Analyst Notes on Various Stocks in the Portfolio

With my minuscule budget for running this fake fund (read $0) I obviously don't have big money access to research reports so I find drips and drabs across the internet. As I like to say, usually the stock price itself is the best research report.

With that said here are some notable items from the past few days:

1. Stifel Nicolaus Believes Juniper Networks (JNPR) Poised to Deliver Great September Quarter. "It believes that Juniper Networks should easily beat its September quarter revenue of $709 million and EPS $0.21. Stifel Nicolaus has a Buy Rating on Juniper." Stifel Nicolaus checks show that Juniper's business on the service provider front did great with strong momentum at AT&T, Google and Yahoo! Also, Stifel's checks show that Juniper has a large number of orders in the pipeline and can continue to grow revenue at a healthy rate over the next few quarters." (thank you sir, may I have another)
2. Garmin (GRMN) Unlikely to Buy Another Company In Response to The Navteq Deal, Says Soliel Securities. " There has been some recent speculation that Garmin (GRMN) would go out and buy another company, but Soliel Securities believes that is highly improbable because an all-cash offer would be highly dilutive to Garmin. Soliel Securities says, "...given GRMN's focus as a GPS system vendor with cost-discipline and a homegrown corporate culture, we would be surprised to see it forced into making an excessively large and expensive acquisition purely for defensive reasons."
   
3. Gmarket (GMKT): RCB cutting Q3 ests below consensus! Also, BIDU looks like a short here. "RBC Capital is out with a surprising call on Gmarket (NASDAQ: GMKT) cutting their 3Q07 estimates below consensus to account for accentuated seasonality as their channel checks indicate that the holidays in Korea had a greater-than-anticipated impact on site activity. Korean Chuseok holiday (Sep. 25) fell midweek this year and lengthened the period of decreased online activity. RBC believes GMKT will report flattish GMV vs. 2Q07. They have lowered their estimates to GMV 775b KRW vs. prior 791b KRW, revenue $60mm vs. prior $62mm, and EPS $0.15 vs. prior $0.18. (Consensus stands at $0.18/ $62.7 mm). "That being said, firm's preliminary read into the level of activity heading into 4Q07 is indicating a sharp rebound and as a result FY07 estimates remain essentially unchanged. They believe investors should look past this period of seasonality and focus on what are actually indications for robust trends for 4Q07 and 2008. Maintains Outperform rating and $27 target." (oops, I was wondering why the stock was down - well just to be careful I will probably need to reduce the position going into earnings since the lemmings in the stock will probably overreact)
4. Goldman Sachs removes Gmarket (GMKT) from its Conviction Buy List. (hey now, no need to pile on! That said, on the positive side I didn't realize Gmarket was a cool enough company to get on Goldman's Conviction Buy list. I thought this was my secret undiscovered stock but it seems everyone is on the secret. On the flipside, Goldman is the smartest kid in the class so when they say "no soup for you" - I better at least have one ear listening. Tough call here, investors unquenched thirst for all things Asian versus reality check - hmm, who wins?)
5. Piper Jaffray Believes LDK's (LDK) Risk Is Priced In " Piper Jaffray understands there is some uncertainty with LDK Solar (LDK), but it believes LDK's risk is already priced in having fallen 25% since yesterday. Last night, LDK held a conference call with investors, but Piper Jaffray believes that the call raised more questions than it answered, especially because the CEO was not on the call. " LDK management did confirm that the financial controller raised concern via email prior to his departure from the company. However, current management is defending the financials and Piper Jaffray doesn\'t expect to find anything else out until an independent audit committee goes over the numbers." ( 'all risk is priced in' call? Not so much Piper! considering this call came out yesterday morning! LDK Solar pulled a 180 today however to finish up after a horrendous morning but until we see that third party audit report, the cloud will still overhang the name)
6. Deutsche Bank says fears about Garmin (GRMN) strategic position are overwrought. " Deutsche Bank comments on Garmin (GRMN), saying we think fears about GRMN's strategic position are overwrought, especially with regard to pricing and data availability. The firm said, "We spoke with company contacts and came away unchanged in our view that they continue to consider all options. As indicated in our note earlier this week, we believe GRMN has four options at this point: 1) do nothing; 2) build its own network; 3) counter for Tele Atlas; 4) counter for Navteq. We think a reasonable approach would be to keep all options on the table pending some resolution. It may take some time for a response to emerge, but this should not be viewed as a competitive weakness, in our opinion." The firm reiterates their Buy rating." (I'm feelin ya Deutsche, I don't see Christmas falling by the wayside or the automakers pulling back on buying GPS devices already committed to. Now 2009? Who knows. Let's get through 2007 first)
7. Bear Stearns sets its end-2008 price target for Google (GOOG) at $700 per share. (Someone around here was saying Baidu $400 then Google $800!! $700? Wimpy call Bear!)
8. Deutsche Bank Raises First Solar (FLSR) Price Target to $140. " Deutsche Bank raises First Solar (FLSR) price target from $100 to $140. Deutsche believes recent events and a pending quarterly announcement warrant positive comments on First Solar. It believes First Solar is the enviable position of controlling its own near-term destiny, and upside to estimates is mostly a function of operational execution. Deutsche Bank said, "We believe it's on track with its German facility ramp, and expect incremental improvement to efficiency (to just more than 10%) and mfg line throughput will continue. We anticipate upside to 3Q07 and 4Q07 estimates." (Why not? I thought this name was overvalued about $50 ago. But until polysilicon prices comes down, they appear to be golden.)
9. Stifel Nicolaus Says Sell-Off in NII Holdings (NIHD) Presents a Buying Opportunity. "NIHD sold off materially yesterday, following widespread speculation and a competitor's note suggesting lower net subscriber additions in Mexico for 3Q07. Stifel believes that lower expectations for Mexican net adds is likely warranted, given the impact of four major tropical storms causing the company to delay several new market launches and lose multiple selling days throughout wide areas of the country as a result. " "Stifel says, "The market remains far too myopically focused on the latest quarterly forecasts and whispers. A miss of 10k-15k nets in Mexico should not cause a company with 4 million consolidated subscribers, to lose 10% of its enterprise value in three days. We believe that NIHD remains one of the most compelling long-term growth stories in the telecom universe today, and very few companies will see the multi-year growth of operating margins and free cash flow." "Also, Stifel said the lowering of expectations for the company in Mexico for the quarter is a positive development, and the sell-off as completely overdone and investors should be buyers of this company right now." (Allright, thanks for the update - so hard to find info on this company since its not called China NII Holdings, and hence no one seems to care. Once again I mentioned this stock breaking support earlier this week and then falling quickly 10% - this is when technical analysis can tell you what the big boys know... still love this name - but want a better technical chart)

Long all names but First Solar in fund; no personal positions