Panasonic Corp. (PC) provided another update on the acquisition of SANYO Electric Co Ltd. (SANYY) at its Board Meeting held on Nov 4, 2009. The company announced the start of its tender offer to acquire 3.1 billion shares of SANYO (or more than 50% of the company’s total shares) for approximately $4.4 billion (403 billion yen).  Earlier, Panasonic had planned to take over all of Sanyo's shares. Panasonic had entered into a capital and business alliance agreement with SANYO in Dec 2008. The latter is a leading company in the rechargeable battery business focused on lithium-ion rechargeable batteries. Panasonic is one of the leading manufacturers of electronic and electrical products, systems and components.  The tender offer is planned for Nov 5 through Dec 7 at a price of $1.4 or 131 yen per share. Goldman Sachs, Daiwa Securities SMBC and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. (Sanyo's ...

AT&T Inc. (T), the second largest US wireless carrier, announced the availability of netbooks and laptops from Dell Inc. (DELL) for small businesses.

Customers from small businesses across the US now have access to these premium devices that exclusively use AT&T's 3G wireless technology. The devices include Dell Inspiron Mini 10 netbook and Dell Vostro 1520 laptop.

AT&T is increasingly focusing on extending its 3G wireless capabilities from smartphones to a wide range of emerging devices in order to expand the market penetration of its 3G data services. In July 2009, the company launched several embedded netbooks and laptops from industry-leading manufacturers, such as Hewlett Packard (HPQ), Acer and Panasonic, targeted exclusively to increase connectivity for small businesses.

Carriers across the globe are aggressively selling netbooks and associated data plans in order to boost data usage and revenue. Industry estimates reveal that worldwide shipment of netbooks reached 11.6 million

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First, a historical note…US equities have just come off their best July since 1989. Overall, the market is up over 8% for the year. But if we look backward (after all, hindsight is 20/20), March 1989 also saw a huge run up. It was followed by an even stronger rally in July, during which volume dried up. It appears the same is happening now. What came next in 1989 was a big sell-off in September, followed by an even greater one in October.

Don’t look now, but history tends to repeat itself.

Also, consider the fundamental picture. We have rallied 48% from the March lows on the back of what? Good earnings? Good employment figures? Good spending figures? Expanding GDP? No.

We have rallied based on one of the largest and most concerted propaganda campaigns ever waged, supported by government stimulus. But no government can stimulate forever. The bottom line is this, if

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For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – July 29, 2009 – Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: SRS Labs (SRSL), Techwell (TWLL), Garmin (GRMN), Panasonic (PC) and Ford (F).

Get the most recent insight from Zacks Equity Research with the free Profit from the Pros newsletter: http://at.zacks.com/?id=5513

Here are highlights from Tuesday’s Analyst Blog:

Auto Electronics Poised for Growth

A recent iSuppli report painted a brighter picture for the auto industry, and the electronics segment of the industry in particular. Auto sales are expected to increase in the second half of the year, growing up to 5.7% in 2010. Electronic components, such as audio head units,

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A recent iSuppli report painted a brighter picture for the auto industry, and the electronics segment of the industry in particular. Auto sales are expected to increase in the second half of the year, growing up to 5.7% in 2010. Electronic components, such as audio head units, personal navigation devices (PNDs), advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), embedded telematics systems and Bluetooth are expected to benefit.

This should be good news for companies like SRS Labs (SRSL), Techwell (TWLL), Garmin (GRMN) and TomTom.

SRS management stated that its auto business fared better than the overall auto industry in the first quarter. The company’s customers in the auto market are Panasonic (PC), Kenwood, Pioneer and Fujitsu-Ten.

Comments made by car makers such as Ford (F) that demand for cars incorporating electronics exceeds demand for cars without them further validates this view. Techwell’s video decoding systems are targeted at navigation, entertainment

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Edward is already plugging this article by Daniel Gross over at Demography.Matters but I think it is important enough to deserve circulation here at Alpha.Sources too. Basically, Daniel gets to the heart of the matter in terms of Japan when he argues that one of the principal reasons that Japan is not rising is that it has failed to do the homework in the human capital department or as Gross phrases it; while Japan is still leading in engineering, this is not the case with respect to social engineering.

Japan still retains its lead in engineering. A showroom at Panasonic's headquarters displayed a heated, multifunction toilet seat that conserves energy. (Wouldn't leaving the seat cold conserve even more?) The sleek Shinkansen bullet trains roll up to their appointed spots on time. TKX, an 87-year-old Osaka-based company that makes abrasives, has adapted its expertise to cutting silicon ingots into wafers

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On Monday, July 13, both Ovonic Battery Company, Inc. and Chevron Technology Ventures LLC offloaded their equal stakes in the joint venture Cobasys L.L.C.  Ovonic is a subsidiary of Michigan-based Energy Conversion Devices, Inc. (ENER) while Chevron Technology is a subsidiary of Chevron Corporation (CVX).   Cobasys develops and manufactures energy storage systems for hybrid electric vehicles.  The stakes were bought by South Korea-based SB LiMotive Company Ltd. (SBL) – a $520 million joint venture between German car-parts maker, Robert Bosch GmbH and South Korean electronics player Samsung SDI Company Inc.  Through the deal SB LiMotive expanded its product portfolio with nickel–metal hydride batteries.   The deal gets Energy Conversion Devices out of the unprofitable Cobasys JV.  It can now focus on its core solar laminates business, which has been hit hard in recent times by falling demand for solar power on account of lack of project financing. 

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The high video recording capacity of the newly launched Apple (AAPL) iPhone 3GS may come as a potential threat to manufacturers of low-cost camcorders. The phone comes with a 3 mega-pixel camera that enables high-quality VGA video recording in portrait or landscape, which can be edited on the phone itself and shared instantly through email, uploaded to YouTube or transferred to laptops.

We believe that Apple's iPhone 3GS, with its video recording capabilities, may have a negative impact on camcorder manufacturers. This apart, the company is also planning to include a camera with video recording capabilities to its "iPod Touch" series. The iPhone 3GS camera module is expected to be compatible with iPod Touch. At about $9.50, the module might add a tad to the price of iPod Touch but won’t make the product uncompetitive.

The iPod touch with enhanced video features would have a negative effect on

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Based in Osaka, Japan, Panasonic Corp. (PC) is a leading manufacturer of electronic and electrical parts component. To grow market shares in emerging markets such as Brazil, Russia, India, and China (BRIC), Vietnam, Africa, and Latin America and increase customer base in these countries, Panasonic plans to develop a line of low-priced consumer-electronics products which has limited features.

In order to tap consumers in the emerging market, Panasonic will launch TVs for $50, air conditioners for $100 and washing machines for $200, which are expected to hit markets after October this year. Panasonic plans to use "lifestyle research" for the designing of these products.

We believe Panasonic’s success lies in is its ability to respond to rapid technological changes and changing consumer preferences with timely and cost-effective introductions of new low-priced products in markets, which are both price and technology conscious and are very competitive.

These low-priced products

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The UpTurn, Inc., under the leadership of founder and CEO Jeffrey Eckman, is combining real estate needs with lifestyle interests to create what some are calling the world’s first Web 2.0 real estate site. As a startup venture, the company is being capitalized with investments from private funding and capital markets, and is also receiving resources and support from another young company founded by Eckman, BGV (Blue Green Ventures).

BGV provides business development strategy and tactical services for early stage companies, with the goal of creating and expanding markets through innovative business models. The UpTurn is BGV’s primary focus, but the quality of BGV team members suggests a bright and diverse future for the company. Besides Jeff Eckman, who has over 15 years of Fortune 500 and business development experience, BGV management includes the following:

• Bernard DeCunha, Executive VP and General Manager,

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