'Israel' Tag RSS Syndication from SeekingAlpha.com Aaron Katsman submits:

It’s no secret that the airline industry has issues. Soaring fuel costs, have left airlines scrambling for ways to increase revenues. Instead of just raising fares and cutting capacity, airlines have decided to nickel and dime travelers to death. Just yesterday the Israeli El Al airlines decided to start charging travelers more for seats in an emergency row. This follows other airlines charging for pillows, food, luggage…etc.

Customers are getting fed up with an ever expanding list of fees. In an age where most industries have made their fee structures much more simple, the airlines have decide to drive us crazy. ” Sir, you’d like ice with your beverage? That’ll be 3 bucks.” Or “Miss, I am sorry but since your shoes have high heels, that’ll be $2.”

Complete Story » Stone Fox Capital submits:

Alvarion (ALVR) continues to grow at a very strong clip; yet after every earnings report, most analysts, investors, and message board posters tend to dump on this very well run company. Either margins are too weak because of the weak US dollar, or too much competition from Tier 1 equipment manufacturers will push them out, or WiMAX will lose out to 3G or now LTE, or the supposed biggest proponent of WiMAX in the US, Sprint (S), continues to struggle and delay its plans.

All along the way, ALVR continues to hit its numbers and guide to inline or even higher results going forward. What is not to like about the bigger picture of 20%+ growth and over 230 worldwide WiMAX deployments?

Complete Story » Aaron Katsman submits:

Investors in the Israeli company Nice Systems (NICE) can breathe a sigh of relief, as their earnings came in as expected. Some traders that we had spoken to were worried about how Nice’s exposure to the financial sector, and the slowdown in spending would impact the numbers. Well, it turns out that its security business is doing nicely.

The company came in with revenues of $155.3 million (a record) an increase of over 20% YOY. The company also showed an increase in margins and raised revenue numbers for the rest of '08.

Complete Story » Aaron Katsman submits:

For many years, the poster child for Israeli ingenuity was clearly Given Imaging (GIVN). The company which produces a disposable, miniature video camera contained in a capsule, which is used for gastrointestinal diagnosis, is well-known for this ground-breaking technology, but has disappointed investors with trouble growing sales aggressively. The hype of the technology has been way ahead of the company’s actual execution of its business model. But, after its recent earnings report, that may have changed.

The company reported Q2 revenue off $33.1 million, an increase of 19% of last years Q2 and a 22% increase over Q1 ‘08. Gross margins remained strong coming in at 75.5%, and net profit came in at $0.09 a share, and the company raised guidance for the rest of ‘08.

Complete Story » Shlomi Cohen submits:

In my view, the one factor that will have the most impact, both in the immediate future and over the longer term, on interest rates, forecasts from Cisco (CSCO) and other companies, and share prices from the US to China, and on almost every item of economic data, either directly or indirectly, is the price of oil.

The good news is that oil prices have now beaten a hasty retreat, after failing to break through the $150 a barrel level, and from there to the doomsday scenario of $200 a barrel that the experts had been predicting.

Complete Story » Aaron Katsman submits:

One of Israel’s largest asset management firms, Prisma Investment House, is out with a report on global fertilizer leader, Israel Chemicals (see below). Speaking about the the future of potash pricing, Prisma takes a contrarian view. While analysts are busy raising estimates for stocks like Potash (POT) and Mosaic (MOS), on the heels of continuing strong demand and rising Potash prices, Prisma encourages investors to take a step back, and re-evaluate what the future holds.

Whilst we estimate that the near future will provide positive headlines for the potash sector, the increase in supply (predicted for 2012 and beyond) presents a completely different long term perspective. In our opinion the increase in the global output will lead to a sharp decrease in the price, while the entry of new participants into the club of potash producers will only accelerate the process. We remind you that in recent weeks the arrival of two companies (EuroChem, Rio Tinto (RTP)) into the potash industry has been announced.

Complete Story » Aaron Katsman submits: Rumors are swirling in the Israeli press that Ormat Technologies (ORA), a leader in geothermal energy, is about to close a large M&A. These rumors are based on an article in Power, Finance and Risk, which is reporting that:

Geothermal developer Ormat Technologies is on the hunt for strategic acquisitions and is working with Lehman Brothers to do so. The company has reportedly looked at a few targets but nothing has yet come to fruition.

The article continues:

Targets on the geothermal side are scant, but one Ormat is said to have chased is Salton Sea, an inland saline lake in Imperial Valley, Calif., with some 500-600 MW of geothermal potential.

Complete Story » Aaron Katsman submits:

Shares in the Israeli RRSat Global Communications (RRST) are having its best day in a long time, as the company surpassed earnings estimates and guided higher for the rest of the year. The company reported that gross margins increased to 32.4%, a 30% year-over-year revenue increase and a strong backlog of orders.

The company provides global, comprehensive, content management and distribution services to the rapidly expanding television and radio broadcasting industries, via  “RRsat Global Network,” composed of satellite and terrestrial fiber optic transmission capacity and the public Internet.

Complete Story » Barel Karsan submits:

TAT Technologies Ltd (Nasdaq:TATTF) is an Israeli-incorporated company that manufactures, sells and services a broad range of heat transfer components that are used in both commercial and military aircraft internationally. The company is operating in the small cap aerospace and defense sector and as indicated here, is currently trading at a heavy price discount to book value of 56%.

When looking at P/B ratios as value indicators, it's important to follow up the analysis by actually looking at the quality of the assets on the balance sheet. It's also prudent to understand the earnings power of the company to determine if future heavy operating losses are going to deteriorate the balance sheet significantly. For TAT Technologies, I analyzed the company assets and took a very conservative view by considering their liquidation asset value to establish a value floor for the stock.

Complete Story » Shlomi Cohen submits:

On summing up the returns yielded by the key indices in the US since the beginning year, an interesting picture emerges. The Russell 2000 Index, which is composed of 2,000 small US companies with market caps of around $1 billion, fell 7.3%, while the other indices plummeted by almost double this much. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 both fell 14.3% since the beginning of the year, while the Nasdaq fell 12.9%. This gap is apparently the result of the fact that as stakes bounce off recent lows, small caps which surprise with good results, or are expected to surprise, soar much higher than large caps with similarly positive surprises.

Two of the Russell 2000-listed stocks in my portfolio tracked by "Globes", Sigma Designs Inc. (SIGM), and Omrix Biopharmaceuticals Ltd. (OMRI), have turned in a stellar performance since the beginning of the month. Sigma has risen 25% and Omrix has gained 21%, a gain which has been attributed to rumors that it could be acquired.

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I thought we were supposed to believe that Merrill Lynch’s (MER) selling a part of its Bloomberg stake and by taking $40 billion of writedowns this year alone, investors were (almost?) out of the woods.

Guess again, news came overnight that Merrill will be selling more than $8 billion in new stock (read, diluting existing shareholders) at preferential terms to the Singaporean buyers of the last slug of stuck Merrill stuffed everyone with.

Complete Story » Aaron Katsman submits:

Israeli CRM and billing systems company Amdocs (DOX) has bested analyst estimates and come through with a record quarter. The company reported record revenue of $820 million in Q2, up 15% over Q2 ‘07, solidly beating the consensus estimate of $811.06 million. Non-GAAP net profit grew 9.9% to $132.5 million, or $0.61 per share, above the analysts’ consensus of $0.60. In addition, Amdocs also raised its Q3 guidance.

Globes quoted from a Merrill Lynch report on the earnings:

Complete Story » An interview with Abba Horwitz of Old School Partners was featured as part of our new subscription newsletter, Israel Opportunity Investor. • • •Tell us a little about yourself and your fund.
Abba Horwitz, Portfolio Manager: We started started Old School Partners in March of 1999.  Since then, we’ve compounded a net return to investors of around 19%.  We’re running the fund for the most part from Israel.  With a junior partner, I’m managing roughly $60 million.

What’s your philosophy?
AH: We focus primarily on the small to mid-cap world.  We apply a value approach.  Basically, we’re looking for two things.  We’re looking for value where there is a clear catalyst to unlock this value or cheap growth with value undiscovered, on the cusp of coming out.  Unfortunately, I’m not a big commodity buff and have not been riding this current wave.

Can you give us a couple of examples of some successes you’ve had?
AH: I’ll give you an example from last bear market of 2002.  We invested in a firm, CNXS, that manufactured a product called Breathe Right nasal strips.  The firm had $1.50 per share in cash, was going to earn $0.40 and was trading at $4.50.  The following year, the stock was up three or four times as the company expanded margins and grew its business.  We saw insider buying and management change, two other things we look for.  Eventually, Glaxo (GSK) bought the company for $37.

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This interview was featured in Israel Opportunity Investor, our subscription newsletter:

• • •

Complete Story » Aaron Katsman submits:

Rumors are swirling in the Israeli press, that the world’s largest generic drug maker is about to become much larger. Reports are that the Israeli based Teva Pharmaceuticals (TEVA) is in talks to buy U.S. Generic maker Barr Pharmaceuticals (BRL) for as much as $7.5 billion, a 40% premium to their closing price yesterday. While Barr comes with a fat price tag, the deal would make sense for Teva, as Barr is very active in Central and Eastern Europe, geographies that Teva has been targeting at for future growth.

Teva has around $3 billion in the bank so it appears it is going to have to go out and issue debt to fund the deal. The debt plus the big premium, may pressure the stock price in the short term, but over the long haul, this may prove to be another in a long line of very wise acquisitions.

Complete Story » Aaron Katsman submits:

With shares in financials and hi-tech being crushed, I think we are about to see a new trend develop. You’re probably thinking that I will suggest something along the lines of re-branding. No. What I am talking about is a change that is less cosmetic and more fundamental. I am talking about taking publicly traded companies private. Monday’s NY Post has an interesting report how on struggling investment bank Lehman Brothers (LEH) is trying to figure out a way to go private.

According to sources, talks internally centering on privatizing Lehman have gotten very serious consideration after a blistering onslaught of rumors and questions about the firm’s solvency have caused the venerable bond shop to shed more than 79 percent this year.

Complete Story » Eric Savitz (Barron's) submits:

Time to sell Zoran (ZRAN) shares, Jefferies & Co.’s Adam Benjamin advises this morning.

Benjamin, who actually already rated the stock Underperform, this morning cut his price target on the shares to $8.50 from $10. In a research note this morning, he asserted that recent channel checks find the company has lost two “material” TV converter box designs, “significantly lowering the upside opportunity in [the second half] that many investors are looking for.”

Complete Story » Shlomi Cohen submits:

The main event this week on the technology scene will, without doubt, be on Friday when Apple Inc.'s (AAPL) second generation of its iPhone goes on sale at stores worldwide. The impending recession has often been referred to of late in connection with the great depression of the 1930s. I expect that the scenes of long queues stretching all the way down Manhattan's Fifth Avenue will be seen once more; only this time, they won't be handing out food vouchers - even though the US is now in the grip of a recession - but rather the new iPhone for the fairly modest sum of $200. The new method that both Apple and its communications provider AT&T Inc. (T) have now adopted whereby the activation of the handset is done at the store, rather than by the buyer in his own free time, guarantees endless queues.

Many companies and sectors in the food chain of the production of this handset are eagerly awaiting the launch, since there is no question that Apple's sales are set to soar sky high over the coming months. Unlike last year, this time round not only will buyers know more or less what they're getting when they finally leave the store after a wearying wait, but the launch will take place simultaneously in twenty other markets outside the US, with thirty more to follow by the end of year. Goldman Sachs, for example, predicts that Apple's device sales in the 2009 calendar year will reach 18 million units. Even that, it feels, is a conservative estimate that does not take into account a potential penetration of the enterprise sector as well.

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The full interview can be found in Israel Opportunity Investor, our subscription newsletter:

Complete Story » Aaron Katsman submits:

The Israeli business daily Globes is reporting that Boeing (BA) has selected a training system made by the Israeli defense contractor Elbit Sysytems (ESLT), to be used in U.S. Navy training.

According to Globes:

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