Puneet Sikka
Disclosure: I am in full compliance with all ethics and other policies for Market Realist research analysts. I am not invested in securities that I cover on Market Realist.
More From Puneet Sikka
Verizon Could Be Impacted by Disney Channel Blackout
Verizon lost 63,000 FiOS video customers in the last quarter.
Hit Superhero Films Are Helping Disney
Hollywood has box office sales of $11.38 billion to date in 2018. Superhero films accounted for 25.5% of the total ticket sales.
AT&T to Benefit from Aquaman Winning the Pre-Christmas Race
AT&T (T) gained a number of assets through its acquisition of Time Warner including HBO, Turner, and Warner Bros.
Netflix to Overtake Sky Satellite TV in Subscribers
The cord-cutting trend is picking up steam all over the world.
Will Apple Announce a Reduced Outlook for March Quarter?
Apple (AAPL) stock has lost 33% in the last three months.
Oracle’s NetSuite Cloud Platform Continues to Win More Clients
NetSuite is Oracle’s enterprise resource planning software product.
How Symantec’s Cloud Security Product Became the Best
On December 20, Symantec announced that its Cloud Workload Protection (or CWP) product won the “product of the year” award in the cloud security category.
AMD’s Growing Market Cap Helped It Enter NASDAQ 100 Index
AMD (AMD) stock has had a great run this year.
Amazon’s Important Relationship with Third-Party Sellers
To maintain a good relationship with its sellers, Amazon it lowering the fees it charges them.
Cloudhopper Campaign Impacts IBM and HPE
Hackers attacked IBM (IBM) and Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s (HPE) networks and stole confidential information from clients’ computers.
Samsung’s Partnership with IBM Can Help It Compete with TSMC
We’ve looked at IBM’s side of the equation. Now let’s see how Samsung will benefit from this deal.
Intel Launched Innovative Products to Take on AMD and Qualcomm
Last week, Intel (INTC) launched some innovative products on its Architecture Day to take on AMD and Qualcomm.
Red Hat Announces Mixed Earnings as IBM Gets Ready to Acquire It
Red Hat (RHT) announced its earnings for the third quarter of 2018 yesterday.
Oracle’s Stronger Earnings Boost Its Stock Price
On December 17, Oracle (ORCL) announced its earnings for the second quarter of fiscal 2019. The company’s revenue growth was 2%.
Why Facebook Could Look to Sell Network TV Programming
Facebook (FB) has been looking to diversify its business away from online advertising for some time.
Why Altice Is Opting for a Bring-Your-Own-Device Approach
Altice USA (ATUS), the fourth-largest cable company in the US, is all set to launch its own mobile service by next year on Sprint’s (S) network.
Will T-Mobile-Sprint Merger Have Better Financials than Expected?
Both T-Mobile (TMUS) and Sprint (S) have high hopes that their proposed merger will pass the regulatory hurdle.
Analyzing Symantec’s Partnership with Fortinet
On December 11, Symantec announced that it will partner with Fortinet (FTNT) to provide comprehensive security solutions.
Why Accenture Has Acquired Adaptly
Accenture entered into the practice of digital ad-buying last year and became a potential threat to ad agencies such as Omnicom and WPP.
Why Softbank Wants to Offload Stake in NVIDIA
NVIDIA (NVDA) stock has had a dream run in the last three years. However, the last couple of months have been bad for the company’s stock.
Morgan Stanley Thinks Verizon Stock Is Pricey
Verizon (VZ) stock has seen a decent run-up in 2018—the stock has increased 8%.
Dish Network Is Betting Big on Its 5G Project
Dish Network (DISH) has seen falling fortunes this year, with its stock down 35% year-to-date. The reason why is simple.
Oracle Launches New Cloud Product to Address Developer Needs
On December 11, Oracle launched a new cloud product named Oracle Cloud Native Framework to address the needs of developers.
Why Cowen Says Amazon Is the Best Investment for 2019
Amazon (AMZN) stock has been one of the best performers in 2018.
Could Microsoft’s Cloud Business Be Bigger than Windows by 2021?
According to KeyBanc analysts, Microsoft’s (MSFT) “cloud business could be bigger than Windows by 2021.”
Why Verizon Took a $4.6 Billion Charge for Oath
In Verizon’s (VZ) filing with the SEC on December 11, the company announced that it’s taking a $4.6 billion goodwill impairment charge for Oath.
Why Jim Cramer Called Cisco the Cheapest Large-Cap Tech Stock
During Cramer’s lightning round on CNBC on December 10, Jim Cramer said that Cisco (CSCO) “is currently the cheapest large-cap tech stock.”
Fitbit Feels the Heat from Competitors and Shareholders
A complaint has been filed against Fitbit (FIT) for misleading investors. Fitbit claimed that it had the best-selling fitness tracker on Amazon.
Can GoPro Stock Make a Comeback?
GoPro (GPRO) has had a rough year so far. Its stock has fallen 40% in 2018. Last month, GoPro stock fell steeply by 24% on the day of its third-quarter earnings.
Why SQN Investors Is Frustrated with Yelp
Today, SQN Investors, one of Yelp’s (YELP) top five stockholders, publically published a letter criticizing Yelp’s board and management.
The 5G Battle between AT&T and Verizon Is Shifting to Devices
We’ve been watching the race between the top two US telecom providers, Verizon (VZ) and AT&T (T), in implementing 5G technology to as many markets as possible.
Why Qualcomm Should Benefit from Partnering with Chinese Players
Yesterday, Qualcomm (QCOM) announced in a press release that it, China Mobile, and Chinese (FXI) smartphone makers are partnering to develop next-generation 5G smartphones.
Another Apple Supplier Reports Declining Revenues—What’s Next?
Today hasn’t been a good day for Apple (AAPL) supplier Largan Precision in Taiwan. It reported about a 29% decline in its revenues in its latest earnings report.
Why Oracle’s Revenue Growth Could Fall in the Current Quarter
The US dollar (UUP) has continued to strengthen this year. Ongoing US-China trade tensions are making investors nervous.
Why Oracle Considers the AT&T Deal One of the Biggest
Last year, Oracle and AT&T entered into an agreement through which Oracle will migrate thousands of existing Oracle databases on AT&T’s network to Oracle cloud.
Oracle Explains Why Its Database Is Better than Amazon’s
Given the trend of companies moving their software applications from on-premises to the cloud, Oracle is finding itself in a difficult situation.
Why Oracle Has High Hopes for Its Autonomous Database
Oracle’s (ORCL) Autonomous Database is its cloud-based self-driving database, as the name suggests.
Oracle Is Happy That Its Investment in NetSuite Has Paid Off
ERP is the largest segment for Oracle’s applications business, and within this segment, Oracle has two main products: Fusion ERP and NetSuite.
Why Oracle Believes It Is the Number One ERP Cloud Player
SAP (SAP) continues to be the largest player in the ERP market with revenue of over $7 billion in 2017. Oracle is another top player.
Why Oracle Believes It Can Be the Largest Service Software Player
The software-as-a-service market is led by Microsoft (MSFT). Oracle (ORCL) is ranked fourth in this market with a share of ~6%.
Why IBM Thinks Storage Hardware Is a Competitive Business
In the last quarter, Storage Systems revenue fell 5.6%, which the company blamed on growing competition amid continued pricing pressure.
How POWER9 Processors Are Powering IBM’s Systems Revenue Growth
IBM credited ~4% its Systems revenue growth to the success of its POWER9 processors.
Why IBM Considers the z14 Its Most Successful Mainframe Launch
Mainframes, large computers that can process billions of transactions daily, are mostly used by banks, retailers, and airlines.
IBM Continues to Win Contracts for Its Blockchain Solutions
In July, IBM launched a blockchain solution specifically for the financial service industry, LedgerConnect.
How IBM Is Investing in AI Solutions
AI is the buzzword these days, and the market has huge growth potential.
IBM Maintains Its Margins through Operational Efficiency
IBM credited its margin stability to its operational efficiencies, namely synergies from acquisitions, scale efficiencies in its cloud business, and productivity initiatives such as leveraging agile processes and using automation.
The Real Reason IBM Acquired Red Hat
In October, IBM (IBM) shocked the world by acquiring Red Hat (RHT) for $34 billion, marking its largest acquisition to date.
How IBM Plans to Compete in the Hybrid Cloud Market
The market’s most important segment may be the hybrid cloud.
IBM’s Cloud Growth Lags behind Amazon’s and Microsoft’s
One business driving growth for IBM is the cloud.
IBM’s Consulting Unit Drives Growth in Its Services Business
IBM’s (IBM) Global Business Services segment comprises its Consulting, Global Process Services, and Application Management sub-segments.
Why Warren Buffett Offloaded His IBM Investments
IBM’s (IBM) investors pay close attention to the company’s FCF (free cash flow).
Microsoft Stock Has Given Slow and Steady Returns to Investors
Microsoft (MSFT) is another stock on our list of top performers from the last year in the US large-cap tech sector.
A Look at Microsoft’s Outlook for the Holiday Quarter
Microsoft (MSFT) expects to clock double-digit revenue growth in the holiday quarter this year.
Microsoft’s Bing Revenue Growth Is Still Trailing Google’s
Microsoft’s Bing has shown promise time and again, but it’s still not able to beat Google’s growth in terms of search advertising.
MSFT Has High Expectations for Surface Pro 6 and Surface Laptop 2
Microsoft (MSFT) has recently launched a number of devices that show it’s serious about capturing a fair share of the PC market.
How Microsoft Is Building a Community for Its Gaming Platform
Microsoft has managed to grow its gaming revenue rapidly. In fact, its gaming revenue growth has accelerated over the past few quarters.
Amazon and Microsoft Set to Tap the Growing Cloud Services Market
According to a report, Microsoft managed to grow its share from 8% in the fourth quarter of 2015 to 12% in the first quarter of 2018.
Innovative Services around Microsoft Azure Are Fueling Its Growth
Although Amazon’s Amazon Web Services continues to be the most popular cloud platform, Microsoft’s Azure is growing faster.
Microsoft Manages to Grow LinkedIn’s User Engagement
A couple of years ago, Microsoft (MSFT) acquired LinkedIn for a valuation of $27 billion, its biggest acquisition to date.
How Microsoft Is Setting Its Cybersecurity Apart from Its Peers’
Until a few years ago, in the days of Windows 7, Microsoft (MSFT) didn’t take the cybersecurity business too seriously.
Why We’re Seeing Large Acquisitions in the Software Industry
In June, Microsoft (MSFT) acquired GitHub for $7.5 billion, and it recently completed this acquisition.
Dynamics 365 Helps Microsoft Penetrate the Applications Market
Another important business for Microsoft is Dynamics 365, a cloud-based application tool that it launched in 2016.
How the Rapid Adoption of Windows 10 Is Benefiting Microsoft
Microsoft (MSFT) launched Windows 10 more than three years ago. It was an important launch because of the tepid response to Windows 8.
How Microsoft 365 Quickly Became a Multibillion-Dollar Business
Microsoft launched Microsoft 365 about a year ago, and the company claims that it’s already a multibillion-dollar business.
Why Microsoft Is Optimistic about the General IT Environment
The last couple of months have been volatile for the markets in general and tech stocks in particular, but Microsoft has been steady.
Why Google Is Focusing on Partnerships for Its Cloud Solution
Google (GOOG) has made a lot of strides in its cloud business over the last year or so.
How Alphabet Plans to Grow Google Play
Google Play has started to become another important business for Alphabet’s Google segment.
Why India Is Becoming an Important Market for Google
Consumers in India downloaded 6.2 billion apps from Google Play in 2016, a significant rise from 3.6 billion downloads in 2015.
Why Alphabet and Facebook Dominate the Online Ad Market
Google (GOOG) has credited its growth in the online ad market to three key drivers: mobile search, YouTube, and programmatic ads.
Original Content Is Helping Google’s YouTube Get New Subscribers
Google has gradually started taking the non-advertising business for YouTube seriously.
How Google YouTube Is Helping Advertisers Reach More People
Advertisers and marketers are seeing great success on Google’s (GOOG) YouTube platform, according to Google.
What’s Amazon’s Gobal AWS Strategy Now?
Amazon’s AWS is a fast-growing business for the company that saw its revenues rise by 55% YoY (year-over-year) to over $3.2 billion in 3Q16.
This Will Remain Amazon’s Key Market
India ranks high on the list for Amazon as the e-commerce giant targets international markets—especially after failing to penetrate the Chinese market.
Why Amazon’s Content Saw Such Large Growth in 2H16
A major factor behind Amazon’s widening losses has been the large rise in content costs related to acquiring video content and producing its own content.
Amazon’s International Margins Are Under Pressure
Amazon’s losses in international markets have grown from $121 million in 1Q16 to $541 million in 3Q16. But what’s been driving this trend?
How Amazon Plans to Make Customer Shift to the Cloud Easier
Amazon leads the cloud infrastructure services market Amazon (AMZN) continues to lead the cloud infrastructure services market. According to a Canalys report, Amazon led the market with a share of 30%, while Microsoft (MSFT), Alphabet (GOOG), and IBM’s (IBM) SoftLayer had a combined share of 30% as of 2Q16. The report also states that the […]
Amazon Focusing on Groceries Business Slowly but Steadily
Amazon trying different strategies for AmazonFresh Amazon (AMZN) has been experimenting with its grocery business, AmazonFresh, for a long time now. It has been slowly expanding AmazonFresh and adding locations where it is available. Northern Virginia, Maryland, Dallas, and Chicago are among the most recent additions. Amazon has also been experimenting with AmazonFresh pricing strategies. In […]
A Look at Apple’s Strong Holiday Growth
Launch of new Apple Watch and MacBook lineups In the previous part of this series, we discussed how Amazon (AMZN) continued to dominate the US e-commerce market in 2016. However, according to a report from Slice Intelligence, Apple (AAPL) managed to grow the fastest during this period. As the chart above shows, Apple managed to grow […]
Holiday Sales Results Could Boost Amazon Stock
The holiday season is considered the best period for retailers. Preliminary results from research company Slice Intelligence indicate that Amazon (AMZN) dominated the holiday season in 2016.
Behind Google Improvements in Cloud Solutions
Last quarter, Google upgraded its BigQuery data analytics software and made Google Cloud Machine Learning available for businesses for training purposes.
Why Google Wants Its Own Netflix-Like Video Streaming Service
Google (GOOG) now plans to monetize YouTube in a different way, by offering a video subscription streaming service—similar to what Netflix (NFLX) offers.
Why Programmatic Ads Are a Double-Edged Sword for Google
Google (GOOGL) has recently mentioned that advertisers have started to adopt programmatic ads for digital marketing campaigns in increasing numbers.
Here’s How YouTube Is Driving Such Fast Growth for Google
Google continues to innovate by bringing new ad formats and improved ad measurement tools for YouTube.
Understanding Google’s Rapidly Growing Expenses
Despite its impressive revenue growth, Google’s (GOOGL) overall costs grew at an even higher rate last quarter.
How Is IBM Helping Apple Sell More Devices?
Apple (AAPL) and IBM’s (IBM) partnership continues to gain strength. These companies had forged a partnership in 2014 to have IBM analyze data collected from Apple devices.
Can Apple’s New MacBook Lineup Help Grow Its PC Market Share?
Last quarter was not a great one for Apple (AAPL) in terms of Mac sales.
Apple Pay Transactions Growing at a Rapid Rate for Apple
In addition to the App Store and Apple Music, Apple Pay is turning out to be another promising product for Apple’s Services segment.
Apple Music Plays Important Role in Music Streaming Growth
Apple has now managed to grow its paid subscribers for its music service to more than 17 million.
Can Apple Investors Hope to See Positive Growth This Quarter?
Apple (AAPL) has been disappointing investors over the last few quarters with negative revenue growth rates.
Amazon Could Again Lose Money in International Markets in 3Q16
Amazon’s (AMZN) operating margins have improved dramatically in the last few quarters courtesy of AWS and Prime.
AT&T Has Taken a Different Approach to Diversify Wireless Business
Like Verizon, AT&T (T) also saw a revenue decline in its US wireless business in the last quarter on a year-over-year basis.
Why Verizon Needed to Diversify Its Wireless Business
Verizon’s wireless business accounts for more than 70% of its revenues. However, the business has recently seen falling revenue growth.
Apple iPhone 7 Could Mean a Rise in Churn for Telecom Providers
Postpaid churn rates for telecom companies have declined during the past year, except for Verizon Communications (VZ).
These Two Telecom Giants Should Benefit Most from Apple’s iPhone 7
Apple released its iPhone 7 on September 7. Sprint and T-Mobile have announced that their pre-orders for iPhone 7 have exceeded pre-orders for iPhone 6.
These Synergies with DIRECTV Are Helping AT&T Expand Margins
AT&T closed its acquisition of DIRECTV for $49 billion one year ago, and its synergy targets are already well ahead of the schedule.
Why Sprint Continues to Focus on Cost-Cutting Measures
To become profitable, Sprint has been trying to cut costs. Both its costs of services and SG&A costs have declined during the past year.
What’s Giving Verizon a Competitive Advantage in 5G Technology?
Verizon considers 5G to be a game changer. It also believes that 5G implementation will save costs for the company.
AT&T Is Investing Heavily in This to Grow Its 4G LTE Footprint
AT&T already spent $10.3 billion in capex in the first half of 2016 and expects to spend a total of $21 billion in 2016.
Verizon Sees This as One of Its Main Growth Drivers
Verizon’s network has always been perceived as the best network among major wireless providers. It considers this leadership to be its main growth driver.
Verizon’s Service Segment Show Signs of Improvement
While Verizon’s Service segment provides more than half of its revenues, the Service and Equipment segments’ revenues fell last quarter YoY.