This Week in Tech: Tesla, Apple, Amazon, and More

Although it isn’t tech earnings season yet, it has nevertheless been an action packed week for technology giants. In this article, we take a closer look at the key events that occurred to Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA), Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG), and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) and examine how elite funds are positioned.

At Insider Monkey, we track around 770 hedge funds and institutional investors. Through extensive backtests, we have determined that imitating some of the stocks that these investors are collectively bullish on, can help retail investors generate double digits of alpha per year. The key is to focus on the small-cap picks of these funds, which are usually less followed by the broader market and allow for larger price inefficiencies (see the details here).

Critics Say Tesla is Too Early; Musk Defends

After several high profile self-driving accidents, several detractors, including Consumer Reports blamed Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) for being too aggressive in adopting self-driving technology this week. Predictably, anti-luddite and futurist Elon Musk defended self-driving tech, stating that the tech saves lives when doing the math. Musk has no plans to turn off the auto-pilot feature in Tesla cars. In a related matter, the SEC is investigating Tesla over whether the company failed to disclose material information concerning the self driving accidents before the company’s billion dollar secondary. Despite the troubles, Tesla is moving forward. The company scrapped its buyback guarantee that ensured a certain value of a vehicle this week to lower the price of its products. Elon Musk has also promised to unveil his master plan for Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) in the near future. The number of funds tracked by Insider Monkey with holdings in Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) rose by 10 quarter-over-quarter to 39 at the end of March.

Apple TV in the Spotlight

Given that iPhone demand is no longer white hot, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is increasingly looking to other markets to diversify its cash stream and the online TV industry could be a potential match. According to The Hollywood Reporter, talent agents are very excited about Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s plans in the space. Although executive Eddy Cue said that Apple isn’t on the look out for a major movie studio and won’t directly compete against Netflix, the company does have major plans to better connect consumers with content creators and build a better product than the traditional cable box. That could mean substantial investments in the sector and potentially meaningful profits that move the needle for Apple. Apple not considering buying a movie studio could be a good move. Sony buying a movie studio during its prime to sell more products didn’t really pay off. Ken Fisher’s Fisher Asset Management is a major holder of Apple.

On the next page, we examine Amazon.com, Alphabet, and Microsoft Corporation.
Amazon Prime Day a Success

Although Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)‘s Prime Day won’t whet consumer appetites as much as the day after Thanksgiving or the day after Christmas any time soon, July 12 was a success for the e-commerce giant. Amazon announced that worldwide orders rose 60% year-over-year on the day, while domestic orders jumped 50% year-over-year. More importantly, Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) likely signed up millions of new Prime members, many of whom will stick around after the promotion. Given that Prime members spend substantially more than non-Prime members, Prime Day’s benefits to Amazon will last far beyond July 12, and the company’s revenue will likely increase faster. Andreas Halvorsen’s Viking Global owned more than 3.4 million shares at the end of March.

The EU Brings More Charges Against Alphabet 

Although being a profitable, world-changing, civilization-advancing, wide-moat monopoly is a capitalist’s dream for the most part, being too dominant has its downsides, as Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) is now finding out. According to the New York Times, the European Union’s competition agency announced a new raft of antitrust charges against Alphabet, including the charge that some of Alphabet’s Google advertising products limited consumer choice. The charges could lead to more fines and more restrictions on how Alphabet does business in the EU. A total of 142 funds from our database were long Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) at the end of the first quarter, unchanged from that of the previous quarter.

Pokemon Go Gives Microsoft Hope 

Traders are increasingly bullish on Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)‘s HoloLens after the phenomenal debut of the augmented reality game Pokemon Go. In just a few days, Pokemon Go has become more popular than Tinder, Twitter, and several other widely used apps. The game’s success shows that consumers are ready for augmented reality (and that the product won’t be too early). Seeing as Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is arguably in the lead in augmented reality with HoloLens, Microsoft’s profits could potentially receive a boost if the product becomes a hit. The number of funds tracked by us with holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) rose by four quarter-over-quarter to 144 at the end of March.

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