Category Archives: stocks

Hulu Reveals Fast Subscriber Growth, Live-TV Streaming Plans

Internet TV service Hulu announced Wednesday that it will reach 12 million subscribers in the U.S. this month, up 30% from a year ago. It also confirmed media reports that it plans to offer a live-TV service in 2017 to complement its on-demand video service. Hulu CEO Mike Hopkins made the announcements at an upfront event in New York City for advertisers. Hopkins said the live-TV service will offer news, sports and entertainment from broadcast and cable TV, but it did not detail content and pricing, TechCrunch reported . “We’re going to fuse the best of linear television and on-demand in a deeply personalized experience optimized for the contemporary, always-connected television fan,” Hopkins said. Hulu’s live-TV service is targeted at cord cutters and cord nevers — those consumers who don’t subscribe to traditional pay-TV services but might be interested in a lower-cost, “skinny bundle” of TV channels. Hulu is looking to charge about $40 a month for the live TV package, the Wall Street Journal reported Sunday . It would compete with other live-TV streaming services, such as Dish Network ‘s ( DISH ) Sling TV and Sony ‘s ( SNE ) PlayStation Vue. Dish stock was down 2%, above 46, and Sony’s U.S.-listed shares were down nearly 2%, below 24, in early afternoon trading on the stock market today . Hulu is co-owned by Walt Disney ( DIS ), Comcast ’s ( CMCSA ) NBCUniversal and 21st Century Fox ( FOXA ). Disney also owns ABC, ESPN and Disney Channel; Comcast owns NBC, MSNBC, CNBC, Syfy and USA; and 21st Century Fox owns Fox, Fox News, FX and Fox’s sports channels. Hulu competes with Netflix ( NFLX ) and Amazon.com ( AMZN ) in the subscription video-on-demand sector. Like its rivals, Hulu has been increasing its original programming, most recently with shows such as “11.22.63” and “The Path.”

Apple Hires Former Google X Lab Leader For Health Care Push

Apple ( AAPL ) continues to bring in more engineering talent amid a fall for its stock. The company has reportedly hired Yoky Matsuoka, most recently head of technology at Google’s Nest, to work on health science projects. Matsuoka, a robotics expert, co-founded Google’s experimental Google X lab in 2009 before joining Nest. While Nest has been struggling, Matsuoka left the smart house company last year before negative media reports surfaced. A Fortune report says Matsuoka will work on Apple’s HealthKit, ResearchKit and Carekit software projects. Apple last month hired Chris Porritt, who had been Tesla ’s ( TSLA ) vice president of vehicle engineering. He will work on Titan, Apple’s car project, reports say. Google restructured last year, creating  Alphabet ( GOOGL ) as the umbrella company over its main company, Google, and over its far-flung investments, known internally as “Other Bets.” Google bought Nest Labs for $3.2 billion in early 2014. Nest, a maker of web-connected devices, then acquired Dropcam for $555 million in cash. Nest CEO Tony Fadell has come under pressure as top executives leave. As a senior vice president at Apple before co-founding Nest in 2008, Fadell helped developed the iPod. Former Dropcam CEO Greg Duffy and other employees recently left Nest. Nest also has parted ways with its director of hardware design and engineering, Shige Honjo, said Re/code .

3D Printer Market Braces For Earnings From 3D Systems Amid Tumult

3D Systems ( DDD ) is set to report first-quarter earnings Thursday, followed by rival Stratasys ( SSYS ) next Monday, likely providing a clearer indication of whether the runup in both stocks this year — or the more recent downturn — is justified. The consensus on 3D Systems is for revenue of $156.3 million, down 3% year over year, and earnings per share minus items of 5 cents, flat, as polled by Thomson Reuters. Shares of 3D Systems and Stratasys were hammered in 2015, as both posted quarter after quarter of disappointing earnings and sales. Stratasys stock, however, has nearly doubled since hitting a six-year low of 14.88 three months ago, and 3D Systems has more than doubled since hitting a five-year low of 6 three months ago. Both stocks, though, have faded in the past week. And 3D Systems shares were near 15, down 3%, in midday trading in the stock market today . Stratasys stock, too, was down nearly 3% midday Wednesday, near 22. The rise of both stocks most of this year was partly fueled by Q4 earnings from both companies that beat expectations, raising hopes the top-two 3D printer makers are poised for a rebound. But 3D Systems and Stratasys executives took a cautious tone about the road ahead. 3D Systems got a bounce when it announced Vyomesh Joshi as CEO on April 4. Joshi had been executive vice president of the imaging and printing business of HP Inc. ( HPQ ), formerly part of Hewlett-Packard before its split. HP plans to enter the 3D printer market this year. Needham analyst James Ricchiuti last week lowered his rating on 3D Systems to hold from buy, “as shares might be pricing in too much,” he wrote. “Notwithstanding solid sequential improvement in Q4 from the publicly traded 3D printing companies, we believe business remains challenging, compounded by the normal seasonal weakness experienced in the March quarter,” Ricchiuti wrote. 3D printer makers  ExOne ( XONE ) and Voxeljet ( VJET ) are set to report earnings on May 11 and May 13, respectively, both before the market open.