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The Wall Street Greek blog is the sexy & syndicated financial securities markets publication of former Senior Equity Analyst Markos N. Kaminis. Our stock market blog reaches reputable publishers & private networks and is an unbiased, independent Wall Street research resource on the economy, stocks, gold & currency, energy & oil, real estate and more. Wall Street & Greece should be as honest, dependable and passionate as The Greek.



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Tuesday, December 20, 2011

magicJack Vocal Tec (Nasdaq: CALL) - The Magic is Back

magicJack Plus without computerShares of magicJack Vocal Tec (Nasdaq: CALL) were among the market’s leading gainers last Friday, on news of strong fourth quarter sales of the company’s latest Internet telephony device. The shares also got extra lift from a second simultaneous announcement, as the company canceled a dilutive share offering. The unexpected sales provided the needed operating capital in the offering’s stead. Shares of CALL were up 18% on the day, placing the company among the market’s leading gainers.

consumer products analyst blogger blogOur founder earned clients a 23% average annual return over five years as a stock analyst on Wall Street. "The Greek" has written for institutional newsletters, Businessweek, Real Money, Seeking Alpha and others, while also appearing across TV and radio. While writing for Wall Street Greek, Mr. Kaminis presciently warned of the financial crisis.

Relative Tickers: Nasdaq: ALSK, NYSE: T, Nasdaq: ATNI, NYSE: BCE, NYSE: CTL, NYSE: CHT, NYSE: CBB, Nasdaq: CNSL, Nasdaq: EONC, Nasdaq: EQIX, Nasdaq: FRP, Nasdaq: FTR, Nasdaq: HTCO, OTC: IAGI.PK, Nasdaq: CALL, Nasdaq: SHEN, Nasdaq: SURW, Nasdaq: TWTC, Nasdaq: UNTK, NYSE: VZ, NYSE: VG, Nasdaq: WWVY, Nasdaq: WIN, Nasdaq: AMCX, Nasdaq: ASCMA, NYSE: CVC, Nasdaq: CHTR, Nasdaq: CMCSA, Nasdaq: CRWN, Nasdaq: DTV, Nasdaq: DISCA, Nasdaq: DISH, Nasdaq: LBTYA, Nasdaq: LNET, NYSE: SJR, Nasdaq: TIVO, Nasdaq: VMED.

See my review of the old magicJack

The Magic is Back



It appears the magic may in fact be back for magicJack (Nasdaq: CALL). The company announced Friday that its latest product, the magicJack Plus, is basically selling like hotcakes (whatever that means), with approximately 365K units sold in the last 30 days. The original magicJack device needed to be plugged into a computer connected to the internet to make use of it, but the magicJack Plus connects directly into the internet line. Thus, you do not have to keep your computer on 24/7 to make or receive phone calls. It’s a major upgrade in technology and utility value, and the price is likewise higher, retailing at $69.95, versus the $39.95 price for the original magicJack.

Because of the strong sales, the company expects to have a cash store of approximately $50 million by next month. Thus, it was able to kill its planned share offering. Not only did it do so, but the company will renew its share repurchase program as well. It’s an interesting shift in capital management that I find telling about the management team’s forecasting prowess. That means that both upside and downside surprises are highly possible in the future as well. Such unreliability and uncertainty likely burdens the company’s valuation a bit.

Internet telephony has been an interesting market to follow. We saw Vonage (NYSE: VG) dive after its high profile IPO in the middle of the last decade. However, Vonage’s product price point probably was not or is not far enough off the major telecoms to stick, in my view. VG shares still rose in sympathy with CALL Friday, up 7.3%, to $2.36. Likewise, Skype, now owned by Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT), did well enough but never caught on with the broad populace. Perhaps it was just too early or maybe the tech savvy needed to use it was too much for an older demographic of American citizens. It’s clear, though, that with the evolution of technology usage, Internet telephony will be an easy learn. Meanwhile, magicJack just made it easy enough for even non-tech savvy seniors to use.

Eventually, the Verizon’s (NYSE: VZ), AT&T’s (NYSE: T) and Sprint Nextel’s (NYSE: S) of the world will feel threatened by internet telephony and magicJack, if they aren’t already. I’ve noted that the price difference between Verizon’s independent internet service and internet and telephone service bundle is marginal, leaving me to question whether “the jack” would really offer worthwhile savings given the convenience trade-off of the first model. I suspect Verizon and other internet providers have priced this way for this very reason. You can get cheaper internet service from the big boys of the industry, but you get less bandwidth in return. Now this second product model by magicJack presents a different story, and given that the ability to port your old number has finally arrived, the game may be on.

The important question to ask is what strategy will the telecom giants employ to crush this emerging competition. Well, the big box players are well positioned to do so, given that they control the internet. However, I could see the cable providers, who are also providers of bandwidth, like Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC), Cablevision (NYSE: CVC) and Comcast (Nasdaq: CMCSA) having interest in acquiring a magicJack in order to provide a more competitive bundle package against the telecom players’ offerings. Thus, the new magicJack might be more than just a nifty product for a thrifty spender. Its shares and those of similar servicers might find broad appeal one way or another. Given that a recent census poll showed about half of America is poor, and given the number appears to be increasing, even the worst case scenario seems to present an expanding market opportunity.

There’s just one analyst following the company, based on Yahoo Finance data. His EPS estimate for 2012 appears to be $1.83, which puts its P/E ratio at 13.1X as of Friday. While EPS growth looks to approximate 71% in 2012, the long-term growth estimate is 17.5%, again based on Yahoo Finance and its data providers. Based on this thumbnail, the stock would appear undervalued. The question is, can Internet telephony, and more importantly, the MagicJack, really replace standard telephone service? It once seemed unlikely, but there certainly is a market of bargain seekers willing to try it out, and that market is expanding as economic difficulties continue. Meanwhile, the technology just got easier to operate.

I suspect there is untapped value in recurring revenue not currently being maximized. Today, you buy the magicJack and have telephone service all year long, and then are asked to pay the same amount the following year to continue using the service (though the company stretches that revenue across the year). I suspect that an acquirer would create value by raising the monthly charge tied to magicJack usage through the year. So, while lowering the revenue received currently through telephone service provision, they could also add value to the acquired service and position more competitively against the big three telecom providers. I see this as a clear opportunity for the cable industry, but bad news for the savvy consumer now benefiting from his "jack".

The stock’s chart seemed to show market disinterest until volume picked up in 2010. The cure for questions is earnings growth, and earnings visibility is a new development here. As earnings grow now, and with a P/E near single digits, there would be little stopping the share price following earnings per share higher. The company managed to sell 8 million of its original magicJacks® into a market of roughly 100 million households. This newest product is far superior and the economics more attractive. Its appeal can reach a broader span of Americans, in my view. So, I am a short to medium term fan of magicJack shares (Nasdaq: CALL) and recommend them for aggressive, emerging growth and micro to small cap portfolios.

Editor’s Note: This article should interest investors in Alaska Communications Systems Group (Nasdaq: ALSK), AT&T (NYSE: T), Atlantic Tele-Network (Nasdaq: ATNI), BCE Inc. (NYSE: BCE), CenturyLink (NYSE: CTL), Chunghwa Telecom (NYSE: CHT), Cincinnati Bell (NYSE: CBB), Consolidated Communications (Nasdaq: CNSL), eOn Communications (Nasdaq: EONC), Equinix (Nasdaq: EQIX), FairPoint Communications (Nasdaq: FRP), Frontier Communications (Nasdaq: FTR), Hickory Tech (Nasdaq: HTCO), IA Global (OTC: IAGI.PK), magicJack VocalTec (Nasdaq: CALL), Shenandoah Telecommunications (Nasdaq: SHEN), SureWest Communications (Nasdaq: SURW), tw telecom (Nasdaq: TWTC), UniTek Global Services (Nasdaq: UNTK), Verizon (NYSE: VZ), Vonage (NYSE: VG), Warwick Valley Telephone (Nasdaq: WWVY), Windstream Corp. (Nasdaq: WIN), AMC Networks (Nasdaq: AMCX), Ascent Media (Nasdaq: ASCMA), Cablevision (NYSE: CVC), Charter Communications (Nasdaq: CHTR), Comcast (Nasdaq: CMCSA), Crown Media (Nasdaq: CRWN), DIRECTV (Nasdaq: DTV), Discovery Communications (Nasdaq: DISCA), DISH Network (Nasdaq: DISH), Liberty Global (Nasdaq: LBTYA), LodgeNet Interactive (Nasdaq: LNET), Shaw Communications (NYSE: SJR), TiVo (Nasdaq: TIVO) and Virgin Media (Nasdaq: VMED).

Please see our disclosures at the Wall Street Greek website and author bio pages found there. This article and website in no way offers or represents financial or investment advice. Information is provided for entertainment purposes only.

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Monday, December 19, 2011

magicJack Product Review

magicJack product reviews

Review of magicJack



magicJack Rating: Asto!

Ratings Range from Opa! (favorable) to O.K. - Ola Kala (neutral) to Asto! (do without)

Your favorite blogger here was enamored with the idea of a cheaper telephone service, and became a pioneering owner of the magicJack last year. The product served the purpose some of the time, but also produced weird feedback for those on the other end of the line at other times. I found ways around that, discovering that the system worked better if I plugged my phone into the magicJack instead of speaking via the microphone of my laptop. What bothered me most, though, was a broken promise made by the company.

I bought the product partly on the promise that I would be able to transfer my highly coveted 212 NYC area coded number to the system. That promise of “available soon” turned into a year of the same statement, and then a promise of notification once it would become available. I, therefore, never benefited economically speaking from my ownership of the magicJack, as I kept paying for my landline simultaneously. That was not satisfactory, considering I was really happy about the idea of a dirt cheap telephone service to replace the expensive service I hardly ever use anyway.

I won’t be buying the new version of the magicJack based on those broken promises of the past. However, if the magicJack people want to send me a sample of the new model, I will gladly review it here and be thankful for the healing of my experience.

Editor’s Note: This article should interest investors in Alaska Communications Systems Group (Nasdaq: ALSK), AT&T (NYSE: T), Atlantic Tele-Network (Nasdaq: ATNI), BCE Inc. (NYSE: BCE), CenturyLink (NYSE: CTL), Chunghwa Telecom (NYSE: CHT), Cincinnati Bell (NYSE: CBB), Consolidated Communications (Nasdaq: CNSL), eOn Communications (Nasdaq: EONC), Equinix (Nasdaq: EQIX), FairPoint Communications (Nasdaq: FRP), Frontier Communications (Nasdaq: FTR), Hickory Tech (Nasdaq: HTCO), IA Global (OTC: IAGI.PK), magicJack VocalTec (Nasdaq: CALL), Shenandoah Telecommunications (Nasdaq: SHEN), SureWest Communications (Nasdaq: SURW), tw telecom (Nasdaq: TWTC), UniTek Global Services (Nasdaq: UNTK), Verizon (NYSE: VZ), Vonage (NYSE: VG), Warwick Valley Telephone (Nasdaq: WWVY) and Windstream Corp. (Nasdaq: WIN).

Please see our disclosures at the Wall Street Greek website and author bio pages found there. This article and website in no way offers or represents financial or investment advice. Information is provided for entertainment purposes only.

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