The Battle Road Tech Index™ barely eked out a gain of 0.2 percent for the week ended March 19, 2010, closing at 1718. For the week, 16 of the 25 Index components rose in value. Year-to-date, the index is up 2.3 percent, having started at a value of 1680.

eBay (EBAY), Activision Blizzard (ATVI), and Intel (INTC) were notable movers for the week:

eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY, $27.19) was up 4.7 percent this week. In the last month, eBay’s share price has risen nearly 20 percent. The company is expanding the presence of PayPal, its main Payments business, in Asia. The company formed a partnership this week with China UnionPay, the largest electronic payment provider in China to allow its customers to utilize PayPal to shop with overseas online merchants. Additionally, PayPal announced it would be adding 1,000 new employees in Asia, doubling its presence by the end of calendar 2010. There are rumors that PayPal, which as part of the company’s Payments division accounted for one third of revenues in the fourth quarter of 2009, will be spun out through an IPO, much as the company planned to do with Skype. We view this as unlikely, since PayPal has greater synergies with eBay than Skype.

Shares of Intel (NASDAQ: INTC, $21.99) gained 3.4 percent for the week. Semiconductor stocks have risen with positive data points from the PC industry – Gartner recently increased its forecast for PC unit sales to 20 percent growth in 2010. Intel’s Nehalem processor has also spurred a very strong server refresh, evidenced by impressive growth in x86 server sales over the past several months. Finally, utilization rates have rebounded to levels near 90 percent as semi wafer capacity drops, creating more favorable supply conditions throughout the industry.

Shares of Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ: ATVI, $11.82) rose 3.1 percent this week driven by stronger than expected sales of the mega hit game Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Modern Warfare 2’s expansion “stimulus” map pack was also announced this week. It will be released on March 30, and will cost 1,200 Microsoft Points or $14.99 per download. ATVI’s Starcraft II will be releasing a beta key for the Mac in April. The game has so far garnered stellar reviews from fans, industry insiders and critics. Beta keys for the game are currently going for upwards of $450 on eBay.

The Battle Road Tech Index™ rose 2.7 percent for the week ended March 12, 2010, closing at 1715. For the week, 21 of the 25 Index components rose in value. Year-to-date, the index is up 2.1 percent, having started at a value of 1680.

Akamai (AKAM), Research in Motion (RIMM), and EMC (EMC) were notable movers for the week:

Shares of Akamai (NASDAQ: AKAM, $31.94) climbed 9.4 percent to a new 52-week high this week as optimism around a tech spending recovery soared. Akamai is well positioned to capture additional revenue when businesses invest in web technologies. Further, with new premium video content coming online regularly, revenue from media delivery is poised to resume its growth as well.

Shares of Research in Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM, $75.34) rose 8.4 percent this week mainly driven by negative news surrounding its competitors. Palm (NASDAQ: PALM, $5.53) is struggling to establish a foothold in the very competitive smart phone market, and it has been reported that its Pre and Pixi phones are losing traction to phones like the Blackberry Tour. Research in Motion is also expected to post a beat and raise quarter on March 31when it reports its quarter ended February.

EMC (NYSE: EMC, $18.88) rose 5.7 percent this week. IDC reported on March 5 that total revenue for the storage industry rose year-over-year in the fourth quarter of 2009 for the first time since the third quarter of 2008 (albeit at a rate of only 0.2 percent). EMC remained the leader of the external storage market with 23.7 percent share, ahead of IBM (NYSE: IBM, $127.94) with 16.8 percent and HP (NYSE: HPQ, $52.36) with 12.1 percent. EMC also led the NAS market, which grew 12.6 percent over the year. The company’s exposure to and leadership in all segments of the storage market has allowed it to hedge its lagging high-end system revenue with strength in certain key areas such as the NAS market.

The Battle Road Tech Index™ rose 3.8 percent for the week ended March 5, 2010, closing at 1670. For the week, 23 of the 25 Index components rose in value. This was the largest positive move for the index since mid-December, with broad-based gains, yet surprisingly little notable news. Year-to-date, the index is down 0.6 percent, having started at a value of 1680.

Akamai (AKAM), eBay (EBAY), and Research in Motion (RIMM) were notable movers for the week:

Shares of Akamai (NASDAQ: AKAM, $29.20) rose 11 percent this week riding positive press. News broke early this week that Akamai won a contract with Netflix to deliver video for its streaming service. Netflix is emerging as a major provider of premium content streamed to consumers’ computers at their convenience. The win cements Akamai’s position as the leader in video delivery despite increasing competition. Given the competitive win and recently strong results, investors view competition as less of a threat today.

eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY, $24.63) rose 7.3 percent this week. The company rose on better than expected jobless claims that came out today. The thinking is that eBay will benefit once the US emerges from the current recession, and people will have more disposable income to spend on the sort of items one normally would find in eBay’s Marketplace. Additionally, the company is flush with cash from its sale of Skype, as well as strong cash flow, and could utilize it to make a large acquisition, or a few smaller acquisitions that complement the company’s current offerings in Marketplaces and Payments. We view eBay as one of the leading eCommerce retailers, poised to take advantage of the coming economic upturn.

The Battle Road Tech Index™ rose 3.1 percent for the week ended February 19, 2010, closing at 1633. For the week, 21 of the 25 Index components rose in value. Year-to-date, the index is down 2.8 percent, having started at a value of 1680.

Western Digital (WDC), Adobe Systems (ADBE), eBay (EBAY), and Dell (DELL) were notable movers for the week:

Shares of Western Digital (NYSE: WDC, $43.15) rose 8.3 percent over the past week. Though the March quarter is typically down from the December quarter for unit hard-drive shipments, and the June quarter tends to be down from March, PC demand has continued to improve as evidenced by earnings reports from Hewlett Packard (NYSE: HPQ) and Dell (NASDAQ: DELL). This could improve unit shipments for the first and second quarters of 2010, leading to full industry capacity and stable pricing. Though necessary capacity additions loom on the horizon, and too much capacity at any point in the value chain would be a negative for the industry, initial estimates of CapEx spending seem to indicate responsible plans and should lead to positive supply/demand trends.

Adobe Systems’ (NASDAQ: ADBE, $33.88), shares rose by 7.7 percent, amid hopes that a new verrsion of its Flash technology, optimized for smartphones, will give it a much needed lift in that arena. So far, Adobe has enlisted the support of Research In Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM), Google (NASDAQ: GOOG), and Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), who have said that their mobile related products will support Adobe. Still missing in action is Apple, whose iPhone and forthcoming iPad do not support Adobe’s Flash technology as the preferred medium for running graphics and animation.

eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY, $23.42) rose 7.6 percent this week. The company took a hit last week after an unfavorable ruling in a Parisian court further reinforced a prohibition against selling genuine or fake Louis Vitton products. The stock bounced back this week as a result. Additionally there was good news from the company’s Payments division. On Thursday eBay announced that PayPal, the company’s flagship Payments product would be available for payment of ads and other products on Facebook. This agreement gives the Facebook users, of which there are now roughly 400 million, the ability to pay with PayPal. This increased acceptance of PayPal will improve what was already a strong growing segment.

Dell (NASDAQ: DELL, $13.47) fell 2.9 percent for the week, notable since only four companies were in negative territory this week. The company reported earnings on Thursday, February 18. Revenues of $14.9 billion easily beat consensus of $13.8 billion, driven by strength in server, consumer PC, and EqualLogic storage sales. Though top line strength mimicked HP’s results the previous day, Dell continued to struggle on the gross margin line, which fell to 16.7 percent from 17.4 percent in the previous quarter and 18.8 percent in the prior year. Consumer mix dragged profitability, as did stubbornly high component costs. Though Dell will benefit from the highly-anticipated PC refresh, expected to hit in the back half of 2010, the company must still work on cost savings so that top line strength will filter through to the bottom line.

The Battle Road Tech Index™ rose 1.3 percent for the week ended February 12, 2010, closing at 1585. For the week, 17 of the 25 Index components rose in value. Year-to-date, the index is down 5.7 percent, having started at a value of 1680.

The following companies were notable movers for the week:

Shares of Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ: ATVI, $11.11) gained 8.8 percent as it reported higher than expected earnings late Wednesday. The company reported non-GAAP revenues of $2.5 billion, which topped the $2.23 billion analysts estimated. The video game publisher also announced a $1 billion stock buyback program and an annual dividend of 15 cents a share. Most importantly, Activision also reaffirmed that its “Starcraft 2″ game will enter beta later in February and is on track for release in the first half of 2010. “Starcraft 2” is the highly anticipated sequel to Blizzard’s record-smashing, cultural phenomenon “Starcraft.” Since its release in 1998, the game has sold more than 11 million copies to date and is still widely played online in most of the internet-connected world. Starcraft is widely considered to be among the best and most important PC games of all time. “Starcraft 2” will likely be the most highly anticipated PC game sequel of all time.

Shares of Intel (NASDAQ: INTC, $20.43) rose 4.9 percent this week in anticipation of Nvidia’s earnings release on February 17. Near-term trends in the core graphics space appear positive due to improvements in mix. The sector as a whole is also expected to benefit from an overdue PC refresh cycle later in the year. On Friday, February 12, Intel Capital also announced a new strategic initiative with China Investment Corporation to leverage its technical expertise with the vast resources of the CIC to invest in the next generation of leading companies.

eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY, $21.77) was down 4.1 percent this week. The share price was hurt by an unfavorable ruling from a Paris District Court on Thursday. eBay has been taken to court by a number of European luxury brands, mostly due to the sale of “knockoff” products through its marketplace site. In particular, Louis Vitton has been persistent in its efforts. In November, eBay was forced to pay EUR1.7 million for allowing genuine Louis Vitton products to appear on its site. The court fined eBay $275,000 (EUR200,000) for damaging Louis Vitton’s reputation and brand. This instance was prompted over the use of keywords that misspell “Louis Vitton” in order to circumvent the ban on listing those products. This could prompt a host of other legal actions against eBay and limit listings of higher priced merchandise, which generate greater commissions for the eCommerce marketplace.

Shares of SAP (NYSE: SAP, $42.99) fell 6.5 percent after the company announced the resignation and replacement of its CEO, Leo Apotheker. The company promoted two executives to share the CEO position, a structure that SAP has used in the past. The management shuffle caps a difficult year for the company in which sales shrunk significantly. While most enterprise software vendors struggled, pure play on-demand providers like Salesforce.com and NetSuite continued to grow steadily. SAP’s plans to bring a cloud ERP solution to market also suffered major setbacks over the past year. Investors are left wondering if SAP can adequately address the changing software market and begin to generate growth.

The Battle Road Tech Index™ rose 1.0 percent for the week ended February 5, 2010, closing at 1565. For the week, 17 of the 25 Index components rose in value. Year-to-date, the index is down 6.9 percent, having started at a value of 1680.

The following companies were notable movers for the week:

Shares of Research in Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM, $66.75) rose 7.7 percent this week on rumors that the maker of the BlackBerry is preparing to launch two new models this spring. One of the new smart phones may feature a long-awaited, touch-enabled Internet friendly operating system.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO, $23.70) gained 5.5 percent this week after reporting better than expected results for its January ending quarter. The company reported revenues of $9.8 billion and earnings of $0.40 per share on a non-GAAP basis. The Street had been expecting revenues of $9.4 billion and EPS of $0.35. At the end of the quarter, Cisco had cash reserves of nearly $40 billion. The company is planning to hire several thousand new employees and expects over 20 percent year over year growth in the April ending quarter.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN, $117.39) fell by 6.4 percent for the week, amid concerns that the online retailer will relinquish its dominant position in online book sales, as the industry moves from hardcover and paper back books to digital media. At issue is whether Amazon.com’s favored pricing policy for e-books — $9.99 for the digital version of hardcover books that list price anywhere from $25 to $35 per copy– will be acceptable to book publishers. Book publishers, such as Macmillan, appear to want to price their books at a higher level than Amazon.com’s $9.99 price point. The issue has come about a as a result of Apple’s (NASDAQ: APPL, $195.46) decision to allow book publishers to price electronic versions of their books as they wish, as Apple readies the roll-out of the new iPad. Intriguingly, Apple has already announced that it will support the Amazon Kindle reader, which will allow books purchased on Amazon.com to be read on the new iPad.

The Battle Road Tech Index™ fell 1.7 percent for the week ended January 29, 2010, closing at 1549. For the week, 21 of the 25 Index components fell in value. Year-to-date, the index is down 7.8 percent, having started at a value of 1680.

The following companies were notable movers for the week:

Shares of Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX, $62.25), the online movie rental leader, rose by 22 percent this week, the single largest one-week upside move in Battle Road’s Tech Index in the last year. Shares were buoyed by better-than-expected earnings results, as well as the expectation for further gross margin gains, due to a rising percentage of video streaming. Having already vanquished its brick and mortar rivals, Netflix appears poised to save a portion of its $600 million in annual DVD postage delivery costs, and invest in new titles emerging from Hollywood studios. The company also continues its aggressive share buy back program.

Shares of Nokia (NYSE: NOK, $13.69) rose 7.6 percent this week after better-than-expected sales and earnings results. The company showed a return to volume growth and better margins at its devices and services unit. The company’s Q4 earnings jumped 65 percent, easily beating estimates. Net income rose to 948 million Euros from 576 million Euros year-over-year. Devices and services margins increased to 15.4 percent from 12.1 percent y-o-y. This was led by a significant refresh of its devices. The results shows that despite a few soft quarters recently, Nokia still stands to benefit from a rebound in cell phone demand and its market share may finally be stabilizing.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN, $125.41) rose 3.3 percent after it handily outpaced Sreet expectations for its fourth fiscal quarter, though it was assisted by $200 million in revenue from recently acquired Zappos as well as a much lower than expected 18 percent tax rate (its tax rate had been 30 percent for the first three quarters of 2009). At a 30 percent tax rate, the company’s EPS would have risen by 49 percent. Following Apple’s (NASDAQ: AAPL, $192.06) lead, Amazon will now fully recognize revenue for the hardware portion of its Kindle electronic book reader, with the change expected to improve first quarter 2010 results. Amazon faces a potentially awkward competitor in the form of Apple as the Kindle faces off against Apple’s recently announced iPad. For now, the two will engage in a form of gentlemanly “coopetition” as Apple will support the Kindle reader on its iPad and Amazon.com will sell iPads on its websites. Amazon also announced plans for an up to $2 billion share buy back over the next few years.

Shares of Adobe Systems (NASDAQ: ADBE, $32.30) fell by 6.1 percent, in the wake of its pricing of $1.5 billion in senior unsecured notes, and the disappointing news that Apple will not support its Flash technology in the first version of the iPad. Adobe intends to use $1 billion of its freshly issued debt to pay down $1 billion on its credit facility, and the rest, we speculate, might be used for share repurchases and acquisitions. With the jury still out on the wisdom of utilizing 65 percent of its cash balance to acquire Omniture, which may or may not prove to be dilutive, investors may be jittery about what may be coming down the road.

The Battle Road Tech Index™ fell 4.6 percent for the week ended January 22, 2010, closing at 1576. For the week, 24 of the 25 Index components decreased in value. Year-to-date, the index is down 6.2 percent, having started at a value of 1680.

The following companies were notable movers for the week:

Shares of eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY, $23.58) rose 4.9 percent this week after some better than expected sales and earnings results. The company’s earnings in particular were impacted by a number of one time items related to the sale of Skype to a group of investors. eBay retains 30 percent ownership of the Voice over IP company. Additionally, the company exhibited strong growth in its Payments (PayPal and Bill Me Later) and International Marketplace businesses, but had lackluster sales in the US Marketplace. The company will need to exhibit strong growth in its domestic marketplace in 2010 for it to make up for the loss in revenue from the loss of Skype.

Shares of SAP (NYSE: SAP, $45.90) declined 6.2 percent as weak economic metrics and proposed financial regulation drove markets lower. SAP pre-announced Q4 results prior to this week showing improvement, but a continued license revenue decline. In addition to the impact of the global economy on technology spending, investors remain concerned as to SAP’s ability to grow and compete against acquisition driven Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL, $24.15) and SaaS pioneer Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM, $64.54).

Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO, $15.88) was down 5.6 percent this week. The company is down in advance of its earnings report on January 26. Some investors are concerned that the company may post year over year declines in sales and revenues. This will compare unfavorably to its main competitor, Google, which posted better than expected results yesterday. Furthermore, the company’s search deal with Microsoft is being scrutinized by EU regulators in order to determine whether the agreement constitutes an unfair constraint on competition.

The Battle Road Tech Index™ fell 2.3 percent for the week ended January 15, 2010, closing at 1652. For the week, 17 of the 25 Index components decreased in value. Year-to-date, the index is down 1.7 percent, having started at a value of 1600.

The following companies were notable movers for the week:

Shares of Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM, $68.63) fell 7.4 percent this week after the company announced a convertible debt offering. It will raise around $500 million at 0.75% despite being extremely well capitalized with $1 billion in cash and investments and strong cash generation. Investors fear that in addition to potential share dilution, it could signal dilutive acquisitions in the near future and slower organic growth.

Texas Instruments (NYSE: TXN, $24.50) fell 6.7 percent for this week, which was highlighted by competitor Intel’s (NASDAQ: INTC, $20.80) earnings announcement on Thursday after the market closed. In the face of high expectations for tech earnings in Q4, Intel reported top line growth of 28 percent and beat EPS expectations by $0.10. However, some have raised the concern that Q4 will be the peak for growth and margins for the industry, as capacity was well-utilized and demand was exceptionally strong. Falling chip margins in 2010 and uncertain inventory trends could hurt TXN and its peers, while bulls still contend that enterprise demand for IT systems will prop up the market for some time.

eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY, $22.47) was down 4.6 percent this week. The company’s share price is suffering from uncertainty over its performance during the holiday shopping season. There are questions surrounding whether the company was able to grow its Marketplace business in the face of competition from other online retailers like Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN, $127.14). Strong growth is expected from the company’s Payments division, which includes the popular PayPal service. Expectations are high for eBay, as investors wait for the January 20 earnings report.

The Battle Road Tech Index™ climbed 0.6 percent for the week ended January 8, 2010, closing at 1690. For the week, 16 of the 25 Index components increased in value. Year-to-date, the index is up 0.6 percent, having started at a value of 1600.

The following companies were notable movers for the week:

SAP (NYSE: SAP, $49.54) shares climbed 5.8 percent this week with employment numbers expected to improve. The company has experienced a steep falloff in license sales as its heavily weighted manufacturing customer base struggled in the cyclical downturn. Now running with a leaner organization after significant cost cutting measures, earnings will likely grow quickly if license revenue swings upward.

Shares of Akamai (NASDAQ: AKAM, $26.48) rose 4.5 percent this week as recession fears faded. The company offers content delivery services over its extensive network, allowing content providers such as websites, media companies, and cloud-based software companies to enhance the speed and reliability of their products. A spending recovery will benefit Akamai’s customers and likely result in additional business for Akamai. Further, Netflix’s (NASDAQ: NFLX, $53.50) recent agreement with Warner Brothers to expand its library of premium content that can be streamed to Netflix subscribers from its website, is bullish for the CDN industry. Consumers embrace the convenience of watching TV episodes and movies on-demand over the web and with more premium content being made accessible through this avenue, the additional volume of video to be delivered will be shouldered by CDN companies like Akamai.

Shares of Dell (NASDAQ: DELL, $14.85) rose 3.5 percent for the week. On Wednesday, the company announced that it had begun an agreement with AT&T (NYSE: T, $27.10) to sell its new line of smart phones in the US. Dell has established smart phone arrangements with China Mobile, Claro in Brazil, and now AT&T in the US. While the smart phone market is a competitive one, driven by frequent innovation and tight price dynamics, Dell has the opportunity to take share since it has not yet penetrated the market significantly. Dell’s newly acquired services business, Perot Systems, also won a US army contract during the week, extending the business relationship with the Army and providing evidence that the Dell-Perot integration has not jeopardized Perot’s longstanding clients.

Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ, $31.75) fell 4.6 percent this week. Verizon fell earlier in the week after management reminded investors about the troubles facing the economy as well as the telecom industry at an investor conference. Verizon also guided 2009 EPS below consensus of $2.39 to $2.41.