Author Archives: Scalper1

China’s Alibaba Makes $1 Billion Bet On Southeast Asia

China e-commerce titan Alibaba Group ( BABA ) announced Tuesday that it’s spending $1 billion for a controlling stake in Singapore-based, privately held e-com company Lazada. Lazada operates retail websites in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, Alibaba said in its news release . It’s Alibaba’s largest acquisition to date. The company aims to diversify its revenue, with the vast majority now coming from China, according to  news reports . With this and other investments, Alibaba is establishing a beachhead in emerging e-commerce markets such as India and Indonesia. The markets are growing quickly, but e-commerce still has relatively low penetration rates. Alibaba stock was down a fraction, near 77.50, in afternoon trading on the stock market today . The company has a strong IBD Composite Rating of 96, where 99 is the highest. CR measures key metrics such as earnings and revenue growth. Re/code reported that Lazada executives are expected to remain on the job after the acquisition closes. The deal values Lazada at $1.5 billion, according to a statement from Rocket Internet, a German firm that founded Lazada. The move is likely to intensify Alibaba’s competition with regional rivals such as JD.com ( JD ).

Apple Watch Sales Could Tank This Year With No Big Redesign

Apple Watch sales are likely to tumble this year as the company prepares a second-generation smartwatch that is only a modest upgrade over the original version, respected Apple ( AAPL ) analyst Ming-Chi Kuo of KGI Securities said in a note Monday. Kuo predicts that Apple Watch sales will fall by more than 25% this year, according to 9to5Mac . He estimates that Apple will sell fewer than 7.5 million watches for the full year, compared with 10.6 million units last year when the watch was only available for eight months. Kuo argues that the Apple Watch lacks killer applications, and the hardware has room for improvement. Limited battery life and reliance on the iPhone for functionality are two knocks on the Apple Watch, he said. The next version of the Apple Watch is likely to be an “S model” refresh, with only incremental changes to the device, which will look basically the same, he said. It is seen launching this fall along with the iPhone 7. Kuo doesn’t expect a major redesign of the Apple Watch until 2017. But Drexel Hamilton analyst Brian White disagrees. In a note Friday, he said Apple Watch 2 could be 20% to 40% thinner than the current model and might be launched in June at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference. Last month, market research firm IDC predicted that Apple would ship 14 million units of its smartwatch this year, compared with an estimated 11.6 million units in 2015. Apple’s biggest competition in smartwatches comes from manufacturers using Alphabet ’s ( GOOGL ) Android Wear operating system, IDC said. Image provided by Shutterstock .