Walmart
Digital advertising is an increasingly important division of retailers’ margins in an ever-increasing world of noise.
Yesterday, Walmart (WMT) announced a possible $2 billion acquisition of smart-TV maker, Vizio (VZIO). The latter’s share prices, of course, skyrocketed, but that’s not the story.
In the fourth quarter alone, Amazon (AMZN) reported ad services revenue of $14.65 billion, a 27% year-over-year increase, while Walmart announced 20% growth in its global advertising business.
There’s a lot of money and deep margins for digital advertising.
And with more screens in store, there are more opportunities to sell screen time and space to companies for our eyeballs.
The key, though, is that Vizio TVs are very good at collecting viewership data. That’s essential for targeting and measuring advertising effectiveness.
In a world where data privacy for the average consumer matters more than ever – meaning the old methods will no longer work – Walmart is taking a bet on how it can innovate.
It’s a great move for the long term.
Nvidia
The stock of the day (month… year…) is Nvidia (NVDA).
It just surpassed Amazon (AMZN)’s market cap for the first time since 2002 – reaching $1.78 trillion yesterday – making it the fourth-largest U.S. company by market value.
And there’s no stopping from here.
Nvidia reports earnings after hours next Wednesday, February 21, and there are a few key metrics to watch for – and one action to take – that CJ will be talking about in a video we’ll send this afternoon.
Be on the lookout – you’ll receive an email link in a few hours.
Plug Power
Is cost cutting measures of $75 million for a $3 billion company enough?
Probably not. But that’s how much Plug Power (PLUG) wants to cut via layoffs and other initiatives in the coming months.
The company is an alternative energy firm – which, as we know, the world is obsessed with right now – specializing in hydrogen fuel-cell technology.
Don’t get me wrong – there are big players here and even bigger investors in hydrogen energy.
But for Plug to have burned through $1.85 billion in cash last year without much worldwide adoption for its core business… well, it doesn’t seem good.
With alternative energy, we think you’re better positioned with uranium stocks – and this one, in particular.
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