Category Archives: oud

The Truth About Tesla’s 2018 Target: 900% Production Hike Needed

Loading the player… After the Model 3 received such a big response, Tesla Motors ( TSLA ) moved up its 500,000 annual unit build plan by two years to 2018. But just how much will Tesla have to increase its production to do so? In 2015, Tesla delivered 50,658 vehicles. That means it will have to increase production by 887% in just three years to meet that target. If CEO Elon Musk wants to deliver 1 million cars by 2020, that’s a production increase of 1,874%. For 2016, Tesla expects to deliver between 80,000 and 90,000 cars. By comparison, Ford ( F ) sold 231,316 vehicles just last month, while General Motors ( GM ) sold 259,557 in April. But CEO Elon Musk remains optimistic, and he has reason to be: The new Model 3 received nearly 400,000 orders in its first three weeks on presale. And Evercore ISI said last week that though Tesla’s 2018 production target is aggressive, it’s not impossible.

Apple Pay Rival MCX, Visa Loom At PayPal Analyst Day

Delays and staff cuts at Merchant Customer Exchange (MCX), a mobile payments consortium, will likely boost Apple Pay, while PayPal ( PYPL ) management’s view on MCX’s woes should be a hot topic at PayPal’s analyst day on Wednesday. MCX said Tuesday it will cut 30 jobs and again delay the launch of its mobile app , a potential rival of  Apple ( AAPL ) Pay and others. MCX has been courting retailers, Apple,  Alphabet ’s ( GOOGL ) Google, PayPal, Samsung, Visa ( V ) and others in the mobile payments space.  Wal-Mart ( WMT ) has been MCX’s main backer. PayPal will be hosting its first analyst day following its 2015 spinoff from eBay ( EBAY ) last year. The event will be held in San Jose, Calif. PayPal recently launched its redesigned mobile app, which works on Apple iPhones and Android-based devices, in 145 countries. While Apple and MCX were rivals, PayPal has aimed to partner with different players in mobile payments. PayPal in March 2015 acquired Paydiant, which had close ties to MCX and retailers. MCX had aimed to reduce the clout of credit card firms in the nascent mobile payments business, analysts say. Prior to the latest MCX announcement, Citigroup analyst Ashwin Shirvaikar said in a research report that PayPal’s relationship with Visa and MasterCard ( MA ) was one area of interest heading into its analyst day. At Jefferies, analyst Jason Kupferberg was also hoping for an update on Visa. “PayPal’s relationship with Visa remains a topic of interest for the Street, but we wouldn’t be surprised if there is limited commentary at the analyst day on this topic, given ongoing negotiations,” Kupferberg wrote in a report. Prior to the eBay spinoff, PayPal acquired Braintree, a mobile payment service, and Venmo, a hybrid mobile payment app and social network for millennials. Daniel Perlin, an analyst at RBC Capital, expects mobile to be a big theme at PayPal’s analyst day. “We believe management will outline its plans to shift from its legacy e-commerce platform into a leading mobile-first platform for payments, with its Braintree asset being front and center.”

F5 Networks A Buyer, Not Seller? Security Acquisition May Be Plan

F5 Networks ( FFIV ) could be a buyer, not a seller, and might use its sizable cash-on-hand to acquire a data center security  provider, says Pacific Crest Securities. Some analysts have speculated F5 Networks itself could be sold, amid its  slowing revenue growth . F5 Network stock has clawed back 7% in 2016 after falling 25% in 2015. But F5 Networks stock was down 1.5%, near 106, in early trading in the stock market today . Brent Bracelin, an analyst at Pacific Crest,  downgraded F5 Networks stock on Tuesday to sector weight. “Going forward, we see an increasing probability that M&A will have a greater role in defining (F5 Network’s) ‘third act,’ particularly given that F5 has excess cash reserves of $1 billion and robust operating cash flows that exceed $600 million annually,” he wrote in a research report. Seattle-based F5 is the leading maker of application delivery controllers (ADCs) — electronic boxes that direct data traffic to computer servers. ADCs optimize server workloads in corporate and telecom data centers, helping speed up websites and communication networks. F5 Networks has made some small security-related acquisitions , including Defense.Net, a provider of cloud-based security services that help protect websites from large-scale distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks, as well as Israel-based Versafe, a maker of software that protects Web applications from malware, fraud and phishing attacks. F5 Network’s closest rival in application-based data center security is Imperva ( IMPV ), analysts say. The so-called perimeter firewall market — the main type of firewall — is a crowded field, with  Check Point Software Technologies ( CHKP ),  Cisco Systems ( CSCO ) and Palo Alto Networks ( PANW ) among the vendors. Another concern is that F5’s revenue growth might not rebound in 2016, Bracelin said. “The Shasta appliance refresh cycle will not drive a return to double-digit product growth, at least not for any quarter this year, and that there is increasing execution risk with a higher probability of M&A within cloud security,” he added. F5 competes with  Citrix Systems ( CTXS ), as well as  Radware ( RDWR ) and  A10 Networks ( ATEN ).