Tag Archives: request

Which Big Tech Stocks Rank Best: AAPL, AMZN, GOOGL, MSFT Or FB?

Loading the player… Four of the five largest tech stocks by market cap remain down for the year after an early-February market rout tied to the price of oil, economic concerns and some not-so-good earnings reports. Facebook ( FB ) is the only one that now has a year-to-date gain. It’s also one of two in the pack with best-possible ratings. Google owner Alphabet ( GOOGL ), Amazon.com ( AMZN ), Microsoft ( MSFT ) and the biggest, Apple ( AAPL ), are the four down for the year. Amazon is down the most, about 18%. Facebook stock fell 1.6% Tuesday to close at 105.46, marking a second day above its 2015 close, 104.66. Facebook handily topped views in its fourth-quarter earnings report in January, with mobile ad growth helping push up its revenue 52% to almost $6 billion. This is the debut year for Facebook’s Oculus Rift VR headsets. At Mobile World Congress in Spain this week, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg called artificial intelligence the next big frontier. He unveiled an alliance with Samsung to bring streaming 360-degree video to Samsung’s Gear VR headsets, part of a push for “social virtual reality” powered by Facebook’s Oculus division. Of the five largest tech stocks by market cap, Facebook and Alphabet get a best-possible 99 Composite Rating from IBD. The others are in the 70s and 80s.  

Sprint Pushes Galaxy Forever; AT&T, Verizon Still No Phone Leasing

Wireless firms have stepped up marketing for Samsung’s Galaxy 7 and Galaxy  S7 Edge, which may be the hottest-selling smartphones until Apple ’s ( AAPL ) iPhone 7 hits the market, likely in September. Samsung unveiled the Galaxy 7 devices at this week’s  Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. How consumers pay for smartphones in financing plans sets AT&T ( T ) and Verizon Communications ( VZ ) apart from T-Mobile US ( TMUS ) and Sprint ( S ). For consumers, leasing and monthly installment plans can be similar, especially for those that upgrade and trade in their devices every year. Whether wireless firms are using leasing as opposed to installment plans in promotions, however, brings about changes in accounting that impact earnings and revenue recognition. Sprint on Sunday introduced its “Galaxy Forever”  leasing program , similar to an offering the wireless firm launched last year for Apple iPhones. While Sprint is offering the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge through both installment and leasing plans, T-Mobile’s near-term marketing focus leans toward monthly installment plans, analysts say. AT&T and Verizon both offer only financing plans with monthly installment payments for iPhones and other devices and do not yet offer phone leasing plans. AT&T and Verizon will apparently stick with that strategy for Samsung’s Galaxy 7 devices. However, some analysts speculate that AT&T or Verizon will begin to offer leasing plans to coincide with the arrival of Apple’s iPhone 7. Both leasing and installment plans make it easier for consumers to upgrade devices. With leasing, wireless firms retain ownership of devices. When consumers turn in old phones, wireless firms sell them into the second-hand market. Verizon will offer a $100 credit to customers that buy the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge, according to a Wireless Week  report. T-Mobile, meanwhile, is offering customers who preorder the Galaxy S7 or S7 edge a free Samsung VR headset and a free year of Netflix.

Cerner Downgraded For Slowing Sales Growth, Migration To Services

Punished by investors a week ago for guiding Q1 a hair below Wall Street expectations, Cerner was punished again Tuesday by a Goldman Sachs downgrade. Cerner ( CERN ) stock was down more than 3%, near 50, in late-afternoon trading in the stock market today . Last week, shares touched a 21-month low of 49.89. Goldman Sachs analyst Robert Jones downgraded Cerner from buy to neutral and lowered its price target from 62 to 54, with a 3% upside potential. Cerner’s Q4 earnings beat, but its Q1 adjusted EPS guidance of 52 to 54 cents, on sales of $1.15 billion to $1.2 billion, slightly lagged at the midpoint the 54 cents and $1.178 billion consensus estimate of analysts polled by Thomson Reuters. The midpoint of guidance would mark a 22% year-over-year gain in EPS and a 27% gain in sales. Cerner also said Q1 new-business bookings would be flat with Q1 2015, at $1.15 billion to $1.25 billion. Last year’s Q1 bookings rose 32% from Q1 2014. Cerner’s is the largest pure-play health care information technology company in the U.S., competing with the  IBM ‘s ( IBM ) Watson Health subsidiary, health care IT software from Oracle ( ORCL ) and others. “As the model increasingly transitions from faster-converting software to slower-converting services, we think it will take strong execution for CERN to maintain 10%/15% revenue/EPS growth,” Jones wrote. “With this backdrop, we think it is more appropriate to benchmark CERN to more mature software and IT outsourcing comps, which trade at 19 (times the next 12-month price/earnings).” Jones said he similarly analyzed Cerner’s smaller rival Allscripts Healthcare Solutions ( MDRX ) and decided to maintain his neutral rating and 13 price target, with 7% upside potential. Allscripts was up a fraction, above 12, Tuesday afternoon. Shares of both IBM and Oracle were down more than 1% Tuesday afternoon.