Apple, LinkedIn push tech stocks to late gains

Technology stocks posted solid gains Friday, as Apple Inc., LinkedIn Corp. and AOL Inc. fueled positive sentiment that drove most of the sector higher heading into the weekend.

The Nasdaq Composite (US:COMP) gained 29 points, or nearly 1%, to close at 3,194. The benchmark ended the week with a 0.5% gain.

The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (US:SOX) rose 1.3% and the Morgan Stanley High-Tech Index (US:MSH) edged up about 0.7%.

Apple (US:AAPL) traded up 1.4% to close at $474.98. Analysts are speculating that the company may consider returning more cash to shareholders following its statement Thursday that was given in response to a lawsuit by hedge-fund manager David Einhorn.

The company has maintained that it is sticking by its proposed amendment on its proxy statement to eliminate the ability to issue so-called “blank check” preferred stock without shareholder approval.

LinkedIn (US:LNKD) shares jumped 21% to close at $150.48 — putting the stock at a new high and nearly double its market value at this time last year. The professional social network blew past Wall Street’s targets for the fourth quarter and issued a forecast that was also above analysts’ estimates. See: LinkedIn crushes targets; shares jump

Gene Munster of Piper Jaffray lifted his price target on the stock to $176 from $150, writing in a note that the company “is still in the relatively early stages of fully monetizing its professional network asset and that the company has the path to continue to grow in the mid-double-digit range for at least the next three years.”

AOL (US:AOL) shares rose 7.4% to close at $33.72 after the company reported a 57% jump in net income for the fourth quarter, with revenues above analysts’ forecasts.

Videogame publisher Activision Blizzard (US:ATVI) jumped 11% to close at $13.41 following its own better-than-expected results. Analysts from Macquarie Capital and Sterne Agee upgraded the stock to the equivalent of buy ratings. See: Activision hits big ahead of challenging year

“With the initial 2013 guidance now official, continued strength in core franchises, a solid pipeline of new IP, and the increased likelihood of a more shareholder-friendly capital structure, the next catalysts for Activision are likely positive, in our view,” wrote Ben Schachter of Macquarie in a note to clients.

One notable decliner was Riverbed Technology (US:RVBD) , down nearly 18% to close at $16.56 after reporting a sharp drop in profit and disappointing outlook. Daniel Ives of FBR Capital downgraded the stock to a market perform rating following the results.

“While we had some concerns initially around the OPNET acquisition (October 2012), it appears Riverbed has an even tougher road ahead than we previously thought due to integration issues related to the acquisition, coupled with headwinds on its core WAN optimization business,” he wrote.

Coinstar (US:CSTR) , the owner of the Redbox DVD kiosk business, shed 7% to close at $48.47 after the company reported a decline in earnings and an outlook below expectations. The company said its Redbox service is getting fewer new-release DVDs in the first part of the current quarter.

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Ruwan Silva has resigned as the CEO of Blue Diamonds Jewellery focus EChannelling

Ruwan Silva has resigned as the CEO of Blue Diamonds Jewellery Worldwide Plc with effect from 27 September.

The move is believed to be part of internal restructuring within the Company and eChannelling Plc Group, which holds a 15% stake in Blue Diamonds. Sri Lanka Insurance holds a 10.5% stake. The move will enable Ruwan to focus more on eChannelling whilst Deputy CEO Asanga Karunaratne is tipped to be promoted as CEO of Blue Diamonds.

Ruwan is also the eChannelling Plc Deputy Chairman in addition to being the Chairman of British American Technologies Ltd., a key shareholder of eChannelling Plc holding 28%, whilst SLIC owns 25%.

Prior to setting up British American Technologies, Ruwan was the Chief Financial Officer at Sri Lanka Telecom PLC and Chief Financial Officer for Ericsson Algeria and Sri Lanka. He has more than 18 years of experience, cutting across varied industries, such as healthcare, electronics, telecommunications, transportation, IT and banking.

Asanga Karunaratne was appointed an Executive Director of eChannelling PLC in January 2012. He was the Chief Executive Officer of eChannelling Plc. He is a Chartered Marketer with a MBA and has over 25 years of managerial experience. He also has management experience in the manufacturing and service industries. Karunaratne also serves as the Director of ECL Soft Ltd.

Following a capital reduction move, retained losses at Blue Diamonds as at 30 June 2012 amounted to Rs. 46 million, down from Rs. 881 million as at end FY12.

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Facebook rose 7.7%

Facebook Inc.’s shares jumped Wednesday, posting its biggest one-day percentage gain since the social networking company went public in May.

Facebook (US:FB) rose 7.7% to close at $20.93. The stock was still off 45% from its initial public offering price of $38.

The rally was sparked by Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg’s remarks Tuesday at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference in San Francisco, where he spoke optimistically about Facebook’s ability to sell ads on mobile platforms.

Facebook’s stock has taken a hit amid questions about its ability to compete in the mobile-ad market.

J.P. Morgan analyst Doug Anmuth maintained an overweight rating on Facebook saying: “We remain positive on Facebook as we expect advertising revenue to reaccelerate in the second half of 2012 and into 2013.”

Still, some analysts were cautiously optimistic. Needham analyst Laura Martin kept a buy rating, but cut her price target to $25 from $40.

“We continue to believe in the long-term option upside value of the Facebook global platform, especially for video and commerce applications, and the long-term economic upside associated with its 900 million users,” she wrote.

But she also noted that Facebook, “with some of the smartest employees on planet Earth, has been slow to monetize consumers’ rapid shift from desktop to mobile, compared with peers.”

Evercore Partners Ken Sena also cut his price target to $23 from $34, writing in a note: ”In spite of the stock’s 50% slide since the IPO, we expect shares to remain volatile until U.S. traffic trends show signs of stability or more tangible signs of mobile progress become clear.”

On Tuesday, Zuckerberg also said a Facebook team is working on a search platform, confirming speculation that the company plans to aggressively focus on that market in a direct challenge to rival Google Inc.

In a note, Jefferies analyst Brian Pitz said: “Overall, we see upside as Facebook users increasingly search for brands, places, and apps — inherently valuable commercially-oriented queries.”

“But we won’t get too excited until we hear more details, and we note the overlap with Google is low,” he added. Shares of Google (US:GOOG) were trading down 1% at last check.

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Share Market Up by 1.9% - Thursday

Thursday stock market ended positive, The All Share Price Index rose 108.9 points to close at 5,777.22 and the S&P SL 20 index rose 1.93% to 3,132.5, gaining 59.33 points.

Stocks have risen 21 percent from June 06, and 14.6 percent since August 23, with only a day's pause this week. The August rally began with the replacement of a market regulator who was tough on securities fraud.

Newly listed George Steuart Finance extended gains rising 106.30 to close at 320.00 on the second day of trading with 286 shares traded.

The firm which reported earnings of 1.7 rupees in the year to March 2012 is trading at an earnings multiple of 188.

Asia Siyaka, another new listing fell 70 cents to 9.20 rupees, on the second day of trading. The firm which has historical earnings of 20 cents, is trading at 46 times earnings. On the first day it traded as high as 110 times earnings.

John Keells Holdings rose 4.0 rupees to close at 212.40, Hatton National Bank closed up 8.70 rupees at 115.70 and Commercial Bank rose 2.80 to close at 112.0 and Central Finance rose 4.0 rupees to close at 169.10.

Alufab rose 5.50 to 36.50 rupees, Bimputh Finance rose 4.10 to 29.20 rupees, C W Mackie rose 7.40 to 79.40 and Ceylon Beverage Holdings rose 11.6 percent to 352.7 rupees.

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Sri lanka Insurance Focus IPO

The country's premier insurance company, the Sri Lanka Insurance Company (SLIC), is now in the process of dividing the life and general insurance sections in order to adhere to Central Bank regulations to be listed in the Colombo Stock Market (CSE).

"At present, crucial discussions are going on with relevant parties in order to go for an Initial Public Offering (IP0) in the future.
Therefore, it is a mandatory requirement to separate the life and general insurance sections for that purpose, currently run
as a single entity," a top official told. That they were also having crucial discussions with the Insurance Board of Sri Lanka (IBSL) and other relevant parties, including Colombo Stock Exchange, to go for an Initial Public Offering in the future. But the Central Bank's deadline for the listing of insurance companies was 2016.

SLIC IPO was expected to be this year, possibly after a holding company has been formed to bring in all SLIC investments under one roof, but it did not materialise due to certain technicalities and other reasons.

SLIC form a holding company in which it was to divest around a 40% to 49% stake, adding that the SLIC directors had discussed the matters.

It has been noted that the IPO had been expected to be launched soon, but they were marking time, its sources said. IBSL regulates and supervies the insurance industry, insurance companies and their agents and insurance brokers, under the Regulations of Insurance Industry Act No. 43 of 2000. to safeguard the interests of policy holders.

The Central Bank is a member of the IBSL and is represented by the Deputy Governor
in charge of Financial System Stability. SLIC is a state owned institution, functioning under the Ministry of Finance. Over decades of operation, it has received directions of exemplary leaders which has seen the company progress from strength to strength. SLIC manages an asset base of Rs 73.6 billion, the largest life fund in the insurance industry of Sri Lanka. which stands at Rs 41.4 billion. over Rs 6 billion in capital and an average daily claim settlement of Rs 31 million.

Sri Lanka Insurance contin. ues to demonstrate its stability and strength.

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