DST Systems Inc. (DST) reported earnings of 83 cents per share in the third quarter, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 95 cents per share. Revenue Total revenues for the quarter were $551.7 million, down 1.6% from $560.4 million in the year-ago quarter. Excluding reimbursements, operating revenues came in at $395.6 million, down 4.5% from $414.2 million [...]

(DST) DST Systems Falls Short of Earnings Expectations

Russian social network Vkontakte.ru, notoriously heavily 'inspired' by Facebook's design, business model and features, is plotting an international roll-out according to daily business newspaper Vedomosti (Google translation). The report mentions that the company has recently acquired the domain name vk.com for an undisclosed amount and plans to use it to brand and market Vkontakte.ru in 12 unnamed languages, starting October this year. Notably, Vkontakte.ru is backed by Digital Sky Technologies (DST), the same investor who recently took a 1.96 percent stake in Facebook for $200 million - giving the company a $10 billion valuation - and soon after offered to purchase up to $100 million of common stock from current and former Facebook employees. Now the other high-profile portfolio company of the Moscow-based investment firm, Vkontakte.ru, is going head to head with the Palo Alto-based social networking giant in multiple languages.

Fortunately my portfolio management methods don’t revolve around  frequent trading.  One of my kids came up to me recently and said, “What did you do today, Dad?”  I said, “I made one trade, and I did a bunch of research.”  He then asked, “How often do you trade?”  I answered, “That was my first trade in a week, and I haven’t traded much in the last two months, but that’s not normal.  There is no normal for me. When the market is really volatile, I trade a lot more, selling when stocks are rising, and buying when they are selling off.  When the market is relatively placid, I don’t do much.” He looked at me, kind of smiled, and moved on.  Information overload from Dad. Most people and investment managers trade too often.  They sell their winners too rapidly, and panic too soon on their losers.  Now, I’m not advocating “buy and forget,” or Buffett’s statement, “Our favorite holding period is forever.”[More...]

DST Systems, Inc. (DST) was hit hard in the first quarter by the loss of share owner accounts that were converted to less profitable sub-accounts. We believe this is likely to be a headwind for the foreseeable future as mutual fund companies continue to offload this function to broker dealers. We maintain our Hold rating on DST shares and set our target price to $67.00. DST's leadership position and... [More...]