If you're feeling good about the market, you're not alone. Follow me as we go over some of this week's more uplifting headlines.
1. TiVo knows how to dish it out
Once again, TiVo
TiVo won a judgment for an additional $103 million against EchoStar, and one has to think that the tab will keep growing -- even if just on accumulated interest alone -- the longer that EchoStar delays the inevitable.
TiVo has generated spotty profitability and a lack of organic growth lately, so a legal victory is huge. And it did more than just win a legal ruling. The implication is that other companies toiling in the gray areas of TiVo's patents will have to play nice and emerge as royalty-paying partners.
I'm sure TiVo didn't dream of being a tollbooth operator when it grew up, but it's finding that it can make a pretty nice living that way.
2. Tech's multiple admirers
Data Domain
This is an encouraging sign for tech stocks. Even after the past few months of gains, companies are still comfortable serving up premiums for the perfect puzzle pieces. At the very least, it shows that the market's current valuations aren't out of whack, and are perhaps more than fair.
3. Razors, blades, and coffee
Green Mountain Coffee Roasters
For Green Mountain, this is a great deal. The company has sold nearly 1.2 million brewers during the first half of fiscal 2009, but it sells them essentially at cost. The company makes its money on the K-Cup refills. Now that there will be a line of third-party devices as a catalyst for K-Cup consumption, Green Mountain will get to feast on even chunkier margins. It's getting all of the "blades" loving, while outsourcing some of the "razor" production.
Getting someone else to do your grunt work is like having Tom Sawyer get paid to let someone else paint his fence.
4. Baidu dons the white hat
Baidu
Baidu has had its brushes with content creators. Music labels have made it an art to sue the company for linking to pirated MP3 tracks. The company has also been taken to task for its sponsor-vetting and search-result integrity. Partnering with a legal broadband video company isn't going to transform the company into the goody-two-shoes of search, but doing so is a welcome addition for a company that can't afford to squander its dominating lead in the world's most populous nation.
5. New respect for Yahoo!
Things are going so well at Yahoo!
The company's fundamentals haven't necessarily improved, though. The pros still see revenue and earnings declining this year. With a spunky CEO who isn't going to tiptoe past sacred cows in an effort to make the company relevant again -- even if it never catches up to Google