By Steve Garcia -

TASER International Inc.  (NASDAQ:TASR), http://www.taser.com/pages/default.aspx, a market leader in technologies that protect life recently showed why it is in my opinion, a good stock to look to for future growth and speculation. TASER International was founded in September 1993 and has remained committed to providing solutions to violent confrontation by developing products that enable people to protect themselves.  Taser and its employees are committed to protecting life by providing innovative, high quality products and services that always exceed customer expectations.  TASER International’s products protect human life, providing advanced Electronic Control Devices (ECDs) for use in the law enforcement, medical, military, correctional, professional security, and personal protection markets.  TASER devices use proprietary technology to incapacitate dangerous, combative, violent, enemy or high-risk subjects who pose a risk to law enforcement/correctional officers, military,  innocent civilians, or themselves in a manner that is generally recognized as a safer alternative to other uses of force which are many times deadly.  TASER technology protects life, and the use of TASER devices dramatically reduces injury rates for law enforcement officers and suspects. Taser is committed to producing high quality equipment which reduces risk of violence, or use of deadly force.

In taking a look at Taser for the first nine months of 2009, adjusted revenues were $73.2 million, an increase of $6.8 million or 10.0% over the first nine months of 2008. Adjusted revenues excluded the impact of a $3.5 million revenue deferral related to the X26 to X3 trade-in credit program, the balance of which is expected to be recognized as revenue when the trade-in occurs or the offer expires at December 31, 2009. The impact of this deferral should be reported in the upcoming Quarterly conference call.

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By Relmor Demitrius -

The year 2008 proved to be a very educational one for the average investor.  Due to the stock market downtrend, bank failures, and emergency FED meetings galore, we learned some interesting diction during this economic downturn.  Stagflation, inflation, deflation, recession, depression, V shaped corrections, W shaped corrections, FED rates, LIBOR rates, and what the hell is a CDO?  What is the boom/bust cycle?  What are cyclical stocks?  Value stocks?  All these concepts and words were being thrown around by so called “experts” on every news TV show to every financial bog and newspaper in the country.  The amount of half truths, misinformation, and just plain fear mongering was staggering.  I think as time has passed, and a clear mind can now be used to refocus on some of these past events, terms, and concepts.  We can use this to better understand where to put your money a year from now, or even tomorrow.  But first, you have to understand the animal.

At the core of all of this is having a basic understanding of the economic and monetary rules that are applicable to today’s world.  At the very core, the first concept that must be understood is what is fiat currency, the current monetary system we are using today.

Fiat currency is a currency that is backed by nothing, and measurable only to other currencies.  This is where the term “floating currency” comes from, which means it is only “floating” in apparent value up or down in comparison to other currencies currently backed by nothing.  The Euro, Yuan, Ruble, and most major foreign currencies are indeed backed by nothing but a promise.  In effect they are not assets, they are simply a way to pay debt.  Since we live in a world of debt, they should always have a use, however.  In 1941, with the creation of the Taft-Hartley Act, which Nixon revoked, we were on a limited gold standard.  When the U.S. dollar was implemented as the worlds reserve currency, we promised that an exchange for gold would always be possible.  Well in August of 1971, Nixon said, No more.  The dollar can no longer be redeemed for gold.  Costly war expenses, innovations in modern banking, and other factors lead to a huge influx in the money supply.  There soon simply wasn’t going to be enough gold to give out, if so demanded. (more…)

Liberty Media Seeks Bigger Stake in Live Nation

By Steve Garcia -

With the announced purchase of a larger percentage of Live Nation Entertainment (NYSE: LYV) by Liberty (NASDAQ: LCAPA, NASDAQ:LINTA) as well as comments from Liberty CEO Greg Maffei regarding the combination of Sirius XM (NASDAQ: SIRI) and Live Nation , it appears that Liberty and Sirius XM are indeed going to enjoy a long and profitable relationship. Maffei did not speak to any known specifics of the future and the relationship, but he did show enthusiasm when speaking to it on CNBC.

Liberty has been very active recently with acquisitions as many of us already know. They should be closing imminently on the purchase of Worldspace (OTCBB: WRSPQ) assets through bankruptcy. The assets are apparently being acquired with some of Liberty’s stake in Sirius XM, more specifically, a percentage of their stake in XM holdings, through their Liberty Satellite LLC holding company.

Liberty Global another of John Malone’s companies (NSDQ: LBTYA, LBTYB) has also been busy getting its acquisition of Unitymedia (from Apollo and BC partners), a German Media and cable conglomerate, finalized, and also shedding its 37.8% position in Japanese cable company Jupiter Telecommunications (J:COM), for $4bn.

There can be no doubt that Liberty is indeed concentrating on Europe, the Caribbean and South America as areas of expansion outside the United States. The addition of Live Nation only enhances the situation. Live Nation has core business in producing, marketing and selling live concerts for artists with a global concert pipe. Live Nation is the largest producer of live concerts in the world, annually producing over 16,000 concerts for 1,500 artists in 57 countries. The company sells over 45 million concert tickets a year. Live Nation is transforming the concert business by expanding its concert platform into ticketing and building the industry’s first artist-to-fan vertically integrated concert platform. Headquartered in Los Angeles, California, additional information about the company can be found at http://www.livenation.com/investors.

With Sirius XM already having Effanel studios since 2005, even more synergies can be gained for all concerned parties between Liberty, Sirius XM and Live Nation. Of course, that is a future story that is yet to even begin. In fact it is only in its early infancy with the Liberty acquisition of a larger percentage of Live Nation not even 24 hours old. Still some healthy speculation based on known information is never a bad thing. Clearly, there is going to be much more value added to all three entities, Liberty, Sirius XM and Live Nation. Those who have the foresight to continue digging for information along that path may end up reaping very ripe and healthy fruit for their labor. The situation bears watching for sure, and I personally will be doing just that. As always, do your own due diligence and best of luck.

Disclosure: Long SIRI