February 2nd, 2012 written by Site Administrator
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Source: http://www.onlinecollege.org/2012/02/02/new-grads-guide-to-personal-finance/
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Facebook is finally going public.
For investors lucky enough to get in on the IPO, the question is simple: Is this going to be the mother lode that puts their kids through college? Or an over-hyped dud?
Facebook, whose stock ticker symbol will be FB, won't trade for a couple months. Between now and then, debates about how the stock will do are going to be as heated as the one between Giants and Patriots fans this week over who will win the Super Bowl. To kick things off, The Associated Press asked some top money managers and analysts for their immediate reaction to Facebook's regulatory filing Wednesday evening for a $5 billion IPO.
____
KEVIN LANDIS, chief investment officer of Firsthand Capital Management, the investment adviser to Firsthand Funds. The fund group includes Firsthand Technology Value Fund, a closed-end fund whose top holding is Facebook's private shares. Those shares represent 5 percent of the fund's assets.
? Disclosures in the filing about Facebook's $3.7 billion in revenue last year and 845 million users have increased his confidence that Facebook can eventually become a profit powerhouse:
"They're nicely profitable at a few billion in revenue. It probably means they will be obscenely profitable once they get to $10 and $20 billion.
"It's probably growing north of 50 percent (a year), so they will be dropping more and more cash to the bottom line.
"As they grow into their potential, those profitability numbers, which are already really good, should get better and better, which is pretty amazing."
? As for the $5 billion Facebook is seeking to raise:
"I think most people were figuring it could go out at up to $100 billion valuation, and they would float 5 to 10 percent of it, so that is right in the ballpark.
"You start out with a modest number. But gosh, you're living right if $5 billion is a modest number."
___
CHRISTOPHER BAGGINI, senior portfolio manager, Turner Titan mutual fund:
"I think the offering is a bit small in terms of the number of shares to be offered, and I suspect the $5 billion they expect to raise will be increased during the IPO process.
"If you can own the stock for an intermediate term, I suspect you will make money. Remember, when Google went public, the stock was valued at roughly $27 billion in 2003. It reached almost $200 billion by 2007. With Facebook, you have a very high growth, early stage company that has a profitability model that will be very similar to Google's."
___
JACK ABLIN, chief investment officer at Harris Private Bank in Chicago:
"I believe there's a group that will buy this stock no matter how it's priced. There's a group ? hedge funds or other large investors ? that will buy all the social media issues because they don't know which one will be the next Google.
"Looking back on the Internet days of the '90s, one Google will pay for 100 Pet.coms.
"It's kind of a wildcatting type approach ? you have to be involved in all of them."
____
KARSTEN WEIDE, analyst with technology researcher IDC:
"This filing implies Facebook is valued at $100 billion, which I think is too high. That's about 27 times more than their 2011 revenue. But even assuming they can double revenue this year, I think it's too high. It's reminiscent of the valuations for stocks in the Internet 1.0 days.
"Even if it were valued at just at $80 billion, I think it would be too high. There are a number of challenges and risks Facebook faces, and one is the growth of Google Plus (a rival social networking site)."
____
GARETH FEIGHERY, CEO of MarketTamer.com, a stock and options training website:
"The retail investor should be really skeptical of purchasing into the hype.
"Longer term, if investors are looking to hold it for many, many years, there's a great opportunity. But in the short term, there's a high level of risk that they could purchase on one of the spikes and get punished."
___
TIMOTHY KEATING of Keating Capital Inc., a firm that makes investments in small private companies that expect to go public:
"Facebook could be one of the greatest companies on the planet."
But Keating says that won't necessarily make the stock a good buy. It all depends on the price.
He says investors will compare the price of Facebook's shares with those of companies such as Google and Apple, and assess whether Facebook is richly priced measured against its earnings and sales growth potential. But Facebook is a younger company, which could lead investors to bid its shares up higher than the relative prices of Google and Apple.
"One could argue that Facebook still has huge growth prospects ahead of them, so they deserve a premium valuation."
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Public release date: 2-Feb-2012
Share ] Contact: Ian T. Baldwin
baldwin@ice.mpg.de
49-364-157-1101
Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology
This press release is available in German.
More than 200,000 insects species are herbivores. They depend on plants for food and have adapted their metabolism accordingly in the course of evolution to render plant defenses, such as the toxins plants produce to fend off herbivores, ineffective. The operating instructions of these detoxification processes are coded in different genes. Insects have evolved an enormous diversity of adaptation mechanisms; they colonize most habitats on this planet which makes them interesting research objects in ecological studies. Which insect species attack which plants species? Which toxins or signaling substances are involved? Has the insect species adapted to one specific plant species or is it a food generalist? Interesting for agriculture: Which genes allow particular pest insects, such as the pollen beetle Meligethes aeneus or the Western corn rootworm Diabrotica virgifera virgifera, to be so destructive to crop plants? Knowing these detoxification genes and switching them off with the consequence that plant toxins are no longer effective, is currently a research subject in plant breeding. First success stories have already been reported thanks to the use of RNAi technology.
Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology examined a well-known plant toxin: nicotine. Plants of the species Nicotiana attenuata (coyote tobacco) produce nicotine as a defensive substance against herbivores. However, it does not have any toxic effects on their worst enemy: larvae of the tobacco hornworm Manduca sexta. The insect is resistant against this alkaloid; genes that encode nicotine-catabolizing enzymes may be responsible for its resistance. These so called CYP genes are involved in the formation of cytochrome P450 enzymes; the expression of some of these genes is increased as soon as the insect larvae are exposed to nicotine in their food. Ian Baldwin and his team identified the DNA sequences of CYP genes in Manduca sexta and were able to switch off these genes using RNAi technology, but expressed in the plant.
Using plants to silence insect genes
RNA interference (RNAi) is triggered by the production of double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) comprising about 300 base pairs in the cells of tobacco plants. If larvae feed on these plant, the RNA is released in the insect gut. In the experiments, the dsRNA harbored the sequence of the insect gene,CYP6B46, a special cytochrome P450 oxidoreductase specific for Manduca sexta larvae. In a next step, the dsRNA was enzymatically broken down into smaller RNA segments; a special enzyme complex called RISC (RNA-induced silencing complex), which carries several of these RNA segments, specifically binds to the messenger RNA (mRNA) of the CYP6B46 gene and disassembles the mRNA in such a way that the cytochrome P450 enzyme cannot be produced anymore. "We were impressed by the high specificity of these RNAi experiments. The analysis of mRNA transcripts of closely related CYP6 genes revealed that only the CYP6B46 gene was silenced. This means that there was no collateral damage from the procedure: the gene silencing worked on only one targeted gene," says Ian Baldwin.
The use of additional CYP RNAi probes revealed further interesting results: Young caterpillars which had ingested dsRNA of the CYP4M3 gene gained significantly less weight within 14 days in comparison to larvae reared on control plants very likely a consequence of the nicotine and its toxic effect which had been restored by switching off the CYP gene. The RNAi experiments had been conducted using plant viral vectors. Unlike genetically transformed tobacco plants in which CYP dsRNA is produced constitutively, the virus vector-based technique provides dsRNA transiently produced in wildtype tobacco plants. Both methods worked well but the "plant virus-based dsRNA producing system" (VDPS) allows for a throughput of RNAi samples that is four times faster. Many unknown functions of different insect genes involved in the adaptation of insects to their environment can now be analyzed using the VDPS technique.
However, it is still unclear how the individual steps in the RNAi mechanism from producing dsRNA in the plant cell via their uptake in the insect gut to the silencing of the detoxification genes are accomplished to induce a maximum effect. One experiment provided some interesting information: If the enzymatic step which dices dsRNA into small fragments is inhibited in the experimental plants, the amount of transcripts of the detoxification gene was reduced even further. Therefore the plant mediated RNAi procedure may be more effective, if the caterpillars ingest complete dsRNA instead of smaller diced RNA segments. [JWK, AO]
###
Original Publication:
Kumar, P., Pandit, S.S., Baldwin, I.T.: Tobacco Rattle Virus vector: A rapid and transient means of silencing Manduca sexta genes by plant mediated RNA interference. PLoS ONE, DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0031347
Further Information:
Prof. Dr. Ian T. Baldwin, MPI for Chemical Ecology, Jena
Tel.: 03641 - 57 1100, baldwin@ice.mpg.de
Pictures:
Angela Overmeyer M.A., Tel. 03641 - 57 2110, overmeyer@ice.mpg.de or Download via http://www.ice.mpg.de/ext/735.html
[ | E-mail | Share ] ?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Public release date: 2-Feb-2012 Share ] Contact: Ian T. Baldwin
baldwin@ice.mpg.de
49-364-157-1101
Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology
This press release is available in German.
More than 200,000 insects species are herbivores. They depend on plants for food and have adapted their metabolism accordingly in the course of evolution to render plant defenses, such as the toxins plants produce to fend off herbivores, ineffective. The operating instructions of these detoxification processes are coded in different genes. Insects have evolved an enormous diversity of adaptation mechanisms; they colonize most habitats on this planet which makes them interesting research objects in ecological studies. Which insect species attack which plants species? Which toxins or signaling substances are involved? Has the insect species adapted to one specific plant species or is it a food generalist? Interesting for agriculture: Which genes allow particular pest insects, such as the pollen beetle Meligethes aeneus or the Western corn rootworm Diabrotica virgifera virgifera, to be so destructive to crop plants? Knowing these detoxification genes and switching them off with the consequence that plant toxins are no longer effective, is currently a research subject in plant breeding. First success stories have already been reported thanks to the use of RNAi technology.
Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology examined a well-known plant toxin: nicotine. Plants of the species Nicotiana attenuata (coyote tobacco) produce nicotine as a defensive substance against herbivores. However, it does not have any toxic effects on their worst enemy: larvae of the tobacco hornworm Manduca sexta. The insect is resistant against this alkaloid; genes that encode nicotine-catabolizing enzymes may be responsible for its resistance. These so called CYP genes are involved in the formation of cytochrome P450 enzymes; the expression of some of these genes is increased as soon as the insect larvae are exposed to nicotine in their food. Ian Baldwin and his team identified the DNA sequences of CYP genes in Manduca sexta and were able to switch off these genes using RNAi technology, but expressed in the plant.
Using plants to silence insect genes
RNA interference (RNAi) is triggered by the production of double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) comprising about 300 base pairs in the cells of tobacco plants. If larvae feed on these plant, the RNA is released in the insect gut. In the experiments, the dsRNA harbored the sequence of the insect gene,CYP6B46, a special cytochrome P450 oxidoreductase specific for Manduca sexta larvae. In a next step, the dsRNA was enzymatically broken down into smaller RNA segments; a special enzyme complex called RISC (RNA-induced silencing complex), which carries several of these RNA segments, specifically binds to the messenger RNA (mRNA) of the CYP6B46 gene and disassembles the mRNA in such a way that the cytochrome P450 enzyme cannot be produced anymore. "We were impressed by the high specificity of these RNAi experiments. The analysis of mRNA transcripts of closely related CYP6 genes revealed that only the CYP6B46 gene was silenced. This means that there was no collateral damage from the procedure: the gene silencing worked on only one targeted gene," says Ian Baldwin.
The use of additional CYP RNAi probes revealed further interesting results: Young caterpillars which had ingested dsRNA of the CYP4M3 gene gained significantly less weight within 14 days in comparison to larvae reared on control plants very likely a consequence of the nicotine and its toxic effect which had been restored by switching off the CYP gene. The RNAi experiments had been conducted using plant viral vectors. Unlike genetically transformed tobacco plants in which CYP dsRNA is produced constitutively, the virus vector-based technique provides dsRNA transiently produced in wildtype tobacco plants. Both methods worked well but the "plant virus-based dsRNA producing system" (VDPS) allows for a throughput of RNAi samples that is four times faster. Many unknown functions of different insect genes involved in the adaptation of insects to their environment can now be analyzed using the VDPS technique.
However, it is still unclear how the individual steps in the RNAi mechanism from producing dsRNA in the plant cell via their uptake in the insect gut to the silencing of the detoxification genes are accomplished to induce a maximum effect. One experiment provided some interesting information: If the enzymatic step which dices dsRNA into small fragments is inhibited in the experimental plants, the amount of transcripts of the detoxification gene was reduced even further. Therefore the plant mediated RNAi procedure may be more effective, if the caterpillars ingest complete dsRNA instead of smaller diced RNA segments. [JWK, AO]
###
Original Publication:
Kumar, P., Pandit, S.S., Baldwin, I.T.: Tobacco Rattle Virus vector: A rapid and transient means of silencing Manduca sexta genes by plant mediated RNA interference. PLoS ONE, DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0031347
Further Information:
Prof. Dr. Ian T. Baldwin, MPI for Chemical Ecology, Jena
Tel.: 03641 - 57 1100, baldwin@ice.mpg.de
Pictures:
Angela Overmeyer M.A., Tel. 03641 - 57 2110, overmeyer@ice.mpg.de or Download via http://www.ice.mpg.de/ext/735.html
[ | E-mail | Share ] ?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-02/mpif-upt020212.php
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JOB CUTS: Drugmaker AstraZeneca PLC said it will cut another 7,300 jobs as it warned Thursday of a tough year ahead, due to government spending cuts on health care and stiff competition.
RISING PROFIT: The Anglo-Swedish company said its full-year profit was $10 billion, up from $8.1 billion a year earlier. The profit advance was helped heavily by a $1.5 billion gain from the sale of a dental subsidiary.
TOUGH OUTLOOK: The company said revenue this year will be hit by government interventions on prices, generic competition and the loss of exclusivity for the drugs Seroquel IR and Atacand.
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Madonna's (potential) reign over 2012 has begun.
The Queen of Pop released the single art and release date (Friday, February 3) of her latest single, "Give Me All Your Luvin'" and now, Madonna's released the cover of the brand new studio album on which it's featured, MDNA.
Take a look at the colorful edginess below ...
Madonna will rock the Super Bowl halftime show and debut her latest music video Sunday as well. Is everybody not named David Furnish or Elton John excited?
Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2012/01/madonna-releases-mdna-album-cover/
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ORLANDO, Fla. ? Can Newt Gingrich come back a third time?
If he loses Tuesday in Florida's primary ? polls predict he will _Gingrich will spend the next month trying to prove the answer is yes.
"We were dead in June and July . but we came roaring back and we will again," Gingrich said at a rally Monday in Tampa.
Still, the former House speaker, who has pledged to fight on until the GOP convention this summer, faces a tough road out of Florida. He plunges next into a scattershot series of state contests where he has little organization and must overcome steep odds to win.
Gingrich was hoping to ride a wave of enthusiasm to a win in Florida and beyond, stoked by his decisive victory in South Carolina. But unless he pulls off an upset win Tuesday, he will have squandered that momentum heading into states that look favorable for leading rival Mitt Romney.
After being battered by the well-funded Romney political machine, the Gingrich campaign will redouble its efforts to "tell the truth about Romney faster and more efficiently than he can lie about us," Gingrich spokesman R.C. Hammond said.
The calendar works against Gingrich rebounding anytime soon. After a steady march through four state contests in January, the pace quickens before taking a long breather next month.
There are seven elections in February, which kicks off with Nevada's caucuses Saturday. That will be followed by contests next week in Colorado, Minnesota and Maine as well as a non-binding primary in Missouri. A 17-day break will be capped by primaries in Arizona and Michigan on Feb. 28.
The schedule benefits a candidate, like Romney, with deep pockets and a sophisticated ground game able to compete on multiple fronts at once. Gingrich, who failed to even get on the ballot in his home state of Virginia for the March 6 Super Tuesday primary, is playing catch-up.
"We're behind the eight-ball," acknowledged George Harris, a Las Vegas restaurant owner who serves as a national finance chair for Gingrich and is helping his efforts in Nevada.
Romney has had staff in the state since June and has already begun running ads there. And he's a known quantity in the state, having won it when he sought the GOP nomination in 2008.
Gingrich dispatched six staffers to Nevada just days ago and they have rapidly built the operation from the ground up.
Maine is in the former Massachusetts governor's back yard and, in a show of force, he has 40 state legislators backing him. Another candidate, Ron Paul, also has a strong network of support in the state, a holdover from his 2008 presidential run.
Gingrich aides are aiming to hang on.
"We're getting a late start here," said John Grooms, Gingrich's grassroots director in Maine, who until December was backing Herman Cain. "The goal here is to have a good, respectable showing."
Romney grew up in Michigan and is still looked at as something of favorite son among Republicans in the state.
Romney claimed both Colorado and Michigan in 2008 and maintains networks in each state.
Just 10 days ago, an ebullient Gingrich touched down in Florida, fresh off his win in South Carolina and drawing cheering crowds of thousands. It was a far different tone as he wrapped up his campaign Monday with a lap around the state. Crowds were far sparser, and although Gingrich kept up the attacks on Romney, he sometimes sounded tired as he raced from Jacksonville to Pensacola to Fort Myers.
The Gingrich camp sought to put a positive spin on what is expected to be a disappointing showing in Florida, where the winner will scoop up all 50 delegates.
A memo from Gingrich political director Martin Baker made the case that moving forward, delegates will be awarded proportionally, meaning that even if Romney racks up wins the delegate count could remain tight so long as the races are competitive.
Baker noted that no matter who wins Florida, only 5 percent of the 2,288 national convention delegates will have been awarded.
"The campaign is shifting to a new phase where opportunities are not limited to a single state," Baker wrote.
Gingrich aides also said they had succeeded in effectively making the race a two-man contest, with Gingrich surviving as the conservative alternative to Romney. Rick Santorum, who had been splitting the conservative vote with Gingrich, is trailing badly in Florida.
Gingrich's prospects improve when the race sweeps back South on Super Tuesday. The Bible Belt is his sweet spot and his onetime home state of Georgia is in the mix with its 76 delegates.
"The math doesn't get better for us until much later in the game," Hammond acknowledged.
Gingrich will have to survive until then. He fought his way back into the GOP race last year after his top aides resigned en masse in the spring. He rallied again in South Carolina after a barrage of attack ads knocked him from front-runner status in Iowa.
Harris, in Nevada, says a repeat won't be impossible.
"The thing I love about Newt is that he's a fighter," he said. "Every time you think you've knocked him down he gets back up and knocks you in the face."
___
Follow Shannon McCaffrey: www.twitter.com/smccaffrey13
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CULIACAN, Mexico?? The drought in northern Mexico is so bad that it has hurt even illicit drug growers and their normally well-tended crops of marijuana and opium poppies, a Mexican army commander said Monday.
One effect of the lack of rains is that drug planting has "declined considerably," said Gen. Pedro Gurrola, commander of army forces in the state of Sinaloa, the cradle of the drug cartel by the same name.
Gurrola said army surveillance flights have detected fewer plantations than in previous years.
"We can see a lot less than in other years," Gurrola told reporters. "It depends a lot on conditions. As you can see, everything is dry."
He said planters were still trying to eke out crops. "They try to adapt. Where there is a stream, a pit, they put pumps and hoses in there and try to produce as much as they can."
But an army spokesman, Gen. Ricardo Trevilla, stressed that didn't mean a drop-off in the overall production of drug cartels.
Trevilla, who was interviewed separately, said cartels have been increasingly turning to the production of synthetic drugs like methamphetamine, because they are easier to produce and are more profitable. He said synthetic drugs can be made faster, need less storage space and are harder to detect.
Mexican authorities have been seizing increasing amounts of chemicals used in the manufacture of methamphetamine as well as finding increasingly large and sophisticated meth labs. Authorities seized 675 tons of a key precursor chemical in December alone, an amount that experts say was enough to produce an enormous amount of drugs.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46194891/ns/world_news-americas/
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