ZipRealty And Move: Improving, But Still Loss-Making

The real estate sector finally seems to be recovering in many parts of the United States. According to ZipRealty’s recent report, the number of homes listed for sale in 27 metropolitan areas grew 4.2% over the previous month in February. However, there is still a long way to go. Compared with a year ago, inventory in these areas was down 19%. But this inventory data does not capture the entire potential housing supply. Reports estimate that there are around 8 million homes for which owners are either behind on their mortgage payments or in the process of foreclosure. These homes are most likely to be put on the market as banks foreclose or owners are forced to sell. >>>

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Intel’s Strong Quarter

This week, Intel’s (NASDAQ:INTC) strong results gave a boost to stocks worldwide as CEO Paul Otellini went on to say during the earnings call that “the industry is nearly fully recovered.” The ramp of its new mobile products also led to the better than expected results. Let’s take a closer look. >>>

Italy And China Bright Spots In Solar Market

The solar power industry is going through a cloudy patch right now. The solar-focused exchange-traded fund, TAN, is down 24% this year driven by increasing price pressure, subsidy cuts, and the growing capacity of Asian, in particular, Chinese, players. Earlier this year, the world’s largest solar panel market, Germany, announced a subsidy cut of 10%. Subsidies are expected to be further reduced by 15% in the coming summer. Analysts are also expecting average selling price of modules to decline 20%–25% in the current year. Falling input costs, for silicon-based modules in particular, and capacity exceeding demand are driving these price cuts. Further, as the euro weakens against the dollar, the solar power sales of U.S. companies in Europe will be impacted, adding to the margin pressure. But, the most recent fiscal results did look promising. >>>

RealNetworks Should Acquire A Payment Company ASAP

Rob Glaser, founder of RealNetworks (NASDAQ:RNWK), resigned as CEO in January. Bob Kimball is its new president and interim CEO. Kimball joined the company in 1999 and for 10 years was responsible for legal matters and business development. During the fourth quarter earnings call, he outlined a plan to exit the content businesses and focus on the company’s core infrastructure for delivering and playing digital media on computers and mobile phones. Let’s take a closer look.

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Beneficiary Of Healthcare Reform

The healthcare industry is set to undergo the most fundamental set of changes since the establishment of Medicaid in 1965 following the signing of the much-debated Health Care Reform Bill. The act, signed a few weeks ago, guarantees access to medical insurance to nearly 30 million Americans who currently lack it. It will require nearly 16 million more Americans to sign up for health insurance coverage to help subsidize private coverage for the low- and middle-income population. The act will regulate private insurers more closely and will cost the government an estimated $938 billion over ten years. While insurance companies will be impacted the most, other healthcare-focused companies, such as athenahealth, will also benefit from the additional volume and focus that the sector will generate. >>>

LeapFrog’s Turnaround Moving Along Nicely

A recent report by the NPD Group said that U.S. toy sales were retlatively flat over the year at $21.47 billion in 2009 compared to $21.65 billion in 2008, with overall unit sales falling 0.5% over the year. Toy makers launched promotional events during the holiday season, which helped keep the revenues flat despite a 4% fall in volumes sold. The educational toy maker, Leapfrog (NYSE:LF), also had latest quarter results that were better than the market’s expectations. >>>

Brocade, 3Com, And Cisco

Yesterday, we looked at how the Oracle–Sun deal upset the balance of the storage industry. Cisco is another game changer, and its data center plans have similarly changed the dynamics of the networking industry. HP’s $2.7 billion 3Com deal is seen as a counter move to challenge Cisco’s dominance in the networking industry. Let’s take a closer look at networking players Brocade (NASDAQ:BRCD) and 3Com (NASDAQ:COMS). >>>

NetApp And Red Hat Near 52-Week Highs

IDC reports that the storage software market is starting to show signs of recovery as it reported return of sequential and y-o-y growth. The exponential growth of data makes storage management a top priority. Let’s take a closer look at storage and data management solutions provider NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) and Red Hat (NYSE:RHT), the open source giant. >>>

Online Education Catering To Demand In Critical Areas

A Reuters report released in October of last year indicates that online education grew 13% over the year, compared with growth of over 20% in earlier years. But while growth may have slowed, it hasn’t stopped. Nearly 25% students take at least some college courses online, compared with 10% in 2002. A significant two million students take all their courses online, and another two million take one or more online courses. >>>

The Micron-Numonyx Deal: Why Bother?

In February, Micron (NYSE:MU) announced its plans to buy Numonyx and its NOR Flash technology for $1.27 billion. With this acquisition, Micron will broaden its portfolio and rival Samsung as a one-stop shop for memory. Let’s take a closer look. >>>