Wall Street Analysts Weigh In On Amazon, Microsoft, Apple, Twilio, and More

Another week, another 52 week high made by the NASDAQ. Although the Fed raised the federal funds rate again, investors have for the most part tuned out the negatives and have chosen to focus on the expected lower taxes, overseas profit repatriation, and potentially higher inflation in the coming years ahead. Not surprisingly, many big name tech stocks have done well year-to-date.

In this article, we recap some recent analyst commentary concerning Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG), Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), and Twilio Inc (NYSE:TWLO) and we use the latest 13F data to determine elite fund sentiment toward the names.

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According to Pacific Crest’s Brent Bracelin, Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)‘s dominance in the cloud should not be taken for granted. Based on his research, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG)‘s cloud offerings are ‘viable global alternatives’ with the former’s Azure service winning more contracts than before due to more (previously skeptical) channel partners jumping aboard. Both Microsoft and Alphabet have stronger financial profiles than Amazon, and both companies have invested substantial resources to beef up their cloud offerings. Although Bracelin believes AWS has a ‘multiyear lead’ versus Alphabet and Microsoft, his research indicates that AWS’ growth might be slowing. Per his calculations, AWS revenue growth will dip below 40% for this year and grow less than 30% for 2018. The slower growth for AWS might mean more market share for Microsoft and Alphabet. In terms of ratings, the analyst has a $70 price target on Microsoft and an ‘Overweight’ recommendation. Bracelin has a $895 price target on Amazon, down from the previous $905. According to our data, the smart money loves all three stocks almost equally. Of the 742 elite funds that we track, 126 were long Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) while 123 funds were long Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) at the end of 2016.

On the next page, we examine what analysts had to say about Apple Inc, and Twilio Inc.

Count Andy Hargreaves as one of the Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) bulls. Hargreaves thinks that potential tax cuts on repatriated profits could allow the giant from Cupertino to up its dividend substantially. If Apple’s dividend increases, the company’s stock could rise, even given the 21% year-to-date rally. Not surprisingly, Hargreaves has an ‘Overweight’ recommendation on the stock. According to our data, the smart money wasn’t too impressed with Apple. The number of elite funds with holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) fell by 32 quarter-over-quarter to 113 at the end of December. Going the opposite way was Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, which bought substantial shares over the past two quarters.

As it pertains to Twilio Inc (NYSE:TWLO), Bhavan Suri of William Blair notes that his research indicates that ride sharing company Lyft might be adding Vonage’s Nexmo product as a potential alternative to Twilio’s services. Although Lyft has been using Twilio’s services for four years, the company seems to be looking for potentially cheaper options. Despite his research, Suri still believes Lyft will still use Twilio (although potentially less) and has an ‘Outperform’ rating on the stock. 19 elite funds were long Twilio Inc (NYSE:TWLO) at the end of the fourth quarter, up 10 funds from the previous quarter.

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