The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: Intel, Yahoo, Google, Nokia and Microsoft

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Nov 25, 2014, 09:30 ET

CHICAGO, Nov. 25, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include the Intel (Nasdaq:INTC-Free Report), Yahoo (Nasdaq:YHOO-Free Report), Google (Nasdaq:GOOGL-Free Report), Nokia (NYSE:NOK-Free Report) and Microsoft (Nasdaq:MSFT-Free Report).

Today, Zacks is promoting its ''Buy'' stock recommendations. Get #1Stock of the Day pick for free.

Here are highlights from Monday's Analyst Blog:

Technology Stock Roundup

Last week held a few surprises, as Intel (Nasdaq:INTC-Free Report) raised its outlook, Mozilla moved to Yahoo (Nasdaq:YHOO-Free Report) search, European regulators made plans to split Google (Nasdaq:GOOGL-Free Report) and Nokia (NYSE:NOK-Free Report) announced a new Android tablet.

Intel Rises on Raised Outlook

Intel provided encouragement at its annual investor meeting last week, saying that its strong Data Center business was likely to grow even stronger (15% over the next few years) and that its multi-billion dollar losses in the Mobility business would be narrowed by $800 million in 2015.

Management also continued to express caution about the PC business. That might just be in order considering the fact that many analysts are a tad wary about its PC chip growth this year, which they think couldn't be attributable entirely to share gains (so there is likely some inventory build in the channel).

That said, Intel remains confident of its ability to generate cash, promising to return an additional 6 cents a share in dividends next year. Intel expects to do this by optimizing the utilization of PC and Data Center assets to expand into "profitable, complementary" markets. Its manufacturing lead, proprietary architecture and shared IP are expected to facilitate the process. Further details are available here.

Google Bets on Chrome, Dumps Mozilla

Mozilla has ended its 10-year long association with Google. The company announced that in some markets like the U.S., Russia and China, it would instead make Yahoo, Yandex and Baidu, respectively its default search engines.

On the face of it, this is a big loss for Google, but could be otherwise as well. Google was completely capable of outbidding its competitors and yet it allowed rivals entry. So was the company thinking one, its association with Mozilla was yielding below expectations, or two, it was not as dependent on Mozilla as in the past or three, it was ready to test its long-term plans.

What's likely is the decision was a combination of numbers two and three. One is ruled out because Google pays just $300 million for the billion odd searches Mozilla sends its way. Number two is a possibility because Mozilla has next to no presence in mobile, which is currently the primary growth segment. Google's own Chrome is growing rapidly on both desktop and mobile and is already the dominant browser globally.

Google's action shows that it is willing to bet that enough users will move to its Chrome browser of their own accord and prefer Google search over others, providing evidence of the quality of Google services. StatCounter research shows that Chrome has outdone all other browsers in the last few years and has continued to grow beating all odds.

Yahoo search, which is tied to Microsoft's (Nasdaq:MSFT-Free Report) Bing will pick up some search market share on desktop and the company will launch an "enhanced search experience" for U.S. Forefox users next month. CEO Mayer also said that the alliance would help the two companies look for new ways to innovate in search, communications and digital content."

Today, Zacks is promoting its ''Buy'' stock recommendations. Get #1Stock of the Day pick for free.

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