Wikinvest, a finance startup that’s trying to challenge established sites like Yahoo Finance with more interactive, data-rich features, just announced that it will be launching a new product called SigFig.

So what does it actually do? Well, the site isn’t up yet, and it sounds like the site will only be placeholder until the service launches this summer. But Wikinvest says that SigFig will “provide personalized portfolio advice and investment analysis”.

On one level, that may sound like an incremental improvement to Wikinvest’s existing service, which allows already allows users to track stocks, especially their own portfolio. I suspect this is bigger, however. Not only is Wikinvest launching this under a new name, it has already recruited a number new investors and advisors specifically for SigFig, including Owen Van Natta (former chief operating officer of Facebook and former chief executive at Myspace), Steve Schultz (former general manager of Yahoo Finance), Charlie Cheever (Quora co-founder and former lead with Facebook Platform), and several others. (The press release isn’t clear about who actually invested and who is just an advisor.)

WIkinvest previously raised $2.5 million from DCM.

[image from the 20th Century Fox film Wall Street]
[image via

Tags: SigFig

Companies: wikinvest

People: charlie cheever, Owen Van Natta, Steve Schultz

Article courtesy of VentureBeat » deals

BMO Capital’s Keith Bachman this morning updated his estimates for Apple (AAPL) to accommodate the introduction of the forthcoming “Lion” version of the company’s Mac OS X operating system, which he thinks could produce 60 cents of extra earnings for Apple’s September-ending fiscal fourth quarter.

The exercise, mind you, is somewhat academic, as Bachman is not yet including the extra 60 cents in his model because he can’t say for sure the exact release date of Lion, though it is expected to arrive this summer.

His model shows Apple reporting just $5.71 per share in earnings, versus the consensus $6.35 for Q4. His point is that the software could produce higher margins for Apple, which is noteworthy given constant focus on margins these days with sales of more and more “i” devices.

Lion sales could boost gross margin overall by 1.5 percentage points, which, if true, means that Street consensus of $6.35 could go higher.

Apple shares today are up 19 cents at $349.76.

Article courtesy of Tech Trader Daily

With the summer months rapidly approaching and this shorts-appropriate weather already here, it’s time to get serious about how and where you’re going to exercise your undying right to day drink. Ah, yes, the easy breezy summer months when everybody has a fresh new attitude in preparation for reintroducing themselves to the sunlight and extra-long days.

To make this most of your summer, we’re here to provide you with 10 reasons you either need to quickly befriend somebody with a BBQ-friendly house or start considering taking matters into your own hands by offering up your digs to lead the very necessary BBQ fiesta train. So without further ado, we give you 10 Reasons To Have A Summer BBQ: Read the full story

Morgan Stanley Profit Drops, Beats Estimates as Trading Revenue Jumps (Bloomberg)
Net income fell 45 percent to $968 million, or 50 cents a share, from $1.78 billion, or 99 cents, a year earlier, the bank said today in a statement. Earnings from continuing operations, excluding a 26-cent loss tied to a Japanese joint venture and a 30-cent tax gain, were 46 cents a share. That compared with the 40-cent average estimate of 14 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

Ex-Goldman Sachs Banker Starts Hedge Fund Analyzing Japanese Blog Traffic (Bloomberg)
Former Goldman Sachs Group banker Hideki Furusho and a University of Tokyo professor have teamed up to create a hedge fund that invests in Nikkei 225 futures based on a computer model that analyzes Japanese blogs.

At Facebook Townhall, Obama Goes On Offensive (WSJ)
“The Republican budget that was put forward I would say is fairly radical. I wouldn’t call it particularly courageous,” Mr. Obama said. Mr. Obama offered a dire description of the budget drafted by Republican Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin. He said it would reduce taxes for corporations and the wealthy by cutting funds to clean energy programs and transportation. “I guess you could call that bold. I would call it shortsighted,” Mr. Obama said to applause from an audience of mostly young people. “I do think Mr. Ryan is serious,” Mr. Obama added. “He’s a patriot.”

BlackRock First Quarter Profit Gets Boost From Popular ETFs (Reuters)
The New York-based firm earned $819 million, or $2.96 per share, excluding some expenses, compared with $727 million, or $2.40 per share, a year earlier, BlackRock said on Thursday.

Weil: Geithner Downgrades His Own Credibility To Junk (BusinessWeek)
Fox Business reporter Peter Barnes began his televised interview with Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner two days ago with this question: “Is there a risk that the United States could lose its AAA credit rating? Yes or no?” Geithner’s response: “No risk of that.” “No risk?” Barnes asked. “No risk,” Geithner said.

GE Profit, Revenue Beat Street View (Reuters)
The world’s biggest maker of jet engines and electric turbines said earnings attributable to common shareholders came to $3.36 billion, or 31 cents per share, up from $1.87 billion, or 17 cents per share, a year earlier. Revenue rose 6 percent to $38.45 billion.

Bernanke Plans To Make Voice Heard (WSJ)
Next Wednesday, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will do something no Fed chief has done before: Stand before a room full of journalists after officials conclude a policy meeting and answer questions about the central bank’s decisions…”You can argue that the chairman of the Fed is more important than the president of the United States, but very few Americans understand what the Fed does,” says Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent who successfully pushed for the Fed to disclose more about its secretive bank lending. Addressing the press, Mr. Sanders says, will be “a step forward.”

Greece Seeks Probe Into Debt Restructuring Rumor (Reuters)
Greek bank stocks fell 4.58 percent on Wednesday and the broader Athens bourse index lost 2.62 percent, underperforming pan-European indices on what traders said where rumors, spread by email, that the country would soon restructure its debt…”The ministry urgently requested the prosecutor’s office to launch a criminal investigation regarding the move in the Athens Stock Exchange and the bond market,” the ministry said in a statement.

Taco Bell Demands Apology After Lawsuit Is Withdrawn (CT)
On Wednesday, the fast-food chain decided to trumpet that good news with full-page ads in 10 major U.S. newspapers, including the Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, New York Times, USA Today and The Wall Street Journal, demanding an apology. The company pegged the ads at a total cost of between $3 million and $4 million. “Would it kill you to say you’re sorry?” the ad exclaimed. “Sure, they could have just asked us if our recipe uses real beef. Even easier, they could have gone to our Web site where the ingredients in every one of our products are listed for everyone to see,” the ad read. “But that’s not what they chose to do.

New Swiss Tax Rules Signal Big Changes for Private Banks (NYT)
Switzerland aims to sign new treaties by the summer with Germany and Britain under which their citizens would pay taxes on more of their undeclared assets in Swiss banks. France and Italy are expected to follow suit.

Business Group Vows Support for U.S. Lawmakers to Cut Deficits (Bloomberg)
“The business community strongly supports a comprehensive deficit-reduction plan and will support members of Congress who help get it enacted,” according to a statement from the Committee for Economic Development released today in Washington. “Serious deficit reduction cannot be painless, and no one should expect or demand that the spending and revenue provisions they care most about will not be touched.”

Regulators Serve Up Alphabet Soup (WSJ)
Banks that decide they don’t want to belong to this exclusive, heavily regulated club should beware the “Hotel California.” This provision of Dodd-Frank, named in homage to the Eagles lyric that “you can check out any time you like but you can never leave,” ensures a taxpayer-aided bank can’t “de-SIFI” simply by shrinking its assets. Jargon purists, who prefer acronyms to Eagles songs, can find particularly rich pickings in the dozens of new rules affecting swaps, futures and options. A round-table event held by regulators last fall invited the public—”seating on a first-come, first-served basis”—to discuss DCOs, DCMs, SDs, MSPs, SEFs and SB SEFs. Such acronyms “remain strictly for the Dodd-Frank cognoscenti,” says Margaret Tahyar, a partner at law firm Davis Polk. Some of these terms will remain obscure. But some will enter the corporate lexicon, perhaps graduating to be the SECs and FDICs of their day.

Article courtesy of Dealbreaker

Recently around these parts, we’ve been getting some complaints about how it’s been far too long since we’ve chronicled a food eating challenge and a demand for answers. Here’s the rub:

The very first time we wrote about a Food Eating Challenge (FEC), it was a a postmortem congratulations to a man named Oyster Boy. He’d consumed 244 oysters in 1 hour at Ulysses and he’d thrown the gauntlet down for one of you to pick up, vis-a-vis goring yourself for sport. We continued to chronicle them for reasons that don’t take Wall Street’s greatest minds to figure out: they’re fun and if they’re not mentioned on this here site well, it’s like they never happened. We are also big believers in positive reinforcement, and on the rare occasions in which you people actually succeed at completing the task at hand, we like to give you props (alternatively, we believe in the value of telling you that you suck and sicken us when you fail, because we care). Mostly, though it’s because they’re just fun. It’s fun to watch you gorge yourself for sport, and it’s fun for your colleagues to offer obnoxious running commentary throughout the event, especially so for that one massive jackass (you know who you are, and let me just say, you get it).

Having said that, you know what’s not fun? Being told so and so at such and such firm is about to attempt consuming two Munchkins in two hours, or something similarly easy and in no way a challenge. What’s worse is when he or she fails to do even that. So we said no more to covering these non-challenge challenges, to save you and ourselves from the embarrassment, secondhand and otherwise. Today, however, brings a shot at redemption you don’t want to pass by.

According to CNBC’s Kate Kelly, Dunkin’ Brands is planning an IPO for this summer. Could there be a better way to celebrate the event than a serious food eating challenge comprised of the items sold by DD? The answer is no, there couldn’t. As the underwriters of the deal, JPMorgan and Barclays should be the ones to step up to the plate but we’re happy to open the field to anyone who wants to participate, be it with an IPO day FEC or one sooner, as a pump up to the offering. Initial ideas that come include consuming ten dozen Munchkins in 30 minutes or the one of every single item on the breakfast menu, including donuts, coffee and sandwiches in 90 minutes but feel free to get creative.

Article courtesy of Dealbreaker

Obama Girds for Struggle With Republicans Over Debt Limit (Bloomberg)
The U.S. government is projected to slam into the $14.3 trillion legal cap on government borrowing sometime this spring. As the price of their vote to allow the government to go further into debt, congressional Republicans are demanding far deeper cuts than the $38 billion they got last week in the deal to fund the government for the last six months of the 2011 fiscal year. Failing to raise the debt ceiling would have much more dire consequences than a shutdown, with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner predicting last week that it would “call into question the willingness of the government of the United States to meet its obligations,” and “shake the basic foundations of the entire global financial system.”

PIMCO goes short US government debt, raises cash holdings (Reuters)
The portion of PIMCO’s $236 billion Total Return Fund held in U.S. government debt, including U.S. Treasuries, was -3 percent of total assets in the fund as of March, down from zero in February.

JPMorgan Accused Of Breaking Its Duty To Clients (NYT)
In the summer of 2007, as the first tremors of the coming financial crisis were being felt on Wall Street, top executives of JPMorgan Chase were raising red flags about a troubled investment vehicle called Sigma, which was based in London. But the bank chose not to move out $500 million in client assets that it had put into Sigma two months earlier. Sigma collapsed a year later. Now, new documents unsealed late last month as part of a lawsuit by bank clients against JPMorgan show for the first time just how high the warnings about Sigma went — all the way to the office of the bank’s chief executive, Jamie Dimon. While the clients lost nearly all their money, JPMorgan collected nearly $1.9 billion from Sigma’s demise, according to the suit.

China Inflation Is `Somewhat Out of Control’ on Weak Currency, Soros Says (Bloomberg)
“It would be very advantageous to allow the currency to appreciate as a way of controlling inflation,” Soros said. “The authorities missed that opportunity. You now have inflation somewhat out of control, and causing some serious danger of wage-price inflation.”

NYSE Rejects Nasdaq Offer (WSJ)
In a statement Sunday, NYSE Euronext called the bid by Nasdaq and partner IntercontinentalExchange Inc. “strategically unattractive” and entailing “unacceptable execution risk.” The NYSE reaffirmed its commitment to a $9.7 billion merger with Deutsche Börse announced in February, itself fraught with political and antitrust issues in both Europe and the U.S.

Nomura’s Stock-Backed Loans Jump 50% as Japan Quake Spurs Demand for Cash (Bloomberg)
Daily loan transactions jumped to about 150 from 100 and credit volume also climbed 50 percent as customers sought funds following the disaster, Naoshi Sakai, an executive director of Tokyo-based Nomura’s banking and trust agency services unit, said in an interview.

U.K.’s ‘Moderate’ Bank Report Calls for More Capital, Sales (Bloomberg)
“The universal banks such as RBS and Barclays fare best from the report,” said Joseph Dickerson, a banking analyst at Espirito Santo Investment Bank. “The key negative in the report is the prospect of further branch divestitures at Lloyds which is currently unquantifiable.”

From Behind Bars, Madoff Spins His Story (FT)
He says he gets lots of mail from well-wishers, but no hate mail. “I spend most of my time in my room, reading,” he adds. “And – this is my secret – Danielle Steel.” We all laugh. “Yes, Danielle Steel.”

Economists See Growth Accelerating Later This Year (WSJ)
On average, the 56 economists polled downgraded their estimate of first-quarter growth in gross domestic product to 2.7% at a seasonally adjusted annual rate. That is down from an average first-quarter forecast of 3.6% just two months ago. The economy grew at a 3.1% rate in the fourth quarter.

Economist: Spain Will Not Escape Europe’s Debt Woes (CNBC)
“The fact is that nobody knows whether the country (Spain) will need external help in the months that lie ahead. But what everybody knows is that the European Central Bank’s decision to raise interest rates will intensify its difficulties,” said Roger Nightingale, a global economist at Pointon York in London in a note to clients.

Glencore Eyes Big Mergers After IPO (FT)
CEO Glasenberg told the Financial Times that the launch of the offering – the largest ever in London – was “imminent” after it received robust support from big institutional investors. Glencore plans to sell a 20 per cent stake worth about $10 billion-$12 billion, valuing the whole company at around $60 billion, bankers said.

Insider Trading in China Thrives With Selectively Disclosed Economic Data (Bloomberg)
“In China, it’s better to be prepared than to be surprised,” said Shi, 42, an investment manager with Nanjing 21st Century Investment Group, a property developer in eastern China. “There is a window for speculation.”

Article courtesy of Dealbreaker

In case you missed it, there’s a good piece this morning by Bloomberg’s Hugo Miller regarding Research in Motion’s (RIMM) forthcoming PlayBook tablet, which goes on sale April 19th, writing that the device has garnered some interest from content providers.

The piece cites Electronic Arts (ERTS) veep Travis Boatman as stating, “It’s one of the fastest devices out there,” and, “You take a good software environment and great hardware, you’ve got a device that designers and developers can create great content on.”

EA is providing Tetris and Need For Speed video games for the machine.

Miller notes the general release of software development tools for the PlayBook will happen this summer, citing RIM head of developer relations Tyler Lessard.

Lessard said the tablet’s ability to run apps for Google’s (GOOG) Android apps is not meant to forestall development of native apps for the machine’s Playbook Tablet OS, also known as “QNX,” just to give the device some apps out of the gate.

RIM shares today are down 89 cents, or 1.6%, at $56.14.

Article courtesy of Tech Trader Daily

Not too long ago, Patricia Cohen, the ex-wife of Steve, had a dream. It wasn’t just that she wanted to successfully sue her former husband, who she’d accused of insider trading, hiding marital assets, and so on and so forth and it wasn’t just about money. “No,” Patty said to herself, “dream bigger.” And so she did.

She dreamed of what many want but few have the cojones or ovaries to ask for: SAC Capital. A “substantial if not controlling stake.” Her own desk on the floor. The PMs, the P&L analysts, the bodyguard, the Silver Fox (AKA president Tom Conheeney). They were all gonna be hers. And not just that, she’d take the embalmed pets too. And the fleece jackets in the back. “And throw in some of those vests!” she yelled. Then over the summer, she got a new lawyer, who apparently advised her to pare down her demands. $2.7 million and she’d go away.

Today a judge has informed her she’s not even gonna get that, having approved a motion to dismiss the suit. According to SAC, they saw this one coming, saying in a statement: “As we have said from the outset, the allegations by Mr. Cohen’s former spouse were entirely without merit. We are pleased that the complaint has been dismissed.”

Article courtesy of Dealbreaker

Following a flurry of news reports saying Apple (AAPL) may not introduce an iPhone 5 this summer — see the TechCrunch piece on Monday by MG Siegler — Jefferies & Co.’s Peter Misek this morning writes that he believes, indeed, that iPhone 5 and that the next version of its operating system, iOS 5, will arrive later in the year, after the summer, and he reduced his estimates for Apple for this fiscal year ending in September and for fiscal 2012 as well.

Misek maintains a Buy rating and a $450 price target.

Apple’s taking longer than expected to incorporate new “cloud”-based features into iOS, things that represent “a significant step forward” for the operating system, Misek speculates.

“In addition to the later OS, we believe Apple wants its next phone to be LTE capable and have a chipset compatible with both AT&T (T) and Verizon [Communications (VZ)],” writes Misek. “Also, we believe the iPhone 5 could contain new chips from Qualcomm incorporating GPS and WiFi on the same chip (and in future the stocker could support bluetooth and NFC [near-field communications]).”  As a result, there will be an iPhone 5 introduction “in September/October,” writes Misek.

I would note that Misek has been saying since early January that Apple might produce an iPhone that runs on 4G, or “Long Term Evolution,” wireless networks by October or November of this year.

Misek cut this fiscal year’s revenue estimate to $103 billion from a prior $107 billion, and cut his EPS estimate to $23.03 per share from a prior $24.17 per share.

Misek “still likes the name,” and expects a “strong” quarterly report next month from Apple, though “we expect guidance as being solid but unlikely blowout due to some hesitation around Japan supply, particularly regarding margins.”

Similar caution about the Q3 forecast was expressed yesterday by Pacific Crest’s Andy Hargreaves.

In a similar vein, BMO Capital’s Keith Bachman today writes he thinks the iPhone will be refreshed “in the September quarter,” though he’s not changing any estimates for Apple. He still sees $97.07 billion in revenue this fiscal year, and $22.30 in EPS.

Bachman sees Apple’s iPad will see a “material” increase in shipments in the June quarter, which could boost top-line growth. He’s expecting 6.1 million iPads were sold this quarter, and says there’s limited upside this quarter given a variety of factors, such as constraints on iPad production, a “reasonable but not a blowout” introduction of the iPhone at Verizon, and Japan’s turmoil.

Bachman reiterated an Outperform rating on Apple stock and a $410 price target.

Apple shares this morning are up 15 cents at $351.11 in early trading.

Article courtesy of Tech Trader Daily

Shares of Research In Motion (RIMM) are down $6.84, or almost 11%, at $57.25, in early trading continuing the after-hours dropped they experienced last night following the company’s announcement of fiscal Q4 revenue that was a tad light and a Q1 view that missed estimates.

This morning the stock gets no less than four downgrades, from Buy to Neutral at Merrill Lynch, from Neutral to Underperform at RW Baird and Deutsche Bank, and from Buy to “Above Average” at Caris & Co.

This is period of “transition,” the company said, and today, there are those who’ll give the company the benefit of the doubt it can transition fine, and some who won’t.

Bullish!

Mike Abramsky, RBC Capital: Reiterates a Buy recommendation and a $90 price target, writing that RIM’s stock is still a top pick. “The Q1 miss likely sustains near-term investor concerns over intensifying competition – but we interpret it transitional,” writes Abramsky. “Valuation may remain volatile near-term, however we foresee additional upside as pending launches and Q1 results/outlook help restore confidence in RIM’s competitive advantages and in achievement of their fiscal 2012. outlook. Execution remains a risk to our view.”

Stephen Patel, Gleacher & Co.: Reiterates a Buy rating, while cutting his price target to $72 from $80, but he’s sticking with the thesis RIM will be a beneficiary of Nokia’s (NOK) stumble in the global smartphone market. Sell-through in Q4 was up 18% from Q3, he notes, way above the sell-in of just 5%, “and we believe May quarter-over-quarter sell-through will also be better than sell-in guidance of units down 6% at the midpoint.” Patel has raised this year’s EPS estimate to $7.52 from $7.40, giving management the benefit of the doubt.

Tavis McCourt, Morgan Keegan: Maintains an Outperform rating, while cutting his price target to $91 from $96, and he also is sticking with his 2012 EPS estimate of $7.09, and initiates an $8-per-share estimate for 2013. He thinks there will, indeed, be a snap-back after the current quarter flushes some BlackBerry inventory from the channel: “May will almost certainly be artificially low, as they expect to ship about 14 million BlackBerries, and sell through will likely far exceed this. Because of this we would expect a strong snap-back in BlackBerry unit sales in the August quarter, on top of sequential tablet growth.” And International is still the key: “The “non-US” portion of revenue grew 77%, year over year, and shows little sign of slowing,” writes McCourt. “Our thesis on RIM is that its network advantages are not easily replicable by other vendors and give it substantial advantages outside of the US, but are not as relevant in the US market. Even if OS 6.1 and PlayBook do not reinvigorate BlackBerry growth in the US, RIM will likely continue to grow for many years to come just based on its advantages outside the US, in our opinion.”

Bearish!

Robert Cihra, Caris & Co.: Cut his rating from Buy to “Above Average,” and cut his price target from $75 to $70, writing that the projection of $7.50 or better per share in earnings throws a lot of risk onto the latter three quarters of the year, which he finds hard to believe: he’s cut his 2012 EPS estimate to $6.71 from a prior $7.01. “RISK is RIMM’s now guiding a big ramp starting FQ2, partially driven by smartphone product roadmap/cycling actually not far off our existing expectation BUT we fear now banking on VERY strong uptake of Playbook tablets. We see key BlackBerry refreshes starting this summer […] but from a platform standpoint, while Playbook will intro the powerful new multitasking QNX OS, RIMM’s not planning to launch QNX-based “super-phones” (e.g., dual-core) until early calendar 2012, which makes us question how excited users/carriers may be for this year’s evolutionary OS 6.1 vs. waiting for the complete (and architecturally overdue) QNX-scaled re-write.”

Brian Modoff, Deutsche Bank: Cut his rating to Hold from Sell, and cut his price target to $50 from $60. He cut his estimate for this year $6.76 per share in earnings from a prior $7.67.  ”We think this quarter was just a taste of what lies in store for the company. The company is feeling the growth of Android shipments which are replacing Blackberries in all of the company’s markets. In the core enterprise base, a growing number of corporates are opening their e-mail systems to iOS and Android. Emerging markets, which have driven RIM’s growth over the last two years, appear to be slowing as well. We think this trend will only get worse as Android smartphones get dramatically cheaper.” He’s lost faith in the PlayBook, too, it would seem: “While RIM has grasped some of the important conceptual elements of a modern OS, it now appears that these lessons have not taken root. Instead of offering a single coherent OS strategy, they are fragmenting their own platform by offering multiple elements.”  And he thinks it’s no longer acceptable for Mike Lazaridis and James Balsillie to be splitting the CEO spot: “In all our years covering stocks, we cannot think of a situation where this ended well.”

Simona Jankowski, Goldman Sachs: Reiterates a Sell rating, while cutting her price target to $57 from $63. Jankowski is sticking with her already low EPS estimate for this year of $5.77. The first part of her RIM thesis, that the company would lose market share, has played out, she writes. The Q1 forecast “supports the second part of our thesis, namely that Street estimates will decline significantly as a result of lower than expected ASPs and margins.” Given a move to emerging markets and to consumers from businesses, the company is destined to see continued margin pressure, Jankowski argues, with an “aging product portfolio” not helping things.

Ittai Kidron: Maintains a “Perform” rating, with no price target. He cut his 2012 EPS estimate to $6.80 from $7.20, even though he actually raised his revenue estimate slightly to $24.81 billion. The company’s aging smartphone portfolio, and the initial pressure from low gross profit margin on the PlayBook make the company’s year forecast a “stretch,” he believes. ” Despite RIM’s optimism, our revised PlayBook estimates remain below consensus. We also don’t think RIM can scale down its strategic growth investments limiting operating leverage. Bottom line, we see a challenging transition and aren’t buying RIM’s aggressive fiscal year 2012 outlook or its shares.”

Jennifer Fritzsche, Wells Fargo: Reiterates a Market Weight rating on the stock and a valuation range of $63 to $66. She cut her EPS estimate this year to $6.77 from a prior $7.14, on $24.7 billion in revenue, down from $25.4 billion before. “The company provided FY2012 EPS guidance of greater than $7.50, but we note that to hit guidance RIMM would have to report sharply improved H2 results. Our estimates are more conservative than guidance.”

Article courtesy of Tech Trader Daily