Company Description

Cognizant provides software development and maintenance for companies transitioning into e-business. The company utilizes both on-site consultants and outsourced project members.

On Aug 4 Cognizant reported second-quarter results that included a 13% revenue growth. The company brought in $777 million. Coupled with an operating margin of 20.8%, above the company's target, Cognizant earned just over $141 million.

Earnings were 36% higher, year-over-year, and yielded EPS of 47 cents. This was 12 cents higher than last year and beat the Zacks consensus estimate by a dime. The company has beaten estimates in 3 of the past 4 quarters.

Estimates Still Climbing

In the past month estimates saw 3 and 4 upward revisions for this year and next year, respectively. The Zacks Consensus Estimates for 2009 is now $1.67, up from $1.53 since the report. Forecasts for

Sonic Solutions (NASDAQ:SNIC) has soared over the past six months. Is now the time to buy? Savvy investors are checking out this easy options strategy.

Battles for dominate, market-accepted technology are rarely good for the companies mired in the fight. Sony’s (NYSE:SNE) torturous foray in the VHS versus Beta battle is a perfect example.

But a divided market is not always bad.

Just ask Sonic Solutions (NASDAQ:SNIC) shareholders. As the entertainment industry slowly figures out if DVDs or Blu-ray technology will dominate the video world, Sonic’s shareholders had the chance to rake in a fortune.

Shares of the $175 million company have soared by 1,050% over the past six months as the global economy rebounds and Blu-ray production increases.

As the go-to firm in Blu-ray production technology, Sonic is embarking on an era of strong growth. Earlier this week, the company announced a list of nearly two dozen European

by Alley Bancroft

In the stock market people are scrambling to get every advantage that they can. Markets are down 40% from the highs just a year ago. Can America be facing financial turmoil, a long recession or one of the best buying seasons in history?

During this time of uncertainty we have seen markets of extreme volatility. This is the perfect way to watch your portfolio shrink to fast to bear; also it is a time to watch your portfolio explode with huge gains. Personally I have witnessed gains of 200- 300% in just a few days!

History has told us many things during times of recession, but there is one trend that I like to keep a keen eye on. After each major downturn in the market there is a always a rebound, and this rebound first shows up in the penny stocks. Penny stocks forecast a turnaround before …

The market is showing signs of relief as the major indices have experienced some great up days despite a lack of positive news regarding our economy.  As an investor, you maybe wondering what your options are to return to the equity market with as much prudence as possible.  The first thing to note is that the IT S&P 500 Component has done extremely well, up 11.80% YTD.  A great way to re-enter IT is through the purchase of well constructed Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs). ETFs are a great way to capture the upside potential of various companies while maintaining diversity within your IT portfolio (or any portfolio).  The key to ETF evaluation is to select low cost and well constructed ETFs making it important to conduct due diligence on the major underlying securities of the vehicle.  ETFs can

The other day I had lunch with a “brain trust,” of sorts.  Participants included a retired executive from an aerospace company.  This guy helped design and build many of the reconnaissance satellites that the U.S. has launched.  There was a senior executive from a large steel company.  There was a venture capitalist who made his first $500 million in the software industry, and who now has much of that wealth spread around in biotech and nanotech startups.  There was a former senior political appointee who worked in the Treasury Department.  And then there was me.

“Climate Change” Driving Policy Now

According to the satellite builder, the dominant elements of the political and media culture are “completely in the tank” when it comes to believing in the dangers of “climate change.”  It’s not as if climate change is demonstrably true, he pointed out.  There are valid scientific data from both sides of the

In all actuality, at the present time, uWink is indeed just a restaurant company with less-than-impressive quarterly numbers. However, it is not strictly in the foodservice industry that uWink intends to make its mark. The company has conceptualized and begun development of an interactive restaurant dynamic that could change the way people dine out.

The company plans to begin selling and licensing its proprietary point of sale (POS) software, as well as implement it in uWink restaurants. Using a table-top touchscreen interface, patrons can order food and drinks, and pay by credit or debit cards swiped right at the table. In addition, uWink’s software includes 70 single and multi-player games that can be likened to popular touchscreen sensations such as Megatouch. Access to digital content like video and music is also part of the uWink system.

The software has been undergoing market testing in the company’s prototype restaurant facilities, located

Salesforce.com, Inc. (CRM) is the market leader in the on-demand Customer Relationship Management (CRM) space and continues to see substantial subscriber and customer growth.

While the company reported strong second half results and raised full-year revenue guidance, dilution from the InStranet acquisition will result in lower than expected second half EPS. Although this will penalize the stock, we believe InStranet makes strategic sense, and over the long-term EPS growth will accelerate. We therefore reiterate our Buy rating on Salesforce.com's shares.

We believe a price-to-sales [P/S] multiple is an appropriate valuation metric for Salesforce.com shares given the early stage of the company and its software-centric business. Traditionally, leading software providers trade in a range of 5x to 15x revenue. On our FY 2009 revenue estimate of $1,072.7 million, or $8.93 per share, the stock is trading at a P/S multiple of 7.3.

We believe the stock can approach a P/S multiple of

Broadcast International (BCST) is a provider of wired and wireless network distribution services such as digital satellite, Internet Protocol (IP) and streaming video for the Internet. The company also installs and manages communications networks for Fortune 500 clients. Broadcast International is positioning itself to benefit from higher demand for high definition television and Internet video, which lead to a need more bandwidth capacity.

The company also develops CodecSys, a proprietary video compression technology that converts video content into a digital data stream for transmission over satellite, cable, Internet, or wireless networks. Earlier this year, Broadcast International unveiled plans for the software industry’s first ever video operations system to boost video functionality. Utah-based Broadcast International intends to partner with large technology to have its products included in a partner’s larger-scale technology products. Broadcast International currently has a two-year license agreement with IBM.

Broadcast International received a patent for CodecSys in August 2007,