Tag Archives: apple

Tesla Stock Lifts As Model 3 Lines Stretch: How Many Reservations?

Would-be buyers lined up at Tesla Motors ( TSLA ) stores around the world Thursday to grab the first reservations, a $1,000 proposition, for the electric Model 3 that will be unveiled Thursday night. And Tesla stock climbed 3.5% by early afternoon in the stock market today , near 235. Dozens of people lined up, and some camped out, at stores in Australia, where some of the first reservations were taken, according to reports. Tesla posted to Twitter clips of others waiting in Los Angeles and Bellevue, Wash. At $1,000, Model 3 reservations set a far lower bar than the $5,000 reservations that were required for the Model S sedan and Model X crossover. Are Tesla Model 3 deposits refundable? Tesla says yes. Analysts predict that reservations will amount to billions of dollars in short order, but they’re divided on just how quickly reservations could reach 100,000. The Model 3 is a crucial car for Tesla, which is expected to try to boost its annual sales pace by about 10 times to 500,000 vehicles by 2020. At $35,000 — half the price of the Model S and the Model X —  the Model 3 is seen competing with the BMW 3 Series and other gas-powered, entry-level luxury cars from the  Volkswagen ( VLKAY ) Audi brand and the Mercedes-Benz brand from  Daimler ( DDAIF ). It will also be competing against next-generation electric cars and hybrid cars from conventional automakers such as General Motors ( GM ) with its Chevrolet Bolt EV, and maybe eventually with a rumored Apple ( AAPL ) car, though the exact nature of Apple’s auto-related Project Titan  hasn’t been specified. Tesla Model 3 Reservations: Analyst Forecasts How many Model 3 reservations will Tesla get? Global Equities Research analyst Trip Chowdhry is a bull, predicting in a research note Wednesday that the “Tesla Model 3 will break all the records in Consumer Tech in dollar terms for pre-order bookings.” He says it is widely believed that bookings could reach 100,000 by the end of the weekend, amounting to “$3.5 billion worth of pre-orders.” Stifel analyst James Albertine has predicted a slower ramp-up. Wooooow! RT @BharathNA Not a small line in Bellevue. And it's only 7.30am #tesla #Model3 pic.twitter.com/2UiuwRRzQb — Tesla Motors (@TeslaMotors) March 31, 2016 “Though this is just a guess, we anticipate reservation figures in the days following the launch (if disclosed) would be in the range of 15,000-20,000,” he said in a research note in early March. He sees 50,000 to 100,000 worldwide Model 3 reservations in six to eight months after Thursday’s launch. He notes that at just $1,000 each, “some attrition is expected” after people make reservations. Can Tesla Shift From Luxury Electric Niche To Mass-Market Model 3? https://t.co/lOUKNj6gDt pic.twitter.com/pTF7vjQMGx — Investors.com (@IBDinvestors) March 29, 2016 Tesla is not highly rated by IBD at moment, with a Composite Rating of just 28 out of a possible 99, factoring in earnings growth, stock performance and a variety of other measures. Tesla stock has risen about 66% from a February low but is just back around where it began the year. RELATED: Tesla Motors’ $30 Billion Question: Can Model 3 Outdo Big Car Brands? .

Amazon Grows Push-Button E-Commerce Empire

Push a button, get some toilet paper. That’s the idea behind Amazon.com ( AMZN ) Dash buttons , which for Amazon Prime members will ship a range of products to the doorstep of American households with the push of a button — free two-day shipping and all. Thursday, Amazon announced that it’s adding a bevy of new products to its line of Dash buttons, bringing the total to “more than 100,” according to a press release. The new merchandise includes things like coffee, beauty products, and yes, condoms. “The consumer packaged-goods companies are interested in anything that they can do to grow,” Scot Wingo, executive chairman of ChannelAdvisor, told IBD in a telephone interview Thursday morning. ChannelAdvisor works with third-party sellers on a range of e-commerce websites such as Amazon.com and eBay ( EBAY ). Wingo says the consumer packaged-goods firms aren’t getting more sales in brick-and-mortar stores and have looked to e-commerce to boost stagnant revenue. And Amazon — the ever-innovating Seattle-based firm — is trying to capture more dollars that households spend. Though Amazon did not disclose the exact number of Dash buttons sold, or the revenue said buttons generated (which is typical of the tight-lipped company), it did say that Dash orders have grown by more than 75% in the last three months and now take place about once every minute. Wingo called those numbers “interesting.” “Peak Dash button will be in the mid-hundreds — the 200 to 300 range. From there, we’re likely to see Dash functionality integrated into more and more products, like the Brita filter Amazon has already announced.” Amazon’s new additions to the Dash line include Energizer, Arm & Hammer cat litter and Peet’s Coffee, among others. When asked about rivals such as eBay and Wal-Mart ( WMT ) tackling a similar program, Wingo said that it wasn’t likely anytime soon. “Amazon is on version-nine-thinking, and the other guys are on version two,” he said. There are already rumors swirling about the second generation of Dash buttons following Dave Zatz’s discovery , through regulatory filings, that it may rely on Bluetooth. The current version connects to the web via Wi-Fi. Wingo says that the Bluetooth implementation could mean it would connect to Amazon Echo , the firm’s line of “smart” speakers that include Amazon’s virtual assistant Alexa. “It may mean the intersection between Dash and Echo, with more verbal commands to use Dash buttons,” Wingo said. ITG Investment Research analyst Steve Weinstein released a research note Thursday which said that Amazon is on track to a “modest” revenue beat in Q1. The company has also been criticized for the amount of cardboard it generates, along with other e-commerce rivals. Amazon stock was down a fraction to 597 in early afternoon trading on the stock market today . The company has an IBD Composite Rating of 78, where 99 is the highest.

Facebook Revenue Engine Fuels Up Ahead Of F8 Developer Conference

The locomotive that drives Facebook ( FB ) is gaining steam from multiple products that will boost revenue growth this year, says an analyst who reiterated a buy rating on the social networking giant. Rosenblatt Securities analyst Martin Pyykkonen issued a research note focused on four Facebook businesses that will likely be a high-priority focus at the company’s large F8 global developer conference to be held in San Francisco in about two weeks. They are its photo- and video-sharing site Instagram, its Messenger and WhatsApp messaging platforms, and the Oculus virtual reality system that began shipping this week. “We see Facebook’s revenue growth visibility being enhanced by Instagram this year, Messenger in 2017, more mass-market virtual reality and maybe WhatsApp by 2018.” Pyykkonen wrote. He says Facebook will achieve ad revenue from Instagram this year of about $1 billion, or 5% of company revenue, as it gains more traction with large brand advertisers. He also expects Facebook, at the F8 conference, to provide more guidance on plans that will lead to monetizing Messenger. Facebook is in position to make its widely popular Messenger platform an all-in-one tool that could include a partnership or a battle with Apple ( AAPL ) and its Apple Pay system. Data from Apple iOS code examined by The Information suggest Facebook could provide users the ability to pay for goods in person. By entering the mobile payments fray, Facebook could either partner or compete with Apple, Android Pay by Alphabet ( GOOGL ), and other services. “We expect the F8 pitch will include Facebook’s Messenger app pushing further into a wide variety of business and consumer services,” Pyykkonen wrote. “We are especially focused on Facebook’s developer direction with mobile payments within the Messenger app.” Facebook began testing ads on Instagram about three years ago. One month ago, Facebook announced it had more than 200,000 advertisers on Instagram. Facebook competes with Apple, Alphabet, Microsoft ( MSFT ), Twitter ( TWTR ) and others in online advertising. He also expects Facebook to expand on plans for its Oculus Rift headset, especially as it relates to attracting a mass-market audience. Oculus began landing in the hands of consumers Monday, as the company received upbeat reports from two other analysts. With his buy rating, Pyykkonen also has a price target of 125. Facebook stock was near 114.50, down a fraction, in midday trading in the stock market today . Facebook is trading comfortably above its 50-day moving average as it works on a new base with a 117.69 buy point.