The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights:Sony, Microsoft, Twitter and Skullcandy

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Dec 31, 2014, 09:30 ET

CHICAGO, Dec. 31, 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 Sony Corporation (NYSE:SNE-Free Report), Microsoft Corp (Nasdaq:MSFT-Free Report), Twitter (NYSE:TWTR-Free Report) and Skullcandy, Inc. (Nasdaq:SKUL-Free Report).

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

Here are highlights from Tuesday's Analyst Blog:

Sony PlayStation Up Again, Cyber Attack Woes Persist

Sony Corporation (NYSE:SNE-Free Report) recently announced in its company blog, that its PlayStation Network ("PSN") is now finally online after a three-day outage following a hack attack.

PSN had been down since Dec 25, when a group of hackers attacked the network by artificially creating high levels of traffic. This resulted in connectivity disturbance for the online gamers and in their peak holiday season.

Apart from Sony's PSN, Microsoft Corp's (Nasdaq:MSFT-Free Report) gaming network, Xbox Live, also suffered from a similar outage (Read: Microsoft's Xbox Online Services Go Down on Christmas Day). However, Microsoft was quicker than Sony in resolving the issue and its network was up the next day, though some users still reported connectivity glitches.

The responsibility of both the outages has been borne by a hacker group named Lizard Squad through the micro-blogging site, Twitter (NYSE:TWTR-Free Report). The reports suggest that Lizard Squad has been attacking Microsoft's Xbox Live and Sony's PlayStation Network separately over the past few days. In fact, the hacker group had also threatened to create chaos on Christmas Day. Moreover, as per media reports, the group members have been appearing for press releases and interviews, expressing their views about the attack.

This is the second cyber attack on Sony in the past month. On Nov 24, the internal data reservoir of the Sony Corporation's American subsidiary, Sony Pictures Entertainment, was hacked, leading to theft of valuable data related to upcoming movies and employee details. This had resulted in the subsequent week-long blackout of Sony's computer systems.

A report by Reuters had evidenced that the prime suspect for the earlier attack was North Korea. As per the buzz, this hack was a schemed retaliation against the release of the movie 'The Interview' that involves the fictional assassination of the dictator of North Korea – Kim Jong Un. Reportedly, a former top U.S. government expert stated that North Koreans were not pleased with this Hollywood flick, which was released this Christmas at a few theaters and was available online through Xbox console and PlayStation, among others. (Read: Sony Scraps "The Interview" Release on Hackers' Threat)

However, despite the timing of this second attack, experts believe that the two cyber security breaches were not coordinated. In fact, a Reuters report states that Lizard Squad has also claimed the responsibility of two more cyber attacks on Sony, made in August and December of this year.

The negative impact of this outage on the company shares has been diluted by the success of the movie 'The Interview,' which has managed to realize about $15 million from online viewing and nearly $3 million from its theatrical screenings.

Nevertheless, of late, Sony has been facing a number of such cyber attacks, leading to increased customer dissatisfaction. Hence, if the company wants to maintain its key position in the industry, enhanced levels of security to safeguard against such attacks are of utmost importance.

Sony currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). A better-ranked stock in the electronic equipment industry is Skullcandy, Inc. (Nasdaq:SKUL-Free Report) which sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

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

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