A Chinese stock we sold, Xinyuan Real Estate (XIN), is going all-American. It is buying a block-front on “High-Line-hot” Tenth Avenue between 44 and 45 St. in Manhattan for $57.5 mn. We owned it to play Chinese real estate and sold because of overbuilding. Now it has jumped out of the frying pan into the fire.

Here is a puzzle prepared by our daughter sent out by the parents of her niece (our granddaughter). Hint: it is related to our granddaughter’s Bat-Mitzvah.

Can you make it out?

dl sry ntrht gnb ngm

nyrv f tnrf n gndnts dn

tnffd n tfl t thgr mrf gndr

tbhpl tnffd htw ggnl

slwv n gnntnc

!nttcnp lttl dn

A free year sub or subscription extension to the first reader who solves the puzzle and other prizes for runners-up.

I was punished for my remarks about the arab (the Vedan number rather than the people) by Sea of Red Ink stock market on Wednesday. And Microsoft forced me to update my laptop to Windows 10 by cutting off security services to Windows 8.1 diehards (like me), so I am writing my blog on the desktop clunker in Windows XP. Installing Windows 10 is a full-time job to keep from being made to switch your email and search and security services to Macrohard products like Cortana. Darn it. I thought Bill Gates had reformed the Windows machine as well as becoming a donor to good causes.

Indian-American

*The Indian-American dual national CEO’s rhetoric was astonishing from a Silicon Valley guy:

“We are starting to see creative confidence blossoming within Infosys, David Kelley’s beautiful idea that innovation is not specific to one department but is an ability within all of us, waiting to unleash our full creative potential. We are seeing Infoscions [sic] becoming innovators, bringing innovation and client value to each individual project. This confidence can only come from a culture of learning and empowerment, and the kind of company we endeavor to create”. These words were written by CEO and managing director Dr. Vishal Sikka who added:

“Alongside grassroots innovation, we continue to see growing adoption of our Aikido services, bringing the power of intelligent systems, automation and software to amplify the skills and imaginations of our people. This combination helped us deliver encouraging results despite the traditional seasonality of the quarter and the additional headwinds, and will strengthen the execution of our strategy towards consistent profitable growth.”

The results at Infosys (INFY) were more modest for Infoscions who are shareholders, reported in International Financial Reporting System (IFRS). It hit the consensus forecast of 23¢.

Revenues hit $2.407 bn, up 0.6% sequentially and 8.5% year/year in dollars (or 12.5% in constant currencies) and also met forecasts. The bottom line in dollars was feeble, with net profit a mere $524 mn, up all of 0.9% from Q2, and only 0.4% up y/y. However in rupees, the currency in which INFY pays most of its bills, the rise in profits was a healthy 6.6% and at Rs 34.56 bn beat the Indian analyst consensus.

In fact INFY’s older lines face by sinking demand while it depends more and more on newer technology which is still costly to prepare or acquire like internet automation across multiple platforms, risk control testing systems, m-commerce software, Finacle for finance customers, design systems, new cloud services, and of all things, advanced information management services for the oil and gas industries. The good side of all that diversification is that software writers in Bangalore are cheaper than ever for multinational corporation clients. And an international expert on strategy is steering the buying because INFY cannot develop everything in house.