Year: 2007

Categories
Career China

Mindray MR is Hiring

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Last Updated on June 10, 2009 by stlplace

Mindray, the leading medical device maker in Shenzhen, is hiring. Here is the link in Chinese. Most are R&D positions. And some campus recruiting events. Interestingly, I noticed they are looking for Spanish, Portuguese, German and Russian speaking sales person, as shown in this ad. From this and previous company’s SEC filings we can see the company still depends European (or South America) for the international growth. As you may know obtaining US regulatory approval for their product is a long process, although everyone knows this is the biggest piece of the pie.

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Stocks

Not All Debt are Equal

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Last Updated on February 26, 2007 by stlplace

Debt is bad. This is what I was told when I grew up in China. I think this is most of my parents generation feel about debt, I am talking about average working people, not the entreprenurs such as Lu Guanqiu, the founder of Zhejiang Wanxiang Group. So when I told my parents I bought a house and got a 15 years loan, their first response was “you will be (my current age+15) years old when you pay off the house”.

We borrow for different reasons. Some are good, some are bad. Buying a house is a good one in general, because it usually has some tax benifits (mortgage interest deduction). Also if we could borrow at a lower rate, invest it and earn at a higher rate, that is also good. We should note one thing though: the cash flow issue, we should have enough regular income to cover the monthly payments for house, food, gas and credit cards, etc.

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Categories
China Stocks

Focus Media FMCN is on the Focus

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Last Updated on February 26, 2007 by stlplace

It will report the earnings after market today. The Street est. earning is $0.62, but I think the whisper number is much higher. In other words, even if it beats the earning, if it issues a soft guidance, the stock may get punished tomorrow. This is the danger of  “playing ERs” with hot stocks. Interestingly, Sage Brennen has this question regarding “does this screen work”. Actually I had same question before, one of the reasons I did not buy FMCN.

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Categories
Fun

Memorable Oscar Moment

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Last Updated on February 25, 2007 by stlplace

It’s Oscar time again. The show starts at 7:30 PM central time on ABC, it’s 5:30 PM at Kodak theater in Hollywood. This is probablly one of the most highest rated TV show in the States, just like the CCTV Spring Festival Show in China. It’s a tradtion. And full of fashion, as you may notice the Red Carpet coverage before the show.

I have watched this Oscar thing for a while. Being a Chinese, I hoped An Li would win the “best director” or “Crouching Tiger Hidden Draggon” would win the “best picture”. That did not happen. But last year his “Broke back Mountain” did win one of the award so I think most Chinese are happy now. Unless you are a die hard Zhang Yi Mou or Ziyi Zhuang’s fan, and want to see them win the academy. Speaking of Zhiyi, I was surprised by her well spoken English last year. I am sure she did not learn from New Oriental 🙂

My most memorable moment, though, was Julia Roberts won the Oscar best actress for her role in “Erin Brockowich” in 2001. I watched her “Pretty Woman” many years ago (1994?) in Shanghai, the movie was in English without Chinese caption. And we all know Julia is “American Sweetheart” but she never got the Academy award by 2001. I remember she was almost speechless when she got to the podium: just like a little girl got a much better gift for her Christmas (than she expected). I think people liked her because she is such an authentic person.   

julia roberts erin brokovich

Categories
China Fun

Chinese New Year Celebration at Olin

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Last Updated on February 25, 2007 by stlplace

Friday evening I attended the New Year celebration at Olin School of Business, Washington University. It was organized by Greater China Club. Very well orchestrated, although the party is a bit late since New Year was Feb 18.

I remember a few months ago our friends Indian students celebrated their Dawali. I think both groups did well in showing the Olin and Wash U. community the Chinese and Indian culture. It seems to me the business students really know marketing in the States 🙂

Categories
Business Stocks

Apple Leaves Table Smiling

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Last Updated on February 25, 2007 by stlplace

Apple and Cisco settled the dispute around the iPhone trademark, according to Mac News. One interesting comment I can not stop laughing is: 

“if Apple leaves the table smiling, you better check your wallet.”

Seriously, I agree with the author Cisco guys are smart too. “Consumers are so with Apple these days, it would have been bad for Cisco, because consumers don’t want to see a company that’s going against Apple.”

I want to note that Cisco is going after the consumer markets these days. As you may noticed from the TV ads and Scientific Atlanta (TV setbox) acquisition.

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Categories
Business China

Xinhua Finance Media Limited IPO

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Last Updated on February 23, 2007 by stlplace

Found this through my friend thesunsfinancialdiary. I briefly went through their F1 prospectus. I had to admit I’m not in best position to evaluate their business: they have 5 divisions providing services from creating adverstisement to customer research. I can think of a St. Louis based privately held company called Maritz which does something similar: they organized conferences for other companies, send promotional gifts for companies like Nissan, take care of the employee reward etc. One way to analyze Xinhua Finance (symbol: XFML) is comparing each division to a public company does something similar, then adding them up.  

On a related matter, the event marketing services in China is booming. About 2 years ago, during my Jiu Zhai Guo tour, I met a senior executive of a conference organizing company  based in Beijing, I learned about three most popular conference places in China: Shanya (Beach), Dali (Yun’nan), and Jiu Zhai Gou/Chengdu.  

By the way, the parent company of Xinhua Finance Media Limited is traded in Tokyo. Also, the CEO and co-founder of the company is Ms. Fredy Bush, not sure if she is related to the George Bush family…

Categories
Stocks

How Did I Find Growth Stocks

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Last Updated on February 22, 2007 by stlplace

New Oriental (EDU, based in Beijing): every Chinese student came to US for study knows that, no need to say anymore. 

Home Inns (Rujia, HMIN, based in Shanghai): my friend in my hometown told me about this in summer 2004. He is a small business owner and he thinks that Rujia is clean and economical. He would stay there when he visits Shanghai as long as he does not see his foreign clients. I believe business travallers make up more than 50% of Rujia’s business.

Mindray (MR, based in Shenzhen): found out shortly after its IPO. I always liked medical device makers, both from investment and health/science point of view. The barrier of entry is high: unlike English (or IT) training, you put ad on newspaper, hire some English teacher and find students and a classroom, you are good to go. For medical device, you will need R&D talents (hint: graduates from HUST), good sales and customer support, all of which you can not get overnight. The risk: lawsuits, regulatory procedures.

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Categories
Stocks

E-File Tax for Free

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Last Updated on February 22, 2007 by stlplace

From Yahoo, this is the link, by Dory Devlin:

My take on this: if your tax situation is straightford, go ahead and use the free software. But on the other hand, if you buy and sell stocks, have a home business, changed jobs or moved last year,…you will be better off use the paid version. Another catch is the AGI (adjust gross income) requirement (less than $52,000).

(Update 22Feb07) I got my state tax refund today (filed by mail about about 10 days ago). I used Turbo Tax for federal (got 15% off through ADP) and it took about the same time to get refund. Prepare your tax early, even if you need to send in check (you can always hold it by mid April).

Categories
Fun Stocks

Crocs Earning Call

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Last Updated on February 20, 2007 by stlplace

I listened to Crocs earning call this evening. The numbers look good, it beats the Street expecation as I expected. They also raised Q1 2007 and 2007 full year guidance. Some of the interesting developments:

1) Nascar cross licensing (cross sell). Since they started Disney relationship in summer 2006, they expanded to NFL, NCAA football, NHL (looking for Canada market).

2) International: UK did very well, european is the main growth driver now; build up in Brazil now, expect good growth there (products match Brazilian life style well); China and India (may be significant in 2008). Disney relationship expanded from US to many international markets.

3) New shoes and aquisitions. Less dependent on the Beach and Cayman shoes.