Tag Archives: Universal Display

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Why McDonald's Wins as the Dow Wavers

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By Dan Caplinger, The Motley Fool

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Today’s trading in the Dow Jones Industrials demonstrates the ongoing battle between bulls and bears over the prospects for the economy. On one hand, signs of strength in the housing sector have bolstered hopes that the key driver of economic activity will continue to pick up and benefit workers throughout the economy. Yet this morning’s data on jobless claims added to concerns that overall employment trends continue to lag behind, raising fears that the U.S. may join other countries around the world in seeing already-sluggish growth rates decelerate further. After yesterday’s big drop, the Dow has regained 37 points, or 0.25%, as of 11 a.m. EDT today. The S&P 500 is up by a similar percentage, and the Nasdaq is down slightly.

Yet even if the economy is poised for a slowdown, certain stocks will likely benefit. McDonald’s is up more than 1% this morning, climbing above the $100 mark and approaching all-time highs. Even as the company faces a strike in New York City by workers who want better pay, McDonald’s attracts defensively minded investors because of its record of holding up well in past downturns. The fast-food giant was one of the few stocks that actually rose during 2008’s bear market, and with stocks teetering at current high levels, investors want that kind of protection again.

Best Buy has gained almost 10% after making a deal with Samsung to feature in-store Samsung shops within Best Buy retail locations. With Best Buy having announced yesterday that it would discount third-generation iPad tablets by 30%, it’s clear that the electronics retailer is trying to play the rivalry between Samsung and Apple to its best advantage. Apple shares have dropped 0.8% this morning, as the Best Buy move only highlights the iDevice giant’s struggle to convince investors that its growth story is still intact.

Finally, organic LED specialist Universal Display has risen 6.7% after getting an upgrade from analyst firm Needham. The stock remains well off its lows, as the company has waited for display makers to adopt its OLED technology in larger applications, especially big-screen TVs. With plans to ramp up production in the next year, though, Universal Display remains a valid long-term play on the future of OLED use in mainstream tech products.

Today’s gains for McDonald’s don’t change the fact that it was one of the worst-performing blue-chip stocks of 2012. Our top analyst on the company will tell you whether the most recent rebound in McDonald’s is for real, and he’ll shed light on whether McDonald’s is a buy at today’s prices. Click here now to read our premium research report on the company.

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Acuity Brands Earnings: An Early Look

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By Dan Caplinger, The Motley Fool

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The new earnings season is about to begin, but a few companies on off-quarter fiscal years are just now getting around to reporting their quarterly results. Acuity Brands is about to release its quarterly earnings report. The key to making smart investment decisions with stocks releasing their quarterly reports is to anticipate how they’ll do before they announce results, leaving you fully prepared to respond quickly to whatever inevitable surprises arise. That way, you’ll be less likely to make an uninformed knee-jerk reaction to news that turns out to be exactly the wrong move.

Lighting may not sound like the most interesting business, but Acuity Brands has turned providing cutting-edge lights for both commercial and consumer uses into a solidly profitable enterprise. Let’s take an early look at what’s been happening with Acuity Brands over the past quarter and what we’re likely to see in its quarterly report on Wednesday.

Stats on Acuity Brands

Analyst EPS Estimate

$0.62

Change From Year-Ago EPS

8.8%

Revenue Estimate

$468.5 million

Change From Year-Ago Revenue

2.4%

Earnings Beats in Past 4 Quarters

1

Source: Yahoo! Finance.

Will Acuity Brands see the light this quarter?
Analysts have been increasingly concerned about Acuity’s earnings prospects in recent months, having cut their earnings-per-share calls on the most recent quarter by $0.08 and chopping more than $0.27 per share off their consensus for the full 2013 fiscal year. The shares have reflected those concerns, as they rose less than 3% during the first three months of 2013 despite a strong overall market.

Acuity is a lighting specialist that has a wide range of products that include light-emitting diode technology. LEDs have been a hotbed of investor interest lately because of their application to the display industry. Cree‘s LED business encompasses not just pure lighting but also video screens for computers and mobile devices, which have seen huge growth lately. Universal Display has gone a step beyond conventional LEDs, turning to organic LED technology as a potential source of efficiency gains and finally starting to ramp up production.

But even as Universal Display, Cree, and a host of other players fight over various parts of the consumer and tech markets, Acuity goes beyond those applications to pull in other lighting needs as well. With lighting systems and controls that serve commercial needs as well as daylighting systems that utilize and enhance the effectiveness of available natural light, Acuity seeks to cover all its bases in the industry. That can cause problems in some economic environments, as Acuity’s commercial business has been more sensitive to prevailing economic conditions, especially in parts of Europe.

In its quarterly report, watch for Acuity to discuss its recent buyout of Dutch LED-driver manufacturer eldoLED. The move should enhance Acuity’s ability to deliver new innovations in solid-state lighting and bolster its leadership in the indoor/outdoor lighting space.

Acuity relies …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

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2 Winners From Samsung's Galaxy S4

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By Evan Niu, CFA, The Motley Fool

Samsung Galaxy S4 with AMOLED display. Source: Samsung.

On the display front, Samsung has put a full 1,080p HD resolution into the 5-inch display. There was speculation that the company was having trouble manufacturing OLED displays of this caliber and would switch to a different display technology, even though the company has been one of the biggest proponents of OLED technology. Fortunately for Universal Display investors, Samsung has gone with an AMOLED display in the Galaxy S4, which will boost UDC‘s material sales.

If the Galaxy S4 does as well as the previous generation, these suppliers will hitch a ride to the upside.

Universal Display has a powerful patent portfolio behind OLEDs, a technology poised to dominate the displays of the future. Its placement at the center of OLEDs makes the company an underappreciated way to play the

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South Korean heavyweight Samsung has now taken the wraps off of its latest and greatest flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S4. Leading up to the event, there was a steady stream of rumors and supply chain leaks as to what the company might have up its sleeve for the follow up to its popular Galaxy S III device.

From the perspective of smartphone component suppliers, higher volumes mean scoring a design win in the device can be quite a boon for the top line. The previous Galaxy S III was the No. 3 smartphone in the world in the fourth quarter, and the new model has potential to fetch similarly high volumes. Two of the more important possible suppliers heading into the unveiling were Qualcomm and Universal Display .

Expectedly, Qualcomm scored some of the processor win with its Snapdragon processors. Samsung targets a wide range of carriers and geographies and tailors different variants to different regions. Since Qualcomm has huge advantages in LTE integration, Snapdragons will be found in the U.S. variants, since LTE is a requisite feature of any high-end flagship hoping to compete domestically. In other parts of the world that are still primarily on 3G, Samsung is using its own Exynos 5 Octa chips.

Samsung Galaxy S4 with AMOLED display. Source: Samsung.

On the display front, Samsung has put a full 1,080p HD resolution into the 5-inch display. There was speculation that the company was having trouble manufacturing OLED displays of this caliber and would switch to a different display technology, even though the company has been one of the biggest proponents of OLED technology. Fortunately for Universal Display investors, Samsung has gone with an AMOLED display in the Galaxy S4, which will boost UDC‘s material sales.

If the Galaxy S4 does as well as the previous generation, these suppliers will hitch a ride to the upside.

Universal Display has a powerful patent portfolio behind OLEDs, a technology poised to dominate the displays of the future. Its placement at the center of OLEDs makes the company an underappreciated way to play the enormous sales growth in tablets and smartphones. However, like any new technology, there are plenty of risks to Universal Display. I’ve written a new premium report that dives into reasons to buy the company as well as the challenges facing it. For access to this comprehensive report, simply click here now.

var FoolAnalyticsData = FoolAnalyticsData || []; FoolAnalyticsData.push({ …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Here's Why Shares of Universal Display Rose Today

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By Steve Symington, The Motley Fool

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Even as the wider market pulled back, shares of OLED specialist Universal Display  rose more than 7% during Friday’s trading, though they gave up some of those gains as the day went on.

So why the optimism?
As fellow Fool Eric Bleeker noted on Wednesday, Samsung was all set to release its latest flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S4, yesterday evening. Given Samsung‘s incorporation of OLED tech in its past Galaxy phones — and considering the fact the Korean conglomerate is currently responsible for the vast majority of Universal Display‘s total sales — anxious investors have remained on the edges of their seats to confirm to what extent (if at all) the Galaxy S4 would utilize Universal’s OLED materials in its screens.

The Galaxy S4 will go on sale next month and boasts a massive 5-inch AMOLED screen — up from 4.8 inches in the Galaxy S III — with an impressive pixel density at 441 pixels per inch. As a basis for comparison, note Apple‘s iPhone 5 has a pixel density of just 326 pixels per inch.

Of course, that doesn’t necessarily mean Apple fans will be swayed, especially when we remember CEO Tim Cook’s recent assertion that OLED screens’ color saturation is “awful,” while at the same time noting Apple’s own retina displays are nearly twice as bright. Even so, those comments seemed especially interesting after I noticed that, just a few days earlier, Apple may have quietly hired an OLED expert away from Korean electronics giant LG Display , fueling further speculation of Cupertino’s interest in the versatile technology.

In addition, just this morning analyst Brian Lee of Goldman Sachs added fuel to the fire by suggesting that, based on his channel checks, Universal Display remains “well positioned to benefit from [Samsung’s] upcoming Galaxy S4 ramp given its leverage to both red and green phosphorescent (e.g. emitter and host) materials” in the design of its display.

What’s more, Lee estimated Universal Display could end up collecting between three and four times as much revenue from each Galaxy S4 device as it did from every S III smartphone, “given its expansion in materials supplied from one to three types.” 

Of course, Lee’s perspective should come as little surprise considering the fact he has long remained a proponent for Universal Display‘s business and currently holds a $41 price target for its shares.

The bear case
On the other end of the analyst spectrum, let’s not forget Piper Jaffray analyst Jagadish Iyer who, just a few weeks ago, lowered his firm’s price target for shares of Universal Display from $18 to $16 after voicing concern that Samsung may also be using green host materials from Japanese OLED supplier Nippon Steel.

While Iyer’s comments helped shares of Universal Display fall by as much as 13% that day, his concerns appeared to be considerably overblown after the company skyrocketed 16% just a few days later following its solid fourth-quarter earnings results.

Now tell me how you really feel
While Samsung currently remains …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Does Under Armour's Futuristic Sports Suit Make It a Must-Buy?

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By Steve Symington, The Motley Fool

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Few people can seriously argue that Under Armour isn’t an innovative company.

After all, the relatively small performance-apparel specialist largely built its name by creating a new class of moisture-wicking material for physically active consumers. This enabled the young company to effectively challenge industry behemoths such as Nike , even tripling its revenue from around $600 million in 2007 to more than $1.8 billion last year.

In fact, just two weeks ago, my colleagues ranked Under Armour 10th in The Motley Fool’s list of the 25 best companies in America — a group, incidentally, in which the globally focused Nike didn’t even appear. 

True to form, Under Armour certainly isn’t content resting on its laurels. To the contrary, the company continues to push the innovation envelope, as evidenced by its recently announced Armour39 biometric chest strap, which can monitor your heart rate, calories burned, real-time intensity, and your “WILLpower” — a term Under Armour uses to describe the overall intensity of a workout on a scale from 0 to 10. Once Armour39 has collected your information, it can sync it in real time, either with an Armour39 watch or Under Armour’s mobile app.

Of course, while the product isn’t available yet, Under Armour has given us a sneak peek in a few select promotional videos, including this one released just last month.

Source: Under Armour YouTube channel.

Curiously, though, the video ends with a segment showing an athlete wearing a remarkable suit capable of changing colors and with a touchscreen display integrated into the arm. All the while, the narrator states, “The next great athletic innovation isn’t available just yet, but it’s being built at Under Armour right now.”

Of course, the images are undoubtedly simulated, but who wouldn’t drool over the prospects for a wearable display like this?

 

Source: Under Armour YouTube channel.

In fact, this futuristic athletic wear looks more like something that would be dreamed up as part of Corning‘s ridiculously awesome “A Day Made of Glass” concept videos, or perhaps akin to Apple‘s rumored wearable “iWatch” devices.

This also reminds me of a more streamlined version of the ruggedized, wrist-worn OLED devices that Universal Display created and shipped to the U.S. Army back in 2010. When we consider that OLED displays can be made not only flexible but also virtually unbreakable, Universal Display‘s tech would seem a logical candidate for incorporation into Under Armour’s latest ideas — at least for the wrist-display aspect of the suit. (Don’t ask me how they’re planning to get it to change colors!)

All things considered, the fact Under Armour is willing to dream big is just one of the many reasons I’m convinced that its stock will have proved to be one of the world’s greatest investments 50 years from now. If you’re looking for a solid long-term growth play, then consider making room for Under Armour in your portfolio’s closet.

More expert advice from The Motley Fool
Universal Display has a …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

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Samsung's Galaxy S IV Arrives Next Week: Here's What to Expect

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By Evan Niu, CFA, The Motley Fool

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South Korean giant Samsung is set to unveil its latest and greatest smartphone, the Galaxy S IV, on Tuesday at an “Unpacked” event in New York. One of the ways Samsung has successfully replicated Apple‘s success in recent times is that there’s quite a buzz going around about what Samsung may have up its sleeve to follow up its successful Galaxy S III.

The company isn’t mincing words here, either. Make no mistake: the Galaxy S IV is being unveiled.

Source: Samsung.

Samsung has had incredible success with its Galaxy S series of smartphones, announcing in January that it had reached 100 million in unit channel sales. The company was the largest smartphone vendor in the world in 2012 ,and the Galaxy S III was ranked the No. 3 smartphone worldwide in the fourth quarter behind the iPhone.

Galaxy S III. Source: Samsung.

What can we expect on March 14?

Keep on biggering
Samsung has continued to push the envelope with device size and is one of the leaders of the phablet movement. Each generation of the Galaxy S has gotten successively bigger, and the S IV isn’t expected to break this trend.

Model

Display Size

Display Resolution

Galaxy S

4 inches

800 x 480

Galaxy S II

4.3 inches

800 x 480

Galaxy S III

4.8 inches

1280 x 720

Galaxy S IV

5 inches*

1920 x 1080*

Sources: Samsung and SamMobile.
*Rumored.

There’s been some debate over the display. Samsung is one of the biggest proponents of OLED displays, which has been greatly beneficial for OLED specialist Universal Display over the past few years, as Samsung’s unit shipments have soared. The company was reportedly facing some production challenges with manufacturing AMOLED displays at the full HD resolution it wanted, and as such it may have been considering a different display technology.

However, the most recent rumblings from SamMobile suggest that Samsung is going with a new type of AMOLED display that will be 25% more power-efficient. That’s incrementally beneficial for Universal Display, even if the company is still waiting on OLED TVs to ramp up.

All that and a bag of chips
On the processor front, Samsung had also been reportedly running into power issues with its Exynos 5 Octa processor and was thinking about sticking with a Qualcomm Snapdragon chip. The Exynos 5 Octa combines two different quad-core processors and is among the first implementations of ARM Holdings‘ big.LITTLE architecture, where high-performance cores sit alongside energy-efficient cores. In this case, Samsung is using four Cortex-A7 cores and four Cortex-A15 cores.

The Exynos 5 Octa technically has eight cores and as such will inevitably marketed as an eight-core processor, although this is slightly misleading, since only four cores can be active at any given time, depending on the task at hand. Qualcomm CEO …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Has Universal Display Become the Perfect Stock?

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By Dan Caplinger, The Motley Fool

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Every investor would love to stumble upon the perfect stock. But will you ever really find a stock that provides everything you could possibly want?

One thing’s for sure: You’ll never discover truly great investments unless you actively look for them. Let’s discuss the ideal qualities of a perfect stock and then decide whether Universal Display fits the bill.

The quest for perfection
Stocks that look great based on one factor may prove horrible elsewhere, making due diligence a crucial part of your investing research. The best stocks excel in many different areas, including these important factors:

  • Growth. Expanding businesses show healthy revenue growth. While past growth is no guarantee that revenue will keep rising, it’s certainly a better sign than a stagnant top line.
  • Margins. Higher sales mean nothing if a company can’t produce profits from them. Strong margins ensure that company can turn revenue into profit.
  • Balance sheet. At debt-laden companies, banks and bondholders compete with shareholders for management’s attention. Companies with strong balance sheets don’t have to worry about the distraction of debt.
  • Moneymaking opportunities. Return on equity helps measure how well a company is finding opportunities to turn its resources into profitable business endeavors.
  • Valuation. You can’t afford to pay too much for even the best companies. By using normalized figures, you can see how a stock‘s simple earnings multiple fits into a longer-term context.
  • Dividends. For tangible proof of profits, a check to shareholders every three months can’t be beat. Companies with solid dividends and strong commitments to increasing payouts treat shareholders well.

With those factors in mind, let’s take a closer look at Universal Display.

Factor

What We Want to See

Actual

Pass or Fail?

Growth

5-year annual revenue growth > 15%

49.1%

Pass
 

1-year revenue growth > 12%

35.8%

Pass

Margins

Gross margin > 35%

39.9%

Pass
 

Net margin > 15%

11.6%

Fail

Balance sheet

Debt to equity < 50%

0%

Pass
 

Current ratio > 1.3

12.00

Pass

Opportunities

Return on equity > 15%

2.8%

Fail

Valuation

Normalized P/E < 20

168.62

Fail

Dividends

Current yield > 2%

0%

Fail
 

5-year dividend growth > 10%

0%

Fail
       
 

Total score

  

5 out of 10

Source: S&P Capital IQ. Total score = number of passes.

Since we looked at Universal Display last year, the company held on to the point it gained from 2011 to 2012. But the stock has struggled lately, falling more than 15% over the past year.

Universal Display‘s innovative organic LED technology has the promise to transform the way people watch television. Already, the company has gotten its products into a wide variety of smartphones and tablets from …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance