Tag Archives: aapl

Apple Stock Upgraded To Buy On iPhone 7, 8 Prospects

Investment bank Cowen turned positive on Apple ( AAPL ) stock on Wednesday, upgrading shares to outperform (the equivalent of a buy rating) from market perform (neutral). Cowen analyst Timothy Arcuri raised his price target on Apple stock to 135 from 125 on prospects for iPhone sales perking up, starting this fall with the upcoming iPhone 7 series. Apple stock was up 1.5%, near 109, in morning trading on the stock market today . Arcuri had been on the sidelines regarding Apple stock for about eight months before his change in sentiment. He says year-over-year comparisons and forward estimates for Apple have bottomed. The company is likely to see a rebound in smartphone sales this fall with the launch of the iPhone 7, as iPhone 6 owners decide to upgrade, he said in a research report. He also is excited about the prospects for Apple to switch to an OLED display from the current LCD screen next year. If Apple makes that move, it could skip its usual S cycle of incremental smartphone improvements and call the next model the iPhone 8 rather than the 7S. Some on Wall Street expect Apple to move to OLED in 2018, not 2017, but Arcuri is confident that Apple will accelerate its adoption of the technology. OLED, short for organic light-emitting diode, screens consume less power than LCD (liquid crystal display) screens and boast richer colors and darker blacks. OLED will give Apple greater freedom on product design because OLED screens are flexible. OLED displays could lead to “dreamy” new form factors for the iPhone, Arcuri said. Apple probably would have to source the OLED screens from rival Samsung in the near term, until other manufacturers can scale up production, he said. Other possible OLED suppliers include LG Display ( LPL ) and Japan Display, he said. One company benefiting from the speculation that Apple will move to OLED is Universal Display ( OLED ), which develops OLED technology for TVs and mobile devices. Shares of the Ewing, N.J.-based company were up 1.5%, near 53.50, morning trading. Meanwhile, Apple is finishing the design of the iPhone 7. That handset is believed to be waterproof and have a thinner, sleeker look. Apple is rumored to be eliminating the home button and the audio jack with the new design. The pressure-sensitive screen would take the place of the circular home button. People who want to use headphones with the iPhone 7 would have to use wireless Bluetooth headsets or wired headsets that plug into the multipurpose Lightning connector.

Square Challenges PayPal In Web Checkout

Square ( SQ ) is intensifying its offense against PayPal ( PYPL )’s Web checkout products. With details in a blog post early Wednesday , Square says that it has created a new tool that can process payments from any website after the seller adds several of lines of code. Called E-commerce API (application programming interface), it marks the first time that Square has offered sellers the ability to put a Square checkout page on any website. Square’s announcement mounts pressure on PayPal, which already is facing stiff competition from tech titans such as Apple ( AAPL ) Pay and Google’s Android Pay, among other offerings. Google is a unit of Alphabet ( GOOGL ). Prior to Wednesday, Square offered its merchants two Web checkout options using its own prebuilt store and two third-party options for using websites prebuilt by BigCommerce and Weebly. But the San Francisco-based company did not have solutions for merchants who opted to build their own websites. Square has more than 2 million merchants and is adding about 100,000 every quarter. PayPal has more than 13 million sellers. Both companies charge 2.9% plus 30 cents per transaction in the U.S. for website sales. Square — which is run by CEO Jack Dorsey, who is also top boss at Twitter ( TWTR ) — also is announcing Register API, a method to integrate Square’s payments processing into any iOS point of sale. Square says that it’s adding Register API in recognition of the fact that some sellers have specialized needs for point-of-sale applications. Square stock closed up 2.5% at 13.74 on Tuesday. The company has an IBD Composite Rating of 51, where 99 is the highest. Wedbush analyst Gil Luria said that the stock’s recent volatility is largely because the company has a small float — relatively few shares are traded publicly. The float will change once the lockup period expires in May. Luria also has previously told IBD that Square is popular among short sellers.

Facebook Stretches Video Power On Its Next Big Moneymaker

Taking a big step on its path of being a video behemoth that spurs ad revenue, Facebook ( FB ) on Tuesday boosted the power of Instagram. Users of Instagram will now be able to record videos of up to a minute, vs. its previous load of 15 seconds. The update is available just to a small group to start but that will expand to everyone in the coming months, Instagram said in a blog post. Facebook began offering advertisers on Instagram the freedom to post 60-second ads , up from 30 seconds previously, in February. Facebook derives more than 96% of its total revenue from advertising, with video ads drawing a premium price. More video is now viewed on Facebook than any other system except for the YouTube platform owned by Alphabet ( GOOGL ). Coming soon: Longer video on Instagram https://t.co/Xt3hIxnL1M — Instagram (@instagram) March 29, 2016 Facebook does not break out Instagram revenue, but analysts estimate that its sales could top $1 billion this year. Analysts have kept a close watch on Instagram as a key revenue-growth leg for the social media leader. Facebook and Instagram are the company’s two most important mobile ad platforms, company executives say. Facebook has always closely monitored user engagement and satisfaction before expanding ads. Allowing users to now post 60-second videos on Instagram should enable Facebook to closely monitor and analyze how active and engaged viewers are with longer-form video on the Instagram platform. The time that people spent watching video on Instagram has increased more than 40% in the last six months, Instagram said in a blog post announcing the video expansion. Facebook began testing ads on Instagram about three years ago. One month ago Facebook announced it now has more than 200,000 advertisers on Instagram. Facebook competes with Apple ( AAPL ), Alphabet, Microsoft ( MSFT ), Twitter ( TWTR ) and others to attract more advertisers. Instagram is one of multiple growth engines that Facebook can accelerate.They include Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp. While Instagram has more than 400 million users, WhatsApp has about 900 million users and Messenger more than 800 million. Facebook is in position to make its widely popular Messenger platform an all-in-one tool that could include a partnership or a battle with Apple and its Apple Pay system. Image provided by Shutterstock .