Author Archives: Scalper1

Self-Driving Cars: China’s Come To U.S.; Automakers Adopt Braking

Self-driving cars are inching forward with developments this week — 20 automakers say they’ll add automatic emergency braking by 2022, and China’s Baidu ( BIDU ) will reportedly soon start testing its autonomous cars in the U.S. As about the whole car industry gets into the game, the quest to create a self-driving vehicle puts Chinese Internet search leader Baidu in a tech-development drag race with global search leader Google. The unit of parent firm Alphabet ( GOOGL ) has been developing self-driving vehicles for years. Baidu aims to become a cutting-edge automaker and have its automated vehicles in distribution in 2018, says a report Thursday in the Wall Street Journal. The latest  move by Baidu  comes as U.S. auto safety regulators say that 20 automakers have pledged to make automatic emergency braking a standard feature on nearly all U.S. vehicles by 2022, a move that could prevent thousands of rear-end accidents each year – and ensure that the companies aren’t left in the dust as car technology advances. The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) hailed the voluntary commitment by 20 automakers representing more than 99% of U.S. vehicle sales. Companies including General Motors ( GM ), Ford ( F ), Toyota ( TM ), Volkswagen ( VLKAY ), Daimler ( DDAIF ), Nissan Motor ( NSANY ) and Honda Motor ( HMC ) have signed on. While Apple ( AAPL ) has been widely reported to be among those in the self-driving car game, the company hasn’t confirmed any involvement. Baidu stock rose 0.2% to 183.44  in the stock market today . Apple stock fell 0.2% to 105.80. Mobileye ( MBLY ) stock appeared to benefit after news of the emergency braking standard emerged on Wednesday, soaring 9.5%. Mobileye, a maker of autonomous car technology, saw its stock rise 1.4% Thursday. Since its IPO last August, Mobileye stock has jumped 48% from its IPO price of 25. Mobileye has said millions of vehicles include its system as it works with BMW and automakers such as Tesla Motors ( TSLA ), GM and Honda. Along with Mobileye, NXP Semiconductors ( ), Nvidia ( NVDA ), Ambarella ( AMBA ) and others are partnering with automakers to develop chips and other technology needed for self-driving cars. German automaker BMW said in September 2014 that it had teamed up with Baidu to create self-driving cars. At that time, BMW said its project with Baidu was designed to achieve “accident-free mobility” while enhancing comfort and efficiency for drivers in China, the world’s top car-producing nation. Baidu already provides Internet cloud services to BMW as well as mapping services through Baidu Maps, BMW said then. On Tuesday, the chief of self-driving car development at Google told a U.S. Senate panel that “Congress has a huge opportunity to help ensure that self-driving cars can be safely deployed at scale,” as the Alphabet subsidiary and others attempt to fast-track development of the technology. Chris Urmson, director of the self-driving car program at Google X, was among those who testified at the hearing that was convened by U.S. Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation. The hearing came a month after one of Google’s self-driving cars hit a municipal bus in California. Google has said new software changes will avoid future incidents. In a report last year, Boston Consulting Group cautioned that self-driving cars won’t likely appear widely on roads until 2025, but the technology could emerge sooner in automated ride-sharing services in city centers. This week’s U.S. government hearing included testimony from GM and ride-sharing company Lyft, which are in a partnership to develop self-driving cars. Driverless trucks and cars will be tested soon in the U.K., according to a BBC report on Thursday.

Adobe Systems Beats Q1 Views; Guides Q2 EPS Higher

Digital media software firm Adobe Systems ( ADBE ) late Thursday beat Wall Street’s targets for its fiscal 2016 first-quarter earnings and sales, as revenue growth accelerated for the third straight quarter. Adobe stock jumped as much 8.6% in after-hours trading Thursday, putting it in record high territory. During the regular session, Adobe rose 2% to 89.96. Adobe stock hit an all-time high of 96.42 on Dec. 17. Adobe earned 66 cents a share excluding items on sales of $1.38 billion for the quarter ended March 4. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected Adobe to earn 61 cents ex items on sales of $1.34 billion. On a year-over-year basis, non-GAAP EPS was up 50% and revenue was up 25%. For the fiscal second quarter, Adobe expects revenue of $1.365 billion to $1.415 billion. It expects to report non-GAAP earnings per share of 64 to 70 cents. At the midpoint of guidance, Adobe is targeting EPS minus items of 67 cents on sales of $1.39 billion. For fiscal Q2, analysts were modeling earnings of 65 cents a share minus items, up 35%, on sales of $1.39 billion, up 20%. The San Jose, Calif.-based company also guided sales and earnings higher for the full year. Adobe expects to earn about $2.80 a share on a non-GAAP basis, up from its prior target of $2.70. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters were modeling for $2.76 EPS excluding items for the full fiscal year. Adobe is forecasting full-year revenue of $5.8 billion, up from its prior target of $5.7 billion. “Every day, more brands, government agencies and educational institutions globally are choosing to base their digital strategies on Adobe’s content and data platforms,” Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen said in a statement. “Our exceptional performance in Q1 is an indicator of the strong momentum we are seeing across our cloud businesses as we drive the experience economy.” Like Microsoft ( MSFT ), Adobe has earned the favor of investors through its transition from desktop software to Internet cloud computing services. Adobe has three cloud computing businesses: Creative Cloud, Marketing Cloud and Document Cloud. The biggest is Creative Cloud, which includes well-known products for creative professionals such as Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign. Marketing Cloud provides online marketing and advertising services. Document Cloud leverages Adobe’s popular online document-sharing product Acrobat and its ubiquitous PDF format. “Adobe’s year is off to a strong start,” Narayen said on a conference call with analysts. “Adobe’s opportunity has never been greater … Our market leadership, product differentiation and continued momentum give us confidence to raise our FY16 revenue and earnings targets.” Adobe is through the rough part of its transition from a seller of licensed software to a provider of software-as-a-service. Over the last four quarters, year-over-year revenue growth has accelerated. Sales rose 9% in Q2 2015, 21% in Q3, 22% in Q4 and 25% last quarter. Earnings per share have grown in the double digits for six straight quarters, with average growth of 50%. Annualized recurring revenue in Adobe’s core Digital Media segment grew to $3.13 billion last quarter, an increase of $246 million. Adobe now expects to exit fiscal 2016 with Digital Media annualized recurring revenue of about $4 billion. That’s up from its prior target of $3.875 billion. Digital Media segment sales rose 33% year over year to $932 million in Q1. Digital Marketing segment sales rose 14% to $406 million. “Strong Cloud adoption drove record Creative and Marketing Cloud revenue in Q1, and better-than-expected Digital Media (annualized recurring revenue),” Adobe Chief Financial Officer Mark Garrett said in a statement. “Based on our strong Q1 results and business momentum, we are increasing our annual revenue and earnings targets for the year.” Under generally accepted accounting principles, Adobe’s earnings per share were 50 cents in fiscal Q1. Analysts were expecting 39 cents GAAP EPS. GAAP earnings include the impact of stock-based compensation. For its current fiscal Q2, Adobe is targeting GAAP EPS of 42 to 48 cents, or 45 cents at the midpoint. Wall Street had been modeling for 43 cents.