Topic: Growth Stocks

Wall Street Stock Forecaster Hotline – Friday, May 4, 2012

Article Excerpt

MICROSOFT CORP., $30.98, Nasdaq symbol MSFT, aims to enter the fast-growing e-book field through a new alliance with bookseller Barnes & Noble Inc. (New York symbol BKS). This week, Microsoft agreed to buy 17.6% of a subsidiary of Barnes & Noble that will operate Barnes & Noble’s Nook e-book business; Barnes & Noble will own the remaining 82.4%. This new firm will also include Barnes & Noble’s college textbook operations. Microsoft will pay $300 million for this interest. That’s equal to just 5.9% of the $5.1 billion, or $0.60 a share, that the company earned in the three months ended March 31, 2012. Still, this move should help Microsoft develop new software for the Nook e-book reader and other mobile devices. That would help it compete with the Apple iPad tablet computer and Amazon.com’s Kindle e-book reader. Microsoft is a buy. Microsoft was recently covered in the May 2012 issue of Wall Street Stock Forecaster. Click here to access it. Microsoft was recently covered in…