Topic: Growth Stocks

Growth proving elusive for these two

Tech Stocks

Every Monday we feature “A Stock to Sell” as our daily post. With every stock or investment we recommend as a sell, we give you a full explanation of why we advise against investing in it at this time.

Gogo Inc. (symbol GOGO on Nasdaq; www.gogoair.com), offers a service that lets passengers with Wi-Fi-enabled devices get online on Gogo-equipped aircraft.

The company offers Internet access on more than 10 major airlines and 2,000 individual airliners. Over 6,000 business jets also use its systems. Gogo charges $59.95 a month or $16 for an all-day pass.

Commercial aircraft using Gogo’s service include domestic Delta Air Lines flights and nearly all of that company’s regional jets; all AirTran Airways and Virgin America flights; and select Aeromexico, Japan Airlines, Air Canada, Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, United Airlines and US Airways flights.

In April 2014, telecommunications giant AT&T announced that it would provide in-flight Wi-Fi by late 2015. The company planned to collaborate with Honeywell International for the necessary hardware. Gogo shares fell from around $20 to as low as $12 on the news. However, AT&T dropped those plans in November 2014.

Gogo rose from around $16 to $19 on that news but has drifted downward ever since. That’s likely because long-term demand for a premium in-flight Wi-Fi service is uncertain, as AT&T’s decision shows. Right now, Gogo’s customers are mainly a small number of business travellers who can pass the cost on to their employers.

We don’t recommend Gogo Inc.


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Tech stocks: Slow economy delays switch to cloud computing for many companies

NetApp Inc. (symbol NTAP on Nasdaq; www.netapp.com) formerly Network Appliance, is a leading provider of systems, software and services for storing, managing, protecting and archiving business data.

The company’s offerings include storage products, like its Fabric-Attached Storage and V-Series systems, which are based on NetApp’s Data ONTAP operating system, as well as data-protection and archiving software.

In the three months ended October 24, 2014, NetApp’s revenue fell slightly, to $1.54 billion from $1.55 billion a year earlier. Overall earnings declined 4.2%, to $159.8 million from $166.8 million—although per-share earnings rose 2.0%, to $0.50 from $0.49, as the company’s buybacks cut the number of shares outstanding.

NetApp will likely have a hard time reporting improved results in the near term, partly because slow economic growth is causing many companies to hold off on switching to new approaches, like cloud computing.

Meanwhile, NetApp faces intense competition in the information storage market, both from traditional rivals, like EMC, and recent entrants, such as Nimble Storage.

The company plans to launch a number of new products, but it’s far from certain whether they will boost its results. NetApp’s continued aggressive share buybacks should improve its per-share earnings, however.

The stock trades at 19.3 times the company’s forecast 2015 earnings of $2.00 a share.

We don’t recommend NetApp. If you own the shares of either Gogo or NetApp, we think you should sell.

Coming up Next

Tomorrow we look at how Wayne Gretzky’s name is helping one Canadian stock raise its sales.

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