Stocks Hitting 52-Week Lows

Related MOV Apple's SmartWatch Launch Spells Doom for Watchmakers Apple Inc.'s Show-And-Tell Moves Winners And Losers Making Money With Charles Payne: 08/29/14 (Fox Business) Related MDC Homebuilders Reverse Rally On August Construction News Benzinga's Top Downgrades

Movado Group (NYSE: MOV) shares reached a new 52-week low of $33.49. Movado's trailing-twelve-month profit margin is 8.48%.

MDC Holdings (NYSE: MDC) shares fell 1.16% to touch a new 52-week low of $25.60. MDC Holdings' PEG ratio is 3.14.

PDF Solutions (NASDAQ: PDFS) shares reached a new 52-week low of $12.91. PDF Solutions updated the status of certain contracts and announced the effect of the change in status on previously deferred costs and expected revenues.

Finisar (NASDAQ: FNSR) shares declined 1.54% to touch a new 52-week low of $16.66. Finisar shares have dropped 25.98% over the past 52 weeks, while the S&P 500 index has gained 16.88% in the same period.

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Netflix's French connection

  Vive le streaming! Netflix enters France NEW YORK (CNNMoney) Are Parisians ready for some "Orange est le Nouveau Noir?"

Netflix (NFLX, Tech30) entered the French video streaming market Monday, and the new media company is set to debut in several other European nations soon as well.

Netflix first announced plans to move into France back in May. It also plans to launch in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, and Luxembourg before the end of the year.

Although French cable companies are expected to fight hard to keep customers from cutting the cord and embracing Netflix, the European expansion plans have been met with rave reviews from Wall Street.

How do you say "bufffering" in French?

Shares of Netflix are up nearly 30% in 2014 and are not far from their all-time high. Investors also love the fact that Netflix's streaming subscriber base is growing rapidly in the United States.

In fact, Netflix may soon top another milestone. The company is now worth $28 billion ... slightly less than the $30 billion market value for television network owner CBS (CBS). (It reminds me of the classic line by Hyman Roth to Michael Corleone in "The Godfather, Part II" about how big their criminal operation had become: "We're bigger than U.S. Steel!" Sadly, this movie is not available for streaming on Netflix.)

Soon to be bigger than old media? Surpassing CBS in market valuation would be yet another sign of how new media is disrupting the business models of the old TV and movie establishment.

CBS owns the most watched TV network in the U.S., not to mention the Showtime cable channel, a giant nationwide radio network and book publisher Simon & Schuster. (It's worth nothing that Comcast (CMCSA)-owned NBC was tops with the 18 to 49 year-old demographic that advertisers covet in the 2013-2014 season though.)

As companies like CBS continue to try and adapt to the changing ways that people watch television, Netflix is winning customers and investors. Wall Street expects Netflix's earnings to increase more than 40% a year, on average for the next few years. Analysts are forecasting ann! ual profit growth of 15% for CBS.

But Netflix stll needs old media: Of course, that 15% growth rate for CBS is not too shabby. And you could argue that CBS and other "old media" giants like Disney. (DIS) Fox (FOXA), Viacom (VIAB) and CNNMoney owner Time Warner (TWX) are important parts of Netflix's success as well.

  The Golden Age of binge TV watching?

While Netflix has been busy building out its own library of exclusive content such as "Orange is the New Black" and "House of Cards," the company also needs other big media firms to keep churning out hits as well.

Consider how popular "Breaking Bad" from AMC (AMCX) is on Netflix as many people started to binge-watch it after hearing the strong word-of-mouth reviews.

And Netflix recently paid up for the streaming rights of "Gotham," a new Batman origin story that will air on Fox this fall. (Gotham is produced by Warner Bros., a subsidiary of CNNMoney parent Time Warner.) Netflix also just scoped up streaming rights for NBC's "The Blacklist," a drama with James Spader that was one of last season's biggest new hits.

Is the stock overvalued? But even if you've already ditched cable and only watch shows on Netflix, should you buy the stock at these lofty levels?

Shares trade at more than 70 times 2015 earnings estimates, a gigantic premium to all the older media companies.

What's more, Netflix still has a long way to go before it can top the revenue figures of the big media firms. It is expected to report sales of nearly $7 billion in 2015. That's impressive -- but it's less than half of what analysts are forecasting for CBS next year.

So it would be a mistake to say that Netflix is killing old media. It's a symbiotic relationship. And tha! t will pr! obably be the case in Europe and other new markets Netflix looks to enter as well.

Work Begins on Massive Solar Power Plant in Nevada

AP/John Locher LAS VEGAS -- Construction has begun on a $1 billion solar power generating station in the Mohave Desert that officials say will produce enough electricity to power about 80,000 California homes when it is completed in 2016. The 250-megawatt project, dubbed Silver State South, will capture solar energy with panels spread across almost 4 square miles of federal land south of Las Vegas, according to a fact sheet obtained Friday from a First Solar (FSLR) representative. Executives with Arizona-based First Solar and Florida-based NextEra Energy Resources (NEE) put the cost of the project at $1 billion during a Wednesday ceremony with federal Bureau of Land Management chief Neil Kornze at the site off Interstate 15 near the Nevada-California state line. Kornze said in a statement Friday that since 2009, the BLM has approved more than 50 renewable energy projects around the country. "The Silver State South Solar Project is another step forward in using clean and abundant energy resources to make energy and create good-paying jobs," he said. When completed, it would be the same size as the largest solar project in the state, a 250-megawatt plant that First Solar is building on Moapa Paiute tribal land along I-15 north of Las Vegas. That project broke ground in March. First Solar is building the Silver State South array adjacent to a 25-megawatt Silver State North project the company completed in 2012 on almost 1 square mile of federal land near Primm. A subsidiary of NextEra will own both plants. Silver State North was the nation's first large-scale solar power plant built on public land. It sells power to NV Energy for use in the Las Vegas area. Silver State South will provide power to Southern California Edison under a long-term contract. "Renewable energy sources such as solar power play an important role in the future energy mix in this country," Armando Pimentel, NextEra president and CEO, said in a statement. "We look forward to working with First Solar and Southern California Edison to make this project a reality." Several more solar power projects have been proposed in southern Nevada, where arrays are also under construction in the Eldorado Valley south of Boulder City and outside the Nye County seat of Tonopah. Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. More from The Associated Press
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Activision: Safe To Play Long For Investors

The gaming industry has been sliding down in the year 2014, as we did not see many hit releases. This industry is certain to rebound, as we may notice a flurry of new releases in the next few months. It is anticipated that gaming software revenue would be around $64 billion in the year 2014. Market research companies also expect the gaming software industry to hit $100 billion mark by 2018. Exponentially growing mobile user combined with the game addicts is the key for this voluptuous growth of the gaming software market, not forgetting the console gamers. Activision Blizzard, Inc. (ATVI) is one such company which is focused in the domain of entertainment and interactive gaming software segment. The company has recently hit great success with some of its latest release which we will discuss later in this article.

Overview of the second quarter

In August, the company released its second quarter results for fiscal 2014 and was much better than expected. Consolidated revenues were up 8% year over year, to record $658 million as compared to $608 million in the same quarter last year. The revenue also surpassed the consensus estimate of $607 million. In the second quarter, the digital segment contributed 73% of the consolidated revenue which is a record percentage for the company. Revenues from products recorded $587 million, down by 19.5% year over year. Revenues from licenses and subscriptions recorded $583 million, up 18.6% year over year.

The company performed well in personal computer and console games to leverage revenue growth. It witnessed a robust sales performance for "Diablo: Reaper of the souls" which is a personal computer game. In the console gaming segment, "Call of Duty" had strong sales. Heroes of Warcraft, which was launched for the iPad, also recorded a tremendous global response. All in all, we can say that Activision recorded strong sales for all its gaming software, and the sales continue to grow even in the current quarter (third quarter) which will have a positive impact in the third call earning for current fiscal.

Blockbuster hit in the third quarter

This month, Activision released its latest game "Destiny". It has been reported that the company had spent over $500 million to launch this game, and the result post launch was a blockbuster hit for the company. I would say it was a worthy investment of $500 million by Activision, which is illustrated with the mega response that it got post launch. On the day of the launch, it recorded global sales of around $500 million, setting a new record in the history of the gaming industry. Bungie had developed this game, and "Destiny" was the most preordered video game not part of an existing franchise in history. The game was released for console gamers for various versions of Xbox (Xbox 360 and Xbox One) and PlayStation (PS3 and PS4). Although the total number of copies sold is not yet recorded to endorse the success, but sale of $500 million certainly talks a lot about the success.

With Activision's Destiny available for pre-download in late-August, digital console proved to be the strongest category this month, showing an increase for both download sales and microtransaction revenue," wrote SuperData CEO Joost van Dreunen. SuperData said that mobile gaming declined to $281 million for the month.

Analysts speculating acquisition

The news has been spreading, that Activision is keen to acquire Take-Two Interactive and this acquisition would further enable Activision to have a stronger grip of the gaming and the entertainment industry market. The news originated from a note made by Benchmark investigator Mike Hickey, earlier this month. This can be a win-win situation for both the companies and would certainly shake up the gaming market.

Such a takeover bodes well for Activision. Take-Two is a cash-rich company with a healthy balance sheet that records over $1 billion cash, and low operational expenses. The company holds one of the famous gaming portfolios under its belt. That incorporates Grand Theft Auto, Borderlands, Rockstars, Bioshock and Civilization to name a few. I'm sure that every industry in this segment would love to have control of these mentioned gaming series. If we recall, Take-Two was already approached by EA with $2 billion but was turned down by Take-Two. So it is to be seen, how much does it take for Activision that can invoke a "yes" from Take-Two?

Moving ahead

During the second quarter call earning release, the company had a clea

Is It Time To Ignore The Fed?

I founded Asset Management Research Corporation in 1988. The firm has provided investment research to institutions and serious investors for 26 years. My previous experience was in engineering, and owning and building two high-tech manufacturing businesses. With that background it was probably natural that my investment research would involve technical analysis and charting as well as the economic fundamentals that affect markets and stocks.

I publish the research on a financial website, www.StreetSmartReport.com, and provide a free blog at www.streetsmartpost.com.

I am frequently ranked in the 'Top Ten Market Timers in the U.S.' and quoted often in the financial media.

I wrote the timely 1999 book Riding the Bear – How to Prosper in the Coming Bear Market, which accurately predicted the 2000-2002 bear market, and 'How to Beat the Market the Easy Way!' in 2007, just prior to the 2007-2009 bear market, which introduced market-timing strategies for making profits in down markets.

Contact Sy Harding

The author is a Forbes contributor. The opinions expressed are those of the writer.