Barron’s, the weekly publication owned by the Wall Street Journal, in its latest issue mentions several names:
BULLISH MENTIONS:
Alphabet a ‘bargain’ in big tech – Alphabet (GOOG; GOOGL) has the world’s dominant search engine in Google, as well as valuable businesses like YouTube, the Android cellphone operating system, and Waymo autonomous vehicles, but investor are not giving the company enough credit partly because of worries that it, like Facebook (FB), will soon face greater government regulation, Andrew Bary writes in this week’s edition of Barron’s. Alphabet trades for almost 25 times projected 2018 earnings, but its effective P/E is lower because of nearly $100B in net cash and losses in its “other bets” businesses, he adds.
AI done right may give managers ‘an edge.’ – BlackRock (BLK), Vanguard, Fidelity, and T. Rowe Price (TROW), among others, have all invested time and money setting up tech centers in major cities, apart from their headquarters, as they compete for cost savings, Crystal Kim writes in this week’s edition of Barron’s. Artificial Intelligence, done right, could also give portfolio managers an edge, and better serve investors with a wider array of financial planning tools, the report adds.
IAC/InterActiveCorp sells at discount of assets value – Over the past two decades, Barry Diller’s IAC/InterActiveCorp (IAC) has generated a higher return than Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A, BRK.B), Jack Hough writes in this week’s edition of Barron’s. But the shares of IAC/InterActiveCop sell at a discount to the value of its assets, he notes.
Spotify stock could rise to five times sales. – Spotify Technology (SPOT) made its market debut las week and while its stock price could remain volatile in the months ahead, shares could “reasonably” rise to five times sales, Avi Salzman writes in this week’s edition of Barron’s.
BEARISH MENTIONS
Facebook bracing for Capitol Hill grilling – In a follow-up story, Barron’s notes that this week Facebook’s (FB) CEO Mark Zuckerberg will come to Washington to testify before an eager group of lawmakers. Congress has a chance to remind citizens of its watchdog role, the report noted, adding that while this week’s optics will no doubt be bad, the stock’s valuation already reflects much of the pain.
Smartphone growth sags as new models not compelling enough – People are holding onto their phones longer, on average, because what they are being offered in the new models just is not compelling enough, Tiernan Ray writes in this week’s edition of Barron’s. This does not bode well for traditional makers of chips for smartphones, including Skyworks (SWKS), Qorvo (QRVO), Qualcomm (QCOM), and Synaptics (SYNA), the report adds.
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