Tag Archives: stocks

Facebook, Amazon Are Trying To Knock Down Google By Doing This

Loading the player… Amazon ( AMZN ) last week announced a YouTube-like product called Amazon Video Direct, and now Facebook ( FB ) is reportedly looking to launch its own video-centric service. According to a New York Post report over the weekend, the social media giant is “searching for fresh ways to work with the music industry.” Facebook confirmed it’s testing the use of pictures and videos in a slideshow format accompanied with music for a product called “Slideshow.” The product could potentially lure music video lovers and video creators away from YouTube. Shares are falling 1.1% to 118.44 in heavy volume, nearing the 117.09 buy point it initially cleared in the wake of its estimate-beating quarterly earnings report. IBD’s Take: Get a detailed objective analysis of Facebook and Amazon stocks, and how they stack up vs. rivals at IBD Stock Checkup Facebook came under fire last week after reports accused the influential site of bias against conservative stories in its Trending section. CEO Mark Zuckerberg is meeting with conservative leaders this week over the matter. Meanwhile, Google owner Alphabet ( GOOGL ) is finding support at its 200-day line, an area the stock was able to retake just recently, as it edged 0.6% higher intraday. The stock is still struggling after an attempted breakout past a cup-with-handle buy point failed in the wake of Alphabet’s quarterly report. Alphabet briefly became the largest publicly traded company last week but Apple is now back on top. Apple ( AAPL ) shares are up 3.4% in big volume on news that Warren Buffett took a $1 billion stake in the first quarter, rebounding from their trip below the 90 price level intraday Thursday. The stock is now about 29% below its all-time high reached in April of 2015. And Amazon is falling a fraction in quick turnover as it looks to hold above the 700 price level. Shares are extended 17% past a cup-with-handle buy point cleared not too long before Amazon’s quarterly report.

Salesforce Billings In Focus Ahead of Q1, Buzz Over AWS Deal

Amid buzz over its deal with Amazon Web Services, Salesforce.com ( CRM ) reports fiscal Q1 earnings after the close Wednesday, with profit minus items expected to rise 46% to 23 cents per share and revenue growing 25% to $1.89 billion. Some analysts are cautious after Salesforce’s Q4 beat, thinking some deals might have closed a quarter earlier than expected, lifting Q4 but hurting Q1. “For Q1, we forecast a year-over-year billings increase of 13%,” said Barclay’s analyst Raimo Lenschow in a research report. “While optically low, Salesforce is seeing more renewals shift into Q4, where billings grew 28%, with some of that coming out of Q1.” Salesforce last week said it would offer a new “Internet of Things” service using AWS, the cloud computing business of Amazon.com ( AMZN ). Salesforce’s service, expected to launch this fall,  collects data from Web-connected devices. AWS is the No. 1 cloud services provider. Salesforce has an IBD Composite Rating of 95 out of a possible 99, putting it among the top 5% of all stocks in such key metrics as sales and revenue growth. But its Computer-Software Enterprise group ranks just No. 115 out of 197 groups tracked by IBD. Salesforce stock, up a fraction near 77 in early trading in the stock market today , is down 1.5% in 2016, but it’s up nearly 35% since touching a 19-month low in February, during the broad market sell-off. The growth trajectory of the software maker’s Marketing Cloud platform should be one topic on the earnings call. “After a monster Q4, first quarter fiscal 2017 optics will look worse,” said Citigroup analyst Walter Pritchard in a research report. Citigroup “inputs suggest strong business activity for Salesforce in Q1, but in context of (its) strong Q4, which likely pulled in some Q1 business,” wrote Pritchard. “We forecast billings +14% to $1.43 billion, at the high end of guidance.” For the June quarter, analysts polled by Thomson Reuters estimate EPS growth of 30% and sales to rise 21%.