Back to School with Smart Technologies

SMART Technologies Inc., the global leader in interactive whiteboards, develops easy-to-use integrated products and services that improve the way the world works and learns.

The company introduced the first interactive electronic whiteboard in 1991 and says that it remains the industry leader. It has shipped more than 1.6 million of its SMART Board interactive whiteboards to over 100 countries worldwide since the product was introduced.

The company says its products “combine the simplicity of a whiteboard and the power of a computer. By touching the surface of a SMART Board interactive whiteboard, the user can control computer applications, access the Internet, write in digital ink and save and share work.”

Smart Technologies Inc., raised $660 million in the second-biggest initial public offering in the U.S. this year.

The Calgary-based company priced 38.8 million Class A shares at $17 each after offering 35.3 million for $16 to $18, according to a statement and a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. Smart Technologies will receive 23 percent of proceeds. Selling shareholders including Intel Corp. and Apax Partners will get the rest, reaping a more than sixfold gain on average, the statement and filing show.

Smart Technologies’ initial sale, the biggest by a Canadian technology company in at least a decade opened today at $12.52. Nancy Knowlton, President and CEO of SMART. "We benefited from healthy year-over-year demand across all our geographic regions, particularly in North America. Our hardware and software solution continues to resonate with teachers and administrators, as they recognize the value of having the integrated SMART solution in the classroom." With awareness of the product building the timing may be perfect as we enter into the "back to school" period. Having opened at $18.00 and reached a low of $11.39 it's no doubt a good time to BUY SMART.

Search Market in China is only 10% of the United States, The Baidu story is only just beginning.

Clayton Reeves believes Baidu (BIDU) is a stock to buy now or regret later.

Their presence in the largest internet user community in the world will enable them to create incredible returns for their shareholders. Right now, the search market in China is only 10% of the United States, but in five years the picture will be different.

He believes the shares have been kept low because analysts are questioning the business model that these search companies currently use. However, Google has been plenty successful using that strategy to gain a stranglehold on the world search market and a brand that has enabled them to branch into operating systems and browsers.

Baidu could be the same such beast for the billions of Chinese residents that will access the internet in the next decade.

Baidu is also working on features to seize the key battlegrounds such as the evolving 3G mobile data market, music and video and ‘massive multi-user games’ or MMGs, where some rivals are already threatening to steal a march.

"We want to become a legendary company and the future is all ahead of us,"Jennifer Li, (chief financial officer of Baidi.com) says. "The Baidu story is only just beginning."