Vanguard Information Technology ETF

Jeff Bezos’s primary focus remains his role as the CEO of Amazon, but he’s made investments in many other industries and companies.

The FAANG stocks need no introduction. Their cumulative market cap forms 27% of the NASDAQ. The Fidelity NASDAQ Composite Index Track (ONEQ) has 44% exposure to technology.

The ADP February jobs report was published on March 7, 2018. It offered a deeper insight into the employment trends across different US sectors.

The Conference Board uses the average weekly unemployment claims as a key constituent of its LEI (Leading Economic Index).

The ADP January jobs report, which offers insight into employment trends, was published on January 31.

In DLT (distributed ledger technology), details of the transactions are recorded in multiple places called blocks. These blocks are then chained together on a shared network.

February WTI crude oil futures contracts rose 0.34% to $64.52 per barrel at 12:05 AM EST on January 16, 2018. It’s the highest level since December 2014.

US crude oil futures contracts for February delivery also rose 0.6% to $62.01 per barrel on January 4, 2018—the highest settlement since December 2014.

According to the employment report, job growth was robust across all the sectors except for the information (VGT) sector, which saw 4,000 job losses in December and over 50,000 job losses in 2017.

US technology stocks have been split this year. NASDAQ closed at an all-time high of 5,106.6 on May 27. It took NASDAQ almost 15 years to regain the 5,000 levels.

In this series, we’ll analyze how different asset classes like bonds (BND) and global equities (VTI) reacted to last week’s central bank events.

The S&P 500 index (SPY) managed to close with minimal losses last week, closing at 2,431.77 compared to 2,433.79 the week before.

Global growth is expected to drag itself into greener pastures supported by the improving global and US factory output and sentiment indicators.

So let’s move on to the AlphaDEX suite of products. Walk us through the construction of these products.

3M’s (MMM) operating margins expanded 50 basis points to 24.4% in 2Q16. 3M has benefited from lower year-over-year commodity prices.

On June 30, 2016, the S&P 500 slightly outperformed the Technology Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLK) and the Vanguard Information Technology ETF (VGT).

Homegrown Facebook (FB) Messenger is an instant messaging application that enables people to connect, and also enables businesses to engage with customers seamlessly and securely.

Facebook has a history of posting strong double-digit revenue growth with its mobile advertising segment acting as the primary catalyst.

Pinterest is expanding its self-serve advertising feature to allow advertisers to place ads without any help from advertising sales representatives.

Twitter (TWTR) is making it easier for customers to share their feedback and grievances about products and services to its web portal.

But though millennials may have been born into unlucky economic circumstances, they seem to also be transforming their luck.

The Vanguard Information Technology ETF (VGT) tracks a market-cap-weighted portfolio of US technology companies.

Pandora’s (P) stock rose 10% on February 17, 2016, following an upgrade by FBR Capital. FBR Capital upgraded the stock to “outperform” from “market perform” and maintained its target price of $16.

Labor productivity is an important tool to measure the strength of a country’s economy. Policymakers often use this indicator to compare output efficiency during a particular period.

One of the most prominent effects of technology is on the asset side of the balance sheet. Many technologies drive companies to employ fewer assets in order to generate higher returns.

The mystery of waning labor productivity in various developed economies is still unsettled. However, various economic literature offers plausible explanations.

In recent years, labor productivity growth has slowed down significantly in most of the OECD countries. This decline is broadly spread across sectors.

Although Apple (AAPL) has continued to post record-breaking earnings in 2015, it still fell 3.8% for the year. The negative calendar year returns were the first since 2008.

With 900 million users, Facebook’s product WhatsApp is dominating other mobile messing apps. It’s followed by Facebook Messenger and Tencent’s WeChat.

VGT’s fund flows in the trailing one week and trailing three months (quarterly) were $46.1 million and $483.9 million, respectively.

Technology has revamped inventory management for companies in a big way. More and more companies are carrying less and less physical assets.

Technology (XLK) is advancing by leaps and bounds. The diffusion and adoption rates for new technologies have risen over the years as the population has become more tech-savvy.

Accenture has a current ratio of 1.36x, lower than the industry median of 2.03x. ACN’s quick ratio is 1.36x, also lower than the industry median of 1.92x.

In 3Q15, the selling, general, and administrative expenses for Accenture rose to $1.41 billion from $1.38 billion in 3Q14 and $1.36 billion in 3Q13.

Revenues for IBM fell 2.3% from $106.9 billion in fiscal 2011 to $104.5 billion in fiscal 2012. Revenues further fell 5.9% YoY in fiscal 2013 to $98.4 billion.

Twitter (TWTR) reported average monthly active users of 320 million for 3Q15, a meager gain of 4 million from the previous quarter. The consensus analyst estimate for MAUs was 324 million.

VGT’s fund flows in the trailing one week and trailing three months were $13.1 million and $153.6 million, respectively. Since August 3, 2015, VGT has been trading consistently below its moving averages.

Earlier this month, Twitter announced that marketers can now play six-second pre-roll video ads before videos from various publishers on Twitter’s platform.

VASCO Data Security is thus trading at a discount of 44.17% with respect to its median target and looks to be an attractive buy at current levels.

VGT’s market capitalization is $7.20 billion with an expense ratio of 0.12%, and average daily volume of shares traded is $38.02 million. VGT’s price-to-earnings ratio is 19.25x.

The Vanguard Information Technology ETF (VGT) tracks a market-cap weighted portfolio of U.S. technology companies. VGT’s market capitalization is $7.33 billion.

The PureFunds ISE Cyber Security ETF (HACK) closed at $27.35 with a return of 0.18% on September 21, 2015.

Through the Apple-Cisco deal, Cisco will enhance user experience, which is critical in enterprise mobility. Cisco pioneers Internet networking infrastructure and business collaboration tools.

With the new Apple-Cisco deal, companies that run on Cisco’s Internet networks will be able to transfer content securely and quickly to iPhones and iPads.

On September 8, 2015, the tech sector began to bounce back, with all component stocks rising.

Accenture is one of the world’s largest multinational technology services, management consulting, and outsourcing companies and is headquartered in Dublin.

Twitter is focusing on reinvestment rather than returning revenues to its investors. During 2Q15, it purchased $93 million in property and equipment.

Although the valuation multiples for the tech sector are higher than its historical averages, the prices are supported by robust earnings growth.