Revisiting Some Recommendations

The first week of earnings season is always a busy one and this week was no exception. From banks and tech companies to a host of others the velocity of news was fast over the last few days. News outside of Wall Street and corporate America was augmented by the tragedy in Boston, the return of poisoned envelopes and the explosion of a Texas fertilizer plant. As I write this the S&P 500 is down more than 2.5% for the week, one of the weaker ones so far in 2013. A number of earnings disappointments and some negative preannouncements weighed on the market, alongside a bunch of data that suggests the global economy is once again cooling. Thank you Cirrus Logic (CRUS), Target (TGT), Danaher (DHR), IBM (IBM), Acacia Research (ACTG), China and others. But to look at that would be to akin to putting one's head in the sand and being a sheep-like investor (or more like an ostrich). Rather than get caught up on the earnings hoopla, I've kept my eyes and ears open and found a number of confirming data points for stocks that I've recommended to Real Money Pro subscribers over the last few months. Digital Realty Trust (DLR) had its Buy rating and $81 price target reiterated by Jefferies Group this week, following favorable findings on the European data center market from third-party research company Campos Research & Analysis. In particular, Campos' annual study found that 88% of respondents will definitely or probably expand their data centers in either 2013 or 2014. That favorable note from Jefferies was followed by one from Goldman Sachs that also rated Digital Realty Trust a Buy. I continue to like the combination of the dividend yield, 4.3%, and growth prospects as we move increasingly toward a connected society (check Google's (GOOG) results last night for that). That means continued demand for data centers and their key suppliers. DLR shares are up nicely since October, but there's more upside to be had. Starbucks (SBUX) has made a number of moves over the last year and this week it made another one. The company announced it is testing handcrafted sodas at some of its Seattle stores, which may help expand the beverage menu and appeal to non-coffee drinkers. Keep in mind this follows a similar move that Starbucks made by acquiring tea company Teavana and I like the move to expand its product breadth. But given the run in Starbucks shares since I recommended them here last August, I'd hold back from adding to the position at the current price. Voice and speech technologies continue to move into the mainstream this week as Nuance Communications (NUAN) partnered with partners with Chinese online/mobile mapping and navigation software leader AutoNavi to develop a Chinese-language voice-enabled navigation product called AutoNavi Map. For those like me who are not familiar with AutoNavi, its navigation data products/services have been built into 100+ car models and its Amap mobile mapping app has 100 million-plus. Also this week, Amazon.com (AMZN) reportedly paid $26 million to buy Evi, a British developer of an alternative to Apple's (AAPL) Siri, that uses a proprietary natural language search engine and voice recognition tech licensed from Nuance. That could mean another major tablet maker -- Amazon with its Kindle and Fire products -- will deploy speech technology before too long. Yep, voice and speech technology continues to look like the new interface for the connected age.

Revisiting Some Recommendations

I've found a number of confirming data points for these stocks.

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