Tag Archives: request

Apple Watch Still Preferred By Dudes; Fitbit Liked By Ladies

Forget “Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus.” The new division of the sexes shows men are for Apple Watch and women are for Fitbit. A study of online purchases in the first quarter showed a big gender disparity between the two wearable device types. Slice Intelligence reported Wednesday that about 60% of Apple Watch buyers in Q1 were men. But sales are less skewed than a year ago, when nearly 80% of Apple Watch buyers were men during its first month of availability. Meanwhile, women favor Fitbit activity trackers a lot more than men. In the first quarter, 62% of Fitbit buyers were women, up from 57% in Q1 2015. The most popular Fitbit device by purchases in the first quarter was the Charge HR, followed by the Alta. The most popular model Apple Watch is the entry-level Sport version, Slice Intelligence said.

T-Mobile Hovers Near Buy Point; AT&T Builds Possible Base

Providers of wireless telecom services climbed sharply in the industry rankings since the start of March. As a group, the industry gained 33% off a January low. It ranked No. 5 among IBD’s 197 industry groups on Thursday, up from No. 109 eight weeks ago. The primary drivers for that growth included thinly traded players Straight Path Communications ( STRP ) and Shenandoah Telecommunications ( SHEN ). Straight Path is up a blinding 400% since November. Shenandoah lodged a 57% advance off a January low. At the heavy end of the group are Sprint ( S ) and T-Mobile U.S. ( TMUS ). Sprint shares had a nice run off a late-January low through early March, but has since been stalled by resistance at its 40-week moving average. Earnings-wise, Sprint hasn’t turned a profitable quarter for at least a half decade. Get a broad look at AT&T and T-Mobile stock characteristics at IBD’s Stock Checkup. T-Mobile is a different case. The stock has a lot of negatives: a long, messy consolidation. A weak Relative Strength rating and a dicey quarterly report card when it comes to EPS and revenue growth. But consensus forecasts project a 59% earnings gain this year. That would mark the company’s third straight year of accelerating EPS growth. Forecasts project a 12% revenue gain — below increases of 24% and 21% in 2013 and 2014, respectively, but better than last year’s 8% gain. The company has earned an increasing following with their unlimited data plans at relatively low cost. Network coverage seems to be a steady complaint, but subscribers often put up and stay in because the rates are so good. T-Mobile posted a solid Q1 earnings beat on April 26. Equally important was its increase in subscriber growth. T-Mobile added 877,000 in postpaid customers for the quarter. Verizon Communications ( VZ ) reported a decrease of 8,000. AT&T ( T ) saw 363,000 customers jump ship. While taking market share, T-Mobile is also jockeying to make its network coverage more competitive. The company plans to spend $10 billion at a pending auction of bandwidth from local television providers.  The result could disproportionately benefit T-Mobile, according to a recent note from Goldman Sachs , which is looking to shore up its thin, low-band position. The company’s build out of its low-band (700 MHz range) spectrum has currently reached 28 of the top 30 metropolitan areas. As a side note, German wireless provider Deutsche Telekom ( DTEGY ) owns about two-thirds of T-Mobile. Stir that together with the earnings forecast and it makes a somewhat compelling case for the stock. The stock’s chart also bears watching. An upshift in accumulation by institutional investors in the past two months lifted the stock’s Accumulation/Distribution to a solid B rating. Shares are hovering just below a 40.06 cup-with-handle buy point. They cleared that mark briefly for four days in April. They since have held steady, just above their converged 10- and 40-week moving averages. In the super-heavyweight category, AT&T is set to cap the fifth week of a shallow consolidation. If shares hold their place through Friday, the chart would present a flat base with a 39.82 buy point. A 19% run-up in January through April lifted the stock’s RS rating to a passing grade of 84. Its Accumulation/Distribution rating hovers at an acceptable B-.

Tech Services Firm CDW Outpacing Overall IT Market

Tech services firm CDW ( CDW ) is on a path to outperform the broader information-technology market, RBC Capital Markets said Wednesday. “CDW continues to buck broader IT market trends,” RBC analyst Amit Daryanani said in a research report. Late Wednesday, CDW reported first-quarter sales and earnings that beat Wall Street’s estimates. The Lincolnshire, Ill.-based company earned 67 cents a share excluding items, up 20% year over year, on sales of $3.12 billion, up 13%. Analysts were looking for EPS of 65 cents and sales of $3.1 billion. It was CDW’s fifth straight quarter of double-digit EPS growth and third straight quarter of accelerating sales growth year-over-year. CDW is a value-added reseller of computer gear and provider of tech services. The company maintained its full-year guidance of organic revenue growth 200 to 300 basis points above projected U.S. IT growth of 2% to 3%, as well as double-digit EPS growth, Daryanani said. “Fundamentally, we continue to think CDW remains well-positioned relative to other IT solutions vendors, given ongoing global macro softness,” he said. Daryanani reiterated his outperform rating on CDW stock, with a price target of 46. CDW shares fell a fraction, to 40.48, on the stock market today . The stock is forming a cup-with-handle base, with a 43.21 buy point, but it closed below the key 50-day line for a fifth straight trading day. Baird analyst Jayson Noland on Wednesday reiterated his neutral rating on CDW stock, but raised his price target to 45 from 40. “CDW posted solid Q1 results and reiterated full-year expectations of growth above the broader IT market,” Noland said in a report. “The company continues to execute well despite a cautious demand environment and there is significant runway left for profitable share gains. Given the climate of macroeconomic uncertainty and, more so, valuation, we see risk/reward as balanced at current levels.”