Tag Archives: amzn

Shopify, In Sweet Spot For E-Commerce Momentum, Gets Upgrade

Shopify ( SHOP ) was upgraded by Pacific Crest Securities on the confidence that strong momentum will continue at the e-commerce company. Pacific Crest analyst Brendan Barnicle upgraded Shopify to an overweight rating and set a price target of 35. Shopify stock was up 3.5%, near 26.75, during afternoon trading in the stock market today . The stock hit a low of 18.58 on Jan. 15 and is up 44% since then. “When we initiated coverage of Shopify we had three concerns: valuation, margins and competition,” Barnicle wrote in his research note. “During the past year, all three of those concerns have declined sufficiently to compel recommending Shopify at current levels.” Shopify provides a cloud-based e-commerce platform that businesses use to build websites and sell goods online and across multiple sales channels, including mobile and social media. The Canadian company raised $131 million on its May 20 initial pubic offering, pricing 7.7 million shares at 17. It reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings on Feb. 17 and provided guidance above expectations. Shopify reported Q4 revenue of $70.2 million, up 99% year over year, and a smaller loss than expected. Revenue has grown at double- and triple-digit rates for the past three years, year over year. The consensus estimate for Q1 in a Thomson Reuters poll of analysts is revenue growth of 79% to $67 million, and a loss of 9 cents per share, minus items. “While competition remains, it seems to have stagnated,” Barnicle wrote. “Shopify is continuing to robustly add new customers to its platform.” He said larger e-commerce software providers servicing the high-end of the market, such as NetSuite ( N ) and Demandware ( DWRE ), are unlikely to move down-market and compete with Shopify in the small-to-midsize business market. He said e-commerce platforms from NetSuite and Demandware are often too expensive and require too many resources to be effective for smaller merchants. “However, Shopify Plus competes for enterprise customers and the company is interested in moving up-market,” Barnicle wrote. Shopify says it was among the first e-commerce providers to add the ability to sell over the leading social media platforms, including Facebook ( FB ) and Twitter ( TWTR ). More than 25% of Shopify merchants have enabled social media selling. In November, Shopify announced a partnership with Facebook that lets shoppers buy Shopify merchants’ products through their Facebook pages. In September, Amazon ( AMZN ) selected Shopify to be its preferred platform for helping small and midsize retailers build and manage online stores. The plan lets Shopify businesses use Amazon’s payment system and other services, part of a plan that Amazon announced a year ago to ultimately shut down its Amazon Webstore business, which provides a similar service. Shopify stock has moved up nine of the last 10 days, and is above its key 50-day line. It gets a not-high IBD Composite Rating of 57 out of a possible 99, factoring in the string of losses in its quarterly reports, and other metrics.

Amazon Debuts First Live-Streaming TV Show, On Fashion, Beauty

Amazon.com ( AMZN ) is debuting a live television show that focuses on the latest trends in fashion and beauty — and viewers will be able to shop on Amazon.com as they watch. Separately, there are hints that Amazon also has virtual reality video in the works. Named “Style Code Live,” the 30-minute show will debut online Tuesday at 9 P.M. ET and then repeat every day at the same time. The free offering is the first Amazon foray into live television and potentially takes aim at the likes of  CBS ( CBS ), NBC owner  Comcast ( CMCSA ) and ABC owner  Walt Disney ( DIS ). Time Warner ( TWX )-owned HBO offers shows on its streaming platform at the same time as it first airs them on its cable network, but it does not have live streaming offerings at the moment. The new live show adds to Amazon’s growing lineup of original video streaming content that takes aim at leader  Netflix ( NFLX ), which does not currently offer live television streaming. The new live TV show is also part of a broader effort to establish Amazon as a fashion brand, which hasn’t been an Amazon strength. This year, it quietly launched several lines of Amazon brand clothing. The show itself will offer interactive features such as a live chat for viewers and will feature “fashion hacks,” guest experts, celebrities and viewer tips, according to the company’s  press release . Amazon.com stock was up a fraction in afternoon trading on the stock market today . Shares are up 20% since touching a six-month low of 474 in early February. The company has an IBD Composite Rating of 80, where 99 is the highest. Video Virtual Reality Meanwhile, as virtual reality slowly lurches into the mainstream, CEO Jeff Bezos has been quietly growing Amazon’s secretive VR division. Virtual reality and augmented reality blog Upload VR  spotted a job posting for a senior software developer to lead Amazon’s VR team, which some say suggests that Amazon Video might soon include VR options. Competing streaming services such as Netflix and Hulu have already demonstrated interest  in the much-hyped VR business. Despite the interest, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings has  dismissed VR for streaming video , suggesting that it was more practical for video games. The Facebook ( FB ) virtual reality Oculus Rift headset is expected to ship this July. It costs $599 and requires top-notch PC hardware to use.

Box Seen Narrowing Fiscal Q4 Loss But Remains Deeply In Red

Box ( BOX ), the cloud storage firm whose stock has disappointed since its IPO in January 2015, is expected to remain far from profitability but to narrow its losses, when it reports its fiscal Q4 results after the close Wednesday. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expect revenue for the period ended Jan. 30 to soar 31% to $81.8 million, with Box’s per-share loss minus items easing to 29 cents from 37 cents in the year-earlier period. Shares of the online data storage and file-sharing service provider are down more than 10% in 2016, though they traded 0.4% higher midday in the stock market today , near 12.60, and are up nearly 40% since touching an all-time low of 8.96 on Feb. 9. Box has a relatively low IBD Composite Rating of 23. The company is part of IBD’s Internet-Network Solutions group, which ranks No. 120 out of 197 industry groups. Gigamon ( GIMO ) leads the group with a Composite Rating of 89. Box said it had 54,000 paying customers as of Oct. 31, up from 50,000 in the July quarter. Box also says that its paying business customers include 55% of the Fortune 500. Box competes with Microsoft ( MSFT ), Google owner Alphabet ( GOOGL ), startup Dropbox and Amazon.com ‘s ( AMZN ) cloud-based “Zocalo” enterprise document storage service. Under its freemium business model, Box also provides consumers with free personal data storage accounts. Box says that it had 41 million total users as of Oct. 31.