney (DIS)
Coca-Cola (KO)
Facebook (FB)
Starbucks (SBUX)
Microsoft (MSFT)
Intel (INTC)
Walmart (WMT)
McDonalds (MCD)

Second, in regards to the IPOs, you are not guaranteed that you will be your entire allocation that you request. In addition, there are minimum and maximum investments for the IPO.

LOYAL3 is a member of FINRA and SIPC. I can tell you that the sign-up process is simple and the customer service is excellent. This is a brokerage firm that is definitely thinking outside the box.

The Stocks of the Billionaires

Bill Gates

A couple months ago, Forbes Magazinecame out with its billionaires issue. There were over 1,800 billionaires listed in the magazine. The self-made millionaires know what they are doing, especially in the area of investing. And you can invest right along side of them, since you can own stocks in the companies that made them rich or the stocks they currently own.

Warren Buffett

Here are some of the top billionaires and their stocks.

Bill Gates: Microsoft (MSFT)

Carlos Slim Helu: América Móvil (AMX) (AMOV)

Warren Buffett: Berkshire Hathaway (BRKA)

Larry Ellison: Oracle (ORCL)

Bernard Arnault: LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton (LVMUY)

Jeff Bezos: Amazon (AMZN)

Mark Zuckerberg: Facebook (FB)

Sheldon Adelson: Las Vegas Sands (LVS)

Larry Page: Google (GOOG)

Sergey Brin: Google (GOOG)

Carl Icahn: Icahn Enterprises (IEP)

Jack Ma: Alibaba (BABA)

Steve Ballmer: Microsoft (MSFT)

Phil Knight: Nike (NIKE)

Charles Ergen: Dish Network (DISH)

Stocks that the Billionaires Own

Last month, Forbes Magazine published its Richest People in America issue which ranked the top 400 wealthiest people in the United States. Investors might want to take a look at what stocks the billionaires own, to get some stock purchasing ideas. It made them rich, maybe they will make you rich. Here is a list of some of the wealthiest Americans and the stocks they own.

Bill Gates - Microsoft (MSFT)

Warren Buffett - Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-A) (BRK-A)

Larry Ellison - Oracle (ORCL)

Christy, Jim, Alice, and Robson Walton - Wal-Mart (WMT)

Mark Zuckerberg - Facebook (FB)

Sheldon Adelson - Las Vegas Sands (LVS)

Larry Page - Google (GOOG)

Sergey Brin - Google (GOOG)

Jeff Bezos - Amazon (AMZN)

Carl Icahn - Icahn Enterprises (IEP)

Steve Ballmer - Microsoft (MSFT)

What is interesting about this list, is that most of the people on it started a business which is now a publicly traded company, which made many investors wealthy who invested at the beginning. If you like interesting stock lists like this, check out the stock lists at WallStreetNewsNetwork.com.

Stocks with the Best Sales per Employee

Years ago, I wrote about the Sales per Employee Ratio, back in 2007, and again a more comprehensive article in 2009, also referred to as the Revenue per Employee Ratio. It's actually a fairly simple ratio to calculate. You take the total revenues that the company had for the latest quarter and divide that number by the number of employees. The higher the number, the greater the revenues that are generated by each employee on average. It is one way of looking at the efficiency of the company.

I heard about this ratio when I was hearing a presentation from a small telecom company a long time ago, and they were comparing themselves to AT&T (T). The small telecom said that the company was generating thousands of dollars more in revenue per employee and therefore more productive than the big blue chip telecom. It's an interesting concept that can be used to compare stocks.

If you look at the technology sector, you can see some interesting comparisons. Here are some examples:

Apple	(AAPL)	$2,218,481
Facebook	(FB)	$1,580,085
Google	(GOOG)	$1,172,017
Microsoft	(MSFT)	$841,889
Amazon	(AMZN)	$697,016
Cisco	(CSCO)	$628,949
Advanced Micro Devices	(AMD)	$551,776
eBay	(EBAY)	$525,746
Dell	(DELL)	$517,578
Intel	(INTC)	$501,051
LinkedIn	(LNKD)	$484,973
Yahoo	(YHOO)	$395,016
Hewlett-Packard	(HPQ)	$352,189
Oracle	(ORCL)	$329,574

You would normally think that manufacturing companies would naturally have a lower Sales per Employee ratio that software or Internet company. Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) is a perfect example, which is one of the lowest on the list. However, Apple (AAPL) which is primarily a manufacturing company is at the top of the list. Cisco (CSCO), which is also in manufacturing is near the top.

Software you would expect to see higher on the list, such as Microsoft (MSFT), which is number 4. However, Oracle (ORCL), which is also a software company is at the bottom of the list.

What about returns? If you look at the top two, Apple is up 50.9% over the last 12 months, and Facebook is up 93.0%. If you look at the bottom two, Hewlett-Packard is up only 37.0% and Oracle is up only 22.5%. Maybe the Sales per employee ratio warrants a closer look.

If you like interesting stock lists like this, check out WallStreetNewsNetwork.com.

Disclosure: Author owns AAPL, MSFT, AMZN, YHOO, EBAY, INTC

By Stockerblog.com

Seattle to Use Facial Recognition: Top Facial Recognition Stocks

In spite of privacy concerns, the city of Seattle has decided to use facial recognition technology to fight crime. Seattle is the largest city in the United States to have a police department utilizing facial recognition software. A grant from Homeland Security provided funding for the project.

Facial recognition is the technological process automatically identifying a person from a digital image or a video, by comparing comparing facial features to an extensive facial database. 3D facial recognition is the latest trend, which is more accurate and can be used with profiles of faces. Facial recognition systems are employed by law enforcement, national security governmental agencies, casinos, banking, mobile devices, and even social media.
  
According to WallStreetNewsNetwork.com, ther are about a dozen stocks involved in facial recognition technology, with some having it as a small part of their business and a few pure plays. Some of the major players that have facial recognition as a small part of their business include Facebook (FB), Google (GOOG), 3M (MMM), which has the Cogent BioTrust biometric logon software and the CAFIS facial recognition authentication system, Apple (AAPL), which has the iPhoto software Faces and the Polar Rose facial recognition company, and Safran (SAFRY), which owns L-1 Identity Solutions.

As for companies that are more pure plays, there is Nxt-ID, Inc. (NXTD), a Shelton, Connecticut company which provides biometric solutions for the law enforcement facial recognition markets. The company has MobileBio FaceMatch, a modular facial recognition system for smartphones, tablets, laptop, and desktop computers, and 3D FaceMatch Biometric Identity Systems, which combines 3D facial recognition, 2D facial recognition, and optional fingerprint biometrics. This very low cap stock, at $93 million, generated a loss of seven cents a share for the latest quarter.

An extremely low cap player in this industry is AccelPath (ACLP), which has developed and marketed 3-D facial recognition for the security industry. Products included 3D SketchArtist, 3D FaceCam, and OmniEye Wellcam.

To access a free list of all the companies with some involvement in the facial recognition industry, go to WallStreetNewsNetwork.com. Although there are many privacy issues, this is a growth industry of the future.

Disclosure: Author owns AAPL.
 
By Stockerblog.com

How to Buy a San Franciso House for $150

Yes, you read that right. One hundred and fifty dollars. And it's not a fixer-upper either. And it's not located in a bad area. What's the catch?

Well, first let me describe the house. The home totals over 4,300 square feet on three levels. The home features 6 bedrooms, 4.5 baths, gourmet chef’s kitchen and three car parking. The house is LEED Platinum certified with Cat-5 wiring. It is centrally located in San Francisco, in close proximity to Buena Vista Park, major shops and restaurants.

 OK, here's the catch. The house is being raffled off with each raffle ticket selling for $150 each. So all you need is to be the winning entrant.

However, even if you don't win first prize, there are plenty of other prizes, such as your choice between an Audi Q5, Mercedes-Benz C 250 Coupe, BMW X3, or $45,000 cash as second prize.

Other prizes include vacations to Paris and Maui, Apple (AAPL) TVs, MacBook Airs, Samsung Google (GOOG) Chrome Notebooks, Amazon (AMZN) Kindle Fires, and numerous others.

Proceeds from the raffle support the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. More information about the raffle can be found at the San Francisco Dreamhouse Raffle website.

What Googlers Think of the Stock Market

Are you wondering what people are thinking about the stock market? One way is to see what searchers type in Google (GOOG).

Famous Apple Computer Garage of Steve Jobs Becoming Historical Landmark

Many major Silicon Valley companies were started in garages. Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard started up Hewlett Packard (HPQ) in a Palo Alto, California one-car garage. When Google (GOOG) was incorporated, the company was located in Susan Wojcicki's garage in Menlo Park, California. She was a friend of Larry Page and Sergey Brin. And of course, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak's Apple (AAPL) was founded in the garage of the parents of Jobs.

Now this famous garage, and the house it is connected to, is under review by the City of Los Altos in California to become a historical landmark. The house, which is located at 2066 Crist Drive, is the house that Jobs grew up in.

The Los Altos Planning Commission reviewed the 26 page Historic Property Evaluation on September 23. According to the evaluation, the property should be considered to be in a historical context because it is the birthplace of Apple computers. As a reference, it gave the book Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson.

The evaluation stated:

"The subject property is associated with the development of the first Apple computers in Silicon Valley. ... the very first 50 Apple 1 computers were assembled for Paul Terrell's Byte Shop by Steve Jobs, Patricia Jobs, Steve Wozniak, Daniel Kottke, and Elizabeth Holmes and then sold for $500 from the said property 2066 Crist Drive."

and it also mentioned that the original owners of the property were Paul and Clara Jobs, the foster parents of Steve Jobs.

If you want to see a picture of the first Apple computer (basically just a motherboard) and a copy of the original Apple Computer Partnership Agreement, you should take a look at the 26 page document, with can be found at WallStreetNewsNetwork.com as one of the files in its repository. The document also has an early photograph, a copy of the withdrawal from the partnership of Ronald Wayne, and much more.

You can get the document at the following location:

 Steve Jobs House at WallStreetNewsNetwork.com

Are Facial Recognition Stocks Staring You in the Face?

You may have seen the term 'facial recognition' in the new recently, for several different reasons. Facial recognition is the technological process automatically identifying a person from a digital image or a video, by comparing comparing facial features to an extensive facial database. 3D facial recognition is the latest trend, which is more accurate and can be used with profiles of faces. Facial recognition systems are employed by law enforcement, national security governmental agencies, casinos, banking, mobile devices, and even social media.
A Slap in the Facial Recognition Industry
Facebook (FB), which utilizes facial recognition, was criticized by the German government which outlaws such usage, since facial recognition is now mentioned in Facebook's latest privacy policy. A year ago, Facebook removed the software for European users, but wants to reactivate it again. And just a couple months ago, Congress pressured Google (GOOG) to leave out facial recognition software in the 'Google Glass' smart glasses.
Through the Looking Glass of Facial Recognition Stocks
According to WallStreetNewsNetwork.com, ther are about a dozen stocks involved in facial recognition technology, with some having it as a small part of their business and a few pure plays. Some of the other major players include 3M (MMM), which has the Cogent BioTrust biometric logon software and the CAFIS facial recognition authentication system, Apple (AAPL), which has the iPhoto software Faces and the Polar Rose facial recognition company, and Safran (SAFRY), which owns L-1 Identity Solutions.
As for companies that are more pure plays, there is Nxt-ID, Inc. (NXTD), a Shelton, Connecticut company which provides biometric solutions for the law enforcement facial recognition markets. The company has MobileBio FaceMatch, a modular facial recognition system for smartphones, tablets, laptop, and desktop computers, and 3D FaceMatch Biometric Identity Systems, which combines 3D facial recognition, 2D facial recognition, and optional fingerprint biometrics. This very low cap stock generated a loss of three cents a share for the latest quarter.
To access a free list of all the companies with some involvement in the facial recognition industry, go to WallStreetNewsNetwork.com. Although there are many privacy issues, this is a growth industry of the future.
Disclosure: Author owns AAPL.
By Stockerblog.com

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"Apple's revenue growth is greater than Google (GOOG), Microsoft (MSFT), Dell (DELL), Hewlett Packard (HPQ), Lenovo (LNVGY), and RIMM (RIMM) combined."

"Apple generated $13 billion in profit for the latest quarter, one billion a week."

"On Black Friday, more iPads were sold than all Android devices combined."

"The 700 million smartphone market is expected to double by 2016."

"Apple is doing $10 billion in China, more than any other US tech company."

"Over 50% of the buyers of iPads were the buyers' first Apple product purchase."

In response to question about losing market share to Samsung/Androids, "We don't have our heads stuck up ... stuck in the sand."

"Apple is building a new campus on 175 acres nearby. The property currently has 26 buildings amounting to 2.7 million square feet. The plans are to bulldoze all buildings and building one brand new building of 2.8 million square feet. Goal is completion in 2006. Currently, 80% of the property is asphalt and concrete. That will all change with lots of park land."

"Apple uses 100% renewable energy sources, most produced on site."

"Apple has trained over a million people in China about human rights."

"I still think that David Einhorn's proposal was a silly side show."

In response to a question about the iPad Mini cannibalizing the iPad, "If we don't cannibalize it, someone else will. We take a long view of it; win a customer for life."

"Apple owns the largest solar farm of any commercial company in the world."

"Apple has removed toxics from its products and is surprised that more tech companies haven't followed suit."

"95% of Fortune 500 companies use iPhones and iPads."

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