Online Real Estate Sector Update

According to recent S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, housing prices in the country rose the fastest in August this year since their bubble in 2006. Another report by Zillow, (Nasdaq: Z) also found that the volume of sales has increased. In 2006, the volume of sale transactions for houses had peaked to 7 million. But the volume is now picking up, and analysts expect to end the current year with more than 5 million transactions. Zillow’s report estimates this number to grow to 7 million by 2018. The real estate sector stocks are already witnessing the impact of this growth as stocks of quite a few of them have more than doubled since the beginning of the year.

>>>

Featured Videos

Baidu and Alibaba: The Chinese Dragons Counting on Mobile for Growth

According to recent data released by the China Internet Network Information Center, 591 million people in the country were using the Internet as of June 2013. That translates to a 44% internet penetration rate. Mobile Internet users are growing fast and account for 420 million Internet users in the country. Most Chinese Internet players are thus focusing on growth through the mobile segment.

>>>

Uber Faces Scalability Hurdles

The advancements in mobile and internet technology have helped the growth of some innovative service companies. One such start-up is San Francisco–based Uber, which offers a solution for car transportation and logistics using mobile technology.

>>>

HP Continues Shifting Toward Enterprise

Gartner’s PC Shipment report for the third quarter this year did not offer any bright spots in PC sales. According to the report, worldwide PC shipment fell 8.6% over the year to 80.3 million units. Normally the third quarter has the advantage of back-to-school sales. But despite this advantage, sales were the lowest since 2008. Globally, Lenovo remained the market leader, with 14.15 million units shipped to command a 17.6% market share. HP (NYSE:HPQ) wasn’t too far behind, with sales of 13.73 million units or 17.1% of the market. HP was the market leader in the US with shipments of 4.33 million units, commanding 26.9% of the market. Globally, HP saw PC shipment increase 1.5%. For the U.S. market, shipment grew 4.5% over the year.

>>>

Salesforce Says Grow First, Profit Later

Gartner’s recent forecasts for worldwide enterprise software peg the worldwide CRM market to grow 15% annually from 2012 through 2017. Many CRM companies are expecting strong growth. But this rising revenue is not necessarily turning into profits.

>>>

Workday: High Revenue Growth, but What About Profits?

Gartner forecasts the SaaS market to grow 19.5% over the period 2011 through 2016 to $32.8 billion. Even at conservative estimates, researcher Tech Navio estimates the global software-as-a-service based enterprise resource planning software market projected to grow 13.93% annually from 2012 through 2016. The high growth in the market is estimated to be driven by the increased adoption of these services by SMEs.

>>>

Pandora Competing with iTunes Radio

The online radio industry recently got a new player, with Apple launching its service under the banner iTunes Radio. For now, online radio player Pandora (NYSE:P) has managed to successfully thwart this stiff competition, as is evident in both user metrics and the company’s improving financial performance. But whether it will manage to grow market share with Apple now in the run remains to be seen.

>>>

Fusion-io an Acquisition Target?

Analysts estimate the enterprise PCIe SSD (Peripheral Component Interconnect Express Solid State Drives) based flash storage market to be worth $4 billion this year. The flash storage market is projected to grow 70% this year, making it a very attractive space for bigger technology players.

>>>

Dell: Now Private, What Next?

According to the latest worldwide PC shipment report, during the past quarter, PC shipments continued to decline. Globally PC shipment fell 8.6% to 80.28 million units. Lenovo remained the market leader with a 17.6% market share, and Dell came in a distant third with a 11.6% market share. Dell’s quarterly shipment of 9.31 million PCs was 1% higher than previous year’s shipment of 9.22 million. Dell’s market share has also improved from 10.5% a year ago to 11.6% during the recently ended quarter. Within the U.S. Dell maintained its position as the second largest PC vendor, with shipment of 3.34 million PCs growing 3.3% over the year to account for 21% of the U.S. market.

>>>

LeapFrog’s Disappointing Outlook for the Holidays

Come the holiday season, retailers and toy manufacturers begin to count on the usual sales rush that happens at this time of the year. But 2013 holiday season sales projections aren’t very rosy. According to a report by Morgan Stanley, Expect Coal: We Predict the Weakest Holiday Since 2008, analysts are projecting depressed U.S. economic conditions will lead to this holiday season seeing the slowest retail growth in five years. Add to that the calendar shift which has resulted in fewer shopping days. The National Retail Federation has forecast that during this holiday season, per capita spending on gifts and décor will fall 2% over the year.

>>>