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Honeymoon Over For Apple Watch, Version 2 Needed

Apple ( AAPL ) held onto its lead in the nascent smartwatch market in the first quarter, but lost ground to rivals after the holiday season, in the seasonally slower period. Apple shipped 2.2 million units of the Apple Watch in Q1, giving it a 52.4% market share, Strategy Analytics said Thursday. In the fourth quarter, Apple shipped 5.1 million smartwatches and grabbed a 63% market share, the research firm said. Samsung came in second with a 14.3% market share, having shipped 600,000 Gear smartwatches in Q1. In the fourth quarter, Samsung shipped 1.3 million smartwatches, giving it a 16% market share. Other vendors such as LG and Motorola shipped 1.4 million smartwatches in Q1, combining for a 33.3% market share, Strategy Analytics said. On a year-over-year basis, global smartwatch shipments grew 223% to 4.2 million units in Q1. The Apple Watch was not yet available in the year-earlier quarter. It went on sale on April 24, 2015. “Now that many Apple early adopters have their smartwatches and all of the holiday gifts have been unwrapped, it would seem the honeymoon for version 1 of the Apple Watch is over,” Strategy Analytics director Cliff Raskind said in a statement . “Future traction for Apple Watch 2 will be closely linked to compelling apps that better exploit the usability of wearable tech, while offering autonomous 4G connectivity and enhanced battery life — all of which are in rather short supply today.” Apple is widely expected to unveil its second-generation Apple Watch this fall around the time it debuts the iPhone 7. Apple is estimated to have sold 2.3 million Apple Watches in the March quarter and 13.2 million units during its first year of availability.

Why Right Now Is The Perfect Time To Buy Facebook Stock

Loading the player… After Facebook ’s ( FB ) stellar quarterly report Wednesday evening, the social networking giant’s stock is trading in buy range in the stock market today . The breakout comes as other big names have recently neared buying opportunities but crumbled on their quarterly results, including Google owner Alphabet ( GOOGL ), Microsoft ( MSFT ) and Starbucks ( SBUX ). Facebook’s earnings jumped 83%, while sales grew 52%. Both topped views and marked a third straight quarter of accelerating growth for the top and bottom lines. Shares jumped 8% in huge volume, hitting a new all-time high in intraday trade and breaking out of a cup-with-handle base with a 117.09 buy point. Shares are in buy range to 122.94. But the stock is now trading at the lower end of the day’s range, about 50 cents above the buy point. Facebook earns an IBD Composite Rating of 95 out of 99, meaning its shares outperform 95% of all stocks in the market, based on fundamental and technical factors. IBD’s Take: How healthy are the shares of Facebook and its rivals? Find out at IBD Stock Checkup Alphabet gapped below its 50-day line after its report last week. Shares tested support at the 200-day line in Wednesday’s session and are breaching that level today. Alphabet is now trading 12% below its February high, down 1.4% in intraday trade. Microsoft also gapped below its 50-day line in the wake of its results last week. Shares are breaking below their 200-day line in intraday trade Thursday, falling 1.6%, and are about 11% below their December peak. Starbucks is now trading below its 50-day and 200-day lines, and hit a new two-month low in intraday trade as it fell a fraction. Shares are 11% below their October high. And while Apple ( AAPL ) wasn’t near buy range ahead of its report Tuesday night, shares gapped down to a two-month low on disappointing results. Apple is 27% below its high, reached exactly one year ago today, with shares down 1.8%. Meanwhile, Amazon ( AMZN ) is trading in buy range ahead of its quarterly report after the close. Amazon risked dropping back below the buy zone in Wednesday’s session, but shares are trading up 1% today in anticipation of the report.