Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.
What: Shares of Rovi Corporation (NASDAQ: ROVI) jumped more than 10% early Wednesday after the company announced several new license agreements with companies including Google, Samsung, LG Electronics, and Sharp.
So what: According to two separate press releases from Rovi, both Google and Samsung have signed new multiyear agreements to license Rovi's patented video discovery technologies.
With this in mind, it's worth noting the verbiage in each release did differ slightly. The Samsung announcement, for example, focused on the South Korean conglomerate's "mobile and tablet devices worldwide." Meanwhile, Rovi's says Google's deal "offers a broad license for Google's product and services across Internet-based platforms and devices."
Separately, Rovi also announced LG Electronics has signed on to use Rovi video metadata in LG smart devices, which it says will enable LG to initially "deploy smart products using Rovi Video in Brazil and Russia."
Finally, Rovi stated it has agreed to renew a multiyear DivX licensing agreement with Sharp, enabling the Japan-based company to integrate DivX HEVC technology into its next-gen AQUOS TVs and Blu-ray players.
Now what: Specific terms weren't released for any of the aforementioned agreements, so it's difficult to say exactly how much of a positive effect they'll have on Rovi's long-term business going forward. However, the deals undoubtedly serve as significant validation of Rovi's technology. As a result, and with shares currently trading at just 11 times next year's estimated earnings, I think investors would do well to at least keep Rovi on their watchlists.
