SPK- Spark NZ (TELCO)

[winner69]

If I'm to believe the rumours coming my friends, SPARK will post a better than positive(sic) FYE report. The retail side and/or mobile front for once will be tracking up finally for the first time in years and capex for next year will remain really low (even when compared as when CNU was still part of TEL). It still remain for the true numbers to be seen though.

Disc: bought last at $2.33 early this year

The guy from Forbar on the radio this morning says he expecting reduced profits this year.

But then you only said better than positive (sic) report so that could mean anything .... maybe better than most expect.

Good - $3 here we come

[Major von Tempsky]

I used to follow Forbar once - but for a couple of years I tracked what they said about the main stocks for the forthcoming year. They were mostly wrong in everything they said. I'm not saying they are definitely wrong but on past performances the chances are that they are wrong. Also have a look at the Sharetrader competition, a sticky thread at the top of the NZX threads. The brokers are actually doing a little better than past years but their 5 top picks are as usual well behind the dartboard picks of Sharetrader members.
You'd do better interviewing a random selection of Sharetraders and averaging than you would listening to Forbar (and the other 5 or so brokers).

[Zaphod]

I'm on the trial for Lightbox - it's very, very good. This is just the beta release but it's easy to use, has great content (including in HD), and pretty much works without a hitch. At this stage I'm just watching it on my PC. Eventually I hope there's an app for my Playstation 4. Watched an episode of Vikings just now - good show: http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-ra...ame-of-thrones

I'll definitely be subscribing.

My biggest beef with HD streaming is that although the resolution is technically 1080P, the achievable bit rates are often less than 8Mbps or less which provides a disappointing quality picture. What sort of bitrates are you getting? Or if you can't easily tell, what is the picture quality of Lightbox in HD comparable to?

[Hoop]

I wrote this PM on 31st July ..before the Wall St dip started...After writing I purchased some TEL at 282.5...

Hi Hoop,Just wondering if you think Tel is heading into a down trend or not? Had a negative brokers report yesterday but may be more to it than that,looked toppy over $2.90 so thought I'd wait and see if it went back into the late $260s range,your thoughts would be appreciated,Cheers xxxxx

Hi xxxxx..
It seems TEL could be in a confirmed bull market cycle...This stock is a slowburner of all slowburners..even though it is in a very slight long term uptrend buying into this thing as a buy and hold (bull market cycle strategy) would've presented those investors with a lost opportunity as the roaring NZX50 bull market party to make lots of money is (was) elsewhere...
The interesting thing is the word (was) Now that the NZX50 bull has has paused for a breather (hope that is all it is..!!!) it seems TEL may be worth a buy in except the NZX50 bull is a worry as it is a geriatric living on borrowed time..Bulls lifespan averages about 4.25 -4.75 years but are know to live past 7 years...so buying into TEL using discipline stops may still be a good idea..
Writing about investment strategies highlights Craic very successful trading range many buy/sells these last few years..See on the one year chart the highlighted rectangle chart pattern.Craic identified TEL trading behaviour very early on and xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxcan do with TEL as it is a very liquid and easy to quit out of if a trade goes pear-shaped...Not so noticeable on the chart is the length and breath of each rectangle pattern it is shrinking..this is not good news for Craic as he will have to change his strategy methinks as nothing lasts forever..the good news, maybe, if the 2.78 support holds, is this area could be the bull market cycle confirmation point that has taken ages to reach...It is very unusual for this confirmation to take this long after what looks like was the end of the bear market cycle back in mid 2011..If the 2.78 support breaks down it is back to uncertain times again where buy and holds are a doubtful strategy to use..

looking at the 14 year chart it shows why a buy and hold strategy is unwise and accumulating in dips even worse during a Bear market cycle..xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx...But is buy and hold a bad strategy??...no it not during bull market cycles but like all strategies you have to identify the behaviour of the stock you are investing in and use the best strategy for that period just how Craic did his trading range strategy during it's trendless times..

Also notice the rising OBV since the Bear cycle halted, people and insto's are accumulating this stock...the smart money think its worth a hold.

I actually didn't know just how technically important that 2.78 price is...there is no chatter about it on ST so it has gone unnoticed....Very interesting next few days...I might dip my toes on the water (the NZX50 is the big risk here putting me off) with stop/loss with aim for a small div collect...Hmmm I'll see if this 2.78 retest holds first though (confirm the bullish breakout).....Now at 281.5 it seems the water is safe to enter?? I'll hold off a while (lunch time crowd) after I send this PM.....I owe you a thanks in PMing me.

Hope this explanation on TA helps clarify the broader picture about TEL....it is so easy for the overall picture of a share to get clouded over due to excessive media noise these days

[Bobdn]

My biggest beef with HD streaming is that although the resolution is technically 1080P, the achievable bit rates are often less than 8Mbps or less which provides a disappointing quality picture. What sort of bitrates are you getting? Or if you can't easily tell, what is the picture quality of Lightbox in HD comparable to?

Yes, good point. Don't know what bitrate I'm getting. New HD content like Orange is the new Black and Vikings looks very good but I'm watching it on my 27 inch LCD monitor not my 50 inch plasma. Everything looks better on a smaller screen of course. Most reports I've read on Geekzone from people who are watching on their TVs or projectors agree that the HD picture quality is good but would be great to get some numbers.

I've just been binging on Lightbox. I watched episodes of: Vikings; Peep Show; The Thick of It; Orange is the New Black; Louie CK and The Office. It has a lot of TV that I mostly missed the first time around like Seinfeld.

[Bjauck]

When I have been to the UK and Australia in the past I am surprised at the quality UK, OZ and even US programming than NZ broadcasters don't pick up and that the old TV ONE may have shown.

Hats off to Sparky for refusing to run advertising for Slingshot that includes reference to a service that runs product for which Telecom/Spark has already paid to get the rights. It is in Slingshot's and others interests to continually cast Telecom as the villain whilst "incidentally" boosting their bottom lines.

[Major von Tempsky]

The end of TEL today, note what it is now quoted as.

What will the obsessed and paranoid Telecom haters do now? They're like the guy who has just been jailed for 3 years so many months for sexually harassing a married woman with a family.
They could switch to Russia if they want a real target deserving of their attention....

[Hoop]

New ticker code SPK.NZX

I rang ANZ securities (old Direct Broking) as my portfolio still shows TEL and it is now not active...They said they will automatically change it tonight as they had troubles with it this morning

[Hoop]

Damn it!!....all my automated speedsheets and models (re TEL) ain't working either ...oh dear... looks like a weekend of manually plugging in new algos & hyperlinks

EDIT 11.15am ...hmm can't change anything on google drive....Google finance doesn't recognise NZE:SPK......

[sharer]

Damn it!!....all my automated speedsheets and models (re TEL) ain't working either ...oh dear... looks like a weekend of manually plugging in new algos & hyperlinks

EDIT 11.15am ...hmm can't change anything on google drive....Google finance doesn't recognise NZE:SPK......

Maybe we deserve a refund from those wide boys charging $$20million-ish for 'rebranding' etc ?