Tag Archives: oud

Google Home Takes On Amazon’s Echo; Can Apple’s Siri Be Home Hub?

Taking on Amazon.com ’s ( AMZN ) Echo, Alphabe t’s ( GOOGL ) Google previewed an artificial intelligence-powered, voice-activated home device at its Google I/O developer’s conference Wednesday. While Apple ( AAPL ) has Siri, its AI-based digital assistant for iPhones, it has yet to introduce a home hub device. Amazon, though, has sold an estimated 3 million Echo home hubs. “Credit to the team at Amazon for creating a lot of excitement in this space,” Google CEO Sundar Pichai said in his I/O keynote speech Wednesday. Google Home, designed for music streaming and other entertainment, features built-in search capabilities. The “virtual agent” answers simple questions and carries out basic tasks. Google did not discuss pricing. Google said it expects multiple devices to be used in homes. The Google Home product was code-named “Project Chirp.” Google Home apparently was not developed by Nest Labs, the smart-home-device startup that it bought in 2014. Google Home, however, is expected to communicate with Nest products and Android-based devices. Google also unveiled a new messenging app called “Allo” at the developer’s conference, which runs through Friday at the Mountain View, Calif., Shoreline Amphitheater, near Alphabet headquarters. In a recent letter to Google shareholders, Pichai touted plans for artificial intelligence. While Apple and Google have dominated in the world of mobile apps, there could be more competition down the road.  Facebook ( FB ) recently introduced “chatbots,” while  Microsoft ( MSFT ) launched its “Bot Framework” software tools for developers. Both rely on AI. Wednesday, Google did not unveil a virtual reality headset to compete with Facebook’s Oculus Rift, as some observers had speculated. But Google did introduce a VR headset and controller reference design, called Daydream, for third-party developers. Google said Android N,  the new version of its mobile operating system, will have a VR mode. And the company said Samsung, HTC and Xiaomi will sell Daydream-ready mobile phones. Google stock was down a fraction, near 718, in afternoon trading in the stock market today , and shares have traded below the key 50-day moving average since the company posted disappointing Q1 earnings in late April

With SanDisk Purchase Done, Western Digital Will Give New Guidance

Western Digital ( WDC ) will provide revenue and earnings guidance for the first time since completing its $16 billion acquisition of SanDisk. Western Digital announced the completion of its SanDisk acquisition on Thursday, creating a formidable competitor in both disk drives and flash-chip storage. The company says it will update its guidance on May 26, after the market close, for its fiscal fourth quarter ending July 1. The guidance will reflect the partial period of ownership of SanDisk in Q4. RBC Capital Markets analyst Amit Daryanani, in a research note, said he expects Western Digital to imply Q4 revenue guidance of $3.4 billion. That’s above the consensus estimate of $3.34 billion from analysts polled by Thomson Reuters. The Wall Street consensus on earnings per share minus items is 86 cents. Daryanani expects 93 cents. He has an outperform rating on Western Digital stock and a price target of 56. Western Digital was trading near 39, up 5%, in afternoon trading in the stock market today . But shares are down more than 20% since the company’s posted fiscal Q3 earnings on April 28. Western Digital and SanDisk had combined revenue of about $20 billion in 2015. Western Digital is the largest provider of disk drives, ahead of Seagate Technology ( STX ). Seagate was trading near 20, up 4%, Wednesday afternoon. The stock is down 24% since the company reported its fiscal Q3 earnings on April 29. SanDisk is a leading provider of chips used for data storage in a wide variety of devices, including smartphones, tablets and PCs. The deal will help SanDisk, which has a strong retail business, move up the ladder to make bigger sales to businesses and other enterprise customers — the market where Western Digital is strongest. Western Digital gets the ability to offer chip-based storage in areas where its disk drive technology is losing ground.

Applied Materials’ 3D ‘Tide’ Won’t Help It Outpace Rivals Lam, KLA

Applied Materials ( AMAT ) could surf the “rising tide” of 3D Nand, but rival Lam Research ( LRCX ) will likely outgrow the No. 2 chip-gear-maker, a Needham analyst said Wednesday ahead of Applied Materials’ Q2 earnings report, due after the close Thursday. In afternoon trading on the stock market today , Applied Materials stock was up 2%, near 20, leading soon-to-merge rivals Lam and KLA-Tencor ( KLAC ), whose shares were up 1.8% and 1%, respectively. The three trail ASML ( ASML ) in terms of market value. ASML stock was up 1% Wednesday afternoon. For its fiscal Q2 ended in late April, Applied Materials is expected to report $2.43 billion in sales and 32 cents earnings per share minus items, flat and up 10%, respectively, on a year-over-year basis. That would come off 4% declines for both metrics in Q1. Three months ago, Applied Materials guided to a 5%-10% sequential jump in sales ($2.37 billion to $2.48 billion) and 30-34 cents EPS ex items. Needham analyst Y. Edwin Mok reiterated his buy rating and 22 price target on Applied Materials stock. Mok and Credit Suisse analyst Farhan Ahmad both expect Applied Materials to report an in-line Q2. But Mok sees potential upside to Applied Materials’ Q3 guidance on strength in 3D Nand flash memory demand. Lam recently guided to 9% quarter-over-quarter shipment growth for Q2. Mok expects Applied Materials to “grow similarly, although likely at a slower pace than Lam.” He sees Applied Materials guiding to 2%-7% sequential growth for Q3 vs. consensus of 22 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters, which models 3% quarter-over-quarter sales growth. Ahmad, on the other hand, expects in-line Q3 guidance. For the second half of the year, display revenue could be guided up 10%-20% vs. last year’s flat quarter, but DRAM (dynamic random-access memory) guidance could disappoint. “DRAM second-half revenues could be ticked down to flat (vs. the prior period),” he wrote in a research report. “Expectations are relatively high. Most investors expect a beat than a miss,” but DRAM has been macroeconomically slogged for several years on slowing PC sales. He kept his outperform rating and 23 price target.