Annual Review — Technology
by Travis Johnson, Stock Gumshoe | January 17, 2017 2:07 pm
Part two of my annual review and "reset" of my portfolio
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Source URL: https://www.stockgumshoe.com/2017/01/annual-review-technology/
I posted this just before the news started leaking about QCOM getting sued by US antitrust regulators over their patent licensing… the news is too new to mean much, but patent licensing is a big part of Qualcomm’s business, and a big reason why their margins are so high.
I’m glad to see buying out NXPI is apparently not an issue.
Thanks really enjoyed reading that.
Travis
Chuckled a little when you mentioned the Echo from Amazon. We got ours a year ago Christmas and certainly over the holidays when all the children and grandchildren were in, quite entertaining. We basically used it for background music during dinner and such as you can change the volume w/o getting up and select the artist of choice.
When fooling around with it and playing further with settings, I noticed that it can print out every question that we had asked it….which I thought was impressive, but also a little strange. As you know all you do is say “Alexa”, the blue light turns on, ask it a question and it will incredibly do a google search faster then fast. It then hit me that is has to listen for every word we say in order to specifically turn on when “Alexa” is spoken…..Duh!
One day my wife and I were having a discussion and I said something to the effect in humor “No way…..you’re killing me!” 2 seconds later we hear in the background Alexa giving us the “local suicide hotline #.” It now is unplugged and stays that way.
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I knew a girl in high school named Alexa–that could get a bit confusing…
Travis. Thanks again for a very nice write up. Hope you heal quickly. Best wishes.
Travis,
From those of us who are old and retired, I want thank you for your portfolio updates and explanations…..very helpful!!
PS: I too during my many years, as I’m sure many of us, have lost arguments with indoor and outdoor steps and have felt your pain…..happy to hear you are not seriously injured and are healing!!!
Travis,
I cannot wait to see you comments on COR. The return in the past two weeks is scary
A nice portfolio Travis. As for the Facebook, I’m sure you are aware, i was reading about there last meeting i think last June that they voted for a stock split this year. Was like 3 or 4 to 1. Been thinking of buying some myself. Waiting on a dip.
Really ugly morning for Qualcomm today — the antitrust suit from the government has now been amplified by a suit from Apple that alleges overcharging and a billion dollar rebate due to AAPL that hasn’t been paid.
I don’t know how this will shake out, but since it’s a small position (1%ish) I’m resisting any knee-jerk response. Part of the problem is that this attention comes when regulatory review of the NXP acquisition is also going to be intense, so it opens the door for regulators and competitors to pressure Qualcomm further… but it’s also true that Qualcomm has faced similar suits and complaints in the past because of its near-monopoly position (since eroded some) in communication chips for phones, and they have maintained strong market leadership regardless.
This is potentially great news for Intel, which has been trying for years to get into the base chips for mobile devices and take some market share from Qualcomm, and it may be just the opening Intel needs to get further in the door at both Apple and Samsung, but we’ll see. It may also be that this pressure causes more scrutiny on the NXP deal or helps to squash it, but it’s awfully early to guess at that — if so, that would put the kibosh on much of my argument, that the acquisition would bring really accretive earnings growth to Qualcomm that the market hasn’t been appreciating enough. Perhaps the market was just smarter than me about the potential legal risks.
Will let you know if I decide to change my personal position, either buying more or selling my small stake. No decision yet.
$AAPL, $QCOM #WSJ news – Apple sues Qualcomm in China https://twitter.com/WSJ/status/824403240724926464
RE: “to be sure — their cloud services lag far behind Microsoft and Amazon by most measures,” :
Omaha Public schools adopted Gologle Docs (now “G Suite”) two years ago. My nephew in California now makes his living installing it for businesses. My Granddaughter uses it in her Identity Marketing business. It is an alternative to MS office with built in backup, no installation required, collaboration with clients. If your computer shoots craps, just go buy a new one, install chrome and you’re back in business. So I tried it. I needed help three times. Each time I called for support (any time of any day) I got what sounded like a native English speaker who actually could answer my questions and courteously walk me through the steps. I also tried Microsoft Office 365. Was promised help installing – which apparently most people need. Two weeks later no help and no follow up. Installed it myself. Way more installation problems and extraneous crap on my computer plus some new spyware from Microsoft that runs all the time. I removed Office 365 with difficulty – still have a “One Drive” icon that does nothing in Windows File Explorer
Look out Microsoft
$NVDA $GPRO $AMBA and ??? – This crazy camera could be a boon to VR filmmakers
Researchers have found a way to build a 360-degree camera that’s compact but shoots high-quality video. It could be just the thing for virtual reality. https://www.cnet.com/news/crazy-pmast-camera-boon-to-vr-movies-video-oculus/ ht https://twitter.com/RickKing16/status/825619248298991616