Author Archives: Scalper1

Amazon, Microsoft, or Google: Which Tech Stock Is Winning the Cloud Wars?

Tech companies often get a lot attention for their flashier consumer side devices like smartphones and wearable devices. That was great when the smartphone industry was just getting started, but now some tech

NetEase Sees Dip In Mobile And PC Games, Gets Hurt By Tax Change

China gaming company NetEase ( NTES ) is being hit by declining user activity for both its PC and mobile games and an “unfavorable” tax rate change, according to an analyst. “Cross-border commerce continues to grow, but we are cautious on likely negative catalysts, including government regulations, currency exchange fluctuation and intensifying competition,” wrote ITG Investment Research analyst Henry Guo in a research note Monday. Seasonality and competition are offsetting the company’s cross-border e-commerce momentum in Q1, he said. “Longer term, we continue to see multiple potential risks to NetEase’s e-commerce efforts, considering the uncertainties related to government policy and tax regulations on cross-border commerce and increasing competition from established e-commerce players in the market,” Guo wrote. NetEase stock closed Monday at 140, down 3.1%. NetEase stock has risen 36% in the past 12 months but is down 22% since early January. Shares touched a record high above 186 near the end of 2015. Three China tech firms — Internet search leader Baidu ( BIDU ), e-commerce king Alibaba Group ( BABA ) and Tencent Holdings ( TCEHY ), China’s leader in messaging and gaming — lead the way in China’s Internet arena. NetEase is another leader on China’s Web, as is e-commerce company JD.com ( JD ). The company said that revenue from online games, its biggest segment, more than doubled in Q4, thanks to growth in its original mobile games. The company’s “Westward Journey Online” and “Fantasy Westward Journey” came in as the top two games in the Apple ( AAPL ) iOS China app store in the fourth quarter, NetEase said. While the company now has multiple mobile games in testing, Guo said, few are available for public testing. “As such, we haven’t seen a step-up in game user activity in the quarter, which we attribute to a lack of promotions or incentives,” he said. Guo said he has modeled NetEase’s ad revenue to decline 10% quarter over quarter in Q1 2016, “a significant improvement from the year-ago period’s 18% quarter-over-quarter decline, reflecting NetEase’s heightened immunity to advertising seasonality, such as the Chinese New Year.” NetEase is best known for its desktop PC games and has had a lucrative exclusive license for Activision Blizzard ( ATVI )‘s “World of Warcraft” in mainland China since 2009. The company also develops its own games, mostly the multiplayer variety played on desktop PCs and mobile devices. Apple stock closed down a fraction at 105.19, while JD.com stock fell 2% to close at 25.82. Alibaba stock rose a fraction to close at 76.48, while Baidu stock rose a fraction to 185.17.

Feds Withdraw Order That Apple Hack Killer’s iPhone

The U.S. Department of Justice has withdrawn its demand that Apple ( AAPL ) help it hack into an iPhone belonging to one of the shooters in the San Bernardino, Calif., massacre, according to media reports late Monday. The news comes one week after the Justice Department said it had learned of a way to unlock a password-protected iPhone without Apple’s help. Last week, the FBI said an unidentified outside party had demonstrated to it a possible method for unlocking the iPhone in question. CNBC reported Monday that authorities had successfully accessed data on the iPhone belonging to Syed Farook, one of the two now-deceased killers in the San Bernardino shootings. Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, shot and killed 14 people on Dec. 2. The radicalized Muslim couple, described in press reports as supporters of terror group ISIS, died in a gun battle with police. A U.S. magistrate on Feb. 16 ordered Apple to assist the FBI in hacking Farook’s iPhone, but Apple contested the order, saying it would set a dangerous precedent. Apple said the government wanted it to create a back door around its security protections that would put the data of all of its customers at risk. Apple executives said the government was overstepping its bounds by ordering Apple to write special software to hack its own smartphones. The case has fueled a debate over smartphone encryption, which has pitted Silicon Valley and civil rights groups against the federal government and law enforcement agencies. Federal authorities now say they don’t need Apple’s help in the case and are asking the judge to drop her Feb. 16 order. USA Today was the first to report that the government would drop its case against Apple.