Google

In under one hour, the New Hampshire GOP Primary polls close. The New Hampshire primary is the second contest in the state-by-state battle for the Republican presidential nomination to face Democratic President Barack Obama on Nov. 6. Romney narrowly won the first contest, the Iowa caucuses, on Jan. 3. According to Reuters, and pretty much all of the mainstream media, Mitt Romney is in charge, and Ron Paul and Jon Huntsman appeared to be in a battle for second place in New Hampshire, the small New England state known for its independent streak and outsized role in presidential campaigns. As for Mitt, "A multimillionaire who says his experience as head of private-equity firm Bain Capital would help him spur America's economy as president, Romney might face a bigger challenge in the next primary in South Carolina on Jan. 21, where the economy is weaker and conservatives make up a larger slice of the electorate." Because apparently people in New Hampshire are big fans of 25% IRRs predicated by 5x Debt/EBITDA LBOs. Or something. Follow the primary via the CNN live webcast below, through the WSJ live blog, or via Politico. Fox News is tracking New Hampshire exit polls here. Finally, the live tally of final results can be tracked using the interactive Google map below.

As Greek standards of living nose-dive, loans to households and businesses shrink still further, and Troika-imposed PSI discussions continue, there is one segment of the country's infrastructure that is holding up well. In a story on Zeit Online, the details of the multi-billion Euro new arms contracts are exposed as the European reach-around would be complete with IMF (US) and Europe-provided Greek bailout cash doing a full-circle into American Apache helicopters, French frigates, and German U-Boats. As the unnamed source in the article notes: "If Greece gets paid in March the next tranche of funding (€ 80 billion is expected), there is a real opportunity to conclude new arms contracts." With the country's doctors only treating emergencies, bus drivers on strike, and a dire lack of school textbooks and the country teetering on the brink of Drachmatization, perhaps our previous concerns over military coups was not so far-fetched as after the Portuguese (another obviously stressed nation), the Greeks are the largest buyers of German war weapons.  It seems debt crisis talks perhaps had more quid pro quo than many expected as Euro Fighter commitments were also discussed and Greek foreign minister Droutsas points out:"Whether we like it or not, Greece is obliged to have a strong military".

The iconoclastic outcast being called in to shake things up a little. I'll appear on CNBC @2:30 with my outlook for 2012. I'm not shy about my track record & here's what I'll have to say.

Android clearly challenges notebooks, smartphones, netbooks, tablets, media, telecomm and enterprise software and services - all because the competition foolishly thought Google was a search engine!

The mosaic that is Google is coming together, and it appears the company
is on the verge of major disruption to a few notable cash cows.  As I
scan thru the Technology news over the last few days, it is hard to
ignore that Google is everywhere you look.  Between the Chromebook,
Android, and Google TV  the outlook for Windows/Intel and satellite
cable industry looks cloudy.

Now that my Apple premonitions are coming to pass, I fail to hear the cacophony of zealous punditry rushing to admit that maybe, just maybe, Apple is really a C corporation - just like many others and is vulnerable to competition and business cycles - unlike mythical/marketing product creation gods of lore.

Don't write Google off just yet. The company, which had left many wondering if it can continue to compete with the same level of intensity, just crushed consensus, with Q3 EPS of $9.72 beating expectations of $8.76, while revenues coming at 9.72$ billion on expectations of $7.23 billion. Cash of $42.6 billion, not quite Apple but still lots of potential acquisition targets.. Immediate result: stock up $40 after hours. From Page: ""We had a great quarter. Revenue was up 33% year on year and our quarterly revenue was just short of $10 billion. Google+ is now open to everyone and we just passed the 40 million user mark. People are flocking into Google+ at an incredible rate and we are just getting started!" Some other details from the press release...

As dismal as the U.S. employment outlook seems to be, tech sector led by innovation is one of the very few bright spots left with corporations looking to insource IT and Indian firms coming to the U.S. hunting for IT engineers.  

Why did Google just pay a 60% premium for MMI? One word: iPhone - "Motorola Mobility's total commitment to Android has created a natural fit for our two companies. Together, we will create amazing user experiences that supercharge the entire Android ecosystem for the benefit of consumers, partners and developers. I look forward to welcoming Motorolans to our family of Googlers....We expect that this combination will enable us to break new ground for the Android ecosystem. However, our vision for Android is unchanged and Google remains firmly committed to Android as an open platform and a vibrant open source community. We will continue to work with all of our valued Android partners to develop and distribute innovative Android-powered devices."

Helicopter Ben Bernanke pusherman

OTM Google calls purchased a couple of weeks before earnings returned roughly 10-20x the original investment. How did practically the entire Sell Side of Wall Street miss this opportunity while we screamed on the undervaluation of Google since last quarter? Well, you just can't plan or measure the domination of mobile computing 3 months at a time (and of course, front running clients make for more profitable trades)!

I have told subscribers that I would have to revisit the Apple valuation numbers after finding out more about their cloud services offerings. After all, embracing the cloud could potentially enable Apple to win the Mobile Computing Wars. As I have stated in my many rants regarding the Mobile Computing Wars, Apple is (strategically) placed behind Google.

Presented without commentary (well, we'll say one thing: for QE3 to work, it would have to be a surprise... so much for that).