Tag Archives: nasdaq

Why Amazon’s World Domination May Come Sooner Than You Think

Loading the player… Amazon ( AMZN ) has solidified its position as an e-commerce leader, and its global takeover may happen sooner than you think. ‘Momentum’ Seen In Apparel A Cowen & Co. report out Wednesday forecasts Amazon displacing Macy’s ( M ) as the No. 1 U.S. apparel retailer by 2017, driven by selection, fulfillment and brand relationships. Amazon’s momentum in apparel is also seen leading to retailer mergers and acquisitions, as well as store closures. Cowen also projects that Amazon will displace Target ( TGT ), Walgreens ( WBA ) and CVS ( CVS ) to become the No.2 company in consumables, behind Wal-Mart ( WMT ), by 2018. The report calculates a compound annual growth rate of 27% for the e-commerce giant’s consumables market. Amazon Worth $3 Trillion? Meanwhile, Social Capital has set a very bullish $3 trillion, 10-year valuation on the stock, with the venture capital firm citing strength across retail and its Amazon Web Services segment. Amazon’s current market cap is about $314 billion, while Apple — the most valuable public company — has about a $515 billion market cap. IBD’s take: How does Amazon stack up vs. its peers? Find out at IBD Stock Checkup After gapping up on its strong earnings report last week, shares are now extended 10% from a cup-with-handle buy point initially cleared in mid-April. The stock is trading about 5% below its all-time high reached at the end of last year, and it was down 1.4% Thursday. Wal-Mart, Macy’s Stocks Lag Meanwhile, Wal-Mart recently plunged below its 50-day line and has yet to retake that level, as it slumped 0.6% in intraday trade. Shares are sitting 16% below their 52-week peak. And Macy’s shares are trading nearly 50% below their all-time high reached last July. They are on track to hit a nearly four-month low Thursday, falling 2.3%.

A Few Reasons Why Investors Need Advisors: Financial Advisors’ Daily Digest

Wealthfront, one of the big three robo-advisors, says low fees aren’t everything – an excellent arrow for human advisors’ quivers as well. Evan Powers exemplifies the benefit of having an advisor (and listening to him), as he recounts the sorry tale of Prince’s recent passing without a will. Michelle Waymire provides the bottom line for FAs’ social media usage, and Lance Roberts recounts the experiences of clients on their first day of retirement. Today’s Seeking Alpha Financial Advisors’ Daily Digest provides an embarrassment of riches for advisors, so I’ll try to keep this brief before getting to the links. First, I was struck by Wealthfront’s latest post. Of course, the robo-advisor par excellence is supposed to be advisors’ chief nemesis, and indeed the article is not shy about extolling its offerings as an investor’s ultimate solution. Yet, in arguing that ” investment fees matter, but taxes matter even more,” I believe the robo-advisor is perhaps unintentionally offering a pretty juicy bone to human advisors by saying, in essence, don’t sweat the small stuff like fees. And as if to prove that point, comes along one of SA’s newer contributors, Evan Powers, with an article about how Prince’s untimely intestate passing will cost his heirs hundreds of millions of dollars in avoidable fees and taxes. Powers is an investment advisor, not an estate attorney, and yet his highly intelligent and informed framing of the issue is a clear reminder of the value of having an advisor’s counsel. And speaking of intelligent and well-informed new contributors, Michelle M. Waymire offers a highly readable and clear description of what advisors need to know about using social media. I admit I’ve seen a fair amount of kitschy stuff on that topic, but Michelle has done the homework of going through the rulebooks and provides a bottom line in a simple and pleasant way. Before moving on to today’s links, it is my strong recommendation that you follow Evan’s and Michelle’s feeds straightaway to avoid the risk of missing their next articles. And as I mentioned, we’ve got some really great advisor content today: Your comments, as always, are welcome below.