Tag Archives: request

Amazon Continues To Gain Holiday Sales Share At Expense Of Rivals

Amazon.com ( AMZN ) fell just shy of Q4 sales expectations when the company reported its earnings results late last month, but in many ways, the holidays were very very good to the e-commerce leader. The e-tailer’s lead grew last holiday, according to a new report from Slice Intelligence .  The research firm says Amazon’s revenue rose 12% for the holiday period — Nov. 1 through Dec. 27 — vs. just 10% of online sales overall. Because of Amazon’s massive market share , that 12% accounted for more than half the total online-sales dollar growth, according to Slice. Amazon is so dominant that it’s market position might be close to impenetrable , some observers say. Amazon even dwarfs walmart.com, the Web property of No. 1 overall retailer  Wal-Mart ( WMT ). Amazon late last month said Q4 revenue jumped 22% year over year to $35.7 billion, but Wall Street had modeled nearly $36 billion. The biggest percentage growth for the holidays, though, goes to much smaller  Wayfair ( W ), a website dedicated to selling furniture and accessories for homes. Slice says its Q4 sales soared 150%, and says it is stealing shoppers from Amazon, Restoration Hardware ( RH ) and Macy’s ( M ). Retail giant Target ( TGT ) had a good holiday season, says the Slice report, with Q4 sales rising 52%, spurred by a strong inventory, aggressive promotions and its offer of free shipping for every order. Target and Wayfair both report Q4 earnings results next week. As IBD has previously reported , the Slice report also indicated that the holiday shopping season is stretching out, with a greater percentage of the season’s sales taking place before Thanksgiving. Amazon stock rose 1.9% Friday, to 534.90, after touching a record high of 696 in late December.

Intel Could Slough Billions Off Q1 Sales On Notebook Depression

No. 1 chipmaker Intel ( INTC ) could slough $1.2 billion off Q1 sales amid a notebook PC depression, a Nomura analyst wrote Friday as he slashed his price target on Intel stock. Notebook shipments are expected to plunge 28% sequentially in Q1, Nomura analyst Romit Shah wrote in his research report, which he said suggests PC shipments will slump as well. The report comes less than two months after Intel acknowledged that a fatal bug in its Skylake processor could freeze Windows and Linux operating systems under certain work conditions. Intel has since released a fix, but the stock slipped nearly 7% in the three days following that Jan. 6 acknowledgement. Intel stock was down more than 1.5% in afternoon trading on the stock market today , near 29, after Shah cut his price target to 35 from 38. Intel stock touched a five-month low below 28 on Feb. 11. Shah lowered his revenue forecast for Intel’s Q1, now seeing a 20% sequential decline vs. his earlier view for a 7% decline. Citigroup analyst Chris Danely  lowered his notebook forecast on Wednesday, according to ValueWalk.com. Danely forecast a 38% month-over-month decline in notebook shipments for January, where the three-year average had been a 14% decline. Citigroup expects a 20%-25% sequential decline in Q1 notebook shipments, said the ValueWalk story. Shah’s analysis puts Intel’s Q1 sales and earnings per share ex items at $13 billion and 35-40 cents. Intel previously guided to $13.6 billion to $14.6 billion in sales, which implies 50 cents EPS minus items, he wrote. But Q1 remains is typically “a back-end loaded quarter,” Shah wrote, and he reiterated a buy rating on Intel stock.

Solar Stocks Rank High, But Investors Find Problems Under The Hood

In December, the solar energy industry group seemed headed to mediocrity with federal subsidies for installation of residential and commercial systems winding down. Then, as part of a budget compromise, Congress extended the investment tax credit for solar projects. Instead of dropping to 10% this year, the subsidy will be 30% through 2019, falling to 26% through 2020 and down to 21% in 2021. The industry group shot up 35% in December, although it has given up that gain and then some as the market dragged everything down in the first six weeks of this year. The group ranked No. 14 out of 197 groups in Friday’s IBD. Still, the chart of the industry group doesn’t look all that sunny. It’s found resistance at its 200-day moving average and has been making lower lows in recent weeks. It only has a Relative Price Strength Rating of 95 because all the other groups have done worse. Five stocks in the group have Composite Ratings greater than 90. A leading beneficiary of the extension of solar tax credits is Israel-based SolarEdge ( SEDG ), which makes optimizers and converters that turn the sun’s light into electricity. Its customers include the two biggest residential installers, SolarCity ( SCTY ) and Vivint Solar ( VSLR ). It also partners with Tesla Motors ( TSLA ) on an in-home stationary battery that can be used to store solar energy for later use. SolarEdge is ranked No. 1 out of 23 stocks in the group. Its Composite Rating is a best-possible 99. It came public March 26, 2015, with a offering price of 18. It’s been a rough ride for shareholders, but the stock now trades near 25. The No. 2 stock in the group by Composite Rating is JA Solar ( JASO ), a Chinese company that makes solar cells that are assembled and integrated into modules that create electricity from solar power for residential, commercial and utility-scale power generation. The Composite Rating is 98. The stock has set up in a cup-with-handle base, but investors should be wary. It trades below 10. Few stocks that cheap attract enough institutional interest to advance. Analysts see just 5% profit growth in 2016. The No. 3-ranked stock is First Solar ( FSLR ), based in Tempe, Ariz. The company builds and operates some of the world’s largest grid-connected solar power plants in the world. Most of its plants are in the U.S. and Europe. The company also makes solar modules. It has a Composite Rating of 97. In its Q3 earnings report Oct. 29, the stock gapped up and closed nearly 10% higher. The company blew away analysts’ estimates. When the company reports Q4 after the close on Tuesday, analysts are expecting earnings of 77 cents a share, a 59% decrease from a year earlier. Analysts expect an 8% EPS decline in 2016.