Financial Apps for the iPad

I have written several articles about financial applications or apps for the iPhone, including Top 8 FREE iPhone Apps for Investors. I even wrote about how to toss your cookies on your iPhone.

Although I've written about the Apple (AAPL) iPad Magician, I don't own an iPad. Therefore, I can't comment yet on the iPad apps. Fortunately, there is another site that has done a great analysis of the top 20 financial apps for the iPad. It has everything from spreadsheets to expense tracking to personal budgeting to stock tracking to oil, and gold pricing.

Author owns AAPL.

By Stockerblog.com

Top Debt Free Stocks Selling at Cash

Who wouldn't like debt free stocks selling at or near cash. These are stocks which have virtually no debt and are trading close to the amount of cash the company has per share. Without any debt and a lot of cash, it would be hard for a company to go out of business. In addition, the cash can make the company a possible takeover candidate.

WallStreetNewsNetwork.com just updated its list of Low Price to Cash Ratio Stocks with No Debt, which shows the recent price, cash per share, forward PE, and price per cash ratio. All the stocks have price to cash ratios less than 4.

As an example, Electronic Arts Inc. (ERTS), the video game manufacturer, has $6.05 in cash per share, with the stock selling at 14.33, giving it a 2.37 price to cash ratio. The company, with no debt, has a forward PE of 16.5.

FormFactor Inc. (FORM) is another stock with lots of cash. This debt-free manufacturer of semiconductor wafer probe card products, which sells for 10.52 per share, has a significant 8.66 per share in cash.

Other free downloadable Excel databases at wsnn.com include High Cash No Debt High Yield Stocks, No Debt Low Price To Cash Flow Stocks, and Stocks Selling Below Cash Per Share.

Author does not own any of the above stocks.

By Stockerblog.com

California City Lays Off All Employees

The California city of Maywood has laid off all employees. Talk about local government budget problems. The city has contracted out all its services to other entities including the police services which will be handled by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. Landscaping and lighting is now handled by private contractors.

Top Cloud Computing Stocks

Cloud computing can make businesses more green and cost efficient. Cloud computing means that instead of running software applications on your computer, you run the apps in the "clouds" in cyberspace, in other words through the Internet. All your programs and files are stored on an outsourced computer network residing on remote servers. WallStreetNewsNetwork.com has just updated a downloadable Excel database of over 20 different publicly traded companies with some connection to cloud computing.

Do you use Yahoo (YHOO) mail or Google's (GOOG) gmail? Then in a small way, you are using cloud computing. In other words, you don't have an email server in your home or office, you're taking advantage of the cloud offered by Yahoo or Google. As a matter of fact, many companies, organizations, and universities have turned their email system over to gmail. If you have ever used Google (GOOG) Docs or Google Calendar, you have experienced another example of cloud computing.

Here are a dozen of the economic and green advantages of clouds:
1. Server equipment cost reduction due to elimination of the necessity of on-site servers.
2. Staffing cost savings, since there is little or no need for on-site network administration.
3. Potential for lower software licensing costs.
4. Elimination of server maintenance costs.
5. Small initial upfront investment.
6. Built-in computer disaster recovery services & back-up sites.
7. Reduction in client station costs. In other words, no need to buy new computers for staff as long as existing computers can connect to the Internet.
8. If additional staff computers need to be purchased, they can be cheap 'dumb' terminals.
9. Clouds provide scalability; can easily grow as the company grows.
10. The ease of the sharing of resources.
11. Services can be automated.
12. Speed of access of data.

As for disadvantages, the one major concern is security of the data. So it is a matter of which is more trustworthy, your own company or a company that specialized in data security. Another option is the utilization of cloud computing within a large corporation. Everything stays 'in-house'.

One major company in this currently narrow industry is Salesforce.com (CRM), a provider of customer-relationship management services. They have been promoting 'the end of software'. Salesforce doesn't just market to the small and medium size-companies, they have major users of their services, including Corporate Express division of Staples (SPLS), Daiwa Securities (DSECY.PK), Expedia (EXPE), Dow Jones Newswires subsidiary of News Corp. (NWS-A), SunTrust Banks (STI), and Kaiser Permanente. Salesforce has a very high PE ratio of 141, debt amounting to about $467 million, with over $951 million in cash.

VMware (VMW) is another major cloud and virtualization player. It also has a lofty PE ratio, at 125. The company has $450 million in cash with $2.76 billion in cash.

To access a free Excel spreadsheet database of over 20 companies which are involved in cloud computing that can be sorted, added to, and changed, go to wsnn.com.

Author owns YHOO.

By Stockerblog.com