You can never be too rich or too thin.
However, you're hotter if you're thinner rather than richer.
A survey commissioned by Nutrisystem finds that 85 percent of Americans "find a great body more of a turn-on for a sexual partner to have than a lot of money."
SHOCKING!
Nutrisystem has seen its own stock value lose weight this year as WeightWatchers shares bulked up. Analysts believe some people are preferring cheaper weight loss solutions in the current economy. However, when it comes to fat wallet versus fat waistline, the Nutrisystem survey claims that one in five people would be willing to give up a million dollars in lottery winnings if they could have their dream body for life.
Here's a bit of advice. Take the money. You can buy your dream body and still have some left over.
Who has the dream body we all desire? It depends on the part. The Nutrisystem survey found that women want Jennifer Lopez's legs and backside, Michelle Obama's arms, and Jessica Alba's abs. (We seem to be missing an important body part here, but maybe it's an area where women don't usually want to lose weight). Men long to have Vin Diesel's arms and Matthew McConaughey's stomach.
Despite our dreams, we don't really want to work that hard for a better body. Nearly half of those surveyed say it would be harder to give up a favorite dessert for a month than give up sex.
Finally, we fib about fat. Half of us admit our profile pictures on social networking sites are intentionally shot from the waist up, nearly one in five of us have lied about our weight on official documents, and 36 percent of us who are married or in serious relationships would rather discuss the number of past sexual partners than talk about how much we truly weigh.
There is some good news.
Nutrisystem claims that by extrapolating its survey results and comparing them to 2010, seven million more Americans can now be classified as healthy, and nine million fewer Americans are unhealthy.
( Source: CNBC )
Beacon Power Corp ( NASDAQ:BCON ) ties up with irish wind energy storage company Gaelectric to provide short term back up electricity to wind farm. Stock jumped 25 % based on news. Although volumes were high, stock might not see much upside from here. Traders might take a cautious call for buying at current level.
Below is the detailed news:
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| Beacon Power Corp. |
LOW-COST ENERGY : IRISH wind energy storage company Gaelectric has signed a collaboration and development agreement with US flywheel energy storage firm Beacon Power that could see flywheel storage solutions deployed to provide short-term back-up electricity for wind farms in the United States and Ireland.
Gaelectric is a significant wind farm developer here, in the North and in Montana, in the US. Chief executive Brendan McGrath said: “As we learned more about the energy balancing issues related to greater wind deployment in Ireland, the UK and Montana, we saw the need to add a storage solution that can accommodate the seconds-to- minutes timeframe that compressed air storage, which we initially looked at, cannot.
“Beacon’s flywheel technology is effective in providing this service and can be deployed incrementally as wind assets are deployed.”
To identify opportunities for energy storage from increased deployment of wind, the two companies funded an extensive study of the Irish grid. It concluded that deploying fast-response flywheel technology on a large scale would improve grid stability, reduce wind curtailment, and improve the efficiency of the entire Irish grid, resulting in significant monetary and CO2 emissions savings.
They say opportunities identified in this study have broad market potential in Europe, North America, Asia and other parts of the world.
NeoMedia Technologies Inc ( OTC: NEOM ), penny stock continued an up move of more than 100% after yesterday's huge upside of more than 266 % Read Alert
here. It might be a cautious call to initiate buy positions and hold for investment, but one might trade for intraday gains. Company was in the news as it was granted a patent approval in US. Read More
here.
here. It might be a cautious call to initiate buy positions and hold for investment, but one might trade for intraday gains. Company was in the news as it was granted a patent approval in US. Read More
here.
Clean Diesel Technologies, Inc (NASDAQ: CDTI),company was in the news yesterday as it begged a huge order of $ 2 million for its its verified (approved) emission reduction products. Stock jumped more than 90 % yesterday and we have announced a strong move alert as up move was convincing. Traders might gain huge returns as stock continued its upward momentum and up more than 40 %. Read our previous alert
here
here
Gordmans Stores Inc ( NASDAQ: GMAN ), stock of the company plunged more than 27 % after company reported quarterly earnings. Although earnings rose 14 % but announced weak outlook for the next quarter. Also, Wells Fargo downgraded company stock from outperform to market perform and lowered its price target to $16-$17 from $17-$19.
Below is the news release:
DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
Gordmans Stores Inc.'s (GMAN) fiscal first-quarter earnings rose 14%, but the regional discount retailer gave a disappointing forecast.
Gordmans, a Midwestern discount retailer that competes with the likes of TJX Cos. (TJX) in selling low-price, name-brand clothing and home decor, predicted current-quarter results below the consensus view. It projected earnings of 10 cents to 11 cents a share on revenue of $116 million to $117 million, versus the respective 20 cent and $123 million estimates from a survey of analysts by Thomson Reuters.
It also lowered its outlook for the year to $1.18 to $1.23 in earnings per share on $553 million to $557 million. In March, it had predicted $1.30 to $1.35 a share and $563 million to $571 million.
For the quarter ended April 30, the company posted a profit of $7.3 million, or 38 cents a share, from $6.4 million, or 39 cents a share, a year earlier. The latest period included 19% more shares outstanding. Revenue increased 5.2% to $117.7 million.
In March, the company predicted earnings of 34 cents to 36 cents a share on revenue of $119 million and $121 million.
Gross margin rose to 47.5% from 47%.
Levi & Korsinsky announced that they are investigating a possible breaches of fiduciary duty and other state law violations during the sale of the company to Skyworks Solutions Inc. Main concern is whether Skyworks are underpaying AATI stockholders. As per the transaction AATI shareholders will get a total value of $ 6.13 per share. Stock jumped more than 55% in the premarket trade to close to $ 6.06.
Below is the detailed news :
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| Advanced Analogic Technology Inc |
Advanced Analogic Technologies Inc ( NASDAQ: AATI ) announced that it is investigating the Board of Directors of Advanced Analogic Technologies Incorp. for possible breaches of fiduciary duty and other violations of state law in connection with the sale of the Company to Skyworks Solutions, Inc. (Skyworks). Under the terms of the transaction, AATI shareholders will receive $3.68 in cash and 0.08725 of a share of Skyworks common stock for each share of AATI stock they own. This represents a value of $6.13 per share of AATI stock, for an approximate total transaction value of $262 million. The investigation concerns whether the AATI Board of Directors breached their fiduciary duties to AATI stockholders by failing to adequately shop the Company before entering into this transaction and whether Skyworks is underpaying for AATI shares, thus unlawfully harming AATI stockholders.
Google inc has unveiled a service called Google wallet to connect consumers and merchants to use smartphones for payments and trying to develop virtual payment system. Its announcement of to develop such a system came under fire as eBay's PayPal file a lawsuit against the Google inc. PayPal claiming that Google Wallet service is the byproduct of their intellectual properties. Also complain include that Osama Bedier, its former executive served 9 years at PayPal now Google's vice president of payments,was a part of the team that helped to develop new service called "Google Wallet".
The suit alleges Google hired Bedier four months ago primarily to pick his brain and steal PayPal's trade secrets for its new phone-as-a-wallet service.
PayPal alleges Bedier put the latest information about PayPal's mobile payment strategy on his own computer just before he started his new job at Google. The suit also names a former eBay executive, Stephanie Tilenius, who went to work for Google in 2009 and began to woo Bedier last year. Tilenius, Google's vice president of commerce, also appeared at the New York event to tout the benefits of Google Wallet.
"Sometimes the behaviors of people and competitors make legal action the only meaningful way for a company to protect one of its most valuable assets—its trade secrets," PayPal wrote on its blog Thursday.
Google spokesman Aaron Zamost said the company isn't commenting until it has had more time to review the suit.
Luring Bedier away from PayPal was so important, according to the lawsuit, that both Eric Schmidt, then Google's CEO, and co-founder Larry Page met with him last fall. Page has since replaced Schmidt as CEO.
Google made its first formal job offer to Bedier on Nov. 12, according to the lawsuit, which was filed in Santa Clara County Superior Court. That was just three days before Schmidt appeared at a technology conference and talked about the possibility of Google creating a phone that could supplant wallets.
In Google's vision detailed Thursday, shoppers will touch their phone screen to select a card, then tap the phone to a credit-card reader in a store or restaurant. Google would make money by selling coupons and advertising that come along with the experience.
It's a goal shared by PayPal and others. The Internet search and advertising company also faces tough competition from cellphone companies and payment card issuer Visa. All of them want to play the central role of tying together phones, retailers and banks into a new payment system.
This isn't Google's first attempt at electronic payments. The company introduced an online payment service called "Checkout" five years ago. It hasn't posed a serious threat to PayPal.
Google views its digital wallet as a way to sell advertising at a pivotal moment: when shoppers are in stores, ready to spend money and even more receptive to coupons and other discount offers.
Nick Holland, an analyst at Yankee Group, said that although all parties stand to benefit from Google's system, Google itself has the most to gain. That's because the Google Wallet would allow the company to "own" the market for advertising that's tied to the user's location.
Google said it's launching a Google Wallet trial in San Francisco and New York in cooperation with Visa rival MasterCard and Citibank. It will open up the system to consumers later in the summer. It then plans to expand across the country.
There has been talk of smart payment systems for years, and Google faces the same hurdles that have stifled previous trials.
One is that Google Wallet will initially work on only one smartphone, the Google Nexus S 4G carried by Sprint Nextel. Several smartphone makers, including Research In Motion, maker of the BlackBerry, are ready to bring out more phones with chips for so-called Near-Field Communications, or NFC, but it's uncertain if they'll work with Google's system.
Another hurdle is getting retailers to invest in terminals that can talk to the phones. Google Wallet will connect only to MasterCard PayPass terminals. There are more than 135,000 of those in U.S. stores and restaurants, but that's only a small fraction of the total number.
Google's carrot is that retailers will be able to put loyalty cards and coupons in the Wallet, helping them track and engage with their customers. Partners in the trial include Macy's, RadioShack, Subway, Toys R Us, Duane Reade and Walgreens.
Yet another problem: Google needs to get cellphone companies on board. Its partner Sprint is the country's third-largest. AT&T, Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile USA, the rest of the four biggest national carriers, have formed their own consortium to create a wallet that will compete with Google's.
The final obstacle is persuading consumers to take the leap. Phones might one day offer slightly faster checkouts, but the benefit would be small. Google calls Wallet a "single-tap solution," but in a demonstration Thursday at Google's New York office, a Google executive had to tap his phone twice to a terminal provided by retail partner American Eagle Outfitters, then sign on the screen to get a purchase of a pair of denim shorts through.
The Wallet will initially work with a MasterCard from Citigroup and with a prepaid debit card issued by Google, but the intent is to let the Wallet accept any card.
"This is about creating a compelling model and asking folks to join," Bedier said Thursday at the New York event.
Banks and payment processors such as MasterCard and Visa like the idea of mobile payments, but have their own designs on the space. Visa already has announced plans for its own wallet. MasterCard is collaborating with Google but is working on its own projects.
"Today's announcement is another early salvo in what will be a long and hard-fought battle to change consumers' payment behavior and, as a potential result, the makeup of the payments landscape," said Forrester Research analyst Charles Golvin.
( Source: AP )
© 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Ratings agency Fitch on Friday cut its outlook on Japan's sovereign debt to negative from stable, warning that the massive cost of a March earthquake and tsunami would put added strain on the country's already shaky public finances. It maintained AA rating on Japan.
"Japan's sovereign credit-worthiness is under negative pressure from rising government indebtedness," said Andrew Colquhoun, head of Fitch's Asia-Pacific Sovereigns team in a statement.
"A stronger fiscal consolidation strategy is necessary to buffer the sustainability of the public finances against the adverse structural trend of population ageing."
Country's debt is almost twice the size of its $5 trillion economy, that inches up as reconstruction cost after Massive Earthquake and tsunami had damaged a lot.
However, the country's deepest crisis since World War Two has not healed rifts between the government and the opposition, whose majority in the upper house stands in the way of fiscal reform.
Fitch said Japan's public indebtedness was also rising sharply, at a pace trailing only Ireland and Iceland, "both of which have experienced systemic banking crises".
Goldman Sachs
India Research
It is a GS contention that FY12 earnings for Sensex companies have been over-estimated by as much as 22 per cent by consensus street analysts. If FY12 Sensex earnings come a cropper at just about Rs 1050-1100 then a very shaky base case for the Sensex would be 15000-16000.
Construction, Real Estate, Infrastructure and Cement will be the biggest sufferers in a stagflation scenario. Top sells will include SBI, BOI and ACC.
Scenario to 7.5% and 6.9% GDP growth
We have run two scenarios for our coverage in India. The first assumes a further 75bps hike to rates, oil prices of $115/bbl and GDP growth of 7.5% in FY2012. The second, more aggressive scenario, assumes a further 150bps hike to rates,oil prices of $130/bbl and GDP growth of 6.9% in FY2012. Under the first scenario, we conclude that our average earnings would be cut by 6.4% (taking them 16% below current consensus) and under the second scenario, our earnings would be cut by 12.4% (going to 22% below consensus).
GS forecasting 7.5% inflation in FY 2012
Our ECS team has increased their forecast for inflation from 6.7% to 7.5% for FY12. In this note, we explore how inflation has impacted corporate profitability and valuations in previous cycles and seek to identify companies that could be shielded in a difficult macro environment.
High inflation a harbinger of lower growth, lower margins and compressed multiples
Previous periods of high inflation in India have led to a 200bps compression in EBIT margins, 250-300bps compression in net margins and a 15% contraction to earnings multiples. Against this backdrop, we note that consensus is forecasting a 70bps improvement to EBIT margins and a 30bps improvement to net margins in CY2011E. Our earnings forecasts for our coverage group are 10% below consensus in FY 2012.
We expect consensus earnings to decline in the months ahead. In this note we seek to identify companies that are relatively insulated from a dynamic of decelerating growth, as well as those particularly exposed to the same.
Penny Stock NeoMedia Technologies, Inc ( OTC: NEOM ) exploded 266% with a sharp spike in volumes after announcement of approval in the reexamination of its US Patent 6199048. Traders might see an opportunity to trade stock today. One might wait for opening movement in the stock today and then initiate buy positions for decent gains.
Below is the Press Release:
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| NeoMedia Technologies Inc |
NeoMedia Technologies, Inc. (OTC BB: NEOM.OB), the global leader in mobile barcode scanning solutions, announced today that the United States Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) has ruled in favor of NeoMedia in the second re-examination of its US Patent 6,199,048, ‘System And Method For Automatic Access Of A Remote Computer Over A Network’. All 89 existing claims, as well as six newly added claims, of the Barcode Lookup Patent have been confirmed as being patentable by the PTO.
The PTO’s decision, which marks the final chapter in a lengthy process following a successful first reexamination proceeding that ended in confirmation of the patent in 2009, provides tremendous opportunities for companies in the mobile marketing and advertising space, allowing them to quickly implement new applications and services.
“We are delighted the PTO has again confirmed the strength of the ‘048 patent in the face of another third-party challenge to its validity. This ruling allows us to realize the potential of our efforts and innovations, further strengthening our partnerships,” said Laura Marriott, Chief Executive Officer of NeoMedia Technologies, Inc.
"We are extremely pleased that this patent has again withstood the extreme scrutiny of a Patent Office reexamination proceeding. Confirmation of a patent challenged by reexamination twice in four years in highly unusual, and we firmly believe this puts the issue of the validity of this patent to rest,” said Tony Barkume of Barkume & Associates, P.C., patent counsel for NeoMedia.
Full details of the PTO ruling are detailed in the Notice of Intent to Issue Ex-Parte Reexamination Certificate (NIRC) issued by the examiner. To learn more about NeoMedia’s product portfolio visit www.neom.com.
About NeoMedia:
NeoMedia Technologies, Inc. is the global market leader in 2D mobile barcode technology and infrastructure solutions that enable the mobile barcode ecosystem world-wide. Its technology platform transforms mobile devices with cameras into barcode scanners, enabling a range of practical and engaging applications including consumer oriented advertising, mobile ticketing and couponing, and business-to-business commercial track and trace solutions.
NeoMedia’s suite of products, services and extensive IP portfolio means it is the only provider able to offer customers a comprehensive end-to-end mobile code solution. NeoMedia’s current customers include handset manufacturers, platform providers, brands and agencies looking to offer pioneering mobile barcode solutions to their customer base.
NeoMedia’s product portfolio includes: mobile barcode management & infrastructure solutions, barcode reader solutions, Mobile Coupon & Affiliate Marketing, Mobile Ticketing & POS Integration and IP Licensing. Learn more at www.neom.com
