via guestofaguest.com: This being an odd numbered year, about 300,000 art lovers are set to gather in Venice, Italy for the the 2011 Venice Biennale. The tremendous bi-annual (dur) contemporary art exhibition begins this week and we have the all the details on what to expect from this year’s event. MORE>>
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Portalarium, the social and mobile game company founded by game pioneer Richard Garriott, has raised a second round of funding. Altogether, the Austin, Texas-based startup has raised $3.6 million to date.
The financing includes money from m8 Capital in the United Kingdom and Founders Fund (the investment fund which includes PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel) in San Francisco.
Garriott has vowed to create the same kind of fun games on Facebook as he did at earlier stages in his career. Earlier this year, Garriott said in an interview that Portalarium is aimed at exploiting the business opportunities in the “third age of video games.”
For those of you who didn’t grow up playing games, it may help to know that Garriott was present for the first age of video games, with the debut of great single-player games such as Ultima, which was followed by many sequels. In 1997, under his alter ego Lord British, Garriott extended his role-playing fantasy world to the online multiplayer game Ultima Online. Garriott considers the rise of Internet-connected games to be the second age of video games. Garriott tried to exploit that age with Tabula Rasa, one of the most ambitious sci-fi online games, but that title met with an untimely death after six years of effort.
The third age began with the explosive growth of simple, quickly played social games like Zynga’s FarmVille on Facebook. In an interview at the Dice Summit game conference in Las Vegas, Garriott said he knows he is late and the gold rush into social games has happened without him so far. Portalarium launched two simple casino games on Facebook so far in order to test the company’s theories about player engagement, or the trick of getting gamers to play games for a long time.
“We are delighted to join Richard Garriott and the Portalarium team in creating the next great gaming company,” said Joseph Kim, general partner at London-based m8 Capital. “Richard is one of the giants of the industry. He’s a proven entrepreneur and has been a driving force at each of the industry’s major turning points.”
Kim said he liked Garriott’s vision for the future of mobile and social games. Ditto for Brian Singerman of the Founders Fund.
In the past year, Portalarium has released two games — Port Casino Poker and Port Casino Blackjack – on Facebook and the hi5 social network. According to AppData, those games have just a small number of users. But Portalarium says that those are evergreen products that were created to quickly build out the company’s backend server technology and start interconnecting a player network across platforms and social networks. Port Casino Poker recently launched Apple’s iPad and both iPhone and Android versions are coming later this year.
Fred Schmidt, chief executive of Portalarium, said that the connection with m8 Capital will help the company shape its European strategy while the Founders Fund (which backed Facebook) connection is helping the company connect to the social media scene in Silicon Valley. Portalarium was founded in 2009 and has 12 employees.
We’ll be exploring the most disruptive game technologies and business models at our third annual GamesBeat 2011 conference, on July 12-13 at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco. It will focus on the disruptive trends in the mobile games market. GamesBeat is co-located with our MobileBeat 2011 conference this year. To register, click on this link. Sponsors can message us at sponsors@venturebeat.com. To participate in our Who’s Got Game? contest for the best game startup, click on this link.
Tags: Port Casino Blackjack, Port Casino Poker
Companies: Apple, Facebook, Founders Fund, M8 Capital, Portalarium
People: Richard Garriott
Article courtesy of VentureBeat » deals
HUGE. NEWS. Next year, our annual retreat to the desert won’t be one, but TWO WEEKENDS of fake hippies, music, and parties as Coachella 2012 will be held over two consecutive weekends: Weekend 1 scheduled for April 13-15, 2012, and Weekend 2 scheduled for April 20-22, 2012.
Why, you ask? From the official Coachella website: Read the full story
Estimates are starting to trickle in for what Nokia’s (NOK) cut in forecast this morning actually translates into. Gleacher & Co.’s Stephen Patel and Brian Marshall estimate that Q2′s sales will now be $13.7 billion, down from last quarter’s $14.1 billion, yielding EPS of 3 cents. That’s down from a prior estimate of $14.6 billion in revenue and 16 cents EPS.
Patel and Marshall maintain a Neutral rating on NOK and a $6.50 price target.
Patel and Marshall cut their year outlook to $57 billion in revenue from a prior $61.7 billion, and to 37 cents in EPS from a prior 76 cents. They cut their 2012 outlook as well, to $58.5 billion from $62.5 billion previously estimated, and to 46 cents in EPS from 78 cents.
Certainly, at 37 cents this year, or 46 cents next year, Nokia shares look more expensive, even after the drop today, at 19 times or 15 times projected earnings, versus the 9 times they would be trading at using the prior estimates. However, that’s not including the cash per share Nokia holds.
The analysts express concern the Windows-based unit won’t be sufficient to lift the stock: “We remain concerned that [Windows Phone 7] industry sales remain below 2mil units/quarter and that NOK’s scale will not be enough to offset a faster than expected drop-off in Symbian phone sales, which are still about 50% of revenue and roughly 20mil units/quarter.”
With even cheaper shares to be had in Research in Motion (RIMM), and Motorola Mobility (MMI), there’s not much support for Nokia stock, in their view: “Competitors RIMM and MMI trade at around 6x and 7x CY12 EPS excluding cash, which would put NOK at ~$5.50/share based on 6.5x our CY12E EPS plus ~$2.40/share cash, though NOK has typically traded at a premium. Our $6.50 target is based on 8.5x CY12 EPS plus cash.”
Nokia shares are down $1.22, or 15%, at $6.97, perhaps having reached a level of support for the moment.
Update: Mark McKechnie of ThinkEquity reiterates a Hold rating this afternoon and a $7 price target. He cut his Q2 estimate to $13.4 billion in revenue and a penny in EPS, from a prior $14.2 billio and 13 cents in EPS. For the full year, he cut his revenue estimate to $56.5 billion and 28 cents EPS, from a prior $59.9 billion and 60 cents EPS.
Article courtesy of Tech Trader Daily
Folks, my apologies for coming late to the following: Goldman Sachs’s Simona Jankowski today reiterated a Buy rating on shares of Motorola Mobility (MMI), and a $34 price target, writing that the stock is undervalued based on a sum-of-the-parts analysis, and that upside in smartphone sales could boost the bottom line.
On the valuation side, the handset business may be trading at only one or two times projected earnings per share, because the current stock price is almost entirely reflective of the other assets: $8 per share in deferred tax assets, $11 per share in cash, and the $3 to $4 per share that the set-top box business may be worth. (Regarding the deferred tax asset, $2.4 billion, she observes it, “is currently largely offset by a $2.3 billion valuation allowance due to MMI’s recent lack of profitability, thus it does not fully appear on the balance sheet.”)
Of course, the handset business has been losing money, and the question is whether it will finally turn profitable this year.
Jankowski thinks it will, and she assigns a 7 times P/E multiple to the 2012 estimated EPS of $1.61 cents per share for that unit. That would produce a stock value of $11.29 per share just for handsets.
Moreover, every 1 million extra smartphones Moto sells will produce another $50 million in net income, or 17 cents per diluted share on an annual basis, she estimates. She’s currently modeling the company selling 20.4 million units of smartphones this year, out of a total of 42.5 million units, which includes tablet computers (“Xoom“) and feature phones.
Moto shares today rose 30 cents, or 1%, to $24.94.
Article courtesy of Tech Trader Daily
Solar startup Morgan Solar plans to announce Thursday that it has raised $16.5 million in venture-capital funding. After declines in the second half of 2010, U.S. cleantech investment has been on the rise so far this year, with solar companies getting the most money, analysts say.
Founded in 2007 by company president John Paul Morgan and his brother Nicolas, Morgan Solar has developed a concentrating-photovoltaic technology that it claims can convert more sunlight into electricity at a lower cost than competing technologies. The technology involves staggered rows of thin, hexagonal optics that direct light to triple-layered solar cells positioned at the edges of the rows.
The company says the initial commercial panels will be able to convert sunlight into electricity with 25 percent efficiency, which is higher than most conventional silicon-based panels but lower than some other concentrating PV technologies. Even at its current low volumes, its cost is on par with that of traditional panels, Morgan told us in an interview, adding that the company expects to be able to deliver a levelized cost of energy – meaning the total cost of energy, with everything included – competitive with that of thin-film solar in many markets by 2012.
Still, he acknowledged the company faces plenty of challenges in the next year to make that happen. “I don’t want to stop at just being better than solar; I want to compete with coal,” he said. “A lot of things have to be executed correctly – we have to ramp up right and drive down this plan of bringing costs down and efficiency up. … The details are what are going to make us take this to the next level. And the details are where we’re at now.”
Morgan Solar’s latest deal is the first tranche of its second round, which the company expects to close with $25 million in the next few months, company president John Paul Morgan told us.
News of the funding comes at an important stage for Morgan Solar, when the company hopes to transition from demonstration projects to its first commercial shipments. It is installing a 200-kilowatt demonstration plant in Lancaster and plans to ship its first commercial panels this year. The company, which is already shipping test panels, had previously aimed to ship its first commercial panels last year.
“2011 and 2012 are going to be the most important years in this company’s history,” Morgan said. “This year, when we’re really demonstrating [our product] in the market, taking it to customers and deploying it on a large scale, is really going to be what tests the mettle of the team and of the company and demonstrates to the world how big of a deal this all is.”
Morgan Solar ran into some speed bumps during its internal testing last summer, when it discovered some issues that could result in some defective panels, he said. “We’ve ironed all that out,” he said, adding that he now expects the panels to get international certification by early next year.
The company plans to use its newfound cash – along with its $3.3 million loan guarantee – to grow its optics factory in Chula Vista, Calif., which Morgan said is on track to begin production in the next few months. The factory already has some of its equipment in place and will initially have the capacity to produce 5.5 megawatts a year, then will expand to 50 megawatts of annual capacity by the end of next year, he added.
The 50-megawatts of capacity near San Diego will cost $13 million, Morgan confirmed. “We can ramp up much more cheaply than other companies,” he said, adding that most of the company’s first-round funding went into research and development, lab equipment and testing equipment, not capital expenses. “That’s why we’re not trying to raise $100 million.”
Morgan Solar will also use some of its new capital to expand its panel assembly, as well as research and development – including testing, engineering and design work – at its Toronto headquarters, Morgan said.
Investors in the latest tranche include big Spanish utility Iberdrola’s venture arm, Inversiones Financieras Perseo, which led the deal; existing investor Nypro, which makes Morgan Solar’s optics; and pharmaceutical billionaire Phillip Frost’s The Frost Group, a new investor. Turnstone Capital Management, which led Morgan Solar’s first VC round, didn’t participate in this tranche.
The deal brings the Toronto-based company’s total private capital to $26.3 million. It also has received $10.3 million in U.S. and Canadian government funding, and has won a $3.3 million loan guarantee from the California Energy Commission.
Companies: Inversiones Financieras Perseo, Morgan Solar, Nypro, The Frost Group
People: John Paul Morgan
Article courtesy of VentureBeat » deals
Shares of software vendor Salesforce.com (CRM) are up $3.45, or 2.4%, at $148.75 after Morgan Stanley’s Adam Holt this morning raised his rating on the stock to Overweight from Equal Weight, with a $200 price target, writing that workloads on “cloud” computing facilities, such as the company’s “Force.com” online platform, is going to rise 50% per annum, compounded, through the next three years, based on Morgan Stanley’s survey of 300 IT executives.
Usage of cloud-based applications will increase from 51% of companies today to 80%, Holt says the data show.
Salesforce should be the biggest beneficiary, Holt thinks, and he believes consensus estimates for the company don’t reflect the rate of growth, instead modeling something like 20% cloud industry growth.
Based on an expectation Salesforce will garner an increasing share of the “software-as-a-service” pie, not to mention “platform-as-a-service” business, Holt raised his estimates for the company for fiscal 2013 and 2014. He sees $2.17 billion in revenue for this year, the same as his prior estimate, but for 2013 he sees revenue of $2.57 billion, from a prior estimate of $2.53 billion, and for 2014, he sees revenue of $3.23 billion, up from $3.082 billion previously.
That should produce non-GAAP EPS next year of $1.90, rather than the $1.80 he’d previously expected, and EPS of $2.43 in 2014, rather than the $2.31 he’d previously modeled. Holt models Salesforce earning $1.32 this year.
Holt’s $200 target is based on a 47 multiple of his projected free cash flow per share of $4.11 next year, which he suggests is a 1.3 times growth multiple.
Article courtesy of Tech Trader Daily
Shares of software vendor Salesforce.com (CRM) are up $3.45, or 2.4%, at $148.75 after Morgan Stanley’s Adam Holt this morning raised his rating on the stock to Overweight from Equal Weight, with a $200 price target, writing that workloads on “cloud” computing facilities, such as the company’s “Force.com” online platform, is going to rise 50% per annum, compounded, through the next three years, based on Morgan Stanley’s survey of 300 IT executives.
Usage of cloud-based applications will increase from 51% of companies today to 80%, Holt says the data show.
Salesforce should be the biggest beneficiary, Holt thinks, and he believes consensus estimates for the company don’t reflect the rate of growth, instead modeling something like 20% cloud industry growth.
Based on an expectation Salesforce will garner an increasing share of the “software-as-a-service” pie, not to mention “platform-as-a-service” business, Holt raised his estimates for the company for fiscal 2013 and 2014. He sees $2.17 billion in revenue for this year, the same as his prior estimate, but for 2013 he sees revenue of $2.57 billion, from a prior estimate of $2.53 billion, and for 2014, he sees revenue of $3.23 billion, up from $3.082 billion previously.
That should produce non-GAAP EPS next year of $1.90, rather than the $1.80 he’d previously expected, and EPS of $2.43 in 2014, rather than the $2.31 he’d previously modeled. Holt models Salesforce earning $1.32 this year.
Holt’s $200 target is based on a 47 multiple of his projected free cash flow per share of $4.11 next year, which he suggests is a 1.3 times growth multiple.
Article courtesy of Tech Trader Daily
Shares of software vendor Salesforce.com (CRM) are up $3.45, or 2.4%, at $148.75 after Morgan Stanley’s Adam Holt this morning raised his rating on the stock to Overweight from Equal Weight, with a $200 price target, writing that workloads on “cloud” computing facilities, such as the company’s “Force.com” online platform, is going to rise 50% per annum, compounded, through the next three years, based on Morgan Stanley’s survey of 300 IT executives.
Usage of cloud-based applications will increase from 51% of companies today to 80%, Holt says the data show.
Salesforce should be the biggest beneficiary, Holt thinks, and he believes consensus estimates for the company don’t reflect the rate of growth, instead modeling something like 20% cloud industry growth.
Based on an expectation Salesforce will garner an increasing share of the “software-as-a-service” pie, not to mention “platform-as-a-service” business, Holt raised his estimates for the company for fiscal 2013 and 2014. He sees $2.17 billion in revenue for this year, the same as his prior estimate, but for 2013 he sees revenue of $2.57 billion, from a prior estimate of $2.53 billion, and for 2014, he sees revenue of $3.23 billion, up from $3.082 billion previously.
That should produce non-GAAP EPS next year of $1.90, rather than the $1.80 he’d previously expected, and EPS of $2.43 in 2014, rather than the $2.31 he’d previously modeled. Holt models Salesforce earning $1.32 this year.
Holt’s $200 target is based on a 47 multiple of his projected free cash flow per share of $4.11 next year, which he suggests is a 1.3 times growth multiple.
Article courtesy of Tech Trader Daily
Shares of Research in Motion (RIMM) are up $1.45, or 3%, at $45.23, after Sanford Bernstein analyst Pierre Ferragu this morning raise his rating on the shares to Market Perform from Underperform, setting a 40$ price target, and arguing “things can’t get worse in the foreseeable future.”
With the 39% drop in the stock since a high in February, he writes, the price is reflecting “a medium term evolution of the company far worse than management guidance of even sell-side consensus implies.”
Ferragu himself has what he terms “the bleakest possible outlook,” modeling $5.84 per share in EPS this year, and $5.51 next year, down from his prior estimates of $6.21 and $5.86, respectively. That’s certainly well below the average estimates of $6.48 for this year and $6.96 the following year.
But although “the stock is particularly cheap on any metric,” Ferragu’s not recommending the shares, mind you, because “we believe management remains in denial of challenges facing the company and therefore do not recommend buying the stock yet, or at least not beyond a short term play on a likely rebound.”
What are the challenges, you ask?
The BlackBerry “brand is broken,” he writes, with the sales of higher-end models shrinking in the last 12 months. The corporate business “is under attack,” with some major accounts having already swapped-out BlackBerry. The company’s profit stream was built on email in the last decade, but the Apple (AAPL) iPhone’s “innovation cycle,” and the commoditization of email, mean “RIM’s high level of profitability is at risk.”
And the one bright spot, international growth, will “progressively stall,” as consumers overseas become more aware of “the superiority of the Apple and Android phones.”
Article courtesy of Tech Trader Daily