Here’s Why Apple Got a Huge Pat on the Back -- Tech Roundup
Apple (AAPL) - Get Report is already one of the most widely held stocks on the market but if you don't own some, and you're looking for a reason to buy in, analysts at Goldman Sachswant to give you a nudge.
Goldman added Apple to its conviction buy list Wednesday, based on its transformation from a hardware company that makes its big money on one-time sales of iPhones, computers and the like, into a software/service/subscription player, where offerings like iTunes, Apple TV, Apple Music and Apple Pay will have its loyal customers paying up on a regular basis.
Even on the hardware side, the recently unveiled Apple Upgrade Program moves in the direction of a subscription model: Sign up, pay a set monthly fee, and get the latest model iPhone every year.
Goldman sees the new recurring revenue model boosting Apple's average revenue per user (ARPU) to $153 per customer per month from its current estimate of $42. That may be a long-term prediction, but it's massive. Apple closed Wednesday up 3.2% at $117.29.
These days, when people want to get our attention about acute crises or chronic problems, the easiest way to do it is on social media. This week, Facebook (FB) - Get Report made it easier for us to do more than talk. On Wednesday, it introduced a new set of tools for nonprofits, including a much-improved donate button, and campaign-specific fundraising pages. So now it'll be easier to put your money where your posts are. Facebook closed Wednesday up 2.5% at $107.77.
The next time you do a Google search from your mobile device, the results may look a little bit different. The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that Alphabet (GOOGL) - Get Report has debuted a new feature that draws search results from within mobile apps, and even lets people use them without downloading them first.
It's a move designed to remedy one of the search giant's major issues of late: Smartphone users spend most of their screen time in apps, where it has been unable to spread its search tentacles. What Google can't crawl, it can't show you, and what it can't show you, it can't put ads beside. Alphabet closed Wednesday up 1.9% at $760.01.
For quite some time, Yahoo!'s (YHOO) biggest asset has been its stake in Chinese internet giant Alibaba (BABA) - Get Report -- and it's an asset the floundering company has been eager to monetize. But its current spinoff plans may have hit a bit of a skid: The potential tax bill for spinning off the rest of its Alibaba stake could sap most of the value of the spinoff company, Aabaco -- and possibly more than its value -- alleges SunTrust analyst Bob Peck in a letter to the Yahoo!'s board. Yahoo! ended Wednesday up 0.4% at $32.98.
Amazon (AMZN) - Get Report will hit the Black Friday button harder than ever this year. According to MarketWatch, the e-commerce titan will get out of the gates a few days before Thanksgiving, and start offering up fresh deals to shoppers as often as every five minutes, over a period of eight days. It will also offer 150 "Lightning Deals" exclusive to its mobile app. Amazon closed Wednesday up 3.2% at $663.54. Happy shopping!
This article is commentary by an independent contributor. At the time of publication, the author held no positions in the stocks mentioned.