Joseph Gacinga
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Recent Articles by Joseph Gacinga
May 20, 2014
by Joseph Gacinga
DirecTV Investors Should Buy These 3 Stocks Once AT&T Acquires It
DirecTV investors can use the cash they will receive when AT&T acquires the company to buy more AT&T shares. Alternatively, they can buy shares of AutoZone and/or AutoNation both of which have strong buyback programs similar to DirecTV's.
May 19, 2014
by Joseph Gacinga
Is Google Inc’s Cash Hoard Getting Out of Hand?
Traditionally, Google has invested excess cash in acquisitions. But, lately this hasn't been working very well, and the company will have to consider instituting a dividend program, or a substantial share buyback program, to keep shareholders happy.
May 19, 2014
by Joseph Gacinga
Forget the Pricey Shares: Here’s Why HomeAway Is a Good Investment
Shares of HomeAway still look expensive even after their huge pullback this year. But can the frothy valuation be justified on the premises of the business' disruptive nature to traditional hotel booking and the company's potential for growth?
May 19, 2014
by Joseph Gacinga
Salesforce Joins the Elite Club of Top Enterprise Software Vendors, but Where Are the Profits?
Salesforce.com's enterprise software sales are growing robustly, and have propelled the company to the top-ten list of biggest enterprise software vendors. However, the company sports very high levels of executive compensation as a percentage of sales, and marketing costs are unusually high.
May 15, 2014
by Joseph Gacinga
Does EMC Corporation’s Software-Defined Storage Strategy Make Sense?
EMC decision to acquire ScaleIO, whose features closely resemble those of VMware, was a good one. ScaleIO scales a lot better than VWare, and also supports a wider variety of servers. The company can, therefore, appeal to a wider market using the new platform. Meanwhile, EMC’s strong working relationship with Microsoft in the cloud could prove to be a major revenue boon for the storage equipment company since Microsoft’s cloud is growing the fastest among all major cloud services providers.
May 15, 2014
by Joseph Gacinga
Hybrid Cloud Is Microsoft’s Silver Bullet in Cloud Wars
Lately, Microsoft has been concentrating on building hybrid clouds after its initial failed attempt to take on AWS. This new strategy is proving to be very successful and is helping the company rapidly grow its cloud business and close the huge gap between it and AWS.
May 13, 2014
by Joseph Gacinga
Will the Growing Popularity of Microservers Disrupt Intel's High-End Server Chips?
Although microservers are becoming increasingly popular with organizations where they are commonly used for handling static elements on high-traffic networks, they do not pose a threat to traditional high-end servers. Intel is, however, still keen on developing chips suited for low-power applications and will benefit if the market for microservers grows significantly in the coming years.
May 12, 2014
by Joseph Gacinga
Here's Why LinkedIn Might Be a Better Investment Than Twitter
LinkedIn and Twitter both reported less-than-ringing quarterly reports. LinkedIn has been spending too heavily on marketing expenses.Twitter relies too heavily on its U.S. market to drive its revenue, while its international markets contribute just a quarter of its revenue. LinkedIn problems, however, look more temporary and the company is likely to outgrow them, while Twitter will have a harder time maintaining strong revenue growth once its U.S. market becomes saturated.This makes LinkedIn shares better long-term investments than Twitter shares.
May 12, 2014
by Joseph Gacinga
Where Are Shutterstock Shares Going?
Shutterstock shares have fallen more than 30% this year on valuation concerns by investors. However, the company has built a sound business model that looks likely to deliver healthy growth for years to come, so investors can use this pullback to gain fresh entry points.
May 11, 2014
by Joseph Gacinga
Microsoft Corporation Becomes the Second-Largest Cloud Services Provider
Microsoft has now officially become the second largest cloud service provider after Amazon. Microsoft's cloud grew at a blistering pace in the first-quarter of 2014, and helped the company beat the chasing pack of IBM, Google and Salesforce for the second slot. At these growth rates, Microsoft can potentially become as big as AWS in 6-7 years. Meanwhile, IBM's strong cloud growth will help it offset declines in its overall business in as little as three years.
May 9, 2014
by Joseph Gacinga
Rising Coffee Prices Will Likely Hurt Keurig Green Mountain More Than Starbucks
Although Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz recently said that the company does not intend to raise its coffee prices, the rising prices of other coffee ingredients such as milk and sugar might force it to do so. However, if Starbucks does raise its coffee prices this shouldn't hurt its stock price much.
May 7, 2014
by Joseph Gacinga
Why Groupon Basics Poses Little Threat to Costco
Groupon recently launched Groupon Basics, a service that its customers can use to purchase 110 home items in bulk at discounted prices. But, the number of goods in the portfolio is likely to remain small and therefore pose little threat to Costco, the leading warehouse retailer.
May 5, 2014
by Joseph Gacinga
Here's Why It’s So Hard for Yelp to Make a Profit
Yelp's latest quarterly results showed that the company has continued to grow its revenue at an impressive pace, but still has negative earnings. This can be chalked up to its marketing expenses, as well as its operating expenses, which are growing in tandem with its revenue. The company might continue with this trend for a few more years unless it can manage to keep its marketing expenses down.
May 4, 2014
by Joseph Gacinga
Have Splunk Shares Hit Bottom?
Splunk and Tableau Software shares have sold off by huge margins in recent times. Although it's difficult to establish whether Splunk shares have found their floor, their current growth-discounted EV/Sales multiple suggests that the shares are fairly valued.
May 3, 2014
by Joseph Gacinga
This Is What Makes TJX Companies Tick; J.C. Penney and Sears Investors Take Note!
TJX Companies has continued to thrive in the midst of the retail industry snafu, brought about by intense competitive pressure from online operations such as Amazon. The company has unique ways of sourcing its goods, which it is able to buy cheaply and pass huge cost savings to its customers. The company's shares are good long-term investments.
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