Google (NASDAQ: GOOG), Target (NYSE: TGT) and Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) are the early 2007 leaders of The Innovation Index notching stock gains of 8%, 8% and 13% respectively. Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) and Wal-Mart Stores (NYSE: WMT) round out the Top Five with stock performance gains of 4% and 5% each. What's remarkable is that both Target and Wal-Mart have already performed better than all of 2006. The big mover of the week was America Movile (NYSE: AMX) gaining 4% last week, and is now up 1% for the year. Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) led all decliners with a 9% drop in just one week; Apple is still up 2% for the year. It was a tough week for the Top 20 Innovators. 8 of the 20 Innovators declined last week. 8 Innovators stayed even, and only 4 Innovators stayed in the black. Yahoo! leads all Innovators in 2007 in stock performance.
Yahoo! had solid results in its latest quarter. Not only did Yahoo! beat the analyst estimates, Yahoo! also pre-announced Panama, the souped up Search technology that will rival Google and bring in more revenues and profits for Yahoo! in 2007 and beyond. Yahoo! is planning to roll out Panama in first week of February, 2007. Overall, the market seems bullish on Yahoo!'s Panama innovation.
eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) announced its earnings today beating the analyst estimates; the stock is already up in after market by more than 10%. eBay's 2006 innovations are finally paying off in 2007 in the core auction business. PayPal business is also doing well for eBay. Watch out for eBay's turnaround, and wild ride up in stock performance.
Who is benefiting from these solid results of Yahoo! and eBay? Google of course, gaining 8% for the year. Google is planning to digitize more than a million books from my Alma Matter, The University of Texas at Austin, including their famous Latin American collection. Google also announced new innovations for the Google Earth, SketchUp, Groups, Search Appliance, Mobile and partnerships with Samsung and China Mobile.
Target Stores (NYSE: TGT) is off to a great start in 2007. Target announced a dividend of 12 cents a share, reaffirmed the sales forecasts for January, and is leading the retail boom.
The Innovation Index closed at 72.01, down 1% for the week, up 4% in 2007. NASDAQ is up 2%, whereas S & P 500 and the Dow Jones Index are each up 2% in 2007. The Innovation Index continues to perform well versus the major indices. Would this trend continue for the rest of 2007?
About The Innovation Index
The Innovation Index introduced in December, 2006 is a weighted stock price index of the top 20 Innovators in North America.
The Innovation Index has returned 119% over the last five years. This assumes an investment in each stock of The Innovation Index (buying each stock). An average of $100 invested in The Innovation Index on December 31, 2001 returned $219 as of December 29, 2006. By comparison, $100 invested in each of S & P 500, NASDAQ and Dow Jones Index returned $124. The Innovation Index beats the S & P 500, NASDAQ and Dow Jones Index by 77% over the last five years.
The Normalized Innovation Index is even more impressive, and has returned 174% over the last five years. This assumes equal investment in each stock of The Innovation Index.
The alphabetical list of the top 20 Innovators of The Innovation Index along with their stock ticker symbols is presented below:
3M Company - (NYSE: MMM)
Amazon.com, Inc. - (NASDAQ: AMZN)
America Movile - (NYSE: AMX)
Apple Inc. - (NASDAQ: AAPL)
Cisco Systems, Inc. - (NASDAQ: CSCO)
Dell Inc. - (NASDAQ: DELL)
eBay Inc. - (NASDAQ: EBAY)
General Electric Co. - (NYSE: GE)
Google Inc. - (NASDAQ: GOOG)
Hewlett-Packard Co. - (NYSE: HPQ)
Intel Corporation - (NYSE: INTC)
International Business Machines Corp. - (NYSE: IBM)
Microsoft Corporation - (NASDAQ: MSFT)
Research In Motion Limited - (NASDAQ: RIMM)
Southwest Airlines Co. - (NYSE: LUV)
Starbucks Corporation - (NASDAQ: SBUX)
Target Corp. - (NYSE: TGT)
The Proctor & Gamble Company - (NYSE: PG)
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. - (NYSE: WMT)
Yahoo! Inc. - (NASDAQ: YHOO)
The Innovation Index will analyze the positions and standings of the top 20 Innovators at the end of each year. For 2007, there will be no further changes in The Innovation Index.
Disclaimer: I began investing in the Innovators comprising The Innovation Index starting in 2007.
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