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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%.

CyberArk Pulls Symantec, Intel, FireEye Onto Platform Bandwagon

CyberArk Software ( CYBR ) launched an alliance Wednesday, tapping FireEye ( FEYE ), Intel ( INTC ) and Symantec ( SYMC ) for what it called tighter best-of-breed integration, which offers an alternative to security platforms from such companies as Palo Alto Networks ( PANW ), Check Point Software Technology ( CHKP ) and Fortinet ( FTNT ). In total, the C3 Alliance has 15 members across cybersecurity, enterprise software and infrastructure. They include  Qualys ( QLYS ), Rapid7 ( RPD ), Varonis Systems ( VRNS ) and Belden ( BDC )-owned Tripwire. CyberArk tech will be integrated into the partners’ software. Megabreaches like that of retailer Target ( TGT ) in 2014 have highlighted the need to secure credentialed accounts, says Adam Bosnian, CyberArk’s executive vice president of global business development. Privileged account protection is at CyberArk’s core. “We saw more and more organizations becoming aware of being exposed by these power accounts,” Bosnian told IBD. The C3 Alliance aims to “solve these challenges and leverage the valuable data that comes off that security.” CyberArk’s technology will be integrated in a variety of ways, Bosnian said. C3 member Tenable Network Security, a continuous monitoring and vulnerability management company, requires credentialed access to perform deep-dive hunting for vulnerabilities, Tenable strategist Cris Thomas told IBD. A hacker needs only one credential to wreak havoc. “When a hacker attacks an organization, they compromise one specific point,” Thomas said. “To move, they need a Zero Day (vulnerability). … The easiest way to do it is to steal credentials. Those are the prized goals of an attacker.” Integrating technology from CyberArk and Tenable lets Tenable’s 20,000 customers store credentialed passwords using CyberArk software, he said. It also gums up any holes existing between the vendors’ software, making intrusion that much more difficult. Bosnian doesn’t foresee “one-off, snowflake” integrations. He sees CyberArk tech, in conjunction with partners’ software, providing a platform-like infrastructure, constantly evolving as new integrations are added to the mix. Customers are still leery of the platform, which might be “best-of-breed in one piece of the platform but not in another,” Bosnian said. The C3 Alliance, however, is comprised of best-of-breed tech woven into one unified solution that shares data bidirectionally, he says. C3 is not a monolithic alliance, he said. “These partners are improving how they use privileged accounts in their environment,” he said. “The real magic is when there are use cases built on top of that to solve real problems. That’s what we’re trying to do.” CyberArk stock was up 2% in midday trading in the stock market today .

AT&T Expands Cricket Store Reach In Prepaid Battle Vs. T-Mobile

AT&T ( T ) has again expanded the retail reach of it Cricket brand, with distribution deals at Best Buy ( BBY ) and Aaron’s ( AAN ), as it battles T-Mobile US ( TMUS ) in the prepaid wireless market. AT&T acquired Leap Wireless and its Cricket brand for $1.2 billion in 2014. Since then, AT&T has stepped up Cricket advertising while opening more retail stores. T-Mobile acquired prepaid specialist MetroPCS in 2013. AT&T says it will add 1,000 Best Buy locations and 2,000 stores through Aaron’s, a nationwide lease-to-own retailer, to its Cricket distribution network. AT&T earlier signed deals with Target, Wal-Mart, and GameStop ( GME ). AT&T has nearly 4,000 Cricket-owned stores. Cricket wireless services now will be sold at 12,000 outlets across the U.S., including AT&T’s Cricket stores and distribution at Target ( TGT ), Wal-Mart ( WMT ), GameStop, Best Buy, Aaron’s and other locations. About one-fifth of U.S. mobile phone users buy prepaid wireless services. Prepaid customers buy calling minutes and data as needed. Many prepaid plans renew automatically every month, blurring the line with postpaid subscribers that have service contracts. Prepaid customers typically buy less-pricey phones upfront, and spend less on data services. T-Mobile and AT&T both added 469,000 prepaid subscribers in Q4, while  Verizon Communications ( VZ ) shed 157,000 and Sprint ( S ) lost 491,000. Some of Sprint’s prepaid subscribers upgraded to postpaid plans. AT&T stock was up a fraction in midday trading in the stock market today , above 39. Shares are more than 7% extended from a 36.55 buy point first touched on Feb. 3. T-Mobile stock also was up a fraction midday Monday.