It has had a nice run over the past 6-months, +~35%, but nowhere near Nintendo's +~50%. Anyway, I'll look into this sometime soon on Japan on Seeking Alpha.
For now I'd say despite its run, its valuation on a trailing p/e basis doesn't seem to make it pricey at all compared to its peers. Some interesting aspects of Konami include its exposure to casino gambling (slots) and arcade game machines. Also, with the BoJ expected to "normalize" monetary policy (expect a rate hike or two in '07), then the yen should strengthen, thus boosting KNM (or at least providing some support).
Survey Shows There May Be Hope for Microsoft's Zune After All [View article]
There's a lot of emotion in shopping for electronics and other higher-priced goods. Not to mention all the emotion behind the marketing of these products. Anway, I am not the ideal consumer for electronics firms because I tend to buy something and get my fair use out of it (notice it was 5 years between music player purchases) and do a lot of homework before I make my purchases (not that others don't!). I walked in to Best Buy during Thanksgiving holiday and there was a promotion by Samsung offering 40% off the above players, which I would have bought anyway at retail price. I picked up two of them. They are great, exactly what I wanted, and support my three file types seamlessly: personally ripped MP3/WMA and subscription music.
Survey Shows There May Be Hope for Microsoft's Zune After All [View article]
I have to disagree with you on this Carl. I know there's a lot of Zune bashers out there for obvious reasons, but I was presenting the survey's findings from a market share expectations and growth perspective. Setting the guidelines of the survey aside, the respondents' responses showed that 80% of them are first-time buyers, and among those 69% indicated they'd likely (or very likely) be buyers (or gift givers). That bodes well for all market players because it is an expanding market. I do admit the 7% who said they'd choose Zune is not very promising for MSFT, but I'd still argue the potential exists for new buyers). For instance, I recently purchased my first MP3 player in about 5 years and I went with the Samsung YP-K5J. I'd never buy an iPod for myself -- don't want to be like the crowd and don't want to deal with the proprietary format. Also, in the summary above, I pulled in a report from USA Today that showed NPD's data lacked coverage of Wal-Mart, Amazon and the Apple Store. The latter two, I'm aware experienced heavy traffic and reportedly strong sales.
Apple iPod Elevates Game: Six Airlines to Add Connectivity [View article]
Right and that's pretty cool how you'll be able to watch video/tv on the seat-back monitor, which ought to boost sales on iTunes. I'd be tempted to buy content, especially for longer flights. Now that iPod has "cornered" autos and airlines, I wonder if they are looking at rail (w/ Amtrak) and sea w/ cruise ships?
Sony's PS3 Will Underperform its Predecessor [View article]
I agree with your analysis. I think it will be important to avoid the Sony hype up to the new year since as you said, the PS3 will sell-out given the very limited supply. 100,000 units to launch in Japan is ridiculous. I think among the three major retail shopping areas such as Akihabara, Shibuya, and Shinjuku (all in Tokyo) could probably sell that before lunch. The wild card here is Nintendo. I am certain Nintendo grabs market share from Sony at home. Microsoft is not an important player although it is lowering its console price in an attempt to see if it can some how salvage the Xbox 360 in Japan. I like your point that there is hope for Sony to recover a sale if a customer buys a Nintendo Wii first. I think sticker price shock in addition to difficulty in finding a PS3 on a store shelf in time for the holidays means that kids will have to settle with a Wii. And I think kids and also adults will enjoy the Wii with Wii game sales and sales by word of mouth or having played it at a friends house really propelling Nintendo. Sony can try giving away some games with the PS3 (as a KBC analyst suggested) to attract consumers but I don't think someone new to gaming or not serious with gaming chooses a PS3 based on that. If only Sony wasn't so stubborn to stick by its Blu-ray trying to save face and take a stand as a CE company. Initially its strategy seems wise but you have to question it at this point. In this respect Microsoft has enjoyed a nice head start.
DVD Format Battle Development: Toshiba to License HD-DVD Technology to China (HPQ, MC, SNE, DELL, DIS, NWS, LGF, NIPNY, SANYY, MSFT, INTC) [View article]
Update: Warner Bros. is the second major studio to announce its support of both next -generation DVD formats. It made the announcement yesterday following Paramount Pictures' decision earlier this month to release films in both HD-DVD and Blu-ray disc format. That means NBC Universal is the only studio that will release films solely on HD-DVD format. Warner Bros. is said to have made the decision to support both formats because it doesn't see an end to the format war. (Source: AP) * Warner Bros. is owned by Time Warner Inc. (ticker: TWX), Paramount Pictures is owned by Viacom (ticker: VIA-B), and NBC Universal is owned by GE (ticker: GE).
Gadget Watch: 7 Consumer Electronics Stories [View article]
It's Game Time: Game Console and Software Stock Update [View article]
It has had a nice run over the past 6-months, +~35%, but nowhere near Nintendo's +~50%. Anyway, I'll look into this sometime soon on Japan on Seeking Alpha.
For now I'd say despite its run, its valuation on a trailing p/e basis doesn't seem to make it pricey at all compared to its peers. Some interesting aspects of Konami include its exposure to casino gambling (slots) and arcade game machines. Also, with the BoJ expected to "normalize" monetary policy (expect a rate hike or two in '07), then the yen should strengthen, thus boosting KNM (or at least providing some support).
Survey Shows There May Be Hope for Microsoft's Zune After All [View article]
Survey Shows There May Be Hope for Microsoft's Zune After All [View article]
Apple iPod Elevates Game: Six Airlines to Add Connectivity [View article]
Sony's PS3 Will Underperform its Predecessor [View article]
DVD Format Battle Development: Toshiba to License HD-DVD Technology to China (HPQ, MC, SNE, DELL, DIS, NWS, LGF, NIPNY, SANYY, MSFT, INTC) [View article]