Recently in Computers Category

I have been battling and continue to battle major computer problems. This weekend, I will be reinstalling Vista for the fourth time in a month's time

I hope to beat my computer problems into submission shortly and resume posting to my blog.

Comments and Trackbacks have been temporarily disabled. I hope to have both items enabled again in the near future.

My personal favorite RSS reader is now free: FeedDemon v2.6. Previously, I paid for FeedDemon. That is no longer required.

For those unfamiliar with FeedDemon, it is an extremely useful and powerful program that allows you to efficiently read your RSS feeds. Rather than me trying to highlight all the important features, I urge you to click on the link above, read more about FeedDemon, download it, and try it.

I have used FeedDemon for several years and am a very satisfied user of Nick Bradbury's software. He created FeedDemon and TopStyle Pro, CSS and HTML editor. Both products are extremely well designed and functional. Again, I urge you to try FeedDemon v2.6. It is now being offered to individuals for free.

I am currently experiencing difficulties with my Flickr account. I have a hunch that the outcome is not going to be good. In any event, I ask for your patience with my site while I work on solving my Flickr difficulties.

Update

I have lost all my pictures, comments, favorites, contacts, and friends on my Flickr account. You can read a more detailed explanation of what purportedly happened. I will comment more on this topic in a day or two. So please bear with me and my blog while I get reorganized.

As those who follow my blog know, one of my hobbies is photography. As such, I follow and have invested in Canon Inc. (CAJ). During this past year, Canon has introduced two new professional cameras: EOS-1D Mark III, which retails for $4,495.95 at B & H; and EOS-1Ds Mark III, which retails for $7,999.95 at B & H. B & H is short for B & H Photo – Video – ProAudio. The first camera was introduced during the Spring and the second camera was introduced this Fall and began shipping only a few days ago. The demand for both cameras outstrips the supply. That is, if you want one of these professional cameras, you have to go on a waiting list.

Of course, these professional cameras require lots of memory. Moreover, they require large and powerful computers and disk drives to process and save the large image files. While I do not invest in many computer related technology stocks, I believe that the demand for these products is still healthy. And, as a side note, for those interested in learning more about these professional cameras and photography in general, I highly recommend joining Pro Photo HOME, an online photography site dedicated to the professional and serious amateur. The participants are friendly, knowledgeable and helpful—there is very little of the traditional internet noise.

While I think that the consumer slowdown will negatively affect camera sales, Canon's projections, available on the investor relations section of its website, still show healthy growth for the fourth quarter of about 13% by sales and 20% by units. Please note, although I discussed two professional cameras, the overwhelming majority of Canon's camera sales by units are point and shoot cameras. Digital SLRs (single lens reflex) sales by unit volume are a small fraction of the overall sales; however, they are more expensive and thus constitute a significant portion of the revenue.

As shown by this Yahoo's five year chart of Canon's stock price, the company shows reasonably steady growth. It has five main groups of products: 1) Office Imaging; 2) Computer Peripherals; 3) Business Information; 4) Cameras; and 5) Optical and Other. I do not understand the optical portion well, though it is one of the smaller groups. Camera sales constitute about 26% of Canon's overall sales and operating profit. The company is not widely followed in North America with only two or three analysts providing earnings and revenue estimates on Yahoo's financial site.

I have included some key statistics from Yahoo as of 5 December 2007:

• Market Cap (intraday): 68.43B
• Enterprise Value (6-Dec-07): 59.93B
• Forward P/E (fye 31-Dec-08): 13.80
• PEG Ratio (5 yr expected): 1.43
• Enterprise Value/EBITDA: 6.232
• Profit Margin (ttm): 10.96%
• Operating Margin (ttm): 17.12%
• Return on Assets (ttm): 11.12%
• Return on Equity (ttm): 17.14%
• Revenue (ttm): 39.89B
• Gross Profit (ttm): 13.31B
• EBITDA (ttm): 9.62B
• Beta: 0.67
• Total Debt/Equity (mrg): 0.008
• Current Ratio (mrg): 2.092

As the figures show, the company is conservatively financed. Overall, my general impression is that the company is well managed and provides excellent products and services.

Disclosure: I am long Canon stock.