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Apple, Alphabet Cut Lobbying Spend As Facebook Pumps It Up: Report

Alphabet ( GOOGL )-owned Google, Apple ( AAPL ) and Comcast ( CMCSA ) have slashed spending on D.C. lobbying, according to a report Thursday from Consumer Watchdog. Still, Consumer Watchdog Privacy Project Director John Simpson said in a statement, “It’s important to understand just how much money these companies are throwing around in Washington to buy the policies they want. Policymaking is now all about big bucks, not big ideas.” In Q1, Google slashed spending on lobbying by 25.5% to $3.80 million, the consumer group said. AT&T ( T ) had the highest lobbying outlay, at $4.48 million, among the group of 16 tech and communications companies that Consumer Watchdog monitored. AT&T rival Verizon ( VZ ) spent $3.59 million, up 7.2%. Consumer Watchdog based its report on new disclosure reports from the Clerk of the House of Representatives. Social networking leader  Facebook ( FB ), which has been increasing its Washington presence, spent $2.78 million, up 13.9% year over year. Microsoft ( MSFT ) also topped $2 million in lobbying spending, Consumer Watchdog said. Microsoft reported expenditures of $2.02 million, a 6.9% increase. Lobbying spending jumped 39% at Amazon.com ( AMZN ), to $ 2.65 million, marking the fourth consecutive quarter that the e-commerce leader’s spending topped $2 million, the disclosure records show. Apple’s spending fell 8.9%  to $1.13 million while spending by Yahoo ( YHOO ) dipped 5.5% to $690,000. Cable firm Comcast ( CMCSA ) spent $3.72 million, a 19.5% decrease. Digital Advertising Rising, Helped By Presidential Election Research group eMarketer said on Thursday that spending on paid media worldwide will climb 5.7% in 2016 to $542.55 billion, propelled by increased investments in digital advertising. While down from eMarketer’s previous forecast, the amount still represents accelerated growth compared with 2015, when spending on paid media worldwide rose 5%. Major events including the U.S. presidential election and the Rio Summer Olympics will contribute to rising ad spending, eMarketer said. While TV remains a dominant ad spending destination, ad spend on digital channels is showing the fastest increase year over year, eMarketer said. In the U.S., political ad spending on digital this year is estimated to nearly triple its rate of spending from 2014, says eMarketer, which adds that Nomura Securites estimates that digital will capture 9.8% of total U.S. political ad spending share this year, up from a 3.6% share in 2014. Broadcast TV will see a 59.4% share this year compared with a 61.3% share in 2014. In total, political advertising is expected to reach $10.2 billion this year, up from $7.49 billion in 2014 and $8.81 billion in 2012.

Tesla Tallies 400,000 Model 3 Car Orders Ahead Of Earnings Report

Tesla Motors ( TSLA ) has almost crossed the 400,000 mark in orders for its new Model 3 sedan, CEO Elon Musk told reporters at a press conference in Norway, as detailed in a  Reuters report  Thursday. “We are now almost at 400,000 orders for the model 3,” Musk said was quoted as saying, adding that the demand for the entry-luxury all-electric vehicle “surprised even us.” The reservations bring in $400 million in capital for the California carmaker, which has to expand its production dramatically to be on target with an expected delivery schedule that starts in late 2017. At an average expected price of $42,000, the amount of preorders could result in $16.8 billion if everyone goes through with a purchase. Tesla said late Wednesday that it will post its first-quarter earnings after the stock market close on Wednesday May 4. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expect on average a loss of 57 cents a share, deepened from a 36-cent loss in the year-earlier quarter, as Tesla tools up its factory. They expect revenue of $1.61 billion, up 45%. Two weeks ago on April 7, Tesla said  Model 3 preorders had topped 325,000 in their first week of availability. The $1,000 fully refundable reservations had reached 115,000 in their first day before the design of the Model 3 was revealed at a launch party at Tesla’s Los Angeles design studio on the night of March 31. In other electric car news, Handlesblatt reported  Thursday, citing industry sources, that German carmakers Daimler ( DDAIF ) and BMW ( BAMXY ) have ended talks with Apple ( AAPL ) about working together on an electric car. Apple is looking for an automaker with manufacturing expertise, the report said, for what is believed to be an all-electric vehicle with some self-driving capabilities. BMW talks ended last year, the German newspaper reported, while the Daimler talks ended more recently. Tesla stock was down 0.5% in early afternoon trading the stock market today , near 249. Tesla shares have been consolidating around their 10-day line after running up 91% from a Feb. 9 low to an April 7 peak of 269.34. Apple was down 1.3%, after undercutting its 200-day moving average last Friday. Apple, which reports earnings next Tuesday, holds an IBD Composite Rating of 58 out of a possible 99, and Tesla has a 55. Loading the player…

Mellanox Tanks On Q2 Guide; But ‘Well Ahead’ Of Intel, Broadcom

Mellanox Technologies ( MLNX ) stock dove Thursday on weaker-than-expected Q2 guidance late Wednesday, but analysts say the IBD Leaderboard stock won’t succumb to competition from “large incumbents” Intel ( INTC ) and Apple ( AAPL ) supplier Broadcom ( AVGO ). Summit Research analyst Srini Nandury calls Mellanox stock “the name to own in this space,” talking about the Ethernet and Infiniband markets. But Mellanox stock was down 14% in midday trading on the stock market today , at a two-month low below 48. For Q1, Mellanox reported 81 cents earnings per share ex items on $196.8 million in sales, up a respective 35% and 34%. Both metrics topped the consensus of 14 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters for 75 cents and $191.7 million. IBD take: Mellanox is a big mover today, and the move is down, but it had been doing well. The Q2 guide was Wall Street’s sticking point, Credit Suisse analyst John Pitzer wrote in a research report, though he retained an outperform rating and 60 price target on Mellanox stock. Current-quarter sales guidance for $180 million to $185 million, up 12% at the midpoint, missed Wall Street expectations for $214.6 million, Pitzer wrote. Q1 was Mellanox’s seventh consecutive beat and fourth straight of record quarterly revenue, Piper Jaffray analyst Andrew Nowinski and Summit Research analyst Srini Nandury wrote in separate reports. Nowinski maintained his overweight rating and 65 price target on Mellanox stock. Nandury rates Mellanox stock a buy and also has a 65 price target. Both note Intel’s Omnipath isn’t, so far, holding a candle to Mellanox’s 100-gigabyte/second Infiniband product. Omnipath is also 100GB, but Mellanox is on track to launch 200GB and 400GB products in 2017 and a 1-terabyte/second product early next decade. “Mellanox is seemingly ahead of everybody in the market and is executing flawlessly on the Infiniband road map,” Nandury wrote. He said Mellanox is the only OEM to deliver 25/50/100-Gb Ethernet adapters in addition to switches, “well ahead of Broadcom.” Intel stock was down a fraction and Broadcom stock down 1% midday Wednesday. No. 1 chipmaker Intel, late Tuesday, reported mixed Q1 results on a minimal year-over-year climb in PC sales and announced it would layoff 12,000 in an effort to focus on stronger segments.