Market Update: AAPL Breaks $500, but heads back to $499
February 13, 2012
Stock Market Update 2012-02-13 11:00:00
25 minutes ago - Briefing.com
[BRIEFING.COM] Stocks have stabilized after suffering a gradual descent from opening highs. The downward move was led by tech stocks, which make up the largest sector by market weight. As a group they recently came in contact with the flat line, but were able to find support there.
Treasuries have attracted some buying interest in the midst of the stock market's backslide. Although its gain is modest, the benchmark 10-year Note is now in positive territory, pushing its yield to a few basis points below 2.00%.
THE BLUE PRINT: LAYING OUT A BUSINESS PLAN
February 7, 2012
I’ve recently read a business plan that has prompted me to write another piece on the topic. The first thing that should be done when starting a new business is creating the plan, or the blueprint for the organization. For many reasons the business plan is a critical component to the businesses successes and failures and helps reiterate and reinforce the focal points of the company when times are hard. Studies show the first twelve months can make or break a business and can be stressful times. Your business plan can be your backbone and rock during these hard times. Therefore, you need to put the effort into creating the business plan, sticking to it, or adjusting accordingly as you develop, grow, and continue forging ahead. In addition to being your own support your business plan can help secure financial help with start-up costs, short-term loans, and tracking your goals.
There are nine key sections to the business plan: Executive Summary, Market Analysis, Company Description, Organization & Management, Marketing & Sales Management, Service or Product Lines, Funding Requests, Financials, and an Appendix.
The Executive Summary is the most important section and should provide a short synopsis of the entire plan as well as some history of your company. I recommend completing the entire plan before writing this section. This section should answer questions such as:
- What kind of company do you have?
- Who are your primary customers?
- What are your short and long-term goals?
- How many employees do you anticipate having? What key metric will drive this anticipatory rate?
- Who are the leaders of the organization? What experience do they have and how will that experience be leveraged in this enterprise?
- If you are seeking funding, how much are you looking for?
Following the Executive Summary should be a Market Analysis. It is imperative you understand who your competition is and know everything there is to know about the market you are entering. If you are creating a new market or are in a new market, relate the similarities to another industry’s beginnings. Remember to be realistic as the only person you will be fooling is yourself. Knowing who your customers are and how your competition acts will be a key component in advertising and marketing your product.
The Company Description & Organization & Management sections should speak for themselves. Discuss what type of company you are, LLC, S-Corp, C-Corp, LTD, LLP, etc… What is the company about, the mission statement, goals, and the purpose the company ultimately serves. Then discuss the Organization & Management, how these individuals were selected for the position they are in, and the experience they have to excel in this position. The Organization & Management section can be a critical section for investors because well respected leaders and managers can make all the difference during key growth stages.
The Marketing strategy should elaborate on four key points: market penetration, growth, channels of distribution, and communications. There is no right or wrong answer to your strategy in this section. Marketing is always evolving and changing and so are your customer’s demands. This makes marketing an extremely challenging fixture for any business. However, this section will help you and the investors understand your outlook on marketing and make your strategy relevant to your business. In addition to the four key points mentioned above this section should discuss sales force and sales activities.
The bread and butter of your business plan is the Service or Product Line(s) section. This tells the investors the benefit of what you are selling. Be sure to focus on the benefit of your product to consumers and not necessarily all of your actual products. If you are a hosting company, or aspiring company, and offer Shared, Reseller, VPS, Dedicated, and Co-location, you do not need to break down each specific product and what they are. You should talk about the added benefit and services each of these products will feature. The market summary should help the readers understand more about the actual products you’re offering and the basics behind your products and/or services. In addition to touching on the added features or services describe the products or services from a consumer point of view, what stage of development that product or service is in, and the benefits of your product or service and the ability to meet consumer needs. It is also beneficial to list what separates you from the competition in this section.
The Financials & Funding Request section should be relevant, within scope, and not be an extreme. The previous sections laid out who your company is and where you want it to be. This section should discuss the financial implications of getting there. It is important to discuss what your current funding requirements are, future requirements over the next five years, how these funds will be used, and any long-term strategies you plan to implement that would have a significant impact on funding or cash flow. Always discuss time frames and what the funds will be used for. Once you have listed your requirements and requests be sure to include the justification for it.
The second portion to the Financials & Funding Request section should include prior Financial statements such as three to five years’ worth if you have them. It is imperative that your Financials match your funding request or else you will immediately project inconsistencies in your plan. Remember investors are used to looking at charts, graphs, and pivot tables, don’t forget to be creative and capture the attention of the reader.
Lastly, finish up the business plan with your Appendix. This section is not included with the submission of your business plan and usually is requested by investors. This section shares credit history of your business, resume of key executives and employees, pictures of your products or recommendations of your services, letters of reference, details of your market studies and their sources, relevant articles or references to your business plan, software or any other license, permits, or patents, copies of leases, building permits, contracts, list of business consultants, including attorney and accountants.
Be sure to remember who and where you sent your business plan and appendix. This is the key to your successes and failures.
For further analysis of the Business Plan please see my September 2011 blog entries on YIPFolio.com. For any questions or inquiries please send an email to Doug.
Doug C. is a Financial Analyst for a top 20 Fortune 500 Financial Services company and owner of YIPFolio Financial & Management Consulting Services. He specializes in Financial & Accounting services including balance sheet, P&L, fixed assets, and capital funding. He has spent several years in the Hosting and Technology industry while consulting management and senior management on all aspects from raising capital to managing daily cash flow. Doug received his BS in Finance from Fairfield University and resides in the Greater New York City area.
STARTING & SUSTAINING YOUR BUSINESS, FINANCIALLY
January 31, 2012
To further touch upon last week’s article written about GPM (gross profit margins) and the two fundamental statements: balance sheet & profit (loss) statement, I wanted to further discuss the preparation of a businesses finances. There are two things to consider when starting a business or even managing a new business for that matter. Understanding how you are going to fund your business and when you can expect profits.
In order to understand how you are going to fund your business you better understand what your financing needs are in addition to the types of options that will be available to you. Money, or capital, not only helps your business get off the ground but keeps the business sustainable. Some options that exist for your business entail borrowing money, using business versus personal finances, and other eligible business assistance.
In my experience most young companies entertain the idea of either equity financing or debt financing. Equity financing is money that is raised by a company in exchange for a share of ownership. This is not limited to publically traded corporations but is a viable option for all facets of business. Obtaining equity allows a business to obtain funds without incurring debt, or simply put, without having to repay a specific amount of money at a particular time. Equity financing can come from a plethora of sources including friends, relatives, employees, customers, industry colleagues, or non-professional investors. The most common equity finance contributors are venture capitalists.
In contrast to equity financing, debt financing is borrowing money that must be repaid over a period of time, usually with interest. This debt can be short-term, which is fully repaid in under one year, or long-term, repayment is due in excess of one year. The difference between equity and debt is ownership. With debt financing the lender does not gain ownership interest in the business, and the return on investment is tied to interest payments. In general debt financing requires some collateral to guarantee the repayment of the loan and interest. If you are an LLC or private corporation the lender can ask for a personal guarantee in case of default in addition to the collateral placed against the loan. This tactic is used to mitigate lending risks as well as ensure the borrower has sufficient personal interest at stake towards making the business succeed.
After funding and sustaining your business operations the next question is always tied to making money. One key question I am often asked by startups is, “When will I start seeing profits?” The answer to this question lies in the breakeven analysis. This tool is used to determine when a business’s revenue will outpace its expenses, which is also known as, making a profit. In order to determine this extensive research should have been conducted on start up costs. Generally speaking this can be obtained from the business plan (if you do not have a business plan it would be beneficial to begin there). Knowing what your expenses are going to be will inform you of the sales revenue you need to cover those expenses. In addition to market demand this should help set a guideline for pricing of your products as well. For established businesses or business units, to calculate the breakeven point, identify all of your fixed and variable costs.
Fixed costs are typically referred to as overhead because they are needed to run the business but not attributed to sales volume. For example, rent, administrative salaries, telephone lines, and other non-sales volume related expenses are considered fixed costs. Variable costs are just the opposite and are tied directly with sales volume such as additional servers, increased bandwidth, and disk drives. Knowing your fixed and variable costs will help determine how many unit sales are needed and how much to sell them for to breakeven.
For example, if it costs $25 to create one virtual private server, and there are fixed costs of $1,000, the break-even point for selling the Virtual Private Servers would be 40.
(If the price of each server sold was $50), 1,000 (fixed cost) / (50 – 25) = 40 Virtual Private Servers.
Revenue = $50 x 40 units sold = $2,000 | Fixed Cost = $1,000 | Variable Cost = $25 per unit sold = 25 x 40 = $1,000 | Net Income = Revenue – Expenses or $2,000 – $1,000 – $1,000 = 0 [Break-even].
In the same analysis, selling 41 virtual private servers would be the point of profitability. 41 VPS x $50 = $2,050 – $1,000 – (25*41) = $2,050 – $2,025 = $25. Undercutting or underestimating your variable and fixed costs is only going to undermine the integrity of your analysis. Be sure to include realistic figures and be able to support how you derived these numbers. Many investors will pick this analysis and ask you how you plan to get to the number of units needed to break-even. If you have any questions please feel free to
Email Me.
Please feel free to check out Doug's submission to the
VPS.Net Blog found
here.
Doug C. is a Financial Analyst for a top 20 Fortune 500 Financial Services company and owner of YIPFolio Financial & Management Consulting Services. He specializes in Financial & Accounting services including balance sheet, P&L, fixed assets, and capital funding. He has spent several years in the Hosting and Technology industry while consulting management and senior management on all aspects from raising capital to managing daily cash flow. Doug received his BS in Finance from Fairfield University and resides in the Greater New York City area. ACCOUNTING FOR TECHNOLOGY: GROSS MARGINS AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS.
January 25, 2012
Many of my most recent young and highly talented software and service clients have unbelievable knowledge and depth into their technological field. However, I find like many other young companies, these professionals lack the Finance & Accounting knowledge in order to best represent their company financials and financial stability to creditors, banks, venture capitalists, or other key stakeholders. It has led me to rethink how I consult companies and how I train their management teams to look at their own performance. Three key metrics or financial terms I would like to talk about today include gross margins, Profit & Loss (P&L) Statements, and the Balance Sheet.
Gross margins, which can also be referred to as gross profit margins, by definition is a company’s total sales revenue minus its cost of goods sold (COGS), divided by the total sales revenue, expressed as a percentage. The gross margin represents the percent of total sales revenue that the company retains after incurring the direct costs associated with producing the goods and services sold by a company. Obviously, the higher gross margin percentage the more a company retains on each dollar of sales.
For example, if Company XYZ were said to have a Gross Profit Margin of 25%, it would retain $0.25 from each dollar of revenue generated. Strong gross margins vary between companies and industries depending on the service or product being provided. However, keep in mind gross profit margins do not translate directly into net profit. The gross margins are generally put towards capital expenditures and operating expenditures, including general and administrative expenses.
One of the first analyzes I put forth with my clients always relates to profit margins and knowing what your COGS are in comparison to your net sales (or earnings capacity for new company’s). In close to ten years of industry experience around the Hosting Industry I find many new companies and founders tend to overlook Accounting and Finance principles. Two very important concepts assets and liabilities and net profit can be found on two separate financial statements that should always be viewed by senior management. They are the P&L, or statement of net income, and the balance sheet.
The balance sheet is a financial statement that summarizes a company’s assets, liabilities and shareholder’s equity at a specific point in time. It is the best depiction of what a company owns versus what it owes. In translation to the hosting industry this can be viewed as leasing a server from a reseller versus leasing space in a data center and purchasing servers. In most US GAAP scenarios the expense of purchasing new server and co-locating it would be pushed to the balance sheet and depreciated over the useful life, typically three to five years. On a month-to-month operating lease, that same server [as an example] costs $500 at your local reseller is shown on the Statement of Net Income or P&L (profit & loss statement). If the cost of that server to purchase is $5,000 and the useful life three years, the P&L would receive approximately $140 a month in depreciation expense versus $500/mo for data processing and data center expenses. Granted additional upfront costs and other fees apply; further analysis is required to understand which model, operating leases or ownership, works best for you. Keep in mind separate business models and key management philosophies can determine whether purchasing assets or leasing them is best, not just in terms of upfront capital costs, but also from a maintenance and support perspective.
The P&L statement summarizes the revenues, costs and expenses incurred by your company during a specified period of time. Generally speaking profit centers and corporations report quarterly whereas cost centers look at monthly P&L’s. This statement shows the ability of a company to generate profit by increasing revenues and reducing costs. A good measure of company growth is not always looking at the bottom line and seeing the fluctuation of profits but rather the increase in sales.
Please feel free to check out Doug's submission to the
VPS.Net Blog found
here.
Doug C. is a Financial Analyst for a top 20 Fortune 500 Financial Services company and owner of YIPFolio Financial & Management Consulting Services. He specializes in Financial & Accounting services including balance sheet, P&L, fixed assets, and capital funding. He has spent several years in the Hosting and Technology industry while consulting management and senior management on all aspects from raising capital to managing daily cash flow. Doug received his BS in Finance from Fairfield University and resides in the Greater New York City area. January 24, 2012 - Briefing.com Update 8:30am (EST).
January 24, 2012
[BRIEFING.COM] S&P futures vs fair value: -8.90. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: -9.50. Many of Europe's major bourses have retreated into the red amid disappointment and frustration related to ongoing wrangling over Greece's debt terms; many had come to expect some sort of solution yesterday. Greece's Athex 20 is currently down 4.0%. Meanwhile, Germany's DAX is down 0.9%. Commerzbank, which rallied hard in each of its last two outings, is under heavy selling pressure. Deutsche Bank (DB 41.89, -1.56) is down in sympathy. Germany reported that its Manufacturing PMI for January hit 50.9, which is up from the 48.4 that was posted in the prior month. The country's Services PMI improved to 54.5 in January from 52.4 in the prior month. Banking outfits are also dragging on Britain's FTSE, which is currently off by 0.8%. Lloyds Group (LYG 1.91, -0.11) and Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS 8.38, -0.29) are currently the two poorest performers in the FTSE. Barclays (BCS 13.48, -0.44) is also in rough shape this session. France's CAC has fallen to a 0.9% loss. Societe Generale and Credit Agricole are hurting action there after the pair had provided upside leadership in the prior session. France reported that its preliminary reading on Manufacturing PMI eased down to 48.5 in January from 48.9 in December. The Manufacturing PMI for the overall eurozone improved to 48.7 in January from 46.9 in the prior month. The Services PMI reading for the eurozone inched up to 50.5 in January from 50.3 in the prior month.
Action in Asia was limited due to holiday observations in China and Hong Kong. However, Japan's Nikkei was open. It inched up to a 0.2% gain. Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha and Nippon Yusen were primary leaders. Toyota Motor (TM 72.18, +1.03), Mitsubishi Motor, and Mazda Motor also staged strong gains, but their strength was offset by weakness in Nippon Steel, Tokyo Electric Power, and Nomura Holdings (NMR 3.71, +0.00). The country's central bank trimmed its 2012 outlook to reflect growth of 2.0% after it had forecasted 2.2% growth this past fall. Weakness in Europe and a stronger yen were cited as underpinnings of the downward revision.
Note: all ticker quotes reflect premarket prices.
Stock Market Update 2012-01-17 09:15:00
January 17, 2012
Stock Market Update 2012-01-17 09:15:00
29 minutes ago - Briefing.com
[BRIEFING.COM] S&P futures vs fair value: +12.60. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: +23.00. Stock futures continue to trade with strength, but have eased off of their morning highs in conjunction with a recent slip by the euro, which had been up nearly 1% about an hour ago, but now leads the greenback by a more modest 0.5%. Still, strong data continue to provide premarket participants with a reason to offer a bid. Participants both at home and abroad have applauded China's fourth quarter GDP, along with the country's latest retail sales and industrial production numbers. Also, Germany posted a satisfactory reading on economic sentiment. Domestic data was limited to a better-than-expected manufacturing activity survey from the New York region. Earnings news hasn't been all that exciting -- both Citigroup (C 29.20, -1.54) and M&T Bank (MTB 81.45, -0.89) came short of the consensus earnings forecast, while Wells Fargo (WFC 29.96, +0.35) posted in-line earnings. Note: all ticker quotes reflect premarket prices.
Stock Market Update 2012-01-11 8:05am.
January 11, 2012
Stock Market Update 2012-01-11 08:05:00
13 minutes ago - Briefing.com
[BRIEFING.COM] S&P futures vs fair value: -3.30. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: -2.80. Stock futures scored multi-month highs in the prior session, but buying interest has cooled ahead of today's open. Many premarket participants are taking their cues from Europe, where the euro and the region's major bourses are on the decline ahead of the latest European Central Bank announcement tomorrow. Earnings announcements remain limited both in quantity and significance; they don't really get going in earnest until next week. There's little else to fill today's calendar. Oil inventory numbers due at 10:30 AM ET. The latest series of Treasury offerings continues with results from an auction of 10-year Notes due at 1:00 PM ET. The Beige Book, a collection of anecdotal economic data, will be posted at 2:00 PM ET.
Stock market updates are brought to you by
Briefing.comApple’s New CEO Salary: 378 Million Times As Much As Steve Jobs
January 10, 2012
Article by Henry Blodget |
Daily Ticket by Yahoo! – 59 minutes ago
The tech world was abuzz Monday when the compensation package for Apple's new CEO Tim Cook was
released.
The total for 2011?
$378 million.
This was comprised of $900,000 of cash salary and a $377 million stock grant.
That total compensation, observers were quick to point out, was 378 million times as much as Apple's last CEO made. Steve Jobs, famously, took home $1 a year.
So is Tim Cook's compensation outrageous?
Actually, no, at least in my opinion.
Steve Jobs was paid $1, in part, because he already held a big position in Apple's stock, thanks to an option grant when he returned to the company at the end of the 1990s. Steve's original option grant had exploded in value thanks to Apple's amazing renaissance, so by last year it was worth several billion dollars.
The stock grant that Apple's new CEO, Tim Cook, got last year was not awarded to compensate him for his performance in a single year. It was awarded, presumably, to create an incentive for him to do an excellent job over many years--hopefully, a decade or more. Spread over that decade, even if Apple's stock does not appreciate from here, the compensation looks more normal (huge, but well within the bounds of the egregious amount of money that most of America's big-company CEOs take home).
And let us not forget that Apple is now an absolutely massive company, with more than $100 billion of revenue and a $400 billion market capitalization. The idea that the company's CEO should have a modest salary (by CEO terms) and a 1% position in the company's stock doesn't strike me as outrageous.
My colleague, Yahoo! Finance economics editor Dan Gross, however, disagrees. He thinks Tim Cook is now just another CEO-pig-at-the-trough. No matter what Cook does over the next decade, Dan points out, he'll still walk away with hundreds of millions of dollars.
Unemployment rate falls as economy adds 200K jobs
January 6, 2012
Employers add 200,000 jobs, unemployment rate falls to 8.5 percent, lowest in nearly 3 years.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- A burst of hiring in December pushed the unemployment rate to its lowest level in nearly three years, giving the economy a boost at the end of 2011.
The Labor Department said Friday that employers added a net 200,000 jobs last month and the unemployment rate fell to 8.5 percent, the lowest since February 2009. The rate has dropped for four straight months.
The hiring gains cap a six-month stretch in which the economy generated 100,000 jobs or more in each month. That hasn't happened since April 2006.
The steady drop is a positive sign for President Barack Obama, who is bound to face voters with the highest unemployment rate of any sitting president since World War II. Unemployment was 7.8 percent when Obama took office in January 2009.
Still, the level may matter less to his re-election chances if the rate continues to fall. History suggests that presidents' re-election prospects hinge less on the unemployment rate itself than on the rate's direction during the year or two before Election Day.
For all of 2011, the economy added 1.6 million jobs, better than the 940,000 added in 2010. The unemployment rate averaged 8.9 percent last year, down from 9.6 percent the previous year.
Economists forecast that the job gains will top 2.1 million this year.
The December report painted a picture of a broadly improving job market. Average hourly pay rose, providing consumers with more income to spend. The average work week lengthened, a sign that business is picking up and companies may soon need more workers. And hiring was strong across almost all major industries.
Manufacturing added 23,000 jobs. Transportation and warehousing added 50,000 jobs. Retailers added 28,000 jobs. Even the beleaguered construction industry added 17,000 workers.
A more robust hiring market coincides with other positive data that show the economy ended the year with some momentum.
Weekly applications for unemployment benefits have fallen to levels last seen more than three years ago. Holiday sales were solid. And November and December were the strongest months of 2011 for U.S. auto sales.
Many businesses say they are ready to step up hiring in early 2012 after seeing stronger consumer confidence and greater demand for their products.
Stock Market Update 2012-01-04 09:20:53
January 4, 2012
[BRIEFING.COM] S&P futures vs fair value: -5.40. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: -6.60. Concerns about financial conditions in the core and periphery of Europe certainly didn't go away with the arrival of 2012; they are being cited by many market pundits for the tepid tone to today's premarket trade. China's leaders also failed to offer fodder for stocks by issuing cautious comments about the difficulty that the country's economy faces in the future. With yields on Spain's debt climbing, the euro retreating, and China undermining confidence in the global economic outlook, the dollar is benefiting from some safety seeking -- the greenback was last quoted with a 0.6% gain against a basket of major foreign currencies. There hasn't been any data for participants to digest just yet. Monthly factory orders figures, due at 10:00 AM ET, make up the only item on the calendar for today.
Stock Market Update 2012-01-03 3:30:00pm (EST)
January 3, 2012
Stock Market Update 2012-01-03 15:30:00
16 minutes ago - Briefing.com
[BRIEFING.COM] There was a broad based rally in commodities today, aided by strength in global equity markets and weakness in the dollar (or corresponding strength in the euro). Gold futures rallied 2.1% to close at $1600.50 per ounce, while silver futures surged 5.9% to settle at $29.57 per ounce. Copper futures partook in the rally as well, posting gains of 2.8% to finish at $3.53 per pound.
Crude oil futures posted gains of 4.2% to settle at $102.96. Aided by the continued saber-rattling in Iran and the rally in equities, crude futures put in session highs at $103.13, its best levels since Nov 17, and closed just shy of those levels. Natural gas finished just above the unchanged mark at $3.00 per MMBtu. In morning trade, nat gas priced dipped to a fresh 28 month low at $2.94. They managed to rebound off those lows to recoup their losses.
Merry Christmas
December 25, 2011
Merry Christmas from our families to yours. We wish you a safe and healthy holiday season.
Thanks for your continued belief in YIPFolio Financial & Management Consulting Services.
Market Update: Before the Opening Bell.
December 19, 2011
[BRIEFING.COM] S&P futures vs fair value: +4.10. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: -2.30. Commodities are mixed this morning. That has left the CRB Index to cling to a 0.2% gain. Among its more closely tracked components, oil prices are up 0.7% to $94.20 per barrel, but natural gas prices are down 1.8% to $3.07 per MMBtu. Both are in their opening minutes of pit trade. As for precious metals, gold prices are up 0.5% to $1606 per ounce, but silver is off by 2.2% at $29.03 per ounce.
Stock Market Update 2011-12-13 09:05:31
December 13, 2011
Stock Market Update 2011-12-13 09:05:31
12 minutes ago - Briefing.com
[BRIEFING.COM] S&P futures vs fair value: +6.60. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: +18.80. Gains among commodities are varied, but they've been enough to lift the CRB Index by 0.4%. Among the CRB's more widely followed components, oil prices are up 0.7% to $98.50 per barrel in early pit trade. Natural gas prices are up 0.6% to $3.28 per MMBtu. As for precious metals, gold prices are flat at $1668 per ounce, but silver is sporting a 1.1% gain at $31.33 per ounce.
Today's Morning Briefing
December 12, 2011
[BRIEFING.COM] S&P futures vs fair value: -11.60. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: -24.20. Stock futures recently fell to fresh morning lows. The move followed news that Dow component and semiconductor bellwether Intel (INTC 24.26, -0.75) has lowered its outlook. That announcement only exacerbated pre-market weakness, which was initially brought about by some discouraging data from China and a sense of skepticism, and even pessimism, pertaining to Europe's ability to efficiently implement plans made during the eurozone summit late last week.
Concerns about the macro path have implicated commodities, causing the CRB Commodity Index to tumble more than 1% this morning. Weakness in the commodity complex has only intensified with a bounce by the greenback, which is sporting a 0.9% gain against a basket of major foreign currencies as many traders seek its safety.
Note: all ticker quotes reflect premarket prices.
Stock Market Update 2011-12-09 09:15:00
December 9, 2011
Stock Market Update 2011-12-09 09:15:00
14 minutes ago - Briefing.com
[BRIEFING.COM] S&P futures vs fair value: +6.70. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: +7.20. Stock futures have steadily surrendered their gains this morning, such that a flat start to the session now appears likely. Initial strength came amid reports of progress at the latest eurozone summit. A consensus on every agenda item has reportedly eluded members, but that's not so surprising given the dissension displayed by so many eurozone officials during efforts of the past few months. Corporate news hasn't been anything encouraging, especially with both Texas Instruments (TXN 28.25, -1.67) and DuPont (DD 44.00, -2.52) cutting their outlooks. Data has been limited to an in-line trade deficit number. Coming up, though, is a preliminary monthly survey on consumer sentiment at 9:55 AM ET. Note: all ticker quotes reflect pre-market prices.
Stock Market Update 2011-12-08 15:30:00
December 8, 2011
Stock Market Update 2011-12-08 15:30:00
48 minutes ago - Briefing.com
[BRIEFING.COM] It was another headline driven session for commodities. An ECB rate cut, coupled with comments from ECB head Mario Draghi, caused for volatile trade in gold, silver and crude oil. Gold, which settled lower by 1.9% at $1712.30 per ounce, sold off sharply in morning trade and continued its sell-off throughout the session. Futures put in lows at $1707.80 and ended just above those levels. Silver closed down 3.2% at $31.59 per ounce. Similar to trade in gold, silver sold off sharply in morning trade and extended that pullback through the day, closing just above lows at $31.43.
Crude oil settled lower by 2.1% at $98.34 per barrel. Futures found support at their 20 day-ema around $98.40 and spent the majority of the session bouncing around that level. Natural gas rallied sharply following the release of this morning's inventory data, which showed a larger-than-expected draw down. Futures traded as high as $3.55, but began pulling back from those highs soon afterwards. Natural gas ended higher by 1% at $3.54 per MMBtu.
What you (personally) should do before launching a start-up.
December 8, 2011
I read an excellent article on Businessweek.com (a subsidiary of Bloomberg) regarding steps individuals should take before launching their start-up organization. I started thinking about the individual consulting I offer to my clients and perhaps start my consultations a step to late. (For those of you who feel the same way, my apologies). In any event, the
article touched on some very key points as to where you need to be
before you launch your start-up.
My own personal philosophy towards investing in start-ups or consulting them is to have six to twelve months operating expenses (depending on industry and size of business comes into play where twelve to twenty-four months maybe more realistic) stashed away to ensure any hiccups that come along the way can be covered financially. The first year of business is always the hardest and thus needs to be covered financially in order to have some longevity.
Before Launching, Organize Personal Finances by Monica MehtaStock Market Update 2011-12-08 09:45:00
December 8, 2011
[BRIEFING.COM] Stocks are down in the opening minutes of trade. Pressure is broad based, but financials are suffering the most. As a group, financials have already fallen to a 1.7% loss. The steep slide comes after the sector scored an outsized gain of 1.2% in the prior session.
Tech is showing early stability, however. The sector has managed to lift itself out of the red and into positive territory for a fractional gain. Tech stocks collectively make up the largest sector by market weight.
Stock Market Update 2011-12-08 09:05:00
December 8, 2011
[BRIEFING.COM] S&P futures vs fair value: -6.70. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: -15.90. The initial response to comments from European Central Bank (ECB) President Draghi was positive, but that has proved to be more of a knee-jerk reaction among domestic traders since stock futures have reversed back to the flat line. Europe's bourses have also slipped. Although the ECB has lowered its main refinancing operations rate to 1.00% from 1.25% and trimmed the rate on its marginal lending facility to 1.75% from 2.00%, the vote to do so was not unanimous, reflecting dissension in the group. The ECB also took a more cautious stance on its economic outlook, but announced its intent to extend collateral eligibility to asset-backed securities so as to enhance liquidity. The Bank of England also recently wrapped up its latest meeting, but opted to keep its benchmark lending rate at 0.50%. Its asset purchase program also remains unaltered. Britain's FTSE is now flat after it had been up almost 1% earlier. Energy issues have been a heavy drag. France's CAC has fallen to a 0.5% loss amid weakness in Societe Generale and a host of other stocks. Germany's DAX is now down 0.7%. Commerzbank has been aggressively cut down. A major event still on the calendar is the outcome of a summit of eurozone officials at the tail end of this week.
Overnight action in Asia was generally weak with both Japan's Nikkei and Hong Kong's Hang Seng shedding 0.7%. Japan's Nikkei was weakened by the likes of Panasonic, Nikon, and Sumco. Tokyo Electric Power also proved to be a heavy drag. The Hang Seng was hurt by a steep slide by Li & Fung. Mainland China saw its Shanghai Composite close just 0.1% lower.
Stock Market Update 2011-12-07 09:15:00
December 7, 2011
Stock Market Update 2011-12-07 09:15:00
15 minutes ago - Briefing.com
[BRIEFING.COM] S&P futures vs fair value: -4.40. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: -5.80. Stock futures point to a flat start after they had been bid higher overnight. The decline in buying interest comes as trade in Europe turns lackluster, despite news that the European Central Bank (ECB) will relax criteria for loan collateral. The announcement precedes the latest monetary policy decision from the ECB and the outcome of a summit of eurozone officials. The euro is showing weakness ahead of those events; it currently trails the dollar by 0.4%. Corporate news and economic data remain limited, giving market participants few directional cues for the second straight session.
Stock Market Update
December 6, 2011
Stock Market Update
48 minutes ago
[BRIEFING.COM] It was a relatively quiet session for commodities today, although precious metals rallied throughout the latter portion of the session, recouping morning losses in the process. Gold, which ended lower by 0.2% at $1730.90 per ounce, came just shy of the unchanged mark and its session high of $1732.50. Silver futures, which closed a dime shy of its session high with a 1.2% gain at $32.77 per ounce, pushed into positive territory after they had been down about 2% this morning.
Crude oil closed up 0.3% at $101.28 per barrel after the energy component erased modest morning losses. Natural gas booked a 0.2% gain by finishing at $3.48 per MMBtu, shy of its session high of $3.51 per MMBtu, after fighting through morning selling pressure.
Stock Market Update 2011-12-06 12:00:00
December 6, 2011
Stock Market Update 2011-12-06 12:00:00
28 minutes ago - Briefing.com
[BRIEFING.COM] Stocks have benefited from a recent flurry of buying interest, but there hasn't been much follow through. In turn, the major averages continue to trade in mixed fashion. The lack of corporate news, data, and announcements from the precarious eurozone has left stocks to listlessly chop along without any real direction.
Stock Market Update 2011-12-05 10:30:00
December 5, 2011
Stock Market Update 2011-12-05 10:30:00
35 minutes ago - Briefing.com
[BRIEFING.COM] The major equity averages are adding to their early gains, resulting in new morning highs for stocks.
Commodities remain mixed, though. Specifically, oil prices are up 1.2% at $102.20 per barrel, which is little changed from where they opened pit trade, but natural gas prices have extended their opening slide so that they now trade with a 2.9% loss at $3.48 per MMBtu.
As for precious metals, gold is still wrestling with modest selling pressure that has left prices at $1749 per ounce, which makes for a 0.1% loss. Silver prices have managed to add to their morning gains by working their way up to $33 per ounce for a 0.9% gain.
Stock Market Update 2011-12-02 16:05:00
December 2, 2011
Stock Market Update 2011-12-02 16:05:00
6 minutes ago - Briefing.com
[BRIEFING.COM] This was an incredibly strong week for the equity markets, with the S&P 500 jumping nearly 8%. This week's rally follows a 5% decline last week.
The week started with a strong relief rally on Monday, helped by news that European authorities were discussing the possibility for a new eurozone fiscal pact that could make budget discipline legally binding and enforceable by European authorities. The market held onto gains and finished with a 2.9% gain.
After a relatively uneventful Tuesday, stocks surged on Wednesday after major central banks announced coordinated liquidity actions. The S&P 500 jumped 4.4% after the Fed and five other central banks agreed to lower the pricing on the existing temporary U.S. dollar liquidity swap arrangements by 50 basis points to ease strains in financial markets and mitigate the effects of such strains on the supply of credit. Although these actions do not address the underlying solvency problems in Europe, they help to liquify the markets to help deal with the stresses that result from those solvency problems.
Prior to this coordinated action, equity futures had moved up after China eased policy by lowering its Reserve Requirement Ratio by 50 bps to 21.00%.
Thursday was uneventful, with mixed retailer Same Store Sales reports, but markets found an early bid on Friday ahead of the November Employment Report. That report turned out to be an encouraging read on the employment sector, with Nonfarm Payrolls coming in at +120K vs. the +123K Briefing.com consensus, and the Unemployment Rate falling to 8.6% vs. the 9.0% Briefing.com consensus and prior month's level. After moving higher off the open, equities reversed course and pared their early gains. The turnaround wasn't drastic, but did correlate with a decline in euro.
Outside of the macro news, there were some large individual movers as well this week on company news. Among the many stocks that had large gains this week, Zumiez (ZUMZ 28.99, +5.62) was an outperformer with a 39% gain on the week, helped by strong earnings/guidance on Friday. MBIA (MBI 10.62, +0.41) gained 40% on the week, helped by positive broker comments and S&P affirming its rating. Magma Design Automation (LAVA 7.16, +0.03) gained 37% on the week, after it was acquired by Synopsys (SNPS 27.44 -0.06) for $7.35/Magma share in cash.
As far as the losers go, Celsion (CLSN 2.18, +0.07) dropped 22% after announcing Monday that it received unanimous recommendation by independent data monitoring committee to continue and complete phase III heat study of Thermodox as planned. Retailers Gildan Activewear (GIL 16.99, +0.63), Talbots (TLB 1.54, -0.12) and Francesca's (FRAN 16.00, +0.64) fell 25%, 19% and 18%, respectively, on earnings and guidance.
Next week brings several central bank directives, including the ECB on Thursday, which will be of great interest given increased expectations for another rate cut. The Bank of England is also due out Thursday, but there is less uncertatinty there. Additionally, Germany's Merkel and France's Sarkozy are expected to meet on Monday, which could bring influential headlines with regard to Europe's debt crisis. The U.S. calendar lightens up a bit, but Monday brings Oct. Factory Orders and Nov. ISM Services, and Friday we get the Dec. Michigan Sentiment reading.
Friday, December 2, 2011 Market Update
December 2, 2011
First let me start off by saying, WHAT A WEEK! We hope you have been able to realize some of those gains back after a brutal October & November where at one point six consecutive weeks of losses hindering our investment capabilities. Nonetheless, this week has been extremely positive as the year end run is on!
Stock Market Update 2011-12-02 10:30:00
14 minutes ago - Briefing.com
[BRIEFING.COM] Movement in the dollar has helped dictate price action in commodities this morning. Jobs data, coupled with reports about possible ECB lending (to the IMF) have caused a couple of sharp swings in the dollar... In overnight trade, gold and silver futures rallied on the back of the weaker dollar. Both metals have since pulled back from their best levels, at $1767.10 and $33.74 respectively, as the dollar recoups earlier losses. Gold is currently higher by 0.8% at $1753 per ounce, while silver is up 1.6% at $33.27 per ounce.
Crude oil futures rallied as high as $101.56 in morning trade, aided by the weakness in the dollar. Futures have since pulled back to near unchanged, momentarily trading into negative territory, pressured by the rebounding dollar. Crude oil is currently higher by 0.3% at $100.53 per barrel. Natural gas is down 0.9% at $3.62 per MMBtu. Futures are selling off following yesterday's inventory-induced gains.
Adobe eSign
December 1, 2011
To All Clients,
As all of you may know our records repository was eSign by Adobe which will no longer be in effect on January 15, 2012. Adobe has recently purchased echosign and will no longer be using the beta eSign repository.
I have created a new account on Echosign and will be migrating our documents to the new repository this week. For any of you who need your documents please feel free to send me an
Email and I will forward it to you. All of the eSign documents have signatures and dates on them and will be migrated to the new system.
Thanks.
YIPFolio Management
Holiday Season
November 23, 2011
YIPFolio and its staff would like to wish all of our clients and readers a Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Holiday Season.
We wish all of you much success into 2012 and onward and look forward to seeing you prosper, grow, and emerge from your ever-so changing industries. There are many challenges and obstacles that you maybe faced with along the way, but remember perseverance and the will to succeed will outlast the troubling times. Whether you are a small time entrepreneur, or the CEO of a large corporation, you cannot escape the daily challenges of business. You may be equipped with adequate resources, but without determination and drive you will not be able to take on new challenges. Take risks, be adaptable, and learn from your mistakes.
Happy Holidays!
Sincerely,
Doug C.
CFO & Owner
Medtronic Bested Estimates for Q2, Rose 5.9% Year-Over-Year (MDT)
November 22, 2011
One of the company's YIPFolio has been following and investing in is Medtronic which manufactures and sells device-based medical therapies worldwide. It provides implantable cardioverter-defibrillators, cardiac resynchronization therapy devices, and cardiac pacemakers for the diagnosis, treatment, and management of heart rhythm disorders and heart failure; AF products; diagnostics and monitoring devices; and patient management tools. The company also offers percutaneous coronary and peripheral vascular interventions, and renal denervation for the treatment of coronary artery disease, peripheral vascular disease, and hypertension; endovascular stent grafts to treat abdominal and thoracic aortic aneurysms; and heart valves, arrested and beating heart surgery, and surgical ablation for various heart valve disorders.
Chip Brian of SmartTrend recently wrote this, Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) reported Q2 EPS of $0.84, better than analyst estimates of $0.84. Revenues for the quarter rose 5.9% year-over-year to $4.13 billion, topping consensus estimates of $4.07 billion.
"I'm pleased we delivered another quarter of consistent growth in a difficult environment. A majority of our businesses, and nearly all of our geographies, contributed to this growth. As we continue to focus on innovation, globalization, and execution, I see tremendous opportunities for growth in the future," Chairman and CEO Omar Ishrak said in a statement.
Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) has potential upside of 19.6% based on a current price of $33.27 and an average consensus analyst price target of $39.78.
Medtronic should find initial resistance at its 50-day moving average (MA) of $33.85 and further resistance at its 200-day MA of $37.07.
In the last five trading sessions, the 50-day MA has remained constant while the 200-day MA has slid 0.22%.
Medtronic, Inc. develops therapeutic and diagnostic medical products. The Company's principal products include those for bradycardia pacing, tachyarrhythmia management, atrial fibrillation management, heart failure management, heart valve replacement, malignant and non-malignant pain, and movement disorders. Medtronic's products are sold worldwide.
Write to Chip Brian at cbrian@mysmartrend.com
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SmarTrend analyzes over 5,000 securities simultaneously throughout the trading day and provides its subscribers with trend change alerts in real time. To get a free trial of our trading calls and maximize your trading results, please visit http://www.MySmarTrend.com
Get exclusive, actionable insight into how the market is expected to trend prior to market open with our free morning newsletter. Sign up at: http://www.MySmarTrend.com/signup
Financial Software, should you use it?
November 21, 2011
I've been doing some analytics on SAP & Oracle Financial Management software and curious as to whether or not YIPFolio should move towards the integration, implementation, and use of such product. Not just for our own internal purposes, but create subset companies to help create and report Financials for our clients.
SAP seems to be an amazing product, which I have used over the past two - three years. There are many key add-on's for the core ERP system that can allow your company to transition anyway you'd like.
This may become a new solution YIPFolio offers, however we are currently in the pricing and setup of the different Client areas.
Market Update 11/15/2011
November 16, 2011
Stock Market Update 2011-11-15 16:30:00
5 hours 31 minutes ago - Briefing.com
[BRIEFING.COM] Stocks slipped after a choppy start to the session, but buyers eventually stepped back in to provide a broad lift. Their efforts picked up right around the time that trade in Europe wrapped up.
Sentiment this morning was initially imbued by renewed worries about financial conditions in Europe, where the region's major bourses traded with weakness once again. Once trade there was closed, the mood among market participants quickly improved. At about the same time the euro started to move off of its intraday low, although it was still down about 0.7% against the greenback at session's end.
The Nasdaq was able to outperform its counterparts with help from tech stocks. As a group, tech issues advanced 1.3%. Intel (INTC 25.34, +0.71) was a steady leader, but Dell (DELL 15.63, +0.31) also advanced nicely ahead of its quarterly announcement.
Wal-Mart (WMT 57.46, -1.43) weighed on the Dow for virtually the entire session. The stock's weakness came after the retail behemoth failed to produce the earnings expected by Wall Street.
An upside earnings surprise helped Home Depot (HD 38.07, -0.18) shares bounce at the open, but the stock failed to hold that move and never really recovered, not even amid the broad market's afternoon bounce.
Word of an oil leak at a rig run by Chevron (CVX 103.27, -2.90) and Transocean (RIG 47.86, -1.85) dragged down the pair's shares, as well as those of other oil and gas services players. Collectively, energy stocks logged a 0.2% loss, making them the only major sector that failed to score a gain.
Share volume was anemic for the second straight session. Yesterday it barely broke 700 million on the NYSE and today it failed to crack 800 million. Over the past 50 days share volume on the Big Board has averaged about 1 billion shares per session.
A substantial dose of data didn't even attract participants to the action. Overall, the reports were generally proved pleasing.
Retail sales climbed by 0.5% during October. A 0.4% increase had been generally expected. Excluding autos, sales actually increased by 0.6%, which is well above the 0.2% pickup that had been widely anticipated.
Producer prices for October fell by 0.3%, exceeding the 0.2% decline that had been commonly forecasted. Core prices were flat for the month, not too different than the 0.1% increase expected among economists surveyed by Briefing.com.
The Empire State Manufacturing Survey for November improved to 0.6 from -8.5 in the prior month. Many thought it would remain in negative territory by an incremental margin.
Business inventories for September were flat, contrasting with the Briefing.com consensus call for a 0.2% increase.
Advancing Sectors: Tech +1.3%, Industrials +0.6%, Telecom +0.5%, Financials +0.4%, Consumer Discretionary +0.4%, Consumer Staples +0.4%, Utilities +0.2%, Tech +0.2%, Materials +0.1%
Declining Sectors: Energy -0.2%
Stock Market Update
November 15, 2011
Stock Market Update 2011-11-14 16:30:00
6 hours 32 minutes ago - Briefing.com
[BRIEFING.COM] Sellers returned to the fold on Monday to hand stocks sizable losses. Financials led the slide.
Financials fell to a 2.0% loss and were weak since the open of trade, which was relatively rocky. Pressure against the sector was largely rooted in an effort by market participants to pare their positions in bank stocks, given the group's sensitivity to the threats of Europe. Sentiment in Europe seemed to sour during the weekend, resulting in losses for the region's major bourses and a sharply lower day for the euro. Pressure came even though embattled Italy approved new austerity measures and held another successful debt offering.
Tech stocks fought to keep sellers at bay for the first couple of hours, but ultimately succumbed to broad market selling pressure to settle with a 0.6% loss. Even IBM (IBM 187.35, -0.03) surrendered a gain after it had been bid higher on the back of word from billionaire investor Warren Buffett that he has been acquiring shares in the company for the past month.
The economic calendar was entirely empty today and earnings were limited to only a handful of names. Lowe's (LOW 23.50, +0.39) posted an upside earnings surprise and issued mixed guidance, but in-line earnings from J.C. Penney (JCP 32.98, -0.94) were overshadowed by a disappointing forecast.
With so few catalysts for trade today, share volume on the NYSE totaled at paltry 700 million. Over the past 50 days share volume has been closer to 1 billion, on average.
Advancing Sectors: (None)
Declining Sectors: Tech -0.6%, Consumer Staples -0.7%, Consumer Discretionary -0.7%, Health Care -0.7%, Industrials -0.7%, Materials -0.9%, Telecom -1.1%, Utilities -1.2%, Energy -1.2%, Financials -2.0%
Stock Market Update 2011-11-07 16:30:00
November 8, 2011
[BRIEFING.COM] A lack of leadership left stocks to roll over this morning, but buyers provided an afternoon lift that helped the major averages settle near session highs with solid gains.
The mood this morning was relatively mixed as market participants ruminated over the implications of a resignation by Greece Prime Minister Papandreou. Last week the Papandreou unnerved many officials, and markets for that matter, by proposing a referendum for the country's bailout package. It is expected that a new prime minister will be named tomorrow. The future of Italy's prime minister was questioned this morning.
Rumors about his possible resignation came amid concerns about the country's fiscal and financial conditions, which continue to drive yields on the Italian debt to new heights. Italy canceled an auction of short-term Notes that was scheduled for later this week.
Although the primary market averages of Italy and Greece scored gains of 1.3% and 1.7%, respectively, the rest of the region failed to find inspiration from those headlines. In turn, the EuroStoxx 50 fell 0.7% in its first session of the new week. For that matter, many of Asia's major averages were weak in overnight trade.
Despite the generally weak action abroad, domestic stocks attempted to trade higher in the opening minutes of trade. Energy issues offered early leadership, but it proved fleeting as the sector inevitably rolled over alongside the rest of the market.
There wasn't any specific headline that brought buyers back into the fold, but the rally by stocks began around the same time that the euro rebounded against the greenback. Even then there weren't any individual leaders, but the Dow still bounced almost 200 points from its low to its high. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq was able to offset a 1% loss.
Although the climb continued right up until the close, share volume was quite paltry, suggesting that there wasn't a great deal of conviction underlying the bidding. By day's end, less than 800 million shares had been traded on the NYSE. Outside of averages, 1 billion shares often makes for a convenient benchmark for share volume and participation.
Advancing Sectors: Health Care +1.2%, Telecom +0.8%, Materials +0.8%, Energy +0.7%, Consumer Staples +0.7%, Tech +0.7%, Utilities +0.6%, Consumer Discretionary +0.5%, Financials +0.4%, Industrials +0.2%
Declining Sectors: (None)
Capital Contribution for Significant Business Enhancement to an Industry
November 2, 2011
We would like to take this time to inform all of you that YIPFolio Financial & Management Consulting Company has decided to reinvigorate its Financial Investment Lines by providing a company with a significant investment (terms of the deal to be worked out between YIPFolio and Hosting/Internet Technology company at a later date).
Competition:
YIPFolio invites all Web Hosting or Web Technology companies to submit a PDF or Word Document containing a business plan that will
SIGNIFICANTLY
enhance an industry or be a major benefit to all consumers. However, expense projects can also be submitted if it provides significant enhancements to the business in terms of revenue dollars generated.
Rules:
- You must be a registered business (LLC, LLP, S-Corp, C-Corp, Ltd, etc...) / No SOLE PROPREITORSHIPS will be accepted.
- You must be in business for a minimum of 2 years
- You must have Financial statements (or some semblence of a Financial log) for 6 months
- Must be eligible to sign a notorized document if you're selected
- All business plans must be submitted in PDF or Word Document, no plain text emails please.
- Please follow appropriate guidelines for Business Plan submission & include cost/benefit analysis to the best of your ability.
- Explicitly state what the funds will be used for
- In the subject line please use: Company Name, Dollar Amount looking for in USD.
Please note, this competition may remain open for up to
12 months
(unless a clear winner is selected sooner). Please submit all business plans to
YIPFolio. YIPFolio reserves the right to select no business plan(s) if they feel no true added benefit will result. Moreover, the investment will be between $XX,XXX - (low) XXX,XXX.
YIPFolio is willing to sign NDA's as we understand that some business plans can hold extremely sensitive data.
10/26/2011 Market Recap
October 26, 2011
Stocks were up sharply Today as advancing issues outpaced declining issues by 4.1 to 1 on the NYSE. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 1.39% to 11,869.04. The benchmark 10-year Treasury Bond was also down in price, its yield rising to 2.17%. The best performing sectors were the Consumer Discretionary and Technology sectors, up -0.15% and 0.11% respectively.
Investing, Is It Right For You?
October 25, 2011
Investing, Is It Right For You?
Over the past few years many individual investors I have spoken too have been selling, selling, and doing more selling while moving their income into “safe” or safer investment vehicles. There are even the extreme few who have moved all of their money out of banks, stocks, bonds, funds, money markets, etc… and are holding onto the cash in a safe or “under the mattress” if you will. This reminds me of a principle I once learned back in elementary or middle school from my parents; do not risk what you are not willing to lose. I am sure at the time it was in reference to making “bets” amongst friends such as “I’ll bet you my other hot dog that Reggie Jackson hits a home run in this at bat,” or something along those trivial lines. Nonetheless the point of emphasis to me was on two words: “risk” and “lose.”
Risk can be defined as exposure to the chance of injury or loss; a hazard or dangerous chance.
To lose is a verb that means to come to be without; so that there is little or no prospect of recovery.
When you take any risk in life you take a chance that you will be without what you are risking. In securities this generally comes in the form of cash or liquid assets. My advice to anyone looking to increase profitability or earn a larger return on their cash besides the 1 percent the bank is offering in savings accounts and short-term CDs, is invest in what you know. Too many people read too many articles from people who graduated from top tiered schools who are looking to make a quick buck instead of earning it the old fashion way.
Two rules of thumb you can follow when investing your money in securities such as stocks, bonds, ETF’s, or mutual funds. Number one rule of thumb is do not risk what you are not willing to lose. The second rule of thumb is invest in what you know. Everyone tells you that you need to diversify your portfolio to mitigate risk and better position yourself against market turmoil. However, knowing when turmoil can strike, what the general trend of that market is, and other little idiosyncrasies of that market can make a huge difference of when to buy and when to sell.
In my next entry I will cover a stock, the market it is in, and what can make a difference when buying or selling this stock to maximize your potential gains or minimize your potential losses.
Legal Disclaimer: Some of YIPFolio’s analyst’s trade in shares discussed in blog entries in their portfolios and YIPFolio cannot accurately determine or depict the true future value of any shares. All valuations are based on current modeling structures developed by YIPFolio.
General Electric Quarterly Results
October 21, 2011
General Electric (GE) reports an 18 percent rise in profit
General Electric (GE) has been in business for over 130 years and has been a mainstay in American and International business for many years. Offering a multifarious array of products and services from appliances, aviation, consumer products, electrical distribution, energy, Finance & Healthcare, lighting, oil & gas, rail, software & services, water and more; GE has been able to change the lives of people forever.
GE reported an 18 percent rise in profit that beat the street’s expectations and should be a favorable play in the market today. Before intraday trading begins GE is going to open at 16.63, but YIPFolio’s analysts expect the stock to rise 2.35 percent to 17.02 by December 31, 2011. The Fairfield, Connecticut Corporation had strong revenues growth from overseas markets including three of the four BRIC nations: Brazil, Russia, and China. On September 2, the Board of Directors of GE declared at .15/share dividend payable on October 25, 2011 for all shareholders as of September 19, 2011.
YIPFolio rates GE as a buy and sees strong growth ahead for the large conglomerate. Recently GE’s Chairman and CEO Jeffrey Immelt signed an agreement to set up two new joint ventures in Russia which could bring strong sales and higher revenues in future months. YIPFolio’s looking to GE’s energy division piled with the two new JV’s in Russia to propel sales growth into 2012 and forward. In our view GE has done a tremendous job overcoming weak demand from US and Europe and found new international business to carry the business forward with a 25 percent rise in international sales.
GE earned 22 cents per share compared to 18 cents per share a year ago. In addition, GE bought back for 8 cents per preferred share that were sold to Berkshire Hathaway. With that 8 cents per share, GE’s earnings would have been 31 cents per share which yields a 72 percent increase over the previous years earnings per share.
Legal Disclaimer: Some of YIPFolio’s analysts hold GE shares in their portfolios and YIPFolio cannot accurately determine or depict the true future value of GE’s shares. All valuations are based on current modeling structures developed by YIPFolio.
The Balance Sheet
October 19, 2011
The balance sheet is an important investor tool that reveals a company’s assets, liabilities, and equity. In order to understand the balance sheet the first financial principal you must understand is that assets equal liabilities + shareholder’s equity. In short this means that assets are balanced by a company’s obligations and equity investments brought into the company. Assets can be both tangible and intangible and are what a company uses to operate its business. On the other hand, liabilities and equity are what supports the assets, or used to fund the purchasing of the assets. The equity is what was invested into the company and therefore reported with liabilities.
The balance sheet represents a company’s financial position at a single point in time and is one of the main documents that investors look into. On the left side of the balance sheet where you’ll find assets you will notice that they are broken out into (at a minimum) two categories: current and non-current assets.
Current assets have a life span of one year or less and are extremely liquid (i.e. can be turned into cash quickly). Cash and cash equivalents, accounts receivable, and inventory generally fall into the category of current assets. The non-current assets include assets that are not very liquid and have a life greater than one year. Both tangible and intangible assets can be classified in non-current assets.
In theory what the balance sheet does is it credits expenses on the P&L and amortizes or depreciates the cost of the asset over a specified period of time. Generally speaking assets can depreciate over their useful lives, but Generally Accepted Accounting Principles gives some estimated lives for different asset classes.
The other side of the balance sheet is the liabilities or financial obligations a company owes to outside vendors, companies, or investors. Similar to assets liabilities can be current or long-term and follow a similar timeline structure of greater or less than one year. Things like accounts payable would fall under current liabilities.
Shareholder’s equity is the initial amount of money invested into the company and any retained earnings, the net income from previous years reinvested into the business from the income statement. This account indicates the company’s net worth which is why it is a valuable tool to investors and traders.
3rd Quarter 2011 Close Schedules
October 4, 2011
YIPFolio's blog and Twitter account make seem a bit under used in the next couple of weeks due to the reporting and compliance schedules that need to be met for 3rd Quarter 2011 closes and meeting our client deadlines.
If you have any questions or concerns please let us know.
Thanks.
The Profit & Loss Statement (P&L)
September 29, 2011
In my recent findings I have noticed many individual businesses do not keep accounting books or any financial statements for that matter. No, I am not referring to my corporation clients, but my smaller mom & pop shops if you will. Some of the LLC’s I have coordinated with over time have shown significant growth, outstanding potential, and have a clearly structured and stated business plan. For that I applaud you, but where you fell short was a significant underdevelopment of your company.
The definition of accounting, (reference
Dictionary.com ) is
- the theory and system of setting up, maintaining, and auditing the books of a firm; art of analyzing the financial position and operating results of a business house from a study of its sales, purchases, overhead, etc.
- a detailed report of the financial state or transactions of a person or entity
- the rendering or submission of such a report.
I understand new firms do not have the ability to pay CPAs, Accountants, Analysts, or have full time Chief Financial Officers on their staff (If you do sorry to classify you in this generalized statement as I’m speaking from my experience). However I find it extremely important to keep at least some form of financial statement(s). Even if the statements are not as clean cut as an investor would like, it at least is beginning to paint a picture.
For this reason I have decided to write an article on a very basic but intuitive financial statement, the P&L (profit & loss statement). The P&L summarizes the revenues, costs and expenses incurred during a specific period of time. Many corporations do quarterly P&L’s, but some financial departments prefer to review the P&L on a quarterly basis. If you are a fairly new entity and think you might be seeking investments or bank loans, we advise you to create monthly P&Ls. Once you have a few quarters of data then you can go to quarterly submissions. The basic purpose of the P&L is to show the ability of the company to generate profit by increasing revenues and decreases costs. You may have heard of the P&L referred to as the income statement in your text books.
A high level overview of the P&L will show revenues on the top of the schedule followed by reductions in cost of running the business, cost of goods sold, operating expenses, tax expense, and interest expense. Revenues can be referred to as the top line because of their position on the P&L where as the bottom line is Net Income, which is the last portion of your P&L.
A follow up to this blog will go into details of what each line represents (or should represent) and why it is important to individuals to understand these numbers from a business perspective.
The Next Technology Revolution?
September 27, 2011
I was reading an interesting article on Yahoo Finance this morning which prompted me to write this blog. The article can be found at this link:
From Unemployment to Startup.
Now, I know many millennials after reading this might want to startup the next biggest thing, but remember it takes hard-work, dedication, drive, desire, and the right product/idea. What I took away from this article however is the reinvention, or the "new" industrial revolution (or maybe I should call it the latest Technical Revolution). Whatever it maybe the brutal job market has started a creative thinking module in young individuals that may change our society forever. Now I'm not saying any of the business startups in this article are the next big thing, however the idea or concept of being your own business and starting something on your own may lead to the next greatest business.
We've struggled as a society to promote job growth within America as millions of people continue to be unemployed. The longer this slump continues the worse it gets for our society to repair itself. We continue to outsource jobs to other countries for cheaper labor and I am sure that model will never stop (unless there are significant wage realignments or major business benefit to doing business in America). However, one of these new startups might be the next big employing phenomenon. Who would have thought Facebook, controversially or arguably started by one individual could turn into the enterprise it is today? Maybe Mark Zuckerberg had an inclination as to what he was onto, however not many people could have foreseen something as big and powerful as social networking going global as fast as it did. According to its website, in February 2011 Facebook had over 2,000 employees.
I know 2,000 is a far cry from solving a near 10% unemployment rate with millions of American's out of work, but anything and everything can help. With more millennials out of work and having tough times making ends meet I feel we as a society will continue to see more and more "revolutionary" and "evolutionary" products to come.
Business Plan Part 9: Appendix
September 23, 2011
After all is said and done that last and final section you may need to include on your business case is the appendix. However, it is imperative to not include this on your business plan unless asked for by an investor or creditable source. Many investors share business plans throughout their network and it is a means of communication between your idea and an investor. A lot of time and research goes into business plans and you would not want some of the details in the appendix getting into the wrong hands. However, some creditors may need this information in order to substantiate a loan or investment.
It is recommended to write it when you write the business plan just do not attach it as one document. The reason being is if someone asks you for it you will be able to easily send it over without having to dig through all your notes to put it together.
You appendix should include your credit history for your business (or personal if you are a sole proprietorship, LLC, etc...), resume of key executives and employees, pictures of your products or recommendations of your services, letters of reference, details of your market studies and their sources, relevant articles or references to your business plan, software or any other licenses, permits, or patents, copies of leases, building permits, contracts, list of business consultants, including attorney and accountants.
It is important to keep a paper trail of your business plan and record who you have sent it too. It will help you conform your business plan as needed and send out updates if it is beneficial and critical information. If you plan to raise capital using this business plan it is suggested to use a private placement disclaimer with your business plan.
Be sure to include the private placement disclaimer before any content on your business plan.
We hope you have enjoyed our segment on the business plan and look forward to writing about our next segment later this week or next. If you have any suggestions feel free to write into
Email YIPFolioBusiness Plan Part 7 & 8: Funding Request & Financials
September 21, 2011
We would like to discuss segments 7 and 8 of the business plan, Funding Request & Financials as one featured article since they piggy back on one another. Segment 7 of your business plan is the funding requests in which you will request the amount of funding you will need to either begin your business or expand. It is important to note that whatever you request in the funding request section will have to be supported in the financials section later.
Now that we have laid out the first six sections you should have a fairly good understanding of where you want to take your business and what it is going to take to get there. The funding requests section tells the investor how much it will cost to get you to where you need to be. It is important to include what your current funding requirements are, future funding requirements forecasted over the next five years, how these funds will be used, and any long term strategies you plan to implement that would have a significant impact on your funding requests.
When discussing current and future funding requests outline how you want the investment and the time periods it will cover and in what form you want the investment in which is primarily equity or debt and the terms that apply. The key component to this request is explaining what the investment will be used for.
Lastly, be sure to include anything you have planned financially in the future. Whether it is going public, leveraged buyout, being acquired by another company, no matter what it is this will show the investor how you plan on raising enough capital to repay the debt.
Moving onto segment 8 into the Financials section of the business plan is where you will justify all of your requests from section 7. Depending on if you are a new startup or an established company significantly changes section 8 of the business plan. New businesses will not have the same data available to them as established businesses.
If you are an established business we recommend including up to five years of prior financial statements. Statements that should be included are the balance sheet, income statement, and cash flow statements for each year. If you are a new startup naturally you will not have year’s worth of financial statements, but for established businesses this will show the investor what type of collateral you have on the books.
The next section of the Financials should be the prospective financial data which both established and startup ventures can complete. It is suggested to forecast five years with years three through five as annual statements and years one to three as monthly and, or quarterly projections. A critical component is your capital expenditures budget as well as the forecasted balance sheet. We recommend the first years forecast is done monthly in order to show the progression to the investor in a slower manner.
To summarize it is imperative that your financials match your funding request or else you’re immediately projecting inconsistencies which will be a turn off to the creditor. If you find any mistakes in the projections versus funding request point out why the inconsistency exists and what the potential reasons are.
Finally, do not be afraid to get creative in this section. Many investors or creditors have long standing financial backgrounds and are accustomed to graphs, charts, pivot tables, and moving parts. Do not kill the reader with data but summarize data in a manner that will be eye popping and memorable.
Business Plan Part 6: Service or Product Line
September 20, 2011
Good morning readers. The further we dive into our business plan the more in tune to your company we get. The next segment features your products or services and tells the investor the benefit of what you're selling. It is important to focus on the benefit of your product to consumers and not necessarily all of your actual products. For example, if you offer five different web hosting solutions (Shared, Reseller, VPS, Dedicated and Cloud), don't talk about all the products talk about the added services and added benefit to those products. For example, Business A should choose our cloud because we offer fully managed servers, dedicated technical specialists, any software licenses, that make it a one-stop shop for busy, on the go business executives, etc... It should elaborate on how the service caters to the individual businesses.
Overall, this section of the business plan should include a detailed description of your product or service from a consumer point of view. It is important to note what stage of development your product is in or whether it is already a current product with market demand. Be sure to include the benefits of your product and service and the product's ability to meet the consumers needs. Are there any particular features or items that set you apart from your competition? If so, provide that in this section.
Information regarding the product life cycle (for a quick reference see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Product_life_cycle_management_(marketing)) should also be mentioned in this section. Be sure to tell the readers whether your product is first entering the market, growth stage, maturity stage, or saturated stage. Products generally have a limited lifetime so be sure to include any development or enhancements to the product as well to extend the life of the product or service.
The third section should touch upon key trade secrets that make your product or service that gives your business the economic and, or competitive advantage over the competition. List any copyright, patent, and trade secret information that may be relevant. Include information related to existing, pending, or anticipated copyright and patent filings along with any key characteristics of your products/services that you cannot obtain a copyright or patent for. Finally, be sure to add any information pertaining to existing legal agreements, such as nondisclosure or non-compete agreements.
The fourth most touched upon area in this section is R&D. Include Research and development (R&D) activities you are involved in or are planning to be involved in. These would include any in-process or future activities related to the development of new products/services or enhancement to current products and services. This section should also include information about what you expect the results of future R&D activities to be. Be sure to analyze the R&D efforts of not only your own business, but also that of others in your industry.
You may not have all of the answers to the questions being asked or somethings may not pertain to your product(s) or service(s). Be sure to touch upon all key elements as this is only an additional factor that can lead to your success. If you currently do not have a R&D budget, but anticipate one in the future months or years include that and say what you want to research. Elaborate on what the added benefit to doing this research would be and why it is a key element to your businesses success or enhancing current products or services.
Business Plan Part 5: Marketing & Sales Management
September 19, 2011
Good morning and I hope all of you had a great weekend. Just a friendly update regarding the YIPFolio.com website, we are still working to finalize the Solutions page and sorry for the continuous delay. With that being said I would like to continue our latest segment on the business plan and begin to assess segment five of the business plan: Marketing & Sales Management.
Hopefully many of you are sitting there thinking wow my business plan looks a lot like this format or are making current tweaks and adjustments to align your business plan this way. Hopefully after last week’s segments you are beginning to see the full picture and how the business plan is a map for your business. The good and bad part about marketing is there is no right or wrong and there is no this is what you should do. Marketing is always evolving and always changing as are your customers. This makes marketing an extremely challenging fixture for any business. What we hope to accomplish is to point out some common steps to follow which can help you setup your marketing strategy. There are six key elements that need to be covered in this section of your business plan and they include a strategy for market penetration, growth, channels of distribution, communications, sales force, and sales activities. Each of these elements plays an integral roll in your marketing and sales management organization. First we will cover the sales strategies. Not every companies requires a sales force, however if you have the resources both financially and from a headcount standpoint why not put this into play? If you plan on having a sales force outline whether or not you will be using consultants or hire full time employees to represent your business. In addition you want to inform the investors how many you plan on hiring and what methods you plan on recruiting talented or qualified sales staff. The last two components to the sales force strategy should include training and compensation. It is important to note how you will train your sales representatives to give them a competitive advantage and ability to sell what you have to offer.
Now the overall marketing strategy should elaborate on the four points mentioned above: market penetration, growth, channels of distribution, and communications. Market penetration occurs when a company enters or penetrates a market with current products. The best way to achieve this is by gaining competitors' customers (allowing you to capture additional market share). Other ways include attracting non-users of your product or convincing current clients to use more of your products or services through advertising or other channels. Market penetration also plays a factor in your growth strategy. The growth strategy will be one of the most highly read sections of your business plan whether you are a new startup or an existing business looking to launch a new product or service. There are two ways to look at growth strategies and it can be viewed in terms of risk and time. Usually, riskier growth strategies see results in a faster manner whereas strategies that involved less risk and steady growth will have much more long-term impact on growth. The first portion of your growth strategy comes directly from market penetration and the ability to sell more of your products and services. A second phase to the growth strategy can involve developing your market. If you currently advertise or promote your business to small local businesses in your area you might try to expand to another local area or out of state. The more markets you can reach the broader your client base can be. By offering your products in different methods can allow for an even broader range of clients. With today’s advanced technologies almost everyone has a website or can offer their services online, but it is important to look for alternative channels to offer your products. The last two suggestions for you growth strategy are product and service related. Product development and new products for new customers is a great way to grow your business and very common. Product development is ideal if you can sell new products to existing clients because it avoids a lot of risk. However, developing new products for new clients can be extremely successful as well. Sometimes it is outside of your control whether or not your brand needs to develop new products. Many different market conditions will dictate whether or not you need a fresh product to revive your brand or jump start your new brand.
We hope we accomplished our goal by introducing ways for your business to market and sell itself. As I mentioned there is no right or wrong way and each strategy differs for each business. No one strategy worked across the board in an industry. Finding new and fresh ways to invigorate your business or jumpstart your freshly launched business will mostly be a byproduct of several different strategies. After we cover the full business plan we will touch back on growth strategies and further strategies to enhance your products.
Business Plan Part 4: Organization & Management
September 16, 2011
Good morning readers and Happy Friday to all of you. I hope this blog posts finds you all well and either working for the weekend or the weekend has already begun!
Segment 4 of the business plan features the Organization & Management section which is exactly as it sounds. It lays out for the reader the structure, ownership, who your management team is, and any other executive level committee (whether board of directors or current investors that own a controlling stake). The questions you should look to answer in this section are: whose running the business? What is their background, how they are qualified to run that post, and why were they selected to that particular position? You should also justify what each member is responsible for and why that responsibility is necessary to your company. If you are a corporation with a Board of Directors it is also important to list who those directors are. In addition to the names of the individuals it is important to list what kind of salary and benefits they receive, any incentives down the road you have given them to stay with the company that will give the investor more reassurance that this team will lead your company into the future.
Showing the structure of the organization is truly a simple ordeal. A program like Microsoft Visio or Microsoft PowerPoint can do just the trick but creating an organization chart with short descriptions. This organization chart will stand as reassurance that you have the right people in the right place. In addition this can be used internally so everyone knows who they can escalate issues too and where everyone stands. Depending on the size of your business, it can either be beneficial to list primarily executive and director positions or for smaller companies the entire staff. In addition to the structure it is important to let investors and the readers know what kind of company you are. Generally speaking investors primarily look to invest in corporations and not LLc’s because of the way they are structured for ownership. In addition to what type of business you are operating, it is imperative you list the names of the owners, percentage of ownership, their involvement in the company, how their ownership exists legally (common stock, preferred stock, genera partner, limited partner, etc…), and common stock either authorized or issued. It is also recommended to discuss any outstanding equity equivalents if they exist.
Many investors believe that a company is only as good as its leadership and it is important to go into detail the extent of your management. One way of providing these details is provide a resume like description for each member of the management staff. Include name, position (what the position entails and its primary duties), responsibilities and authority, education, unique experience & skills, prior employment, special skills, previous accomplishments, and any other detail as to why he or she has been selected for their respective positions.
We hope you enjoyed this week’s articles regarding the business plan. Check back next week for more entries to finish the business plan structure.
Business Plan Part 3: Company Description
September 15, 2011
Welcome back readers, we hope you enjoy segment 3 of the business plan, the Company Description.
It is imperative that you find ways to tell a long story in a short manner of time. Be succinct when providing detail of how your organization comes together. It is an important section, but you want to remember to keep the readers attention and therefore we suggest a succinct, but descriptive section on your company. YIPFolio suggests that you include information on the type of business you are as well as driving factors that will help your company succeed. This can be done through listing executive experience, any competitive advantages, etc...
When you talk about what business you are in be sure to not go back into industry specific and marketing details you just spoke about in section 2. In this section hit on key topics what the market needs are and how you will satisfy them with your products and services, ultimately the reason for your business. If you have a specific audience in mind that is the general market for your products or services feel free to list those individuals or businesses.
One way to discuss how you will be successful is based on the discussion of what makes you better than the competition. Are you able to get your products or services faster than the competition or for less money? Do you have quality and customer service above and beyond everyone else in the market? Does your management and staff have experience beyond those that typically fulfill your counterpart at the competitor's? Each of these would give your business a competitive advantage.
Business Plan Part 2: Market Analysis
September 14, 2011
Good morning and welcome back readers. Today's featured segment will focus on Market Analysis or the second piece of the business plan. This section will illustrate your knowledge about the industry your business is competing in. In this section you should reference your research and state any conclusions that have come about based off this research. Again, you do not want to smother the reader with all of the marketing research you have done, but rather highlight areas that are important. Be sure to include a description of the industry, industry outlook, the targeted market, and evaluate your competition. If you are an established business you will want to highlight some market results that have worked and what type of success ratios you are receiving.
First and foremost this section should begin analyzing the industry. If you happened to have developed the next greatest industry (which is downright rare at this point) I would suggest writing about comparable industries and the outlook based on that. Clients, be sure to include a description of the primary industry you are competing in as well as the size of the industry. This will help the reader understand the magnitude of both the future potential of your company or the size in terms of annual dollars spent in the industry. An industry can tell the reader a lot in a few words, but be sure to include key industry data such as historic growth rate and trends associated wit the industry and what stage the industry is currently in. Be sure to specify who your major consumer group is as well as the projected growth rate over the next few years.
After indulging investors about the industry you want to specify your target market. Be sure to be specific and not oversell your idea as too many businesses tend too. Ideally you would like to think your product is marketable to everyone, which it very well maybe, but you should focus on a specific, core group of users for your original plan. The importance of this section is critical as you need to focus in on what your customer needs are, how critical it is to the consumer, whether or not consumers already have this option, if so, how saturated is the market, and where the target group originates. Other details that tend to be included are geographic location of customers (if its web based naturally it can be world-wide) and any trends that have lasting impacts on your business. For example, the insurance industry always knows to forecast for issues arising in late August through October for hurricane season as disaster recovery and other insurance claims are usually paid out.
In addition to the primary target you should specify your pricing and gross margin targets, how you plan to market and discount those products and the level of margin it will leave you with after promotional discounts; as well as any bulk pricing discounts. It is also important to include how you are going to gain your market share. The key here is research. Any business owner can say there are one million consumers in this industry and I plan on obtaining ten percent of the market share by year end (or 100,000 customers). The key is backing up your research findings. In the Appendix is where you can list the details for your research findings, but in this section you want to outline your research. Tell the investor how you came up with the percentage that will be yours and make it quantifiable. This makes it easier for the investor to see how you based your findings and whether they seem to be realistic or not.
Be sure to include where you conducted your research to substantiate whether or not the claims can be validated. If you used Google for all your information and the results kicked back creditable sources, state them. Make sure when you’re doing your research you use valid, substantiated sources for data.
There are many different ways to market a business especially with today’s technology. Whether it is old fashion newspaper or magazine print, Twitter, Facebook, or other social networking feeds, every outlet to how you plan on reaching your target audience should be mentioned. It would also be beneficial to list any potential changes that can impact your business. Whether your product or consumer group purchases in cycles or whether other outside factors can play a decision in a consumer either buying or not buying your product. For companies that are currently in business writing their business plans, be sure to include any true market tests to this section. Focus in on your research for the specific results of what happened and not so much the research of it. Analyze what you have discovered and talk about a strategy to circumvent a problem or elaborate on a solution. For any companies in manufacturing industries or businesses that rely on timing of the delivery state any time lags between a client purchasing an asset and receiving it. Be sure to include a standard for what is acceptable for the delay between payment received from customer and delivery of product.
In my opinion one of the most overlooked areas in the business plan tends to be the competitive analysis located in the Market Analysis section. Without competition almost any business that has a client base will flourish. Unfortunately today we have more factors in competition than imaginable a few decades ago. The world has become a global powerhouse and every second delayed from entering the market can cause large percentages to be missed. You must be sure to include a competitor analysis by identifying who your competitors are, what their product line is and any additional services that come with their products. Assess their strengths and weaknesses, as well as how they are perceived by their target market. It is also beneficial to include any entrance barriers, whether it is high start up costs, competitor’s control 90% of the market, etc… The competitive analysis should not be limited to your company versus their company, but rather your products versus any product that can rival it. Therefore if you offer multiple products or services be sure to have a multifarious amount of competitors (if they exist).
Lastly, the final section of the Market Analysis should include any regulatory restrictions that include information related to current customer or governmental regulatory requirements and any upcoming changes. Be sure that your products and services meet these requirements and if there are any additional restrictions. Things to consider are how do you meet the requirements that can impact your business, if there is an upcoming change, how long do you have to make the appropriate changes and any costs involved. Regulatory requirements can turn your product line from flourishing and profitable to a public relations nightmare. Be sure to keep up-to-date on regulatory changes in your industry and that your products and services satisfy these requirements.
Check back later this week for more on the Business Plan.
Business Plan Part 1: Executive Summary
September 13, 2011
As part 1 of our featured segment, we will go over the first part of your business plan; the Executive Summary.
This section is by far your most important section of your plan. It should provides a short synopsis overview of the entire plan as well as some history of your company. Do not go into too much history regarding the company but include important facts like where your company is and where you want to take it. Keep in mind this is the first section that is going to be read on your company so make it clear, concise, and convey a powerful message. Many investors will do two things after reading the executive summary; one put it down or two keep reading. Lets shoot for the latter. In addition, this section is important because it tells the reader why you think your business idea will be successful. If you aren't convinced that you will be successful why will the investors, readers, or partners be convinced your company will be successful?
Although the executive summary is the first portion of the business plan you may find it easier to write this section last. The reason being is all of your ideas will already be written down on paper and you can summarize the key points at the end and write them into the executive summary.
Other key elements to include in your executive summary include; the mission statement which explains your reason for being a company, the date the business began, the size of the company (some people list employees only, others include consultants as well depending on the industry), location of the business, any subsidiaries of the business, description of the location, products that are offered or manufactured, anything relative to current investors, summary of growth (which should include financial and marketing growth), and lastly a summary of management's plans for the company.
After reading the key elements you may find the metrics for writing about pertinent investor information or the summary of growth if you are a newly started company. Instead of writing what if's or forecast statements, focus on your business background and what brought you to the decision to start this company. Include any shortcomings that you might be faced with and how you will alleviate or avoid totally these issues. In addition, you can explain what makes you different from your competition and how you will lay the foundation of your company out before the market.
References involved in our data research to find best practice in writing a full business plan is a compilation of:
1.) Industry experience; 2.) http://www.sba.gov; 3.) http://www.entrepreneur.com/
How to structure your business plan and why it is an ever changing process.
September 12, 2011
First and foremost I'd like to thank all of you for checking into the newly designed YIPFolio website. This is our first official blog post and we will continue updating our clients and readers with fresh advice and blog entries regarding Finance, Accounting, best business practices, and more.
To anyone looking to open a business the first thing that should be created is the business plan. For many reasons the business plan is a critical component to the businesses successes and failures and reiterates the focal points of the company when times are hard. Many businesses are either made or don't make it in the first twelve months of operation and the times can be stressful and rigorous. Your business plan can help you remain on top of your goals and stay true to your original purpose for your business.
With that being said the business plan should follow a structure that will help for two reasons. First, the structure will help flow you through your business development process and secondly if you decide to reach out to investors this is a common interest point they will research.
The basic structure of the business plan should include nine key point sections. The business plan executive summary, market analysis, company description, organization and management, marketing & sales management, service or product lines, funding requests, financials, and lastly, the appendix.
Check back later this week for a more in depth analysis on each section of the business plan and why it is a critical component.
YIPFolio launches the new site design
September 11, 2011
I would like to thank all of our clients for being patient as we developed our new website. We have been working diligently with Mambug Studios regarding a client registration, file sharing, and all new website.
We hope you enjoy our newest investment into the company and appreciate your feedback.
Thank you,
YIPFolio Management
YIPFolios website is finally done!
September 11, 2011
Thank you everyone for your patience!
Our website development is now complete!
Mambug Studios did an amazing job!
