Paul Shea

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) really likes Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA). Just a few days ago, the company released a report on the company that set its twelve month price target at $103. That was before the auto maker announced that it was going to take on debt and sell additional shares. Now Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) is aiming even higher. The report boosts its Base Case twelve month valuation for the EV manufacturer by close to 6 percent, leaving it at $109 per share. The bull case may be more interesting to some investors and fans of the company, however. If everything goes right for Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA), Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) thinks the firm could very well be headed for $200 shares in a year. Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) cannot, according to the MS analysts, be valued like another auto company, because of its extraordinary disruptive force in the marketplace. According to the report’s estimates, Tesla should multiply its revenues ten times from 2012-2016, thirty times from 2012-2020, and 60 times from 2012-2030. The bull case requires the following from Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA). The company would need to become a major player in the electric vehicle market and transition extremely quickly
Read More »

A behemoth is headed toward earth on May 31, 2013.  An asteroid named 1998 QE2, is due to fly by the earth at the end of this month, providing a spectacle for amateur astronomers, though scientists seem certain that the space debris will not crash into the earth on its journey through space. 1998 QE2 Asteroid Discovery 1998 QE2 was discovered fifteen years ago, though scientists are unsure where the particle actually came from, according to an LA Times piece. It is about 1.7 miles across, and in the extremely unlikely event that it does collide with the earth, it would almost certainly cause a mass extinction on the surface of the planet. According to some speculation from Amy Mainzer who works at Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Cañada Flintridge, the asteroid’s distinctive blackened sooty surface could indicate that it used to be a comet, and has since gotten too close to the sun’s aura. It may also be an asteroid that was freed from the asteroid belt between Jupiter and Mars. The asteroid is predicted to come within about 3.6 million miles of the surface of the planet, at its closest encounter. The International Space Station, in contrast, hits its highest
Read More »

The former Chief Executive of Spanish Bank Caja Madrid, Miguel Blesa, has become the first Spanish banker to be jailed for his part in the country’s financial crisis. Caja Madrid is now a part of the country’s BANKIA SA (OTCMKTS:BNKXF).  Blesa is accused of saddling the bank with major losses after a takeover of a bank in Miami, Florida. Bankia was taken over by Spain’s government last year after a series of losses were revealed, some of which were due to the fiasco at Caja Madrid. The seizure of BANKIA SA (OTCMKTS:BNKXF) led to the collapse of Spain’s ability to raise debt, and an EU bailout. Miguel Blesa Spent Thursday Night In Jail According to a New York Times piece on the case, Mr. Blesa spent Thursday night in jail. The judge in the case decided that the banker should spend the night in jail and have his passport removed because the accused post a flight risk. The judge, according to the NYT piece, did not elaborate on his reasons for denying Mr. Blesa travel rights. His bail was set at €2.5 million, an amount based on the severance payment he received when he left Caja Madrid in 2010. The former
Read More »

There are many out there comfortable with fighting for the artistic reputation of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), particularly the company’s software and hardware design methodology. There are fewer, though they certainly exist, that would argue for the artistic nature of the company’s iconic logo. Over at Forbes, David Cole looks at that very image, and attempts to derive the divine from it. Over the years, mainly though the medium of forum posts and photo shopped images, many have claimed that the company’s logo lines up with a particularly interesting mathematical phenomenon, the golden ratio. Cole seeks to prove the contention, or find it false. For those who aren’t familiar with the concept, the golden ratio is approximately 1.618. Artists and architects are fond of incorporating the number into their pieces, and famous examples of its use include some of Leonardo Da Vinci’s work, most notably On the Divine Proportion, and in Debussy’s Reflections in Water. Many have claimed that the golden ratio can be found in many different parts of nature, as well. Oft cited examples include much of the work of Adolf Zeising, who claimed to see the golden ratio in everything from the branches and stems of plants to the
Read More »

SAC has told its clients that its cooperation with United States Regulators is no longer unconditional. The investment firm has been in trouble in recent weeks as it fights various lawsuits resulting from insider trading allegations. The move puts more pressure on regulators as they try to clean up the various accusations held against the company. The firm said that there would be “substantially more clarity” through 2013 about the investigation. The company made the statement in a letter it sent to its clients on Friday. The company expects disclosure to clients to be limited because of confidentiality agreements with regulators, according to a Bloomberg piece on the news. SAC Capital Agreed To Pay Fine Last month, SAC Capital agreed to pay a fine of $616 million in response to the regulatory suit, but the company was not being forced to deny or admit guilt in the case. With the firm refusing to cooperate fully with the United States any more, it seems as though that settlement may not be finalized. Last November a former SAC portfolio manager was charged with insider trading by the SEC. Back then, the case was described as the most lucrative insider trading case of
Read More »

Bloomberg has hired former International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM) CEO Samuel Palmisano in an independent advisory position to deal with the company’s burgeoning privacy problems. Last week it became clear that investment banks were worried about using Bloomberg Terminals as they believe that the company’s journalists used terminal data to inform their reporting on the London Whale scandal. In a piece that appeared on Reuters earlier today, Jennifer Saba reported the new hire at the news agency/financial data provider. The move is one of several in recent days that seeks to reassure banks that though some data was leaked during the London Whale scandal, there will not be a repeat of the fiasco. According to Bloomberg’s own admission, journalists had limited access to some data from the company’s terminals including when a user logged in, and when they looked at information about specific stocks and bonds. The company received an official complaint from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE:GS) about the practice. Bloomberg In Trouble With many more of its clients looking into the allegations, and many sovereign governments also reviewing the claims, Bloomberg is in serious trouble. The company hired a new Data Compliance Officer last week in one of its
Read More »

A new law out of North Carolina’s Senate would apparently make it illegal for Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) to send emails to its customers. The law, which is an attempt to outlaw unfair competition, was passed by the state Senate and must be sent to the state House of Representatives today if it is to be passed. The full text of the law can be found at this link. The offending passage of the law states that “using a computer or other communications facilities, hardware, or equipment” to sell or lease a car to anyone in North Carolina is illegal. The law would, using a broad interpretation, appear to outlaw the sale or lease of any car in any way other than person to person. The use of “communications facilities, hardware, or equipment” seems to suggest that a telephone, or possibly the mail, might be an illegal way to sell a car. A Christian Science Monitor reporter, who contacted Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) about the new law, quoted company representative Shanna Hendriks in saying, “That is not an unreasonable interpretation of the law,” and, “Any communications device–including a telephone–could be captured as conducting sales activity, and prohibited except
Read More »

Rupert Murdoch, international media magnate and founder of News Corp (NASDAQ:NWSA) (NASDAQ:NWS), tweeted this morning about Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB), comparing the company to “crappy” MySpace, a company that Murdoch’s Mew Corp bought for $580 million in 2005, right before its user base evaporated. Late on Thursday night, the following tweet appeared on Murdoch’s feed; “Look out Facebook! Hours spent participating per member dropping seriously. First really bad sign as seen by crappy MySpace years ago.” The tweet went viral on Friday, as some were incredulous that Murdoch would make such an attack after his own career in the social networking business. Look out Facebook!Hours spent participating per member dropping seriously.First really bad sign as seen by crappy MySpace years ago. — Rupert Murdoch(@rupertmurdoch) May 17, 2013   The Murdoch tweet referenced a key stat that many analysts are concerned about when it comes to Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB). Number of hours spent on Facebook is an important way to measure engagement, and therefore the value of advertising on the site. Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) engagement numbers may not be quite what they were a year ago, in the face of competition and a switch to mobile. If Rupert Murdoch doesn’t want his failures
Read More »

Zynga Inc (NASDAQ:ZNGA) has a problem, well actually the social gaming company has several problems big and small, but one may be more worrisome than the other. Former Zynga employees who have left the company for various reasons in the last few years have brought their talents, and Zynga-bought experience, to new startups that are muscling in on Zynga Inc (NASDAQ:ZNGA). According to a report that appeared on Businessweek today, former Zynga Inc (NASDAQ:ZNGA) staff have founded at least six gaming studios since the company went public back in 2011. The developers, having been trained by Zynga, know the core of social game design, and they may have advantages over the larger firms. The major problem for Zynga Inc (NASDAQ:ZNGA), and other companies in the social gaming industry, is that a hit social game might not take all that much money to develop, and distribution costs are next to zero. That means that though Zynga Inc (NASDAQ:ZNGA) can afford to spend a great deal more money than startups, it’s probability of success may not be proportionately higher. Because of the larger size of its business, Zynga Inc (NASDAQ:ZNGA) isn’t as flexible as the smaller studios. That means that the company
Read More »

Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) is holding its I/O conference at the moment and one theme seems to be clear. The company is after Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) in every single way it can think of. With the phenomenal growth in the price of Google shares so far in 2013, can the firm take Apple’s mantle as the new big cap, big growth tech firm? The product launches at the conferences seemed directly aimed at Cupertino. The most obvious attack is on the company’s music streaming service, launched as rumors about Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) launching its own service reach fever pitch. The music streaming battle may be a small one, but there were more direct hits from Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG). The launch of a new version of the Samsung Galaxy S4, running Vanilla Android, is a serious blow to Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) as worries about iPhone sales continue to mount. The new phone will give users another option, a Google rubber stamped Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (LON:BC94) (KRX:005930) phone, that might eat into sales of the Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) line up. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) removed Google maps from its devices last year, in what amounted to an unforgettable catastrophe. At Google I/O Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG)
Read More »

The Senate has confirmed Barack Obama’s pick for Secretary of Energy according to Bloomberg. Ernest Moniz, a physicist who has previously worked at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, will be the Secretary of Energy for Barack Obama’s second term as President of the United States. The news that the Senate confirmed Moniz comes amid several scandals in the White House, stemming from unethical, and possibly illegal practices at the IRS and the Department of Justice. Though the Department of Energy has been insulated from this round of scandals, it was at the center of one in Obama’s first term, the infamous investment in Solyndra. Obama’s Environmental and Energy Policy The confirmation means that Obama has now filled two of the three slots that are vital to his environmental and energy policy in the second term. Last month Sally Jewel was confirmed as the nation’s Secretary of the Interior. The Environmental Protection nominee, Gina McCarthy, encountered resistance among Senate Republicans, and her confirmation has been delayed indefinitely. Between 2007 and 2011, Moniz served as undersecretary in the Department of Energy. His predecessor, Steven Chu, was held responsible for the money lost in the Solyndra loans scandal. Chu was also previously a physics
Read More »