MSFT - Microsoft Corporation
| Previous Close | 136.33 |
| Open | 136.96 |
| Bid | 0.00 x 1300 |
| Ask | 0.00 x 2200 |
| Day's Range | 136.43 - 137.52 |
| 52 Week Range | 93.96 - 141.68 |
| Volume | 17,976,285 |
| Avg. Volume | 24,335,981 |
| Market Cap | 1.057T |
| Beta (3Y Monthly) | 0.97 |
| PE Ratio (TTM) | 27.15 |
| EPS (TTM) | 5.06 |
| Earnings Date | Oct 22, 2019 - Oct 28, 2019 |
| Forward Dividend & Yield | 1.84 (1.34%) |
| Ex-Dividend Date | 2019-08-14 |
| 1y Target Est | 154.72 |
- Bloomberg
Bill Gates Says Big Tech Companies Shouldn’t Be Broken Up
Sep.17 -- Microsoft Corp. Co-Founder and former Chief Executive Bill Gates discusses concerns that some lawmakers in Washington have that companies from Alphabet Inc.‘s Google to Facebook Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. have gotten too big and too powerful. Gates spoke to Bloomberg Television's Erik Schatzker in Seattle.
- American City Business Journals
Ex-Microsoft boss named CEO of Seattle aviation analytics company
The Seattle-based company is a joint venture between Aviation Partners, the maker of fuel-saving winglets for Boeing commercial aircraft, and iJet Technologies.
- Quartz
LinkedIn skills tests will assess users—but will they predict performance?
LinkedIn wants to know what you know, and wants employers to know it, too. The social network for professionals has rolled out a skills assessment tool—in the form of short, multiple-choice questions that take about 15 to 20 minutes—to allow users to validate their proficiency with spreadsheets, coding languages, and other work-related skills, and to help the site deliver more personalized job opportunities. Users can now scroll to the skills section of their LinkedIn profile, and select one of the skills they want to validate.
- Zacks
Should You Buy Vegan Stocks & ETF?
Beyond Meat is one of the hottest IPOs this year and a new ETF aims to capitalize on the trend.
- InvestorPlace
Is MSFT Stock a Buy With Earnings and xCloud Launch on the Horizon?
When Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) reported fourth-quarter and full-year earnings in July, the company impressed analysts and investors, blowing past estimates for both earnings and revenue. The next earnings report for the trillion-dollar company is due in five weeks. And after closing at $136.33 yesterday, MSFT stock sits almost exactly where it did the day after those Q4 earnings. That's off from the final week of July and a few days in September, when Microsoft stock topped the $140 level -- but up 34% from the start of the year.Source: Shutterstock With MSFT expected to report Q1 earnings on October 24, and Project xCloud expected to make its debut in October, is now the time to consider an investment in the high-flying tech company? Q1 Earnings Have the Potential to Boost MSFT StockIn July, Microsoft delivered strong Q4 results and a record fiscal 2019. Revenue of $33.7 billion handily beat analyst expectations. Earnings per share of $1.71 also topped expectations and blew past the $1.14 the company delivered in Q4 2018. With cloud computing becoming an increasingly important part of MSFT's game plan, Azure revenue was up 64% in the quarter. InvestorPlace - Stock Market News, Stock Advice & Trading TipsThe company is expected to report Q1 2020 earnings on October 24, and analysts are looking for EPS of $1.24 compared to the $1.10 Microsoft delivered a year ago. There's a good chance MSFT stock rises ahead of earnings in anticipation of big numbers. The X-Factor: Project xCloudCloud gaming services have the potential to be one of the more interesting developments of 2019. The big one that everyone has been waiting for is Stadia, from Alphabet's (NASDAQ:GOOG, NASDAQ:GOOGL) Google. Billed as "the future of gaming," Google Stadia leverages cloud computing hardware to let subscribers play high resolution, AAA PC video games in a browser on very modest hardware. Even a smartphone or a tablet.Google may have been stealing the headlines for the past several years -- and causing some consternation among MSFT investors over the possibility that Stadia might disrupt Xbox console gaming, but Microsoft has hardly been sitting still. * 7 Momentum Stocks to Buy On the Dip Microsoft has 17 years of game console experience and that surging Azure cloud computing division. Naturally, the two are being mashed together. Microsoft's Project xCloud was officially announced last October, with MSFT providing further details in March. Microsoft sees Project xCloud as opening up Xbox-class gaming to consumers who may not otherwise have access to consoles, leveraging 54 global Azure cloud centers to deliver console-quality gaming to mobile devices. At the 2019 EX game conference, Microsoft announced that Project xCloud will be launching as a public beta sometime in October. Pricing, regional availability and launch titles were not announced, but the timing finally sets up MSFT for a showdown against Google Stadia -- which launches in November at $9.99 per month.Project xCloud has the potential to help take the edge off the rapid decline in Xbox revenue (consoles aren't selling as gamers wait for the next generation), while bolstering the number of players in the Xbox camp. If it's a success, it will help to mitigate the threat from Google Stadia. And by adding subscription revenue, it would also help to even out revenue fluctuations (a model that MSFT has employed with great success for its Office productivity suite). There is also some risk involved here, though. If Project xCloud stumbles, the black eye would come at a bad time for Microsoft, especially with its next generation Xbox console launching in 2020. Should You Buy MSFT Now?If you ask the professionals, it's a no-brainer: buy MSFT stock. Of the 33 analysts polled by the Wall Street Journal, 27 of them have MSFT rated as a "buy" with $155.38 as the average 12-month price target for Microsoft stock. That offers a nice bit of upside for investors, with the possibility that Project xCloud could factor into the equation and provide a much-needed gaming boost going into the holiday quarter. As of this writing, Brad Moon did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities. More From InvestorPlace * 2 Toxic Pot Stocks You Should Avoid * 7 Momentum Stocks to Buy On the Dip * 7 Dow Titans Breaking Higher * 5 Growth Stocks to Sell as Rates Move Higher The post Is MSFT Stock a Buy With Earnings and xCloud Launch on the Horizon? appeared first on InvestorPlace.
- InvestorPlace
Disney Stock May Have a Secret Weapon in the Streaming Wars
2019 is shaping up to be quite the year in the battle for America's streaming market. Almost every week there's some big piece of news. Different competitors are launching new services, price points, content, hardware, and the like quite regularly.Source: Shutterstock Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) is the latest entrant, as it has just revealed plenty of details about its Apple TV+ service which will launch later this fall. What will it mean for Disney (NYSE:DIS) stock?Apple isn't the only streaming company making news. Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) just announced its latest big move, grabbing the streaming rights for "Seinfeld," starting in 2021 from Sony (NYSE:SNE).InvestorPlace - Stock Market News, Stock Advice & Trading TipsIn a highly competitive market, what is Disney doing to stay ahead of the field? Disney Ties Up With Microsoft, Breaks Up With AppleLast week, as Apple was rolling out its TV offering, one of its board members stepped down from their role. Bob Iger, Disney's CEO, was the departing member. With Apple and Disney now in direct competition, it no longer made any sense for Iger to help oversee Apple's affairs. * 7 Momentum Stocks to Buy On the Dip As Disney distances itself from Apple, it's moving in another direction. Variety reported that Disney and Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) have reached an agreement to work together on a cloud solution using Azure to help Disney produce movies more easily.Disney specifically picked Microsoft because it was focused on the media space. However, unlike rivals, it hasn't been accused of looking at people's data to try to refine their own content. By contrast, who knows what data Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) might harvest for use in its original content if Disney had picked Amazon Web Services. Apple's Streaming Threat to DISIt appears that the streaming wars will end up having a major impact on tech hardware producers as well. Apple's latest moves around Apple TV+ suggest as much.Apple will be giving out a free one-year trial to its Apple+ TV service. Analysts expect this to have a negative impact on Apple's earnings. Goldman Sach's analyst, Rob Hall, for example, slashed his price target from $187 to $165 on AAPL stock. Hall suggested that this trial will work, in effect, as a $60 reduction in the sales price for new Apple hardware, significantly lowering the company's average selling price for new products.Apple, for what it's worth, disputed Hall's assessment of the situation and said there would be no significant impact to the company's financials as a result of its Apple TV+ promotion. One certain impact for Apple, however, is that it is losing any friendly ties with Disney. Disney Can Partner With a Variety of Hardware MakersRegardless, Apple's move raises an interesting point for Disney stock. Amazon has long been lumping services together within Prime to try to drive more customer stickiness. Now it seems that Apple and Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL, NASDAQ:GOOG), among others, may rely more heavily on cross-subsidizing its various products and services.This gives Disney a real opportunity as it has a ton to offer hardware producers. It can deliver video, audio (it has Disney Radio and Records among other things), games, and tons of other IP. Yet Disney itself is more hardware-agnostic. This allows it to partner with various TV, phone, and other electronics markers to offer packages emphasizing native Disney content.While Microsoft is not strong in hardware outsize of video games at the moment, Disney's partnership with them shows potential. Disney can work with companies like Microsoft, Samsung, Huawei, and other giants that don't have competing content services.Meanwhile companies like Apple and Amazon that try to control both hardware and content will find themselves increasingly isolated from the rest of the world. Especially given the increasing anti-trust concerns, it seems unlikely that conditions will allow one ecosystem to dominate everything as much as, say, the iPhone did in the past. This gives Disney's streaming a leg up on the offerings from the big tech companies. Disney's Top Rival Is Still NetflixEven with all the excitement out of Apple and Amazon, among others, Disney stock owners shouldn't sleep on the company's biggest rival in streaming: Netflix. We have seen a lot of people saying that Netflix has peaked and that rivals will overtake it soon. I say critics have exaggerated the death of NFLX stock. Netflix is still spending an ever-increasing amount of money on licensing and original shows and movies -- its all-in content budget is up to $15 billion this year. On top of that, Netflix is spending almost $3 billion annually on marketing.With that sort of growth engine in place, it's fanciful to write Netflix off as a serious competitor yet. For people that were doubting Netflix's staying power, particularly with 30-and-40 something viewers after it elected to let "Friends" leave the platform, the arrival of "Seinfeld" should put these concerns to rest. Netflix still has the budget and appetite to go get blockbuster franchises.DIS stock owners need not worry too much. If there's any content player with a library that matches up favorably to Netflix, it's Disney. However, Netflix's huge overseas presence including a ton of locally-relevant content for individual foreign markets will keep Netflix as a top rival to Disney going forward.Like Disney, Netflix doesn't have internal conflicts of interest between hardware and streaming services. That said, Disney could be a better partner for other neutral tech firms than Netflix. It has a much wider array of intellectual property and tangible assets beyond just film and video. Disney Stock VerdictI have long been skeptical of how the streaming battle will play out. It seems like everyone is destined to lose money, at least in the short-run. Pricing on many of these services is very low, and operators are paying exorbitant amounts of money to bring in fresh content. Disney's entries into this space -- like Netflix -- won't be a cash cow from day one.But the eventual winner in this space will be a company willing to play the long game. Disney's combination of a huge range of assets, a strong balance sheet, and its independence from other tech firms give it a strong hand to play. In addition, its aggressive pricing shows it is willing to match Netflix with solid marketing and customer engagement efforts of its own.I don't expect streaming to power overnight success for DIS stock, but I'm warming up to the company's long-term strategy for the streaming wars.At the time of this writing, Ian Bezek held no positions in any of the aforementioned securities. You can reach him on Twitter at @irbezek. More From InvestorPlace * 2 Toxic Pot Stocks You Should Avoid * 7 Momentum Stocks to Buy On the Dip * 7 Dow Titans Breaking Higher * 5 Growth Stocks to Sell as Rates Move Higher The post Disney Stock May Have a Secret Weapon in the Streaming Wars appeared first on InvestorPlace.
- InvestorPlace
Why Intel Stock Is the Best Semiconductor Name to Buy Now
For several years, the basic narrative behind the semiconductor space went something like this: Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) provided the premium-end processors, and Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD) was the poor man's Intel. Look at the charts, though, and you'll see that this narrative has changed. AMD has skyrocketed to low-earth orbit, while INTC stock has floundered.Source: JHVEPhoto / Shutterstock.com What has bothered Intel's management team the most, however, was AMD's production acumen. No longer content on dominating the lower-tier processor categories, the smaller semiconductor firm began flexing its muscle. As I mentioned a few months back, AMD stole the show at the 2019 Computex industry conference. With high-level processors designed to compete and steal market share from INTC, Intel stock looked incredibly vulnerable.However, we're starting to see signs that the tide might turn back to Intel's favor. Recently, the company has made substantial progress with its Agilex field-programmable gate arrays, or FPGAs. These are modular chips capable of easy configurations to fit multiple functionalities. As such, FPGAs are incredibly valuable to companies advancing 5G network technologies. That offers synergistic opportunities that can bolster INTC stock.InvestorPlace - Stock Market News, Stock Advice & Trading TipsAdditionally, Intel claims that the Agilex FPGAs can either impart more performance or less power consumption than its predecessor FPGAs. The company claims that the Agilex is also useful for data centers, which I don't doubt. As a study from Berkeley Economic Review pointed out, Intel has a strong reputation for producing reliable chips. * 10 Recession-Resistant Services Stocks to Buy Best of all, the semiconductor giant snagged Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) as an FPGA client. Naturally, this is a massive development for Intel stock. However, investors remain leery about the equity's choppy manners: can they trust INTC? Comparisons Benefit INTC StockMy answer to the above question is yes. However, it's a nuanced affirmation.Obviously, one of the big challenges with the semiconductor industry is the U.S.-China trade war. If it keeps dragging, as some economists suggest, that may cap growth in the sector. Moreover, I'm eyeballing the economic turmoil in Germany and Europe overall. Combined, these headwinds could devastate consumer demand.That's the bad news for Intel stock. The good news is that the U.S. is locked in a technological race with its adversaries. Now more than ever, we need our big tech firms to innovate. Coincidentally, part of the enthusiasm over the Agilex FPGAs is Intel's competition with Chinese outfit Xilinx, which leads the sector. Intel has significantly narrowed the production and distribution gap, which benefits INTC stock longer term.Therefore, if you believe that certain semiconductors will perform well even against economic headwinds, you should consider Intel stock. Because compared to its rival AMD, INTC at this juncture may have the better outlook.Yes, I'll concede that AMD has better sex appeal because of their flashy new processors. Also, AMD CEO Dr. Lisa Su engineered one of the most remarkable comebacks in business.At the same time, this is also a "what have you done for me lately" business. And right now, some evidence indicates that AMD may have pushed their products too quickly without proper quality control. In the nearer term, that might not matter much. But over the long haul, it could worry clients.Let's face it: in a recession, you want every dollar to count. Therefore, when organizations invest in data centers, for instance, they want consistent, reliable performance. In that department, Intel has the proven history, bolstering the argument for INTC stock. Technical Comparison Also Supports Intel StockMoreover, if we suffer a recession, I believe the technical argument also supports INTC stock. For one thing, AMD has ripped out another strong year so far, gaining 71% year-to-date. On the other hand, Intel is quite the laggard relatively speaking, up less than 16%. * 7 Stocks the Insiders Are Buying on Sale However, this also helps Intel's case, especially if the markets get choppy. AMD has enjoyed speculative fervor, and for good reason. But Advanced Micro is unlikely to continue generating the kind of exciting news to take shares to even higher plateaus.In contrast, Intel shares have been stuck in sideways trading for most of the trailing two-year period. After so much terrible news, shares may experience an upswing. Also, don't forget that Intel pays you a dividend, giving you some incentive to hold.As I said before, the semiconductor space has risks. But if you're searching in this area, I'd rather go for the beaten-up name with an exciting product pipeline rather than one that has already enjoyed the red-carpet treatment many times over.As of this writing, Josh Enomoto did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities. More From InvestorPlace * 2 Toxic Pot Stocks You Should Avoid * 10 Recession-Resistant Services Stocks to Buy * 7 Hot Penny Stocks to Consider Now * 7 Tech Stocks You Should Avoid Now The post Why Intel Stock Is the Best Semiconductor Name to Buy Now appeared first on InvestorPlace.
- Market Realist
Google Cloud Head of India Resigns, Joins Disney Unit
The head of Google’s cloud computing business in India, Nitin Bawankule, is set to leave the company at the end of this month.
- InvestorPlace
Visa’s Investment Shows Plaid Could Replace Libra in Fintech Space
Visa (NYSE:V), seeking entrance into the center of 21st century banking, has joined MasterCard (NYSE:MA) in taking a stake in fintech startup Plaid. Plaid writes application program interfaces that act as the infrastructure beneath bank accounts. This lets it power customer-facing fintech specialists like PayPal's (NASDAQ:PYPL) Venmo, Robinhood, Chime and Betterment.Source: Shutterstock Enabling new banking services could make Plaid a sort of Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) for the fintech age -- an operating system for computerized banking.Plaid has attracted $310 million in financing. Its most recent funding round valued it at $2.7 billion. Other backers include Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS), Citigroup (NYSE:C) and American Express (NYSE:AXP).InvestorPlace - Stock Market News, Stock Advice & Trading TipsBut it's Visa and MasterCard, which have a joint value of almost $700 billion, that are the real get. They have global scale, brand names and good reputations for security and reliability. Battling AlibabaPlaid is ranked as the eighth largest fintech startup. The list is led by credit card issuer Stripe and includes SoFi, a lender whose name will grace the new Los Angeles football stadium. Fintech companies raised a total of nearly $40 billion last year.Fintech startups are trying to get around the high costs of working with the present banking system. Visa and Mastercard are part of that. But Visa and Mastercard are also trying to get around those costs, seeing the growth of chat-based Chinese payment systems from Alibaba (NYSE:BABA) and Tencent Holding (OTCMKTS:TCEHY). * 7 Momentum Stocks to Buy On the Dip There was an assumption that Facebook's (NASDAQ:FB) Libra -- a cheaper payment system riding on FB's data network -- might be the first to escape the high costs. Both Visa and MasterCard were part of Libra's 28-member founding group announced in June. But there are increasing doubts that financial regulators will allow Libra to launch, as many fear Facebook's size. These regulators seem to have no such fears regarding the payment processors. The Fintech StackThe investment in Plaid, which already serves cryptocurrency companies like Coinbase, brings Visa and MasterCard closer to the new financial world's operating system.Fintech is building a new financial payments stack. Right now, most of the value in the stack is in the loans it creates or the investments it enables. But as the software stack evolves, history shows that it's the company at the bottom of that stack that gains the most power, as Microsoft did starting in the early 1990s.Plaid CEO Zach Perret said his goal is to create a digitized financial system. Visa executive Bill Sheedy said his strategic goal is more important than the financial investment.That strategic goal increasingly looks like a bank. Verifying users and account balances is key to enabling loans, payments and investment -- essentially all the functions of banks like JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM). Visa stock's market cap exceeded that of JPMorgan just in the last year. Many Plaid customers compete directly with banks like JPMorgan. The Bottom Line for Visa Stock and PlaidWhile Visa's payment network has proven to have enormous financial power, it still faces challenges. It can charge merchants up to 3% of a transaction's cost to process through its network. The money is soaked up by processors and banks that are part of the Visa stock network.These payment networks won't work in developing nations. The cost is too high for small merchants to bear. Instead of staying with cash, many are moving to cheaper fintech alternatives that can run through customers' mobile phones.Whether these merchants will stay with Chinese and Indian payment systems, or seek Western alternatives to access Western wallets, remains an open question. The Plaid investment shows just how desperate Visa and Mastercard are to answer that question in the affirmative.Dana Blankenhorn is a financial and technology journalist. He is the author of the environmental story, Bridget O'Flynn and the Bear, available at the Amazon Kindle store. Write him at danablankenhorn@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter at @danablankenhorn. As of this writing he owned shares in MSFT, BABA and JPM. More From InvestorPlace * 2 Toxic Pot Stocks You Should Avoid * 7 Momentum Stocks to Buy On the Dip * 7 Dow Titans Breaking Higher * 5 Growth Stocks to Sell as Rates Move Higher The post Visa's Investment Shows Plaid Could Replace Libra in Fintech Space appeared first on InvestorPlace.
- Bloomberg
Will Purdue’s Bankruptcy Engulf Its Owners?
(Bloomberg Opinion) -- The bankruptcy of Purdue Pharma LP lays bare a distinction that the internet is making it more and more difficult to maintain: that between a company and the people who own or founded it.The Sackler family owns Purdue Pharma, the maker of the opioid OxyContin, which has contributed to a crisis that has resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Americans. There are numerous charges and more than 2,000 lawsuits against the company and its owners, and some recent joint settlements. The company has now declared bankruptcy, and wants to give control of Purdue to a trust run by the states, cities and counties that have filed suit against it.But what about the personal fortune of the Sacklers, estimated at $13 billion or more? Under traditional corporate theory, there is a clear distinction between the assets of the corporation and those of the owners. The limited liability company can go under, but the assets of the company owners are safe — just as, say, holding shares of Volkswagen in your mutual fund did not expose you to any personal liability for the automaker’s actions in falsifying emissions data.It turns out that this distinction is harder to uphold, if only in the eyes of the public, when a single family owns and runs a company. Last week New York State alleged that the Sackler family drained at least $1 billion from Purdue for the purpose of avoiding penalties against the corporation and thus shielding its wealth. If it looks like the Sackler family was trying to avoid legal penalties and fines, there will be strong political pressure, possibly backed by public opinion, to go after those additional funds.More generally, if a company is endangered by lawsuits, and the suits are not settled, its owners have a rationale to extract money from the company and stash it far away. But doing so will elicit a legal and public response, and the distinction between the personal and the corporate will not always be respected.Consider the Federal Trade Commission’s recent settlement with Facebook, under which some of founder Mark Zuckerberg’s personal assets are potentially on the line if Facebook does not respect its privacy agreements with the federal government. Some FTC commissioners suggested harsher treatment yet for Zuckerberg’s personal assets.Or, to give another example, Senator Elizabeth Warren has been promoting the notion of personal criminal liability for corporate CEOs if the firms engage in wrongdoing. Her bill would extend corporate liability beyond the company itself, and of course most CEOs of major companies are also shareholders to some extent. Maybe the goal is to punish these individuals in their roles as executives rather than as shareholders. But such penalties would blur these distinctions in the mind of the public — and eventually, perhaps, under the law.So how does the internet matter in all this? First, social media is very effective at drumming up outrage, and negative news seems to have a longer lifespan than positive news. The media’s pre-existing negative bias has been amplified, creating further animosity against any actual or supposed corporate villain.More important, social media personalizes agency — in effect, making it easier to accuse particular individuals of wrongdoing. Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, and the Koch brothers all have images or iconic photos that can be put into a social media post, amplifying any attack on their respective companies. It is harder to vilify Exxon, in part because hardly anyone can name its CEO (Darren Woods, since 2017), who in any case did not create the current version of the company. Putting the Exxon logo on your vituperative social media post just doesn’t have the same impact. With Bill Gates having stepped down as Microsoft CEO in 2000, it is harder to vilify that company as well.This personalization of corporate evil has become a bigger issue in part because many prominent tech companies are currently led by their founders, and also because the number of publicly traded companies has been falling, which means there are fewer truly anonymous corporations. It’s not hard to imagine a future in which the most important decision a new company makes is how personalized it wants to be. A well-known founder can spark interest in the company and its products, and help to attract talent. At the same time, a personalized company is potentially a much greater target.The more human identities and feelings are part of the equation, however, the harder it will be to keep the classic distinction between a corporation and its owners. As the era of personalization evolves, it will inevitably engulf that most impersonal of entities — the corporation.(Corrects second paragraph to say that hundreds of thousands of deaths have resulted from the opioid crisis, not the opioid OxyContin, in article published Sept. 16.)To contact the author of this story: Tyler Cowen at tcowen2@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael Newman at mnewman43@bloomberg.netThis column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.Tyler Cowen is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. He is a professor of economics at George Mason University and writes for the blog Marginal Revolution. His books include "Big Business: A Love Letter to an American Anti-Hero."For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinion©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
- Barrons.com
Okta Stock Has Surged and CEO Todd McKinnon Sees Plenty More Growth
The cloud-based, identity-management software company went public in April 2017 at $17 a share. Okta stock peaked north of $140 this past July before giving some ground. “Our contracts are getting bigger, and they’re getting longer,” says the CEO.
- PR Newswire
Ball Aerospace and Microsoft Selected by Air Force to Demonstrate Cloud Processing Capabilities for LEO Satellite Constellations
BOULDER, Colo., Sept. 17, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Ball Aerospace and Microsoft were selected to demonstrate agile cloud processing capabilities in support of the U.S. Air Force's Space and Missile Systems Center's Commercially Augmented Space Inter Networked Operations (CASINO) project. The demonstration will show how simultaneous, worldwide data streams from large, distributed constellations of small satellites can be processed quickly using Microsoft's Azure cloud and Ball Aerospace algorithms. Additionally, the demonstration will include a single downlink directly into a Microsoft data center using a Ball Aerospace phased array antenna.
- InvestorPlace
Intensified Antitrust Scrutiny Could Weigh on AMZN Stock
Many became concerned about Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) stock as an attack on Saudi oil fields sent oil prices (and by extension, delivery costs) soaring. However, a Wall Street Journal report has likely overshadowed that concern due to more intense antitrust scrutiny.Source: Mike Mareen / Shutterstock.com Since Amazon stock that has traded in a range for almost a year and a half, AMZN traders could face a longer period of frustration. Struggles Continue for AmazonBad news greeted Amazon as it began Monday trading, and not just because of higher oil prices. AMZN stock fell by over 2% in Monday trading following the WSJ story alleging that Amazon changed search algorithms in such a way that would boost its products. The algorithms also bolstered products that brought higher profits to the company. This move also supposedly caused turmoil within the e-commerce giant as both lawyers and engineers pushed back against these changes.InvestorPlace - Stock Market News, Stock Advice & Trading Tips * 7 Momentum Stocks to Buy On the Dip If proven true, these actions could cause Amazon further pain as both U.S. and EU regulators have investigated the company for both operating a marketplace and selling products within that ecosystem. This action also contradicts years of statements from the company stating that its focus hinged on long-term profitability instead of steering customers to specific products for short-term gains.The previous quarterly report did not help matters. Amazon beat revenue estimates, however, they fell short on the bottom line and warned that Q3 would likely fail to meet expectations. This news sent AMZN stock back below the $2,000 per share level. It quickly fell close to the $1,800 per share level where it trades today.Worse, this continues the troubles for Amazon stock, which has become mired in a trading range. For almost 18 months, AMZN has traded at levels between around $1,300 per share and just over $2,000 per share. The current AMZN stock price of just over $1,800 per share places it toward the high end of the range. Can AMZN Stock Move Higher?The question for traders is, what can take AMZN stock beyond this range? Unfortunately for Amazon bulls, that path may have narrowed. To be sure, Amazon remains firmly positioned. Amazon Web Services (AWS) continues to produce the majority of company profits. It also maintains its lead over the likes of Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL, NASDAQ:GOOG), and IBM (NYSE:IBM) in providing cloud services.Moreover, despite the profit warning for Q3, analysts expect earnings to grow by 17.1% for this year and 40.8% in fiscal 2020. This could support the current forward price-to-earnings (PE) ratio of just under 55 under normal circumstances. Expect Short, Medium-Term PainHowever, that PE could give traders pause with the antitrust concerns, at least on a short or medium-term basis. Due to the latest allegations, regulators will probably have a stronger case against Amazon. These accusations could lead to anything in between a slap on the wrist or an outright breakup.Moreover, traders have to assume that the company will remove the algorithms that boosted AMZN profits. I would also surmise that the earnings increases mentioned above will see downward revisions. Paying 55 times forward earnings may not pay off for investors under such circumstances. Final Thoughts on AMZN StockThough higher oil prices could hurt the company, intensified antitrust accusations will likely cause further pain for holders of AMZN stock. The allegations make penalties from regulators on both sides of the Atlantic more likely. Traders can also expect lower profits as antitrust pressure will force a change in the algorithms.Considering the scrutiny faced by Microsoft in the 1990s and early 2000s, I see a breakup as unlikely. Even if a split occurred, the breakups of Standard Oil and AT&T (NYSE:T) in the 20th century ultimately made the sum of the parts greater than the whole.However, shorter-term I see the WSJ story as a negative. From a stock perspective, it could lead investors to question whether they should pay almost 55 times forward earnings under these circumstances.Long-term, I expect AMZN stock will maintain its cloud and e-commerce leadership and post double-digit earnings growth. However, for now, investors should let the dust settle and try to buy later at a lower price.As of this writing, Will Healy did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned stocks. You can follow Will on Twitter at @HealyWriting. More From InvestorPlace * 2 Toxic Pot Stocks You Should Avoid * 7 Momentum Stocks to Buy On the Dip * 7 Dow Titans Breaking Higher * 5 Growth Stocks to Sell as Rates Move Higher The post Intensified Antitrust Scrutiny Could Weigh on AMZN Stock appeared first on InvestorPlace.
- Zacks
Oracle at OpenWorld: Autonomous Database & Cloud in Focus
Oracle (ORCL) is strategically expanding Autonomous Database portfolio and enhancing functionalities of cloud-based applications, which is encouraging adoption.
- Zacks
Oracle on a Partnership Spree With VMwae, Intel & Deloitte
Oracle's (ORCL) partnerships with the likes of Accenture and Microsoft are expected to aid the company in expanding cloud-base clientele.
- Zacks
Microsoft, Walt Disney Partner to Boost SLAB initiatives
Microsoft's (MSFT) IoT initiatives aimed at providing robust tools and platform to developers, and strengthening partner base will aid it in improving overall performance.
- TheStreet.com
Microsoft, Facebook, Other Tech Firms Face Workers' Climate-Change Strike Friday
Workers at Amazon, Facebook, Google's parent and Microsoft pledge to walk out Friday, joining climate-change protests worldwide.
- Bloomberg
Coding Startup GitLab Hits $2.75 Billion Value With New Funding
(Bloomberg) -- GitLab Inc., a platform for developing and collaborating on code, has raised $268 million in new funding in a round valuing the startup at $2.75 billion, more than double its last valuation, the company said.The San Francisco-based startup provides a single application for companies to draft, develop and release code. The product is used by companies including Delta Air Lines Inc., Ticketmaster Entertainment Inc. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc.GitLab helps companies “get faster from ‘I want to make this,’ to getting the software out the door,” Chief Executive Officer Sid Sijbrandij said in an interview. “All the companies are becoming software companies, every change you want to make influences software, and the faster you can make that change, the easier it is.”The new funds will be used to add monitoring and security to GitLab’s offering, and to increase the company’s staff to more than 1,000 employees this year from 400. GitLab is able to add workers at a rapid rate, since it has an all-remote workforce, Sijbrandij said.The investment also comes in preparation for a potential public offering next year. GitLab’s largest competitor, GitHub Inc., was acquired by Microsoft Corp. in a stock deal announced in June 2018 worth $7.5 billion. But GitLab will instead aim for the public markets, targeting an IPO or direct listing next fall, Sijbrandij said.“We’d rather stay independent as a company,” he said. GitLab has set a tentative date of Nov. 18, 2020, but the CEO added that the startup will watch market conditions and that nothing is guaranteed.The Series E funding round was led by ICONIQ Capital and Goldman Sachs. New investors include Adage Capital Management, Alkeon Capital and Two Sigma Ventures, among others.GitLab has raised a total $426 million so far, including the new round.To contact the reporter on this story: Kiley Roache in New York at kroache@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Jillian Ward at jward56@bloomberg.net, Molly Schuetz, Anne VanderMeyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
- Bloomberg
The Simple Strategy Fueling the Rise of Bill Gates’s Fortune
(Bloomberg) -- Bill Gates is still in wealth-creation mode.“We’re not, you know, in some defensive posture where we’re mostly in cash, or anything like that,” the Microsoft Corp. founder said in an interview with Bloomberg Television. “The strategy that’s been used on the investments is to be over 60% in equities.”That’s helped Gates add $16 billion to his net worth this year, taking his wealth to $106 billion, behind only Jeff Bezos on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, even as his charitable donations have topped $35 billion.The Gates fortune had about $60 billion of equity assets as of Monday, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. By comparison, the average family office portfolio in North America held about 32% of its assets in equities in 2018, according to Campden Wealth’s 2018 global family office report.The growth overseen by the billionaire’s investment chief, Michael Larson, who oversees family office Cascade Investment, has enabled Gates to build the world’s largest private foundation without diminishing his fortune.That may start to shrink if politicians heed his call for higher taxes.“I doubt, you know, the U.S. will do a wealth tax but I wouldn’t be against it,” he said in the interview. “The closest thing we have to it is the estate tax. And I’ve been a huge proponent that that should go back to the level of 55% that it was a few decades ago.”Inequality has become an explosive political issue with America’s richest 0.1% controlling more wealth than at any time since 1929. On Tuesday, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation released its annual Goalkeepers report. The study seeks to monitor and aid the progress of the United Nations in achieving in its Sustainable Development Goals, which the foundation says are being hindered by persistent inequality. The report called for greater investment in health care, education and technology to help reduce inequality worldwide.“There is no silver bullet that will make geography, gender and other random factors stop mattering,” the report notes. “But guaranteeing that every single child has access to good health and education systems is a very good start in that direction.”Gates, 63, also backed higher income taxes on America’s wealthiest people and made a call for greater transparency. “I’m for way more financial transparency. I don’t like that you can have trusts where nobody knows who owns it.”While Gates remains bullish on the U.S. and global economy, he doubted that the performance he’s enjoyed over the past was likely to endure. “There’s reasons to think absolute returns for the next decade will be less than they have been for the last several decades.”(Adds details from report in ninth paragraph.)To contact the reporters on this story: Tom Metcalf in London at tmetcalf7@bloomberg.net;Erik Schatzker in New York at eschatzker@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Pierre Paulden at ppaulden@bloomberg.net, Steven CrabillFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
- American City Business Journals
Encryption software startup PreVeil raises $7M, eyes Japanese market
PreVeil, an encryption-software startup with 25 employees in its Downtown Crossing office, has raised $7 million in a Series B investment round led by Presidio Ventures, the investment arm of Japanese trading company Sumitomo Corp. PreVeil's software integrates with Microsoft’s Office 365 by adding an encrypted inbox to the regular Outlook one.
- Quartz
Bill Gates: “Economists don’t actually understand macroeconomics”
Economics is predictably unpredictable, says Microsoft's co-founder in an interview.
- Quartz
Bill Gates on the limitations of corporate purpose
CEOs focusing on societal outcomes "is not the magic bullet," says the Microsoft co-founder.
- Bloomberg
Bill Gates Says Wind, Solar Subsidies Should Go to Something New
(Bloomberg) -- It’s time wind and solar passed their subsidies along to emerging technologies that need them more, Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates says.After decades of government incentives, wind and solar have been deployed widely enough for manufacturers and developers to become increasingly efficient and drive down costs. Now they can probably survive without them, Gates said in an interview with Bloomberg Television.“The tax benefits there should be shifted into things that are more limiting, like energy storage, offshore wind -- which still has a huge premium price,” said Gates, who co-chairs a global group of business, political and scientific leaders formed in 2018 to push for investments to help the world adapt to climate change.U.S. states including New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts see proposed offshore wind farms in the Atlantic Ocean as crucial ingredients to phase out fossil fuels and fight climate change. But the costs of building wind farms at sea are still nearly twice as high as on land. Energy storage, meanwhile, is key to allowing wind and solar plants to dispatch power even when the sun sets and breezes go slack. But big batteries remain expensive, too.“The progress in solar and wind is very helpful,” Gates said. “But the sun doesn’t shine 24 hours a day.”To contact the reporters on this story: Christopher Martin in New York at cmartin11@bloomberg.net;Erik Schatzker in New York at eschatzker@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Lynn Doan at ldoan6@bloomberg.net, Joe Ryan, Steven FrankFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
- Financial Times
Fossil fuel divestment has ‘zero’ climate impact, says Bill Gates
Climate activists are wasting their time lobbying investors to ditch fossil fuel stocks, according to Bill Gates, the billionaire Microsoft co-founder who is one of the world’s most prominent philanthropists. “Divestment, to date, probably has reduced about zero tonnes of emissions. “I don’t know the mechanism of action where divestment [keeps] emissions [from] going up every year.
