iRobot and DARPA's Robotics Challenge; Yahoo! News

On 10 April 02012 DARPA announced its Robotics Challenge. Upon hearing this I immediately pondered what this meant for iRobot. I think DARPA #RoboChallenge is great news for our country, but I'm not convinced it's great news for iRobot. iRobot's CEO has communicate to shareholders what he thinks about DARPA's Robotics Challenge. IRBT closed yesterday (02012.04.10) at $24.12. 52-week range: $22.46 - $39.00.

Yahoo! announced its restructuring plan. "It's time for Yahoo! to move forward, and fast," said Yahoo! CEO Scott Thompson. To which I say: Duh! I agree with Yahoo Should Cut More Jobs, Ironfire's Jackson Says - Forbes. YHOO closed yesterday at $14.99. 52-week range: $11.09 - $18.84.

NASDAQ Above 3000, But Well Below 5000

It's Monday morning on 9 April 02012. The NASDAQ ended last week at 3,080.50. The NASDAQ's all-time high of 5,132.52 was hit on 10 March 2000. Hmm... Is it possible for us to approach a technological singularity without the NASDAQ making new all-time highs?

Google (GOOG) reports 1Q'12 results after the market closes on Thursday of this week.

I just got done checking stocks for the first time today and my screen was a dark red (up stocks in green, down stocks in red). NASDAQ down 1.5+% at the open.

Altair Nanotechnologies Reorganizes Yet Again

Altair Nanotechnologies (ALTI) has reorganized yet again. {AltairNano.com::Altairnano Organizes to Accelerate Global Business Growth} Names used in the press release: Mr. Lee, Mr. Zou, and Mr. Wei.

"We continue to see strong customer interest in Altair's technology for applications that require safety, rapid charging, long cycle life, and that must operate over a wide temperature operating range," said Lee. "This organization structure will enable us to drive revenue, while expanding into the China market in a focused manner."

"Strong customer interest" is nice, but this company needs to start making money.

ALTI closed yesterday (02012.04.04) at $0.61. 52-week range: $0.57 - $1.74.

Yahoo! Announces Job Cuts

Yahoo! (YHOO) might just be the Peyton Place of Silicon Valley. A few days ago they filed a lawsuit claiming Facebook violated some of their patents. I thought this was good move, but now Facebook has filed a lawsuit claiming Yahoo! violated some of their patents. Today, 02012.04.04, news agencies are reporting that Yahoo! is firing 2,000 yahoos.

Yesterday I read an article in which a former manager at Yahoo! said the company could cut 25 percent of its work force "without actually cutting much of its capabilities." Of course I don't know if this is true, but it's easy for me to believe it's true.

I don't know Yahoo!'s employee count, but I do know that 2,000 is 14% of 14,000.

Yahoo! says the job cuts will enable the company to "realize approximately $375 million of annualized savings upon completion of all employee transitions."

YHOO closed yesterday (02012.04.03) at $15.18. 52-week range: $11.09 - $18.84. Right now, 6 minutes into trading, the NASDAQ is down almost 1% and YHOO is up a nickel.

NeuroMetrix Makes a Deal With Wal-Mart

NeuroMetrix quietly announced a deal with Wal-Mart Canada.

"The purchase order covers the delivery of NC-stat DPNCheck devices and biosensors for use by health care professionals in 91 Wal-Mart Canada pharmacies for testing persons with diabetes for diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN)."

I liked this posting... SeekingAlpha.com::Wal-Mart Gets Into Diabetic Neuropathy Testing

Yesterday (02012.04.02), NURO opened at $0.82 after a previous close of $0.74. It hit an intra-day high of $0.83 before closing at $0.79. Volume was 2.8x trailing-3-month average.

Axion Power (Batteries); Bruker (Scientific Equipment)

Axion Power International (AXPW.OB) reported 4Q'11 results prior to the market opening today (02012.04.02). Our AXPW.OB investment, which is small, is underwater. Axion's CEO Thomas Granville stated the following.

"We're still here; we're still viable; we're still servicing our customers and rapidly expanding our customer base; we're still improving our product; we're still improving our team. We're here and we plan to be here for the long run."

AXPW.OB closed last Friday (02012.03.30) at $0.40. 52-week range: $0.25 - $1.15.

Bruker (BRKR) issued a three press releases, but I didn't understand any of them.

...Bruker Announces Acquisition of SkyScan, a Leading Provider of Micro-CT Systems for 3D X-Ray Imaging in Materials Research and Preclinical Studies

...Bruker Expands MALDI Biotyper Capabilities with New Protocols and Reference Libraries for Mycobacteria and Multicellular Fungi

...Bruker and University Medical Center Groningen (UMCG) Announce a Collaboration within new European Network for Rapid Identification of Anaerobes (ENRIA)

BRKR closed last Friday (02012.03.30) at $15.31. 52-week range: $11.48 - $21.65.

Could Be an Interesting Tomorrow For Illumina and StemCells

Illumina (ILMN) closed last week at $52.61. Headline seen at Bloomberg.com: "Roche May Abandon its Bid for Illumina, SonntagsZeitung Reports". If true, then I expect ILMN shares to take a hit. Regardless, the Roach (oops Roche) offer indicates that Illumina is worth ~$50 if the future is ignored. I am 99.999% convinced that ILMN shares are being subjected to major manipulation right now.

I guess it all depends on how you define much more and reasonable... Posted to SeekingAlpha.com: "I carry the consensus opinion that ILMN is worth much more than $51/share, and with that being said $57-$59/share would be a reasonable offer to shareholders by Roche." My opinion is that ILMN is worth much more than $59 per share.

StemCells (STEM) was up 11% on Friday, 02012.03.30, closing at $1.11. Volume was double the trailing-3-month average. The company announced that on Monday, 02012.04.02, they will have a "Webcast to Discuss Pelizaeus-Merzbacher Disease Clinical Trial Results". These shares could tank if the news isn't better than good news (i.e. they could tank on good news). 52-week range: $0.70 - $9.80.

[update::02012.04.02] Illumina (ILMN) reported preliminary 1Q'12 results. This is our third consecutive quarter with a book-to-bill over 1, and we are very encouraged by evidence that our customers are getting back to work," said Jay Flatley, President & CEO of Illumina. I suspect the company issued this news because of what's happening with Roche.

[update::02012.04.02] It appears as though the news from StemCells Inc. was positive, but STEM is down almost 6% at 8:06am MST.