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Discover’s Momentum Continues in 1Q

Discover Financial Service DFS reported net income of $673 million, or $1.33 per diluted share, for the first quarter of 2013. The narrow-moat company continued to generate strong momentum across business lines, increasing book value more than 5% during the quarter, and we may moderately increase our fair value estimate as we incorporate the quarter’s results and transfer coverage to a new analyst. In contrast … Continue reading Discover’s Momentum Continues in 1Q

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Finance, Software

Major Bitcoin Firm Payza Launches Bitcoin Buying Options in 190 Countries

Global online payment processor Payza has announced it is now offering customers in 190 countries the ability to buy bitcoin via bank transfer. Payza took to its official blog to reveal the news, though this formal announcement followed preliminary tweets from both Payza business development consultant Charlie Shrem and the London and Montreal-based company itself.

In its formal remarks, Payza hinted that the bitcoin buying option will allow it to pursue larger goals in the bitcoin and digital currency space, stating: “This is our first step into the exciting space of cryptocurrency, currency that exists solely in the digital world. At Payza, we’re very interested in bitcoin and cryptocurrency, and we have big plans to expand the way bitcoin can be used on our platform.”

Payza first detailed its plans in the digital currency space in a May blog post that discussed bitcoin’s potential as a payments tool. This interest was further made evident in July, when Payza confirmed rumors to the The Wall Street Journal that Shrem was serving the company in an advisory role.

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Shrem elaborated on Payza’s goals, suggesting that the company’s biggest opportunities may be in catering to bitcoin’s merchant space. He explained that, unlike popular alternatives such as BitPay and Coinbase, Payza could become a one-stop solution for new merchants that want to capitalize on bitcoin but offer multiple payment methods. “[Payza will] be the only company where if a merchant actually wants to accept both credit card and bitcoin, they only need to work with one company,” he said.

Shrem indicated that Payza does not charge users to deposit funds into their accounts, but that a 2% charge for users who buy bitcoin via the platform applies. Buyers lock in the price of bitcoin upon purchase, however, the withdrawal process can be expected to take up to three days. Given that users are not charged to send funds through Payza, Shrem also remarked that the offering could position the company to become a player in the remittance space, adding:

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Richard Atkins
Analysis, BioTech, Commodities, Diversified Tech, Finance, Global Equity, Mergers & Acquisitions, Semiconductors, Services Sector, Software, software, Tech IPO

China Telecom Reaps Efficiency Gains in 1Q After 3G Assets Acquisition

Carrier China Telecom CHA increased first-quarter revenue 15% year over year to CNY 78 billion ($12.6 billion) thanks to strong mobile service revenue and handset sales. EBITDA grew at a much faster pace of 36%, as the firm benefited from scale efficiencies on its 3G network after it acquired the assets from its parent at the end of December. We are maintaining our narrow economic … Continue reading China Telecom Reaps Efficiency Gains in 1Q After 3G Assets Acquisition

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Finance, Software

Dell Gets a Positive Bitcoin Response

Less than a month after it first began accepting bitcoin, Dell has received 85 BTC (over $50,000) for a PowerEdge server order. NewsBTC first reported the story after Dell CEO Michael Dell tweeted the following:”Recieved PowerEdge server order @ http://dell.com for more than 85 #bitcoin (~$50K USD) #Dellbitcoin”

It’s not known exactly who placed the order, but since Dell’s off-the-shelf Poweredge servers range from $299 into the thousands, someone likely now has a whole farm acquired with bitcoin. Dell became the largest public company to go private last year when original founder Michael Dell closed a $25bn deal to regain its leadership. According to the company’s last public filing, it earned $56.9bn in 2013, with the largest gain in revenue increase in its enterprise solutions and services business.

While Overstock’s bitcoin customers have bought mainly sheets, cell phone accessories and audio-visual equipment, the nature of Dell’s core business meant some serious hardware purchases were more likely.

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The Texas-based computer hardware giant also marked its digital currency debut with a 10% discount for anyone purchasing its gaming-oriented Alienware machines with bitcoin. The company accepts bitcoin payments for US customers on any item on its Dell.com store site.

Dell’s CIO Paul Walsh hinted last month that Dell may pursue more extensive involvement in the bitcoin space, adding that accepting bitcoin was part of the company’s overall plan to align itself with technological innovation. He continued that he expected many other merchants to join in soon, indicating a growing legitimacy for bitcoin among companies in the mainstream economy. For now, Walsh said the company’s main goal for its bitcoin program will be to remove friction during the customer purchasing process and make it easier for its existing customer base to transact with Dell.

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Richard Atkins
Analysis, BioTech, Commodities, Diversified Tech, Finance, Global Equity, Mergers & Acquisitions, Semiconductors, Services Sector, software, Software, Tech IPO

Investments in Mobile Weighed on First-Quarter Margins for Baidu; Shares Undervalued

Chinese search engine Baidu BIDU posted a 40% increase in first-quarter revenue that met our expectations, although margins came under pressure due to aggressive investments in mobile Internet. We believe these strategic investments behind product innovation, engineering talents, network infrastructure, and marketing campaigns are critical to fortifying Baidu’s competitiveness in the fastgrowing mobile Internet space over the longer term. We applaud management’s decision to accelerate … Continue reading Investments in Mobile Weighed on First-Quarter Margins for Baidu; Shares Undervalued

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Finance, Software

Bitcoin Boost: Bitcoin Holds Promise for Non-Profits

Driven by a desire to promote human dignity, Dignitas International, a Malawi-based charity that has provided medical assistance to 200,000 residents in the land-locked nation since 2004. The organisation is now turning its attention to a challenge of an entirely different kind: transaction fees.

“Dignitas has to deal with high credit card and transaction fees on all of our donations which can range between 2-5%,” explained Anne Connelly, the charity’s director of fundraising and marketing. She added: “Every donation dollar we lose in a currency exchange or a transfer fee is a dollar that is not going to help someone in need.”

It is this frustration with existing third-party payment processors and credit card companies that fuelled the charity’s recent decision to accept bitcoin. With the initiative, Dignitas hopes to reach a whole new pool of donors for whom bitcoin technology can help pass these incremental savings on to life-changing projects in the region.

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“We’re seeking people who want to fully integrate bitcoin into their daily lives – including their charitable giving,” Connelly said. Non-profits who have already taken the plunge have witnessed a generous response from the bitcoin community, just this week Wikipedia received over $140,000 in bitcoin in its first seven days of accepting the digital currency.

Although payment processors Coinbase and BitPay have waived fees for non-profits in the US, Dignitas, which is headquartered in Toronto, uses Canadian exchange Virtex to convert the bitcoin it receives into Canadian dollars. On average each conversion charges the charity a fee between 0.2% and 0.75%, significantly less than via traditional means.

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Richard Atkins