An Industry Facebook Is Poised to Revolutionize

The best way for Facebook (FB) to continue to monetize is by expanding into areas that fit naturally with the company's strengths. Facebook has the opportunity to create a new revenue stream by aggressively attacking an enormous segment dominated by old-media... (Click Here to continue...)

The Next Quantum Leap: 3-D 'Teleporting'

The technological revolution may never end but it does pause from time to time. If investors are expecting the kind of returns that Apple achieved from 2007-2012, they are probably going to have to look elsewhere as smartphones and tablets are nearly commoditized. Apple (AAPL) and Google (GOOG) should provide more successful products but that does not mean they will have an impact to the degree the iPhone and Android had on the lives of consumers and the economy.

As when chips and desktops became commoditized after the tech bubble of the 90s, it may take a quantum leap in technology to ignite... (Click Here to continue)

Yelp Is To Angie's List What Facebook Was To Classmates.com

Once upon a time when the Internet was new, a chat room on AOL would have been the closest thing to "Social Media". Then suddenly there came a promising website called classmates.com. The web domain was user friendly, easy to remember and made it clear what the visitor should expect.

Over a period of years from the late 1990s into the middle 2000s, Classmates grew at a steady pace. It got to a point where one could find many of their old friends on there. The members were easily in the millions, if not tens of millions and they were getting close to achieving the state of "critical mass" important for a company to obtain web dominance.

Everything seemed to be going well and the future looked favorable for Classmates. But in the background... (Click Here to continue)

Yelp: The False Assumptions Bears Are Making

After Yelp (YELP) substantially exceeded the second-quarter consensus, the share price escalated by approximately 23%. The news was followed with several columns authored by skeptics who made great effort to draw parallels to the Internet bubble of the late 90s. In his column titled "A little Reminder of What Happened in 1999," Seeking Alpha contributor George Kesarios drew a comparison between the valuation of today's YELP and the castles in the air of that era, specifically Yahoo and Intel.

Having long been a value investor first and foremost often put me on the short side of the market in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Back then the "short" side was where the real value was. Regarding the era itself, I agree with all Kesarios pointed out. Yahoo and Intel were indeed bubbles and I made near 10 fold returns being short each of those companies via Put options. (Anyone can make such claims; therefore, I include links below this article to time-stamped, 3rd-party blogs in which I expatiated upon my reasoning for being short some of the most notorious bubbles in modern history).

I haven't changed much since then and am still active on the short side of the market - yet I am long Yelp. Amateur short sellers have this dead wrong, mainly because... (Click Here to continue...)

Why Yelp Is Still By Far Undervalued

Well, now we just may know where Google's ad revenue went: Yelp and Facebook.

Google (GOOG) missed Wall Street's consensus for reasons attributed to a decrease in the price of mobile ad revenues. A recent Forbes column by Contributor Robert Hof indicated that mobile ads were already 40% less than prices for ads served on desktop computers and his opinion as to why they continue to decline may be that Google is offering more of them, which could be pushing the prices down as a corollary.
Conjecture that was not put forward in Mr. Hof's column was that advertisers have significant options outside of the Google universe of mobile ads such as those being sold through Facebook (FB) and clearly companies like Yelp (YELP).

I believe this is a blip for Google with its diversified portfolio and increased emphasis on non-ad related revenues for the future. However, for younger and rapidly growing companies like Yelp with much... (Click Here to continue...)

Google And Apple Are Crazy Not To Attempt To Acquire eBay

With the cash position and the powerful currency Google (GOOG) has in its own share price, it seems crazy that it has not made an attempt to acquire eBay. It is more difficult to justify not acquiring eBay (EBAY) in this price range than it would be to actually buy it. It should be immediately accretive to earnings, both companies are highly profitable and would be a rare corporate marriage that would benefit the acquiree and the acquirer perhaps equally.

In a world of impetuous, hair-brained M&A activity, the word "synergy" has become a bit of a cliché. In the case of a holy union between Google and Ebay, the synergies are glaring. With the data Google possesses on web searchers and the ability to enhance eBay sales...(Click Here to continue...)

The Prospects For Angie's List: Contemplating Growth Potential And Competition

A value investor does not make investment decisions based on markets as a whole. Although, when markets are low, it is much easier to find value to buy. When markets move higher, it is easier to find "value" on the short side of the market. The present conditions seem to reflect the latter scenario.
One can see from my past columns, I have been exclusively long for the past year. However, when I find a company that in my opinion is trading at an expensive valuation by any rational thought process, I do not hesitate to go short. There are a few companies out there today that have had tremendous runs and trade at rich evaluations such as Tesla Motors (TSLA) or in the "hot" 3-D printing sector like 3D Systems Corp (DDD); however, experience tells me that these companies have legitimate prospects that can propel them to much higher valuations well beyond the current levels.

Sure, these companies have arguably gotten ahead of themselves - but at least it is fathomable that they can -grow- into (and at some point beyond) their current valuations. That's because they have legitimate long-term growth prospects. With 3-D printing, basic sense tells us that at some point that technology is going to become mainstream. It is the next best thing to teleporting. When the technology is further developed and the price of such technology becomes less expensive, 3-D printing is sure to become an enormous market. It is merely a question of when that will happen.

Shorting a company like Tesla Motors might be tempting because we know how difficult it has historically been to compete against the majors. Short sellers can hearken back to examples of failed companies like DeLorean for encouragement. But after seeing some success, despite the almost $10 billion market cap, longs can see a possible payoff at the very least in a future acquisition by one of the majors.
Angie's List (ANGI) on the other hand has almost tripled in value within the past 52 weeks, has revenue of just over $150 million in 2012 yet is... (Click Here to continue...)