LF is a highly troubled company. Take a long term look at that chart a buyout is about the best those shareholders could ever hope for... or is it. I have a real moral problem with this potential purchase. Leap's new learning tool is pretty revolutionary almost too much so it is a pen that sounds out words for the kids as they go. This will perhaps CHANGE THE WAY ALL KIDS LEARN TO READ. It could eventually be that big. I see positives to selectively pointing at words the kids cannot figure out but my son has shown his dad's penchant for laziness already quite a bit in his young life-- I wouldn't want kids to overuse this tool it will soften their minds! Yet this is game changing stuff- LeapFrog Announces Key Publishing and Licensing Partnerships to Support Its Innovative New Tag(TM) Reading System PR Newswire - February 17, 2008 10:00 AM ET Related Quotes Symbol Last Chg LF Trade 6.32 +0.12 Real time quote. American International Toy Fair, Booth #1949 -- LeapFrog Enterprises, Inc., a leading developer of technology-based learning products, today announced an all-star line-up of publishing and licensing partners to support the launch of its new Tag Reading System (leapfrog.com/tag). Available this summer, the Tag Reading System is the first handheld learn-to-read technology to bring to life the lovable stories and characters of respected children's authors from notable publishers such as HarperCollins, Penguin, Scholastic, Simon & Schuster and others. "HarperCollins was delighted to adapt the best-selling Fancy Nancy series into interactive books," said publisher Susan Katz. "It is gratifying to give Nancy a voice and allow kids an opportunity to interact with her through an extra-fancy new reading technology." LeapFrog has been synonymous with learning to read for parents, teachers and children since the introduction of its award-winning LeapPad(R) Learning System. Having sold more than 72 million interactive LeapPad books worldwide, the company is primed to reinvent the learn-to-read category with the Tag reader and its extensive 21-volume library of interactive books, activity boards and activity card sets. The Tag reader brings beloved children's properties-Fancy Nancy, Olivia, The Little Engine That Could, Walter the Farting Dog, as well as Miss Spider and I SPY(TM) from Scholastic, Nickelodeon's SpongeBob SquarePants and Diego and Cartoon Network's Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends-to life through its interactive technology that fits in a child's hand. Audio for the stories, as well as the fun-filled games and activities spread throughout the pages, is delivered through an innovative Web-based application called LeapFrog(R) Connect, offering children an entirely new and captivating reading experience. "It is a great medium-it mixes media and it brings the book alive for kids that otherwise might be watching television or playing video games," said Olivia author and artist Ian Falconer. "Ana Gasteyer, the narrator, is a brilliant interpreter of Olivia's home life-all parents can relate to the painful patience required in parenting the overzealous child. And Olivia is nothing if not overzealous." "This is an incredible opportunity to introduce The Little Engine That Could and Walter the Farting Dog to a new generation of readers," said Doug Whiteman, publisher, Penguin Group. "The Tag Reading System is an innovative way to get kids engaged in reading and we could not be happier with the way this technology brings our books to life." Reading Between the Lines The Tag handheld works with Tag-enabled books to create an independent and interactive reading experience for children. By simply touching the highly responsive Tag reader anywhere on any page of a Tag book, children can bring their favorite stories to life, easily skipping from page to page or book to book. The pocket-sized Tag platform "reads" by using a small, sophisticated infrared camera that works as an imaging system to recognize letters, words and symbols printed on the page. Using the PC- and Mac-compatible LeapFrog Connect Application, parents can download audio for each book in the Tag library, then manage content the way they manage MP3 or digital camera files. With 16 MB of on-board flash memory, the Tag reader can hold up to five books at a time. All-New Proprietary LeapFrog Learning Path Lets Parents See the Learning Launching in tandem with the Tag Reading System is LeapFrog's proprietary Learning Path, a free online tool at leapfrog.com that interfaces with LeapFrog products to show parents what their child is learning and how their activities or games map back to the Scope and Sequence of educational skills that the Company has always built into every product. New online connectivity also allows children to access fun online rewards for off-line play and learning. Based on an award-winning LeapFrog School product used by teachers across the U.S. to assess and instruct students in classrooms nationwide, the LeapFrog Learning Path allows parents to connect the Tag handheld to their computer to view details about the books their child has read, including the skills explored and progress made (leapfrog.com/learningpath). AVAILABILITY SUMMER 2008; AGES 4-8; Tag Reading System MSRP: $49.99; Tag books and activity boards MSRP: $13.99 each Kid classics Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type Fancy Nancy at the Museum Olivia The Little Engine That Could Walter the Farting Dog Goes on a Cruise Activity storybooks Disney/Pixar's Cars: Tractor Tipping Disney Princess: Adventures Under the Sea Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends: The Golden Paddleball Go Diego Go!: Underwater Mystery I SPY: Imagine That! Miss Spider's Tea Party Pirates! The Treasure of Turtle Island SpongeBob SquarePants: The Tour de Bikini Bottom T. Rex's Mighty Roar Activity boards Tag Funny Phrases Tag Super Speller Activity cards (MSRP: $7.99 EACH) National Geographic Kids Birds and Sea Animals National Geographic Kids Land Animals >>> This is " razor " blade investment as you can see once you get the pen in their hand their is lots of other selling possibilities. The titles look very strong to me.~ stoney
Boy what a fall for this co. When you read the whole history of price action two big 20% plus ratchet downs.... where are they now? Well laying off a lot of people that can't be good. Management's actions at LeapFrog Enterprises to improve long-term operating results through increased R&D and incremental marketing spending in 2007 is leading to another year of negative earnings. In the most recent two quarters, revenues have declined in all three business segments due to softening demand and restructuring activities. However, the operating margin is beginning to improve, indicating that the restructuring plan has right-sized the company. While LeapFrog is an industry leader in terms of innovation and educational content, significant operational issues are plaguing the company. The significant decline in the LeapPad family of products and increased promotional activities are causing the company to post losses, and the company is not expected to post positive earnings until 2010..... My own work is pointing more towards 2009 for that profit riding an anticipated huge x mas 08'with this Tag reading system... They report soon ~stoney
Zack Miller is the Managing Editor of IsraelNewsletter.com and a former equity analyst for a leading multinational hedge fund. LeapFrog (LF) hopes that Tag is it Posted Jan 28th 2008 9:18AM by Zack Miller Wal-Mart toys My eldest child spent a lot of her young childhood with a LeapPad on her lap. Introduced in 1999, the LeapPad was an overnight hit that catapulted the maker of the reading device, LeapFrog (NYSE: LF), into stardom with a rocket of a stock to boot. According to the company, LeapFrog went on to sell 30 million LeapPads and related products worldwide, as well as more than 70 million companion books. In 2003, the LeapPad family of products brought in $330 million, nearly half of LeapFrog's revenue. Since then, the company has suffered at the hands of lower-priced competitors, lack of another blockbuster hit (although the firm has has launched critically-acclaimed products), and video games. So, today's New York Times article, "LeapFrog Hopes for Next Hit with Interactive Reading Toy", may be what the company needs to help an ailing stock. The Tag certainly looks cool. It is a thick, white-and-green plastic stylus that turns paper books into interactive playthings. Like the LeapPad, kids can tap a word with it and the stylus reads the word, or its definition, aloud. They can tap on an image to hear a character's voice come alive. The breakthrough of the Tag is that it doesn't require the special, spiral-bound books that the LeapPad did. Instead, all the smarts are packed into the stylus itself and it uses books whose pages are imprinted with invisible dots that allow a small infrared camera at the tip of the Tag to recognize words or images on the page. The result? The Tag is more portable and less clunky than its predecessor. The article quotes the CEO of LeapFrog, Jeffrey Katz, as saying, that the launch of the Tag is LF's "biggest launch ever." LeapFrog needs the Tag to work. The stock is off almost 90% off its 2003 highs. With restructuring of the company, and a new web strategy which helps parents track their children's progress, LeapFrog is betting that they've found a winning strategy. Value investors may want to take a deep look at this turn-around story.
I wouldn't leap on LF until a movement through $7 per share, heavy resistance at that price. Next resistance after that would be at $9.50. Buy after it trades through $7. That would indicate a reversal then a free ride to $9.50 per share. The stock is forming a triangle right now, close to trading through the downtrend. Short interest sits at 11.5 days of average volume, if it breaks through this trend, the stock is set to soar.
My kid is starting to really use this Leapster game which is like a first video game. You insert a card of Dora and off you go. Ive been really impressed with the child like interface that even I can understand and the damn thing really works. Now this new reading pen invention is game changing, I'm following the politics of this because as it takes off a teachers group could come out against it...changing anything huge like learning to read catches peoples attention but I see an opportunity for a huge x- mas 08' score for leapfrog with all these extra add on sales... a company could build a future around this one TAG reading product and indeed I think that's what LF plans to do... I'm bothering my hedge fund guys to look into it, it may or may not be the type of thing they would look at... but from a deep discount point of view $6.00 looks good to me, well now $6.50 after today! I hear you about waiting for $7 that's where I've been thinking as well.... but if a agitating share holder group could just get involved.... this is the type of stock to attract that- $9 to $11???A well received earnings report upcoming would help- Remember they have already guided down harshly- really bad- the bar is easy to cross now and that's in front of this new launch... an investor has got to look through the crud as well as the golden bushes if he is to ever get truly revolutionary prices... To be continued... ~ stoney
LF met their own expectations of over a hundred million dollar loss! At away guys! They are set up perfect now for x mas 08 with the new TAG system to hit shelves in June. I have waded through 10 pages of conference call and there is a looming negative in their holding of " auction rated securities, " a sector I know little about except that it's illiquid now. If the market fixes itself these potential losses will disappear, if things get worse they may be forced to take them. Until then $100 mil in cash for the ramp up and just a question of when is the best time to get into the stock. Down to only $5.50 in the pre not bad for the headline number. With the overseas contributions and a web site that is up over 70% in sales, this leader in preschool to eighth grade learning appears poised to regain it's footing. Honestly this is a 2 year play for double your money, by my accounting 2009 they will be rolling in high margin replacement software and add ons for both the popular Leapster 1 and 2 and of course the new TAG reading system. I still, despite the red ink, find this a very compelling investment and acquisition target. ~ stoney
I know I said two years how's about 2 days!!!!!1 LeapFrog Enterprises Inc. 6.78 0.98 Today (16.90%) 03/04/2008 THIS IS WHY WE DO IT! ~ stoney
What you think J it broke through $7 and met with a good amount of selling by myself. It held though, volume trends eh? Chart good... would you get back into the Leapster here? ~stoney
Looks like $7 area is going to be an afterthought now what a chart it has become, glad I got us all in ahead of the toy fair buzz whenever that happens... this will be the name for Christmas 08' and as all retail has swooned we have done nothing but go up. What timing! ~stoney