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Tech Leaders List Debuts In Tough Market Environment

The new IBD Tech Leaders Index looks at companies in the technology field that are highly rated using IBD’s proprietary ratings. With the current market condition being Uptrend Under Pressure, these names should be approached with higher caution, especially since they will be tied more to the performance of the Nasdaq composite. As of the April 29 list, the electronics sector stands out with a dominant representation by two industry groups making up more than 25% of the list: the scientific measurement electronics group, at No. 10 of IBD’s 197 industry groups, and the electronics parts manufacturers, at No. 23. Many of the stocks in the sector serve in support roles, so part of your analysis should include the areas of exposure for the companies. Are they focused on life sciences with exposure to the biotech industry? Biotechs had a great run in 2014, but the group has fallen considerably, with big winners like Celgene ( CELG ) and Gilead ( GILD ) topping in the summer of 2015. A company like Danaher ( DHR ) has exposure to multiple industries, with segments that serve life sciences and diagnostics vs. its segments focused on industrial technologies and petroleum businesses. Danaher will make the analysis a little easier when they complete a tax-free spinoff in the third quarter of 2016. The company retaining the Danaher name will keep the life science exposure and the new spinoff, named Fortive, will take the industrial side. What about the exposure to foreign markets? Bruker ( BRKR ) not only has strong links to the life sciences and pharmaceutical research but also, according to the company website, 80% of its revenue comes from outside the U.S. As the first-quarter earnings season has unfolded, companies have often pointed to currency headwinds created by a strong dollar as being the culprit behind soft earnings.

Yahoo Reportedly Selling Huge Silicon Valley Site To Chinese Firm

Yahoo ( YHOO )  has reached a deal to sell a 48.6-acre undeveloped site in Santa Clara, Calif.,  near the heart of Silicon Valley and four miles from the company’s Sunnyvale headquarters, to Chinese tech firm LeEco, according to the Silicon Valley Business Journal . Yahoo has said that as part of its restructuring efforts it might sell real estate, and the Business Journal reported in December that Yahoo was shopping the site. The deal has not yet closed, says the report. The purchase indicates big growth plans for LeEco, hich makes phones, TVs, mountain bikes and soon electric cars, according to the report. The Web portal paid $106 million for the land in 2006, back when Yahoo’s revenue was still growing and the property was seen as having the potential to accommodate more than 12,000 workers, according to the report. The site is near the $1.3 billion Levi’s Stadium, home of the San Francisco 49ers football team and site of last February’s Super Bowl. Yahoo received approval to build up to 3 million square feet of office or research and development space on the site, in 13 buildings, but never began construction. SunTrust Robinson Humphrey said in an industry report  this month that Yahoo owns more than 1 million square feet of building space and that its real estate could be worth $1 billion. Yahoo stock closed up 1 cent at 36.60 on the  stock market today . Yahoo stock has more than doubled since the company hired Marissa Mayer, who had been a top executive at Alphabet ( GOOGL ) unit Google, as CEO in July 2012. But she’s been unable to spark significant earnings and revenue growth, and Yahoo has struggled to build online-ad and mobile-ad revenue vs. rivals Google and Facebook ( FB ), among others. Yahoo last week reported Q1 earnings and revenue that topped Wall Street expectations, but its Q2 revenue outlook lagged analyst expectations. For Q2, the company forecast revenue of $1.05 billion to $1.09 billion, down 14% at the midpoint and below consensus views of $1.102 billion. Yahoo reportedly had set a deadline of April 18 for bids by potential acquirers, with Verizon Communications ( VZ ), which owns AOL, rumored to be among the most active bidders.  Mayer has said only that progress is being made. On Wednesday, in what Mayer called a “constructive resolution,” the troubled Web portal announced it reached an agreement with activist investor Starboard Value to add four new independent directors to the company’s board. In March, Starboard proposed replacing Yahoo’s entire nine-member board with its own slate, saying Yahoo’s current management team and board had “repeatedly failed shareholders” and shouldn’t be in charge of a strategic review of Yahoo’s core search and display ad business or determine the fate of Yahoo’s 15% stake in China e-commerce giant Alibaba ( BABA ) and its holdings in Yahoo Japan. Under the agreement announced Wednesday, Starboard has withdrawn its director nominees. Instead, Yahoo will add four independent directors, including Starboard CEO and Chief Investment Officer Jeffrey Smith.

Apple Investors Worry That Glory Days Are Over

Now that Apple ( AAPL ) has gone ex-growth, investors are wondering if the stock’s new theme song is Bruce Springsteen’s “Glory Days.” Is it time, as the Boss sings, to “sit around talking about the old times” and “boring stories of glory days”? With the smartphone market maturing and Apple still looking for its next big thing, the heady days of double-digit sales and earnings growth could be over, some observers say. Even billionaire investor Carl Icahn doesn’t see much upside for Apple. Icahn announced Thursday that he has sold all of his Apple stock. He used to own 53 million shares, or nearly 1% of the company. Apple’s disappointing March-quarter earnings report and June-quarter guidance provided more fuel for Apple bears who say the company is past its prime. Apple stock fell 1.2% to 93.74 on Friday. Its shares have fallen in 10 of the past 11 trading sessions, tumbling 16.4% during that period. Apple stock has been a loser since it joined the Dow Jones Industrial Average on March 18, 2015. Since being added to the Dow, Apple stock has fallen 26.2%. Stock market observers note that stocks that join the blue-chip index are often past their prime . Apple late Tuesday reported that its sales fell for the first time since 2003 and iPhone unit sales fell for the first time ever on a year-over-year basis. Apple’s earnings per share declined 18% to $1.90 and its sales shrank 13% to $50.56 billion, both missing Wall Street’s targets. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters predict that Apple’s sales will fall 15% in the June quarter, 9% in the September quarter and 3% in the December quarter. Will iPhone 8, In Late 2017, Be Next Catalyst For Apple? Oppenheimer analyst Andrew Uerkwitz on Wednesday lowered his rating on Apple stock to perform from outperform. Weakness in Apple’s business is likely to persist until late 2017 when the company launches the rumored iPhone 8, he said. Uerkwitz adopted a “more bearish outlook” for the upcoming iPhone 7, due out in September. He doubts the iPhone 7 will have enough innovative features to drive upgrade sales. “We see the stock trading sideways while investors grapple with perceived slowing innovation and unit growth on the one hand, and massive cash generating, dividend paying, attractive valuation on the other,” he said in a report. Apple’s iPhone shipments are likely to decline 10% in fiscal 2016, which ends Sept. 24, and increase by just 2% in fiscal 2017, Uerkwitz said. Uerkwitz said he is questioning his faith in Apple. “We like Apple as a company, but less so as an investment,” Uerkwitz said. “We believe investors will question if the ‘best times have passed’ or if ‘Apple can innovate no more’,” he said. To appeal to more value-oriented investors, Apple on Tuesday raised its cash return program. It increased its dividend by 10% to 57 cents a share and hiked its stock buyback plan to $175 billion from the $140 billion level announced last year. Apple CEO Cook Has Not Delivered ‘Transformative Products’ FBN Securities analyst Shebly Seyrafi on Wednesday cut his price target on Apple stock to 110 from 120, but maintained his outperform rating. “We are concerned that, over four years since assuming the CEO position in late 2011, CEO Tim Cook has not delivered any real transformative products,” Seyrafi said. Apple’s only new product introduced since the 2011 death of the company’s revered co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs was the Apple Watch, which has failed to live up to expectations. “Investors simply need to wait until 2017 when the company’s comparables get much easier,” Seyrafi said. IPhone sales growth might not return until March-quarter 2017, Rosenblatt Securities analyst Jun Zhang said in a report Wednesday. He rates Apple stock as neutral, with a price target of 102. Zhang is especially concerned about Apple’s declining sales in China, which had been a growth driver for the company. The high-end smartphone market where Apple plays appears saturated in China, he said. Enthusiasm for the Apple brand might be waning in China as well, he said. “In the past, iPhones were an icon of social status in China, but starting last year, we actually found many business persons carrying Huawei or Xiaomi phones,” Zhang said in a report. On Thursday, research firm Strategy Analytics reported that Apple fell to No. 5 in China smartphone shipments with an 11% market share in Q1. A year earlier, it was No. 2, with 12.3% share. RELATED: Apple Offers Possible Clue To Apple Car In SEC Filing Smartphone Shipments Decline; Apple, Samsung Lead Retreat