Microsoft's most recent trend suggests a bullish bias. One trading opportunity on Microsoft is a Bull Put Spread using a strike $116.00 short put and a strike $111.00 long put offers a potential 28.53% return on risk over the next 22 calendar days. Maximum profit would be generated if the Bull Put Spread were to expire worthless, which would occur if the stock were above $116.00 by expiration. The full premium credit of $1.11 would be kept by the premium seller. The risk of $3.89 would be incurred if the stock dropped below the $111.00 long put strike price.
The 5-day moving average is moving up which suggests that the short-term momentum for Microsoft is bullish and the probability of a rise in share price is higher if the stock starts trending.
The 20-day moving average is moving up which suggests that the medium-term momentum for Microsoft is bullish.
The RSI indicator is at 69.5 level which suggests that the stock is neither overbought nor oversold at this time.
To learn how to execute such a strategy while accounting for risk and reward in the context of smart portfolio management, and see how to trade live with a successful professional trader, view more here
LATEST NEWS for Microsoft
Researchers: ASUS computers infected by auto-update virus
Tue, 26 Mar 2019 02:24:02 +0000
BOSTON (AP) — In a sophisticated targeted espionage operation, hackers infected tens of thousands of computers from the Taiwanese vendor ASUS with malicious software using the company's online automatic update service, security researchers reported Monday.
Nintendo Reportedly Working on Two New Switch Models for 2019
Mon, 25 Mar 2019 19:51:44 +0000
Nintendo (OTCMKTS:NTDOY) had a record holiday quarter for sales of its Switch game console, but that still wasn't enough to meet its yearly sales target.Source: Nintendo Adding to the company's woes, sales of its low-cost 3DS handheld are falling even faster than expected. Things will get even tougher this year, with Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) expected to release a lower cost, disc-free Xbox One and Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG, NASDAQ:GOOGL) launching its Stadia streaming game service that can deliver AAA games to mobile devices.In response to these challenges, the company is reportedly working on two new Nintendo Switch models: a low-cost version and a higher-end model.InvestorPlace – Stock Market News, Stock Advice & Trading TipsWith Nintendo stock down 36% from this time last year, and the Switch now two years old, the company clearly feels it needs to make some big moves in 2019. Not One New Nintendo Switch, But TwoGoing back to last fall, slowing Switch momentum was hitting Nintendo stock as investors got nervous. Even after delivering its best Q2 in eight years, NTDOY took a hit over concerns that the Switch wasn't going to sell in the numbers Nintendo was aiming for. Then the first rumors that a new Nintendo Switch was in the works began in the fall of 2018. * 10 Tech Stocks With Key Products That Face an Uncertain Future The Wall Street Journal reported that Nintendo had plans for a new model of its handheld hybrid console planned for release this summer, with the LCD display expected to get an update. After that initial speculation, rumors began to grow that there was indeed a new Nintendo Switch coming in 2019, but that it would be a lower cost, "stripped-down" version of the current console.Today, The Wall Street Journal came out with a new report on NTDOY's hardware plans. This time, the newspaper's sources say both rumors are true: Nintendo is actually working on two new Switch consoles, a low-cost version, and a new higher-end model. Solving Multiple ProblemsThe strategy of releasing a pair of new Nintendo Switch models could solve multiple problems Nintendo faces in 2019.The low-cost version, which is reported to ditch a few features like the controller's rumble capability, with a focus on portability, could be the successor to the 3DS.Nintendo's lower cost portable is now eight years old, and its sales are declining more quickly than the company anticipated. A low-cost Switch (which would still be compatible with all Switch games) would take over from the 3DS and appeal to gamers who couldn't afford the current Switch. This budget-friendly version could also convince owners of other consoles to pick up a cheap Switch as well, for portable gaming.The increase in overall Switch units would also help to keep third-party game developers interested in the platform.A higher-end version of the Switch would include an improved LCD display and a new processor. According to the WSJ report, Nintendo is targeting gamers who lean toward the Xbox One X or PS4 Pro (although the new Nintendo Switch would not be as powerful as those consoles). It is also likely to trigger an upgrade cycle among current Switch owners who want the improved hardware. * 7 Energy Stocks to Buy Now The company is expected to follow the same approach Microsoft and Sony (NYSE:SNE) took with their upgraded consoles, ensuring games are playable on all console versions, but offering enhanced graphics performance on the higher-end model.Last year, Nintendo tried keeping the Switch's momentum going with Labo cardboard building kits and the release of several big games, primarily Super Smash Bros. While that led to some record-setting quarters, including a holiday sales quarter where the company moved 9.4 million units (up 30% from the previous year), NTDOY still had to revise its full-year sales of the console down. After two years on the market, offering two new Nintendo Switch models — one for price-conscious shoppers and one to tempt hardcore gamers — may be the answer to kickstarting sales. And the move may just help Nintendo stock recover from the past year's losses.As of this writing, Brad Moon did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities. More From InvestorPlace * 2 Toxic Pot Stocks You Should Avoid * 7 Dual-Class Stocks That Will Outperform * 7 Reasons Why Apple Streaming Won't Move the Needle for Apple Stock * 7 A-Rated Stocks to Buy in the Second Quarter Compare Brokers The post Nintendo Reportedly Working on Two New Switch Models for 2019 appeared first on InvestorPlace.
Best ETFs for 2019: The Global X Robotics and AI ETF Powers Ahead
Mon, 25 Mar 2019 17:08:29 +0000
This article is a part of InvestorPlace's Best ETFs for 2019 contest. Tom Taulli's pick for the contest is the Global X Robotics & Artificial Intelligence Thematic ETF (NASDAQ:BOTZ).In early December, I wrote a post for InvestorPlace.com regarding my pick for the Best ETFs for 2019 contest. My pick: The Global X Robotics & Artificial Intelligence Thematic ETF (NASDAQ:BOTZ).At the time, the markets were in the bear phase, and tech stocks were getting hit particularly hard. But of course, within a couple weeks, things would improve in a big way.InvestorPlace – Stock Market News, Stock Advice & Trading TipsSo what about the BOTZ stock now? Well, the year-to-date return has been solid, with a gain of nearly 19%.Now when it comes to AI and robotics, I think there should be a long-term focus. The fact is that these industries are quite volatile and highly competitive, with huge players like Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL, NASDAQ:GOOG), Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Facebook (NASDAQ:FB). * 7 Marijuana Stocks to Play the CBD Trend Yet I think the risks are well worth it since AI and robotics represent some of the most strategic categories in technology. Consider the following stats: * IDC predicts that spending on robotics and drones will rise this year by 17.6% to $115.7 billion and hit $210.3 billion by 2022. * IDC also forecasts that global spending on cognitive and AI systems will go from $24 billion in 2018 to $77.6 by 2022.As for the BOTZ ETF, it has 37 holdings in its portfolio — with assets over $1.5 billion — and a reasonable expense ratio 0.68%. Some of the top holdings include Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA), Intuitive Surgical (NASDAQ:ISRG), Keyence (OTCMKTS:KYCCF) and OMRON (OTCMKTS:OMRNY). The fund also has much exposure in international markets, with 17.44% in Europe and 48.94% in Asia.In fact, BOTZ stock only had two losers for the year so far. There is ABB (NYSE:ABB), which dropped a mere 1% and Renishaw (OTCMKTS:RNSHF), which was off about 10%.OK then, so what were some of the big winners for BOTZ stock? Let's take a look: * NVDA – 33%: The company's GPUs (Graphics Processing Units) have proven quite adept for AI because of the ability for intensive processing. And NVDA has been aggressive, building out solid businesses in the datacenter and self-driving cars. Yet during the quarter, the company also agreed to shell out $6.9 billion for Mellanox Technologies (NASDAQ:MLNX), which develops sophisticated ethernet switches. The deal, which is expected to be accretive, will expand NVDA's footprint in the data center and will also help with AI applications. * iRobot (NASDAQ:IRBT) – 47%: The company reported solid results for the fiscal fourth quarter, with earnings soaring from 16 cents a share to 88 cents a share and revenues jumping by 17.7% to $384.7 million. The Street, on the other hand, was looking for earnings of 50 cents a share and revenues of $381 million. During the holiday quarter, IRBT saw lots of traction with its innovative Roomba i7 and i7+ robots, as well as a strong performance in the Japanese market.Tom Taulli is the author of High-Profit IPO Strategies, All About Commodities and All About Short Selling. Follow him on Twitter at @ttaulli. As of this writing, he did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities. More From InvestorPlace * 2 Toxic Pot Stocks You Should Avoid * 7 Dual-Class Stocks That Will Outperform * 7 Reasons Why Apple Streaming Won't Move the Needle for Apple Stock * 7 A-Rated Stocks to Buy in the Second Quarter Compare Brokers The post Best ETFs for 2019: The Global X Robotics and AI ETF Powers Ahead appeared first on InvestorPlace.
10 Tech Stocks With Key Products That Face an Uncertain Future
Mon, 25 Mar 2019 16:15:13 +0000
The technology sector has seen some incredible growth stories, with massive payoff for investors. There are success stories among tech stocks, like Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), a company that literally started in a garage, but eventually grew to a giant whose stock value at one point last year pushed its market cap over $1 billion.However, change can come rapidly in the tech industry, and companies that don't innovate — or that react too slowly to developing trends — can quickly be left behind. * 7 Marijuana Stocks to Play the CBD Trend Which tech companies are currently at risk? Here are 10 tech stocks that rely heavily on a product with a cloudy future.InvestorPlace – Stock Market News, Stock Advice & Trading Tips Apple (AAPL)Source: Shutterstock Apple is the poster child for tech success, but there's a weak link in the company's story. Most of that phenomenal AAPL stock growth has come thanks to the success of the iPhone.Starting in 2007, the iPhone radically transformed Apple. Even in Q1, when slowing iPhone sales meant AAPL booked a year-over-year revenue decline of 5%, iPhone sales generated nearly $52 billion — dwarfing the company's next largest division (Services) which recorded $10.9 billion. That slowdown in iPhone revenue isn't a fluke. The smartphone industry in general is seeing a decline in demand at the same time that Chinese manufacturers like Huawei are moving into leadership positions. The iPhone isn't going to go away, but it's not clear at this point just how quickly sales might decline. The one thing that is clear? AAPL stock's days of depending on endlessly expanding iPhone sales are clearly over. Facebook (FB)Source: Shutterstock Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) grew into a tech industry giant by becoming the social network site of choice, then monetizing that popularity by selling advertising.However, the company has been embroiled in controversy over issues ranging from privacy violations to accusations of election influence. The mess has impacted FB stock, and fixing the problems seem like an insurmountable task. * 7 Beaten-Up Stocks to Buy as They Reverse Course At this point, Facebook seems to be thinking that a pivot away from being a social network toward private messaging may be the key to its future. Netflix (NFLX)Source: Vivian D Nguyen via Flickr (Modified)Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) rode the video streaming wave to become a tech titan, with 139 million paying subscribers and a $165 billion market cap.That success has come at a cost, though, as competition for those customers begins to heat up. Netflix has had little problem growing its subscriber base despite competition from services like Amazon's (NASDAQ:AMZN) Prime Video. However, in 2019, two new players are entering the market, and they are very big fish. Disney (NYSE:DIS) is launching its Disney+ streaming service this fall, with a massive catalog of TV and movie programming — while simultaneously pulling its Marvel and Star Wars content from Netflix. As if that wasn't bad enough, Apple is announcing its own video service. Apple has both deep pockets to spend on content and marketing, and over a billion Apple devices in circulation where it can put its own service front and center. Will the increased competition lead to a shakeout in the video streaming industry that hits Netflix? At this point, the future is up in the air. Qualcomm (QCOM)Source: Shutterstock Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) is facing challenges to its chip-making business on multiple fronts.Sales of smartphones — where its Snapdragon processors have dominated the Android camp — are slowing. Making that situation more dangerous, leading smartphone manufacturers including Samsung and Huawei have begun equipping some of their phones with their own, custom processors. An attempt to diversify by expanding into smartwatch processors hasn't gone well for QCOM stockThe company is embroiled in a lengthy and costly legal battle with Apple, and sales of iPhone modems have been a victim of that fight. * 10 Stocks on the Rise Heading Into the Second Quarter The company has also been fined by regulators in several countries for anti-competitive business practices, and those rulings have the potential to impact Qualcomm's future technology royalty revenues as well. Microsoft (MSFT)Source: Shutterstock Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) is hardly a company that's in trouble. In fact, the PC pioneer has been on a tear the past few years, with Microsoft stock climbing to the point where it eclipsed Apple in market cap to close out 2018 despite the fact that MSFT essentially missed out on the entire smartphone revolution.However, some of the company's long-time key products do have a future with big question marks. Windows revenue is tied to PC sales, and that market has been in decline for the better part of a decade. Another question is Office. The company's productivity suite has been a cash cow for decades, but in the "post-PC" world, Microsoft has released free versions for mobile devices. Google is taking over the education market with Chromebooks running its Chrome OS and Google G Suite, and has designs on the business world as well.At the same time, Microsoft is actively pushing subscriptions to Office 365 over purchasing Office outright. There are a lot of variables in play and that introduces a lot of uncertainty into the future of those two key Microsoft products. Intel (INTC)Source: Shutterstock Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) is one of the original tech stocks, but the storied chipmaker's computer processors are facing an uncertain future.The company has had to deal with PC sales that have been declining for much of the past decade. It tried to catch the smartphone wave, but its mobile processors were no match for Qualcomm's Snapdragon. Now Intel's remaining PC business faces a triple threat. A resurgent AMD (NASDAQ:AMD) has begun to eat away at Intel's market share. * 5 Cloud Stocks to Help Your Portfolio Fly Meanwhile, Microsoft is continuing to develop a version of Windows that will run on ARM-based computers. And Apple is widely expected to ditch Intel CPUs in its Mac computers in the next few years, in favor of its own custom chips. Fitbit (FIT)Source: Shutterstock Fitbit (NYSE:FIT) helped to kick off the fitness tracker craze, but quickly found itself caught between the Apple Watch and cheap Chinese fitness trackers. In the space of several years, the company went from wearables market leader to a current third place, despite adding smartwatches to its product line.Fitbit has strung together several good-news quarters, but with FIT currently trading down 87% from its 2015 highs, investors aren't convinced that its fitness trackers and smartwatches have a solid future. GoPro (GPRO)Source: ETC-USC via Flickr (Modified)In 2016, action camera maker GoPro (NASDAQ:GPRO) tried to move from being a single-product company to one with multiple product lines with the launch of its Karma drone.Diversifying its product mix was a good move, especially with the camera industry being pounded by smartphones with their built-in cameras and drones becoming a hot commodity. But the Karma was a flop. GoPro ended up cancelling its drone business after two years and laying off hundreds of workers. * Top 7 Service Sector Stocks That Will Pay You to Own Them With the release of the Hero 7 Black just in time for holiday sales, in February GoPro reported its first quarterly profit since 2017. But smartphone cameras just keep getting better, smartphones are getting more water resistant, and cheap action cameras on Amazon are tempting for consumers. Those factors mean the future of GoPro's action cameras is far from certain. Twitter (TWTR)Source: Shutterstock Twitter (NASDAQ:TWTR) is another social media giant that is under fire. Issues include bot accounts, abusive users, slowing user growth, continued backlash over its 2016 decision to kill short video app Vine, and — along with Facebook — accusations the platform was used to help influence the last election.Adding to those challenges is the fact that Twitter is still figuring out monetization. Q4 2017 was the company's first profitable quarter ever, despite being founded in 2006 and publicly traded since 2013. Its expansion into video with offerings like Vine (dead), Periscope (struggling) and NFL football live-streaming (lost to Amazon) hasn't yet paid off in a big way. With social media giants in general under scrutiny and in a constant battle to sign up new users, who knows if people will still be tweeting in a decade? Tesla (TSLA)Source: Shutterstock In many ways, Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) is a victim of its own success. The company has almost single-handedly kicked off consumer demand for all-electric cars. At the same time, it's also at the forefront of self-driving auto technology.The problem is that the growing market for high-tech, electric cars that Tesla helped to create is now big enough that traditional auto makers are moving in. Autonomous technology is going mainstream and in recent testing, Consumer Reports ranked GM's (NYSE:GM) Cadillac Super Cruise system ahead of Tesla's Autopilot. * 7 Small-Cap Stocks That Make the Grade The big question facing Tesla is whether a future where virtually every auto maker offers an all-electric car, and autonomous tech is widespread is one where it can be viable. Or will it join other companies that were pioneers that got crushed or absorbed by established players once they caught up?As of this writing, Brad Moon did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities. More From InvestorPlace * 2 Toxic Pot Stocks You Should Avoid * 7 Dual-Class Stocks That Will Outperform * 7 Reasons Why Apple Streaming Won't Move the Needle for Apple Stock * 7 A-Rated Stocks to Buy in the Second Quarter Compare Brokers The post 10 Tech Stocks With Key Products That Face an Uncertain Future appeared first on InvestorPlace.
Energy’s Future Is Looking Pretty Sunny
Mon, 25 Mar 2019 15:30:14 +0000
It’s a wealth of data not just on what people do in energy, but also on where employers foresee growth and hiring tightness. A few trends jump out — including that, even in the oil patch, services jobs are a growth industry. In order to explore that services dynamic, it’s important to start with the scale of employment in the three main fuels sectors: oil, gas and coal.
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