2014 The Year of the Hacker – $FEYE

There were a lot of big stories this year.   Sadly enough most will remember the bad stories and not the good.   Bad stories get the clicks and the views.  If you need any proof of that, try driving swiftly past a nasty car accident.

2014 was a great year for the stock market, a banner year for Soccer, as the World Cup brought record viewers and continued growth in the United States.   It was also a great year for Horror games.... if that can actually be a great thing.

It wasn't such a great year for Jose Canseco, who now has one less finger to point at steroid users.  It also wasn't a good year for Target and Home Depot credit card users, or Sony executives.  Why?  Hackers!  Hackers stole millions of credit card numbers from Target and Home Depot customers in 2014.  Hackers tapped into Sony's computers and compromised some personal and revealing information, namely private controversial conversations between executives.

This Christmas millions of kids around the world were sadly left without their PlayStation and XBOX gaming networks because of.... you guessed it... hackers.  It's amazing how we can let millions of children starve around the World on a daily basis, but if spoiled kids in the developed nations are deprived of their video game crack for even a few hours all hell breaks loose.

Without Video Games  parents will actually have to pay attention to their kids for once.....  which is why it is so important for these networks to remain running.

Our world is becoming more intertwined.  Look no further than Bitcoin to see where we are headed in the coming years.  In my opinion, as the world becomes more digitized, as the cloud grows, the need for security will increase substantially.  Governments, corporations, institutions, and consumers around the globe will increasingly seek the protection of cyber-security firms.

The recent hackings of Sony and Microsoft are prime examples of  the havoc hackers can impart on their vicitims.  This is why I think cyber-security companies will continue to see demand for their services grow in the years ahead.

One of my favorite trades to capitalize on this is FireEye $FEYE.  The stock is trading off strong support at $28.  I think the stock is going to trade much higher in 2015.  The first level of long term resistance lies at $45.  If the stock can break that level, we could see a rally similar to the one in early 2013.

Some trades I am looking to get into heading toward 2015:

January Monthly Calls $34 $1.00

February Monthly Calls $37 $1.30

Recent Analyst Remarks:

Nomura Securities analyst Rick Sherlund reaffirmed a Buy rating and a target price of $40 on FireEye Inc (NASDAQ:FEYE) stock yesterday. The reiteration comes amid recent cybersecurity breaches (with Sony being the most recent victim).

Mr. Sherlund said that state-sponsored cyber crime has raised issues related to data security for companies and the government. He stated: “We believe the level of sophistication involved in the rapid evolution of measures and counter-measures likely favors not a software product, but rather a managed service combining software plus cybersecurity expertise delivered as a service.”

The analyst commented that FireEye’s acquisition of Mandiant was a good move as Mandiant is a leading provider of security assessment and incident response services, and is typically at the forefront when it comes to identifying and countering security breaches in large organisations. Cyber forensics specialist Mandiant Corp is known for releasing a report in 2013 that indicated the involvement of the Chinese government in cyber espionage. Its services will complement FireEye’s industry-leading platform for Advanced Persistent Threats (APT), according to Mr. Sherlund.

FireEye is a cybersecurity company that provides real-time protection to governments and enterprises against cyber crime. It has also provided an option of managed defense solution, which includes monitoring and managing the threat landscape. Mr. Sherlund observed that revenue from this option is realized over time, rather than up-front.

Sell-Side

Out of the 29 analysts covering the stock, 15 recommend a Buy, while 12 suggest a Hold. The 12-month average target price assigned by analysts is $37.95, 14.3% above the last closing price.

FireEye, Inc. provides products and services for detecting, preventing, and resolving advanced cybersecurity threats. Its products comprise threat prevention system that provides threat protection from network to endpoint for inbound and outbound network traffic, such as Web threat prevention appliances to analyze all Web traffic; email threat prevention appliances that detect and stop advanced attacks; and file threat prevention appliances, which analyze network file servers to detect and quarantine malicious software. The company’s products also include central management appliances that manage threat prevention system; forensic analysis system, which executes and inspects malware, zero-day, and other advanced cyber attacks; and endpoint threat prevention systems that detect, analyze, and resolve security incidents. In addition, it offers dynamic threat intelligence cloud and email threat prevention attachment/URL engine services, as well as incident response and related consulting, training and professional, and customer support and maintenance services. Further, the company provides Security-as-a-Service, including managed defense, cloud-based email threat prevention, and mobile threat prevention services. FireEye offers its products and services directly to end-customers, as well as through distributors, resellers, and strategic partners in the United States, the Asia Pacific, Japan, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. The company was formerly known as NetForts, Inc. and changed its name to FireEye, Inc. in September 2005. FireEye, Inc. was founded in 2004 and is headquartered in Milpitas, California

Known to most as Uranium Pinto Beans, Jason has more than 15 years under his belt of trading stocks, options and currencies. His expertise primarily lies in chart analysis, and he has a strong eye for undervalued stock. Because he’s got the ability to identify great risk/reward trades he usually enjoys taking the path less traveled and reaping the benefits from the adventure.

He is a co-founder of Option Millionaires, and he is best known for his weekly webinars with Scott, as well as his high level training webinars and charts found in the forums.

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