Initiating Coverage: Engineers India Ltd (EIL)
Engineers India Ltd (EIL) is India's leading publicly held company engaged in the areas of Hydrocarbon, metal and infrastructure consultancy. The company has a healthy market share in the Hydrocarbon consultancy segment and enjoys entrenched relationship with few of the major oil & gas companies like HPCL, BPCL, ONGC and IOC. Driven by increased activity in global energy scenario and rapid development in Indian Hydrocarbon space, we believe that the company is well poised for 13% CAGR in net profits between FY11-13E.
In our estimates, we project a 21% CAGR in consolidated revenues between FY11-13E from Rs.28 bn in FY11 to Rs. 41.6 bn in FY13E. Within the revenue streams, we expect consultancy & engineering business to grow at 6% CAGR and Lumpsum turnkey project segment (LSTP) to grow at 30% CAGR between FY11-13E mainly driven by 1) current order book at Rs 57 bn 2) continued momentum in the domestic Hydrocarbon Industry mainly refining and petrochemicals 3) pick up in investments in projects in power and infrastructure space 4) company's new initiative adding to revenues and 5) meaningful contribution from overseas Hydrocarbon markets mainly Middle East.
At the current price, company's stock looks reasonably valued on a discounted cash flow basis. We therefore initiate coverage on EIL stock with a BUY rating and one year DCF based target price of Rs.320.
Engineers
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Amazon Launches CloudSearch. Amazon is taking baby steps into search. While it doesn't quite challenge search czar Google, Amazon is launching what seems to be a pretty useful cloud-based search service that companies with vast data troves can install on their websites. Amazon is offering something of a clip-on alternative to engineering a search system in-house that will let companies avoid "the additional cost and complexity of managing and scaling their own search engine."
Facebook Expands Downloadable Archive. Facebook is allowing users a closer look at their own data, per an announcment today on the Facebook Privacy blog. It's an extension of "Download Your Information"--a service that Facebook launched in 2010. Now, the archive will show you friend requests, IP addresses, previous names, and other information, all available for download.
Microsoft Cloud Tech Will Reach 7.5 Million Indians. Microsoft has signed a deal with the All India Council for Technical Education, to give 7 million students and 500,000 professors access to their cloud-based educational platform Live@edu. The service will give Indian students access to email, document sharing and storage, and other online collaboration tools. Sony To Spend $926 Million On "One Sony" Makeover. A billion dollars is all kinds of cool these days. After Facebook spent that tidy sum on Instagram, Sony's announcing an almost equal investment--$926 million--toward restructuring costs this year starting in March. It's part of what CEO Kazuo Hirai calls the "One Sony" strategy, under which Sony will ditch its small dispay and chemical manufacturing operations, and instead focus on gaming, mobile, and television. Sony will also be cutting 10,000 jobs.
Japan Bank To Use Card-Free ATMs. A Japanese bank has installed tech from electronics maker Fujitsu, which identifies people by their palm scans. Biometric readers for ATMs exist in Japan already, but Ogaki Kyoritsu will be the first bank to allow authentication solely on hand scans and a PIN.
3 Publishers Settle DOJ Antitrust Suit. Three of the five publishers challenged in the Department of Justice e-book suit yesterday have agreed to settlements. Meanwhile, a similar investigation is underway led by the EU, but Apple and publisher partners are trying to head that off early with a settlement. In Australia, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is watching the issue, and could propose a suit soon.
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U.S. Files Antitrust Suit Against Apple And Publishers. After months investigating the relationship, the U.S. Department of Justice has filed an antitrust suit against Apple and a posse of publishers for banding together and uncompetively keeping the price of e-books high. Apple's defense, Bloomberg surmises, will be that the Apple-publisher partnership actually increased competition in the larger e-book space--one that is ruled by Amazon. Amazon, however, has become recently unpopular among authors and publishers for independently setting the price of books too low, a position that's alienated their publisher partners, some of whom may not renew their annual Amazon contracts this year.
Google Announces Google+ Redesign. Google is rolling out a massive redesign on Google+, keeping room for bigger, better displayed photos, a new profile page, and a nicer interface overall. Their video chat service Hangouts also gets prominence in the new setup. Facebook-like, a chat list with online friends now appears to the right. On the left, Google is introducing a customizable navigation bar that you can fill with your favorite apps.
Nokia Debuts New NFC Windows Phone. Nokia has officially debuted the Lumia 610 NFC--its first NFC-capable Windows phone. Running on the Orange network, Nokia is ready to ride the NFC wave that we expect will break this year outside the U.S. The Nokia 610 NFC is compatible with Master Card's PayPass system and Visa's Paywave.
Wolfram Alpha Takes On Shakespeare. Finally, you can do your own analysis of Shakespeare's best and boldest. Wolfram Alpha has tackled the Bard's texts in their vast data system--which you can now use to do a word search by play, search for characters, or spot other themes hidden in the playwright's work.
Spotify Launches Web-wide Widget. Spotify has launched a new "Play" button--an embeddable widget that can stream music on any website, blog, or Tumblr page "totally free, and totally legal." Spotify is already quite popular, in part due to a Facebook partnership; with the new widget, it hopes to extend its reach even further.
Software Flaw Earns Lumia 900 Buyers $100. Nokia execs have acknowledged a bug in the new Lumia 900's ability to access data, and traced it back to a software flaw. A fix is in the works, to be available by mid-April. In the meantime, Nokia is offering $100 in credit (and a free phone swap) to all customers who have bought and will buy the phone, all the way until April 21.
Foxconn Reports Plump March Revenues. Having weathered a Fair Labor Association audit, the Mike Daisey affair, and an unprecedented visit by Apple CEO Tim Cook, Foxconn is reporting increased revenues for March. The numbers add up to an unconsolidated total of $9.43 billion--a 17.8% increase by month, and 29.7% increase year on year.
Daily Silicon Valley Reporter
Best Buy CEO Brian Dunn Resigns. Brian Dunn has resigned as CEO of Best Buy after more than 20 years working for the company. His interim replacement is director Mike Mikan. Dunn's resignation comes as the company fights competitors like Amazon, and is reworking its strategy to sell electronics in brick and mortar stores, shutting down its big warehouse style stores for better designed, smaller ones.
5 Million Android Downloads For Instagram. Following yesterday's $1 billion purchase by Facebook, Instagram is reporting that they've hit 5 million downloads of their Android app within 6 days of its launch. That comes after a not too shabby opening score of 1 million downloads on the first day.
Amazon Debuts In-App Purchases. Amazon has rolled out in-app purchasing system on Android and Kindle devices, letting developers sell subscriptions and products from within an app, with a click. The service matches Apple's and Google's similar systems which are already in existence. Sony Forecasts $6.4 Billion Loss. Sony has recalculated its losses this year, and is coming up with a figure twice as large as its original estimate. Tax charges in the U.S. running up to $3.6 billion now round off their total loss this year to $6.4 billion.
Anonymous Crashes USTelecom and TechAmerica Websites. As punishment for supporting the Cybersecurity Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, Anonymous has claimed credit for crashing the websites of two IT trade groups, USTelecom and TechAmerica. CISPA, the Hill explains, has been ominously compared to the SOPA/PIPA legislation, but others argue the bill could better help companies shield themselves against hack attacks. CISPA is due for a vote on April 23.
Iran Plans August Internet Shutdown. With a second Internet in the works, and as Iran confronts oil blockades and embargos from international bodies, an Iran telecom minister has revealed plans to shut down parts of the Internet in the country, replacing popular services like Gmail and Yahoo with locally built alternatives like Iran Mail and Iran Search Engine. The "National Internet" should be out by August, the International Business Times reports, and the first few services will begin being blocked in May.
Update: Iran's government has said that reports of an Internet shutdown in the country are false, the AFP reports, via statements released by the IT ministry on a website that was inaccessible outside Iran. Iran's second Internet however, has been in the works for some time.
Utah Medicaid Hack Leaked 280,000 SSNs. 280,000 social security numbers may have been leaked in a hack on the Medicaid servers that took place on March 30, according to a revised count by Utah officials. 500,000 more people may have had other personal information stolen, such as names or addresses. Utah is compensating people affected with one year of free credit protection.
Best Buy CEO Brian Dunn Resigns. Brian Dunn has resigned as CEO of Best Buy after more than 20 years working for the company. His interim replacement is director Mike Mikan. Dunn's resignation comes as the company fights competitors like Amazon, and is reworking its strategy to sell electronics in brick and mortar stores, shutting down its big warehouse style stores for better designed, smaller ones.
5 Million Android Downloads For Instagram. Following yesterday's $1 billion purchase by Facebook, Instagram is reporting that they've hit 5 million downloads of their Android app within 6 days of its launch. That comes after a not too shabby opening score of 1 million downloads on the first day.
Amazon Debuts In-App Purchases. Amazon has rolled out in-app purchasing system on Android and Kindle devices, letting developers sell subscriptions and products from within an app, with a click. The service matches Apple's and Google's similar systems which are already in existence. Sony Forecasts $6.4 Billion Loss. Sony has recalculated its losses this year, and is coming up with a figure twice as large as its original estimate. Tax charges in the U.S. running up to $3.6 billion now round off their total loss this year to $6.4 billion.
Anonymous Crashes USTelecom and TechAmerica Websites. As punishment for supporting the Cybersecurity Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, Anonymous has claimed credit for crashing the websites of two IT trade groups, USTelecom and TechAmerica. CISPA, the Hill explains, has been ominously compared to the SOPA/PIPA legislation, but others argue the bill could better help companies shield themselves against hack attacks. CISPA is due for a vote on April 23.
Iran Plans August Internet Shutdown. With a second Internet in the works, and as Iran confronts oil blockades and embargos from international bodies, an Iran telecom minister has revealed plans to shut down parts of the Internet in the country, replacing popular services like Gmail and Yahoo with locally built alternatives like Iran Mail and Iran Search Engine. The "National Internet" should be out by August, the International Business Times reports, and the first few services will begin being blocked in May.
Update: Iran's government has said that reports of an Internet shutdown in the country are false, the AFP reports, via statements released by the IT ministry on a website that was inaccessible outside Iran. Iran's second Internet however, has been in the works for some time.
Utah Medicaid Hack Leaked 280,000 SSNs. 280,000 social security numbers may have been leaked in a hack on the Medicaid servers that took place on March 30, according to a revised count by Utah officials. 500,000 more people may have had other personal information stolen, such as names or addresses. Utah is compensating people affected with one year of free credit protection.
Daily Silicon Valley Reporter
India's BBM Tracking System In The Works. Indian security agencies have said that a system to help the government monitor BBM activity on RIM's BlackBerrys will be up and running soon. For now, authorities have agreed on a protocol for law enforcement to follow before they get approval and access to a user's data, if they suspect the devices were being used for criminal activity.
AOL Sells Microsoft 800 Patents For $1 Billion. AOL is selling a bulk of its patents--800 in total--to Microsoft. AOL will keep the remaining 300 patents of its original portfolio, but license those (non-exclusively) to Microsoft. The sale is fetching AOL $1.056 billion in total.
Eadweard Muybridge, the British photographer behind the iconic "The Horse in Motion" series, would have been 182 today. Google reminds us of the life and contributions of the photographer and publisher with this Google Doodle.
Sony Cuts 10,000 Jobs. Under new CEO and ex-PlayStation head Kazuo Hiria, Sony is cutting 10,000 jobs (6% of the company's global workforce, Japan's Nikkei points out). It's part of a larger restructuring plan to refocus efforts at the company, which has seen its fourth year of losses. The latest cuts are a result of a decision to do away with and consolidate the chemical manufacturing and small LCD operations, Japan's Nikkei reported.
Universal Hops On The iCloud. Movies once purchased from Universal Studios are now available for re-download from Apple's iCloud. Universal and Fox were not part of Apple's iCloud re-download scheme when it debuted in March because of contract restrictions with HBO, restrictions which HBO has since relaxed. With Universal joining four other studios already on iCloud, Fox is the last holdout.
$35 Tablet Makers Begin Legal Battle. When we last checked, a standoff between the original designers and manufacturers of India's "$35 tablet" was delaying delivery of the device. The tiff is now getting serious--the designers of tablet at IIT Jodhpur are suing manufacturing company DataWind for flouting the original stipulations of their tender agreement. DataWind, in the meanwhile, has pinned blame for the delay of the device squarely on the profs at IIT Jodhpur.
Daily Silicon Valley Reporter
Google Tablet Delayed. Although we know precious little about Google's upcoming Nexus tablet, we do now seem to know one fact: It's delayed. Earlier reports had suggested a June time frame, with the device priced at around $249 ($150 less than the iPad 2's new price). But Google and maker-partner Asus are said to be delaying the launch until July so they can optimize its price, which may actually then be much lower--perhaps even $150. Rival and also, paradoxically, maker-partner Samsung recently said it was delaying the Galaxy Tab 2 due to extra work needed on its Android 4.0 OS.
Instagram About To Get $50 Million Injection. Instagram is poised to receive a cash input in a Series B funding round of some $50 million led by Sequoia Capital, so the rumors go. That would place the young social network at a valuation of some $500 million, which is roughly 200 times less than Facebook's value--actually an astonishingly big percentage, given how new Instagram really is and how narrow its focus versus the sprawling Facebook.
Is Web 2.0 Over? Cofounder of influential VC firm O'Reilly AlphaTech Ventures Bryce Roberts has a fascinating opinion post up that questions if we're already at the boundary of Web 2.0 (the interactive web) with Web 3.0. In his mind, efforts like Google's Glass and many other highly successful tech efforts out there are all about gathering vast amounts of data. It may be "data monopoly or also-ran," he worries. Given many developments in tech at the moment, Roberts has a point.
Facebook To List On Nasdaq, Not NYSE. Although the value of companies listed on the NYSE is about triple that of Nasdaq's companies, Facebook--in what is likely to be one of the splashiest and most important tech IPOs of the next 10 years--has chosen to list on Nasdaq.
Google's Larry Page On Google's Future. Google CEO Larry Page has an open letter on Google's 2012 plans and the future--though it's in general terms, the theme sends to be "more of the same from Google." Core search will continue, but Google will also pursue unexpected side projects like Glass, and Page ended the letter noting "happiness is a healthy disregard for the impossible."
Anonymous Chinese Hacktivist Reveals Secrets. A hacker called Hardcore Charlie has revealed that he's hacked into a Chinese military contractor's computer systems and discovered documents that reveal information on the U.S. military effort in Afghanistan. It's a big development on Anonymous's recent effort to expose China to the same sort of digital assault the hackers have used elsewhere around the world.
HTC Profits Slip Thanks To Phones. HTC is now well-known as one of the biggest and best makers of Android phones, but the firm has just revealed financial figures that are its biggest drop in profit since it IPO'd over a decade ago. The Taiwan firm's net income for the last quarter was $151 million, down 70% on a year ago and even underperforming on gloomy analyst expectations. It was because it "dropped the ball" on phones, according to its CFO, and lost sales to Apple and Samsung.
Daily Silicon Valley Reporter
Over Half-A-Million Macs Affected By Virus. According to a Russian security expert, over 600,000 Macs have been infected with the Flashback trojan virus. It's installed simply by visiting an infected website, and can steal personal info like passwords, which it reports back home. Over half the infected machines are in the U.S. But a manual fix is available, and Apple has recently patched the security loophole that enabled it.
U.S. Lags Much of Europe, East, In Homes With Wi-Fi. According to a new survey by Strategy Analytics, just 61% of U.S. households have a wireless LAN to share their broadband connection with TVs and mobile gadgets. South Korea and the U.K. led the survey results with 80.3% and 73.3% penetration, and many European nations beat the U.S., as do Japan with 68.4% and Canada with 67.8%.
Dell Acquires Legacy Code Firms. Dell has just bought Make Technologies, a firm that specializes in updating legacy applications and systems for corporate IT clients, for an unmentioned sum. It's a most recent in a swift round of purchases that's seen Dell buying similar companies. Presumably Dell is sensitive to the rapid changes in the computing market such as cloud tech and the upcoming upset of Windows 8, and is hedging against it.
Pottermore Sells $1.5 Million Worth Of Harry Potter In 3 Days. Harry Potter's digital debut was much-delayed, but it is here now, and by all accounts is a success. In just three days of being open, over one and a half million dollars' worth of e-books (over £1 million, in Pottermore's native British value) sold. At the average price of each text, that's over 164,000 copies.
Apple Addresses iPad Wi-Fi Error. The new iPad has, for a few users, suffered intermittent Wi-Fi connectivity problems (the Wi-Fi-only model seems at fault). Apple has now acknowledged the occasional flaw in its flagship tablet product, and via a leaked store memo we know it's telling staff to send suspect units to the lab for testing and possible replacement.
Intel's StudyBook Is A Tablet For Schools. Intel's Classmate netbook design has been used successfully used as a template for education-centric netbooks around the world--such as the Magalhães in Portugal--but now Intel has realized there's a whole new tech market it can address: Tablets. Thus it's created the StudyBook, a school-centric reference tablet design based on Intel CPUs, dual-booted with perhaps Windows and Android and costing less than $299.
Anonymous Aims At China. Diffuse hacktivist collective Anonymous has targeted hundreds of official Chinese government websites in its latest protest. While some were merely defaced with Anonymous branded imagery and messages--inciting the population to resist government censorship--others were more seriously breached with administrator passwords leaked online. Interestingly it's a new branch of Anonymous which seems to be based in China itself, dedicated to resisting the government's control of the population.
Daily Silicon Valley Reporter
Yahoo Loses 2,000 Staff. In order to be "smaller, nimbler, more profitable and better equipped to innovate as fast as our customers and our industry require," as CEO Scott Thompson explained in a letter, Yahoo has just cut 2,000 staff. That's around 14% of its workforce. Yahoo has said for a while that serious change was coming, and the move isn't hugely unexpected, but it does paint a worrying picture. As does the word "urgent."
Google And Paramount Bring Movies To YouTube. Google is partnering with 100-year-old movie studio Paramount to allow users to rent 500 more films including The Godfather andTransformers on YouTube. That makes six partnerships in total that Google has made with big Hollywood studios.
"Next Issue" Delivers Magazines To Your iPad. For a monthly subscription of $10 or $15, you can have access to a host of magazines (without the annoying mail-back pullouts) via Next Issue's new iPad app. That's an attractive, Netflix-esque offer for iPad owners, but also a sign that the publishing industry is trying a few new approaches to strutting their digital stuff.
Facebook Sues Yahoo. Facebook is taking a breather from IPO prep to file a suit against Yahoo, in swift response to Yahoo's 10-patent suit against Facebook. In late March, Facebook bought a stack of 750 patents off IBM. Now it's suing Yahoo for photo tagging features, online recommendations, advertising… and at least one of those claims is made on a patent Facebook acquired after Yahoo made the first sue move. --NS
LinkedIn Woos Japanese Users. LinkedIn is stepping up its game in Japan and has launched a "How To" guide--video explainers that introduce people to the service, and a technique used before by Facebook and Twitter. This is just a few weeks after Facebook announced it had reached 10 million users in the country where, oddly enough, a main use for the social network is to build and maintain business connections.
Google Maps Updates London Olympics Schedule With Real Time Delays. What will you do with all that free Wi-Fi time you're going to get while waiting for Olympics-bound public transport in London? Now you can check if your train is delayed. As part of a pre-Olympics rollout, Google Maps has started posting delay information for the London tube, updated in real time.
Daily Silicon Valley Reporter
Amazon Pilot Tests In-App Payments. Amazon could be setting up to earn more from the Kindle Fire by a new in-app payment system that Bloomberg's heard the company's been piloting. It's a strategy that Google and Apple have both been following for some time now--when users buy items from within an app, it's a kick in revenue for both the device maker and the app builder.
EU Sizes Up Motorola In Antitrust Investigation. The EU's antitrust inspector is launching an investigation into Motorola Mobility and its patent licensing practices, especially those it cited in its injunctions against products like the iPhone, iPad, Xbox, and more. This comes after Apple and Microsoft petitioned the EU saying Motorola was being "anticompetitive" and wasn't playing fair.
Google Buys TxVia For Wallet. Google has bought up payments tech startup TxVia. Google says it values the "fast, flexible and highly reliable payments platform" and intends for partnership to "accelerate innovation" on developing the Google Wallet system. In other Wallet news, cofounder and engineer has jumped ship to Square, where, according to his LinkedIn page, he's snapped up the role of "Hyperspatial Payments Pioneer."
Travel Sites Lodge Antitrust Complaints Against Google. Travel sites Expedia and now TripAdviser are filing antitrust complaints in Europe against search giant Google. The companies say Google's preferential travel search practices put rival travel sites at a disadvantage--something that's anti-competitive, and, frankly, unsporting. The EU will decide this month if the complaints warrant a case against Google.
Pinterest Cofounder Leaves For Andreessen Horowitz. Following yesterday's rumors that he was leaving Pinterest, cofounder Paul Sciarra has confirmed in a blog post on Pinterest that he's moving on to join Andreessen Horowitz as entrepreneur-in-residence. The Pinterest journey had been a singular one, as he reminisced, "I can almost guarantee that this is the only company ever that’s been offered homemade barbeque sauce in exchange for a beta invitation."
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Yahoo Open Sources App Framework. Mojito is Yahoo's own all-device app development framework, and it's just been made open source. The practical upshot of this is that if you use Yahoo's JavaScript-based tool you'll be well on your way to creating apps that can run on the world's most popular mobile devices. It's a bold if-you-can't-beat-'em, circumvent-'em move.
Samsung Spins Off Display Business. Samsung has spun off its enormous, hi-tech display-making business. Samsung Display will be registered as a separate corporation tomorrow, and based on its employee count of 20,000 is the world's largest display manufacturer, Samsung claims. As a division of Samsung Electronics, Samsung Display earned the company about $20 billion dollars in annual revenue in 2011.
Kiwi ECard Makers And Mobile Operators Team Up For NFC App. More proof that NFC is taking off outside the U.S.--New Zealand's largest electronic card operator and a top mobile service provider are banding together to create a mobile payments app. Kiwis will be able to pay for groceries and public transport by holding their phones up to devices installed on stores and trains. They'll even earn loyalty points for using it.
IBM To Build Computer For Giant Telescope. IBM is taking on a data project of astronomical proportions. It's partnering with the Netherlands Institute of Radio Astronomy to help reveal the origins of our universe. Through the $43 million "DOME" project, IBM will create a computing system robust enough to process the gigantic flood of radio wave data (used by astronomers to investigate the history of the universe) that'll come streaming off the Square Kilometer Array telescope when it's finished.
