Diamonds and Dogs

04/09/2012

Mitek Systems Inc. (MITK)

Mitek Systems Inc. is crashing today, down 13.33% at $6.37. Mitek develops software, such as Mobile Deposit, a program designed for cellphones in which the user can take a photo of a check and deposit it into their bank account. The company has lost around 50% of its value since March 26, causing JMP Securities to issue a downgrade. Furthermore, USAA has filed a lawsuit against Mitek over the Mobile Deposit technology. USAA states that Mitek breached their contract while working under USAA, by taking numerous steps to claim the mobile deposit technology as their own. Mitek should spend some time developing a program that plans cases to defend against lawsuits.

AOL Inc. (AOL)

AOL a name seemingly forgotten is the comeback kid today, up 43.11% at $26.36. AOL saw a large pop due to selling around 800 patents as well as licensing another 300 to Microsoft for a small profit of only $1.06 BILLION. AOL's market cap was just $2 billion prior to this deal, so the impact will be huge. AOL helped their cause even more by announcing that it plans to return a significant portion of the proceeds to its shareholders. Although the exact patents have not been named, Microsoft seems to have a huge interest in them, some quite possibly dating back to when AOL helped build the internet. David Joyce, who works for Miller Tabak & Co., put a buy rating on AOL with a price target of $30. AOL is back on the map.

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