'Israel' Tag RSS Syndication from SeekingAlpha.com Shlomi Cohen submits:

After many years of following the market, I've gotten used to the fact that every earnings season on Wall Street, even in the best of times, when the smaller companies start to report, we'll always get knocked in the head once or twice because of a miss here or there, and it will always come from a company which you never dreamed would do it.

Last week it was Mellanox Technologies Ltd. (Nasdaq:MLNX), which is truly a company with quality technology and management that we say is for the glory of the State of Israel.

Complete Story » Gino Verza submits:

This article discusses the continuing strong operating performance in the second quarter. It also highlights continuing strength in normalized operating free cash flow generation despite holding a substantial portion of the assets in low-yielding cash, and suggests stock repurchase as an opportunity based on real economic benefit. Also discussed is the major upside in value associated with deployment of surplus cash in an eventual acquisition, and the benefit in emphasizing free cash flow with investors and analysts as a key metric and as a driver of fundamental value.

Operating Performance

Complete Story » Shlomi Cohen submits:

Among the first Israeli companies to report earnings this quarter will be Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (Nasdaq: CHKP), Amdocs Ltd. (NYSE: DOX), Mellanox Technologies Ltd. (Nasdaq:MLNX), and ClickSoftware Technologies Ltd. (Nasdaq: CKSW). The last three are held in my portfolio tracked at "Globes".

From the optimistic pronouncements by Amdocs CEO Dov Baharav, I assume that the company will meet market estimates of $758 million revenue and earnings per share of $0.57 for the company's third fiscal quarter which ended in June.

Complete Story » Benchmark VC Michael Eisenberg submits:

Thanks to everyone for your thoughtful comments and retweets on Part 1 of the Hummus Manifesto. I received notes from representatives of our government as well as a note from someone who said they showed it to the Governor of Oregon! Most importantly, entrepreneurs read it and they are the ones who make a difference and together we can all make a difference.

In Part 2, I want to focus on the role the government has played in fostering incremental technology advancement as opposed to disruptive innovation and how by ignoring the success of the past (or resting on our laurels) we have let this wave of innovation and greatness pass us by. If that was not enough, in addition to stopping technology at customs in Ben Gurion airport, we have MKs who are actively shackling the tech industry while letting the Israeli Tycoons escape Knesset scrutiny, despite their grip on our economy (read my colleague Izhar Shay on this topic). Were it not for the great and talented young entrepreneurs in our country and incredible development teams at our start-ups, we would be in worse shape. I wrote this piece almost two months ago and have edited it somewhat recently. But, the heart remains the same. Given the current battle between the Finance Minstry, Chief Scientist and the CEOs of ECI Telecom, Elbit etc, this post is a bit like throwing powder keg into an already tense situation but I think the point needs to be made.

The Chief Scientist has invested our tax money in an unfocused manner for over a decade and looming unemployment is the result.

Complete Story » EP Vantage submits:

Unlike the World Cup, in the race to get a product on the market in an orphan indication there are no silver or bronze medals, only a standard 10-month regulatory review period. This is what Protalix (PLX) has learned as the FDA handed it a standard review, with a February 25, 2011, PDUFA date, for the Gaucher’s disease drug Uplyso.

With the continued uncertainty over the supply of Genzyme’s (GENZ) Cerezyme (Genzyme moves on but faces uncertain future, May 25, 2010), many observers had been expecting an expedited review for Uplyso. However, the entrance of Shire’s (SHPGY) Vpriv into the marketplace may be filling the gap. With Genzyme having told analysts and investors that Cerezyme production will slowly increase from current 50% levels in late summer, perhaps the FDA believed market demand was being met and another expedited review was unnecessary.

Complete Story » Shlomi Cohen submits:

Yesterday marked the opening of SEMICON West in San Francisco, which calls itself the flagship annual event for the global microelectronics industry - from electronic design automation to processing and manufacturing. Analysts at investment bank Needham & Company recommend semiconductor equipment stocks, and they think that an optimistic conference this week will launch a wave of investor demand for the shares.

Among Needham's recommended stocks is Israeli firm Nova Measuring Instruments Ltd. (Nasdaq:NVMI), which on Thursday announced several installations with a total of seven new customers by the end of the third quarter. The announcement, and announcements of other new orders in the second quarter, is likely to lead Nova management to raise guidance for its annual results for the second time this year. With the release of first quarter results in May, the company raised annual revenue guidance to up to $66 million, compared with guidance for $63 million issued in February.

Complete Story » Benchmark VC Michael Eisenberg submits: This is the first in a multi-part series on the challenges facing the Israeli high-tech industry and how we can emerge stronger from both the global economic downturn and the challenges facing our tech economy. We are fortunate that the two leading players in Israel's budget discussion, Professor Eugene Kandel, Chairman of the Prime Minister's Council of Economic Advisors, and Haim Shani, Director General of the Ministry of Finance, are so focused on the challenges facing Israel's technology industry. However, lost in the debate about how to best jump start the liquidity issues in the high tech industry is a focus on the core root of the problem. As the budget topic is hot now, I would just weigh in and say that dealing with the liquidity issue is insufficient. The fix needs to come through massive investment and not through re-allocating budget. It is the only way to build critical mass and turn the ship. We need to change the way the government looks at and invests in technologies of the future. Oh, and one last thing, kicking the can down the street through insurance will not change the dynamic on the investment side. More on the pressing topic of the budget in a coming post but now on to the Hummus Manifesto Part One. Part One: Tomorrow's Technology

I love what I do. I consider myself incredibly lucky to get up every morning and meet incredible entrepreneurs in Israel. I am inspired by the innovation and opportunity to create jobs. We are the start-up nation for a reason. Our national chutzpa gene is incredibly strong and our will to win against the odds is insuperable. As Dan Senor and Saul Singer point out in Start Up Nation, Israel has excelled at multidisciplinary technologies and entrepreneurship in a way that many countries have not. We have created an entrepreneurial climate that is second to none and we have an esprit de corps that is infectious. We have turned military technologists into our core national asset and aspired for greatness. Heck, even our government in the late 80s and 90s contributed to the growth of this industry from cancelling the Lavi Fighter jet and freeing up hundreds of bleeding-edge engineers and then launching the Yozma Program that kick-started venture capital. For me and many others like me in our great country, this is exhilarating.

However, all of these great attributes are fast becoming irrelevant, as the world of technology is rapidly changing around us and we are not doing enough to address the challenges. We are in need of a wake up call, a call to arms to fundamentally retool our technology industry from the ground up. It has atrophied at all levels. Deep down, we all know this. However, it is tough to say and the implications may be painful but, without it, our industry is at risk and unemployment will follow. Here is why:

Complete Story » EP Vantage submits:

Following US approval for Kamada’s (KAMAF.PK) Glassia, a novel liquid formulation of alpha-1 antitrypsin [AAT], the Israeli drug developer is preparing to enter a landscape already dominated by Talecris (TLCR) Biotherapeutics’ Prolastin-C. The incumbent generated sales of $319m last year and controls approximately three-quarters of the market for products treating AAT deficiency, a hereditary condition implicated in lung diseases such as emphysema and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease [COPD].

Coincidently, Glassia’s approval came in the same week as a report published by the research consortium the Cochrane Library, which claimed that AAT-replacement therapies are clinically questionable, overly-expensive and should be withdrawn from the market; a controversial conclusion that prompted a swift backlash from patient advocacy groups in the US. Kamada itself has also dismissed the report’s findings and is confident it can expand the market with its formulation and win new patients, all the while working on an inhaled version of the therapy which it anticipates will be the real game-changer for this market.

Complete Story » Shlomi Cohen submits:

Two recent articles in Barron's have pointed out that the recent sharp correction has left many leading companies with enticing P/E ratios of 10 or lower. These include technology giants like Microsoft (MSFT) and Intel (INTC), and one of the articles says that these stocks are screaming "Buy".

Some of the large firms whose shares I hold in my portfolio tracked by "Globes", are also screaming "Buy" in my opinion, because they have a P/E ratio of lower than 10 but are growing at a very fast pace. These include Marvell Technology Group (Nasdaq: MRVL) and SanDisk Corporation (Nasdaq:SNDK).

Complete Story » Shlomi Cohen submits:

Goldman Sachs research analysts covering the chip sector traveled to Asia to visit chip producers there. They had 15 meetings.

Their opinion is that the industry is healthy, because on the supply side, they don't see chip surpluses. For example, in the personal computer manufacturing food chain they found low inventories, even though April and May were weak in terms of computer sales. Only in June was there a big recovery, which will lead the Asian sub-contractors to reach their sales targets for the second quarter.

Complete Story » Gino Verza submits:

Severe declines in the price of an investor’s stock are not fun. Since the beginning of the year, ClickSoftware (CKSW)’s stock price has dropped by some 25%. The more recent market down-draft suggests continuing fragility in the stock.

A previous article (ClickSoftware: A Leap in Growth and Value) discussed the positive prospects of an envisioned acquisition -- rapid growth and acceleration in the increase of fundamental value driven by increased size. The context considered strong operating management and a favorable financial track record. Implicit in the assessment was, at a minimum, a relatively steady stock price. By omission, the article failed to anticipate the negative market reaction to the shelf registration. In this article we reassess and correct.

Complete Story » Shlomi Cohen submits:

The correction in small cap stocks, as measured by the Russell 2000 Index, reached a loss of around 19%. However, more than a few shares fell much further. One of those is ClickSoftware Technologies Ltd. (Nasdaq: CKSW), a company which I hold in my portfolio measured by "Globes".

ClickSoftware's share price fell from a record $7.45 in mid-April to a low of about $4.75 last Thursday, a drop of 36%. In my opinion, nothing bad happened during that period in terms of the company's business, but three factors combined to sink the company's share price.

Complete Story » Michael Johnston submits:

In recent weeks, increased international scrutiny over Israel’s blockade of Gaza has overshadowed a rather unique economic accomplishment. Israel was recently reclassified from “emerging” to “developed” market status by index provider MSCI Barra, the firm responsible for creating and maintaining the benchmarks behind many popular exchange-traded products.

The upgrade had been in the works for some time; MSCI first announced that Israeli markets met all the qualifications for developed status last June. Such an announcement is undoubtedly a positive development for a country that has made great strides in improving quality of life indicators and market transparency while rooting out corruption. So the impact on Israeli stocks as the news broke was at first a bit perplexing; the iShares MSCI Israel Investable Market Index Fund (EIS) slid more than 4% when the initial announcement was made, a far bigger loss than most global equities endured on the same day. But upon further review, the slide made a lot of sense. The upgrade meant that Israeli equities would be cast out of funds linked to the MSCI Emerging Markets Index, a benchmark that is currently the basis for two of the largest five ETFs by total assets.

Complete Story » Israel's Financial Expert submits:

In Short of the year 2010 we wrote:

So the big next crisis will be outside the U.S, with the key being inflation and dollar liquidity. With the whole world depending on Helicopter's Ben dollars falling around on all [those who are] too big to fail, a short squeeze in the dollar (like what is maybe happening now with the potential collapse of the Euro) will bring [the entire] "emerging world" to it's knees. Another thing that could happen, with or without a dollar rally is a pickup in inflation which will force those central banks to tighten. In India and in China it seems like it is happening and in Israel it is happening for sure.

Complete Story » Shlomi Cohen submits:

At least two Israeli companies, of which I am aware and hold in my portfolio tracked by "Globes", have contributed technology to Apple's (AAPL) new iPhone, like they did with its predecessors and with the iPad. The companies are SanDisk Corporation (Nasdaq:SNDK) and Ceva Inc. (Nasdaq:CEVA); LSE:CVA).

Data storage is on the NAND flash solutions of SanDisk and Toshiba (TOSBF.PK), or on products made by other companies who pay royalties to SanDisk - with the exception of the Intel (INTC) and Micron (MU) joint venture, which is apparently in extended talks with SanDisk. Cheaper iPhones will increase the quantity sold, which will raise demand for flash chips.

Complete Story » Shlomi Cohen submits:

The crazy trading last week in Israel, when MSCI reclassified Israel as a developed market soon after Israel joined the OECD, also impacted Nasdaq-traded Israeli shares that don't trade on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange [TASE].

Orbotech Ltd. (Nasdaq: ORBK), for example, is a stock held in large quantities by international institutional investors, and on Wednesday the share fell 7% on huge turnover. Analysts at investment house Needham wrote the next day that it was a buying opportunity, because the drop was a technical one, as emerging market funds sold Orbotech, no longer based in an emerging market.

Complete Story » Michael Bolser submits:

Andrew Makrides, CEO of Bovie Medical (BVX), is relaxed these days when someone calls him at his Melville, New York offices. Mr. Makrides needs to be extra bubbly now that his share price has been cut in half since March 16th in what looks like a school-ruler, linear drop (more on this below). In these calls, Makrides tells investors not to sell their shares and calmly goes over the issues of a poor revenue quarter ($5.6M vs. $7.2M YOY vs. $6.7M in 2008) in a firm that normally has clock-like $20 to $28 million in annual revenues going back five years .

Complete Story » Michael Johnston submits:

If you asked most U.S. investors to identify regions of the world where geopolitical tensions were running high, an overwhelming majority would probably point either to Korea, where a rapidly deteriorating relationship between the North and South threatens to escalate into a destabilizing conflict, or to Thailand, where months of clashes between the “Red Shirts” and the army-backed government have left dozens dead, disrupted trading, and brought the tourism-dependent corner of the economy to a halt. But recent events in Israel have sent stocks plummeting, as fears that the country is isolating itself from both enemies and allies and increasing the risk of investments in Israeli securities (see Three Country ETFs Full Of Risk).

The Israeli military has reported that at least nine activists were killed on Monday when commandos boarding a flotilla bound for the Gaza Strip encountered resistance and opened fire. The six-ship flotilla was heading towards the blockaded Gaza Strip before being intercepted by three Israeli navy vessels. According to the Israeli government, soldiers boarded the ships after the flotilla ignored requests to change course. Five of the boardings proceeded peacefully, but upon boarding the Marmara, which was carrying about 600 passengers, soldiers reportedly encountered violence.

Complete Story » Marc Chandler submits:

U.K. and U.S. markets are closed. Quieter trading has seen the U.S. dollar pare some of the late Friday gains scored in the wake of the Fitch downgrade of Spanish sovereign risk.

The combination of only a one notch move, when many observers, including ourselves, believe more is justified, along with a stable outlook-- seems to be a case of "it could be worse". Despite the lack of follow through euro selling, few think the decline is over.

Complete Story » Shlomi Cohen submits:

No quarterly results by leading tech companies are expected this week, but for the chip sector the positive momentum from Friday may continue in light of the good results published last week by two leading firms - Applied Materials (Nasdaq: AMAT) and Marvell Technology Group (Nasdaq: MRVL), which has a large presence in Israel.

Applied Materials rival Novellus (Nasdaq: NVLS), as is its quarterly custom, will update its guidance (on Thursday) for the second quarter, which will end in about a month. Analysts expect an upward revision toward the top level of its recent guidance.

Complete Story »