stocks

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- Analyst: Instagram will be big moneymaker for Facebook.

- NY Senator drafts bill to make ticket scalping at benefit concerts illegal.

- The most expensive, useless, awesome 3D-printed object ever.

- Home invasion plot foiled by Xbox 360.… Read more

It has been a rough few weeks for Apple investors, and so far, this week isn't looking much better.

Shares, which dropped nearly 10 percent last week alone, slid 1 percent to $527.74 in recent trading after Jefferies analyst Peter Misek cut his target price for Apple's stock to $800 from $900.

Misek said that Apple's financial results this quarter and next quarter should be well above analysts' expectations, but decelerating unit sales, price declines, and gross margin pressure should limit the stock's climb.

Seventy-seven days after putting the iPhone 5 on sale, there's no longer a wait to buy one from Apple in some countries.

Today the company began showing online iPhone 5 shoppers a notice that the gadget was "in stock" in a handful of its online stores, including the U.S. and Canada. That's versus the previous estimate of two to four business days, notes MacRumors.

It's the shortest estimated wait time for the phone, which launched in the U.S. and eight other countries on September 21. Quickly after the device went on sale, wait … Read more

A U.S. judge has named the lead plaintiffs in the dozens of class-action lawsuits brought against Facebook over its bungled initial public offering, according to Reuters.

District Judge Robert Sweet has been assigned 42 cases against the social network, which he consolidated in October. Today he picked a handful of plaintiffs to head the suits. The lead plaintiffs include several state pension funds, such as the North Carolina Retirement Systems, Arkansas Teacher Retirement System, the Fresno County Employees' Retirement Association, and Banyan Capital Master Fund. Collectively, this group claims a combined loss of $7.1 million.

"Its members … Read more

Facebook's stock may be getting another boost soon, thanks to Nasdaq.

The social-networking company is set to replace Infosys on the Nasdaq 100, the collection of the largest 100 nonfinancial companies trading on the stock exchange. The company will be added to the index on December 12, according to CNBC, roughly seven months after its difficult IPO.

In addition to being an apparent nod toward the company's growing influence in the tech community, the move is also expected to lead to a stock price uptick as index fund managers snap up the stock to ensure that their fund … Read more

Apple's iTunes, iCloud, and Maps chief, Eddy Cue, let go of a portion of company stock last Friday, a new filing shows.

According to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission this afternoon, Cue sold off 15,000 shares last week, worth just under $584 apiece on average.

The total sale was worth just less than $8.76 million.

Cue was promoted to senior vice president last September, a month after Tim Cook took the helm as CEO. As part of the promotion Cue oversaw iTunes, iCloud, iAd, and Apple's iBookstore. With an executive shuffle … Read more

The Nexus 4 release has been anything but smooth. Google saw the launch day stock ordered up in just a few minutes. Then last week Google released some more inventory in the Play Store here in the U.S. and was met with more issues. The 8GB Nexus 4 started out at a 4-to-5-week ship time and eventually maxed out at 8-9 weeks before going back out of stock. The 16GB model is still available, although you'll be waiting 5-6 weeks for it to ship.

Google has been sporadically releasing more stock in other countries, such as the U.K. and Germany. … Read more

Zynga, the embattled social-gaming company, has watched its shares fall as investors get the first chance to react to a modified contract the company signed with Facebook.

According to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission yesterday, the amended agreement between the companies no longer requires Zynga to display Facebook ads on its site, use Facebook Credits, or develop titles only for the social network's platform. In exchange, Zynga won't be allowed to promote its games inside other titles it has developed that people are playing on the social network.

The news was apparently bad news for … Read more

Apple's technology chief Bob Mansfield has sold off another sizable chunk of his company stock.

According to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission this afternoon, Mansfield yesterday let go of 35,000 shares, worth just over $20.37 million.

Mansfield, who joined Apple when the company acquired Raycer Graphics in 1999, now has a little under 30,000 shares, a tally that does not include restricted stock units given out as bonuses.

A leaked company-wide e-mail from Cook last month noted that Mansfield would be staying on with Apple for another two years.

Mansfield, of … Read more