3. #Zoom Video Communications: Reported Monday guidance that topped estimates on better-than-expected third-quarter results, but warned of higher churn in the final quarter of the year.
Zoom Video Communications Inc (NASDAQ: ZM) fell 5.6%, to $26.98.
The company said it expected to see increased churn in the fourth quarter when compared to historic churn levels due to a "higher percentage of customers who purchased monthly subscriptions."
For the fourth quarter, the company sees earnings in the range of 77 cents to 79 cents on revenue of $806 million to $811 million, compared with consensus estimates earnings of 63 cents on revenue of $721.2 million.
Zoom Video Communications Inc (NASDAQ: ZM) fell 5.6%, to $26.98.
The company said it expected to see increased churn in the fourth quarter when compared to historic churn levels due to a "higher percentage of customers who purchased monthly subscriptions."
For the fourth quarter, the company sees earnings in the range of 77 cents to 79 cents on revenue of $806 million to $811 million, compared with consensus estimates earnings of 63 cents on revenue of $721.2 million.
TOP 5 STOCKS TO WATCHOUT:-
1. #NOKIA- Telecoms equipment maker Nokia operating margins at its networks business will be zero in 2021, it said on Wednesday in an update on strategy to streamline the Finnish company into four business groups.
The immediate focus of the mobile networks business will be on executing its turnaround, the company said. It expects the business to deliver a comparable operating margin of about 0% in 2021 and significant improvement over the longer term, Nokia added.
2 . #ZOOM:-Zoom Video Communications said on Wednesday it would expand its presence in Singapore by opening a research and development centre and will immediately hire hundreds of engineering staff for the new operations.
The video-conferencing services provider said in a statement that is also doubling its data centre capacity in the country. The San Jose, California-based company launched the Singapore data centre, its first in Southeast Asia, in August.
The company has seen a surge in users of its video conferencing service this year, with millions of workers and students using its video platform as they work and study from home due to the coronavirus-led lockdowns.
3.#DELTA AIR:-Delta Air Lines Inc is in early talks with governments to add more quarantine-free flights overseas, a company executive said on Tuesday, as the aviation industry turns to such testing-backed programs to revive demand battered by COVID-19.
The U.S. carrier is rolling out two quarantine-free flights this week to Europe, where passengers are required to be tested for the novel coronavirus.
The flights, which are restricted to essential travel to meet government requirements, begin later on Tuesday with a departure from Atlanta to Amsterdam.
4. #AMAZON:- Amazon.com urged a U.S. judge to toss out the Pentagon's $10 billion JEDI cloud computing contract award after the Defense Department said in September a court-ordered re-evaluation had determined Microsoft Corp proposal still represented the best value for the government.
The company's Amazon Web Services (AWS) unit said in a redacted Oct. 23 court filing unsealed on Tuesday that the award to Microsoft must "be invalidated because it is the product of systematic bias, bad faith, and undue influence exerted by President Trump to steer the award away from" the company. It called it a "flawed and politically corrupted decision."
The White House declined to comment, referring questions to the Justice Department. The Pentagon did not immediately comment.
Microsoft said in a statement Tuesday "career procurement officials at the DoD decided that given the superior technical advantages and overall value, we continued to offer the best solution."
5. #HONDA MOTOR CO:- Honda Motor Co said on Tuesday it was recalling 1.79 million vehicles worldwide in four separate campaigns, including some linked to reported fires.
The recalls cover 1.4 million vehicles in the United States.The Japanese automaker said one recall covers 268,000 2002-2006 model year CR-V vehicles in the United States to replace power window master switches. Honda said there had been no reported injuries, but 16 fires reported related to the issue.
Honda conducted a prior recall of the power window master switches in 2012. The new recall is in response to moisture-related failures of switches repaired under the previous campaign.
1. #NOKIA- Telecoms equipment maker Nokia operating margins at its networks business will be zero in 2021, it said on Wednesday in an update on strategy to streamline the Finnish company into four business groups.
The immediate focus of the mobile networks business will be on executing its turnaround, the company said. It expects the business to deliver a comparable operating margin of about 0% in 2021 and significant improvement over the longer term, Nokia added.
2 . #ZOOM:-Zoom Video Communications said on Wednesday it would expand its presence in Singapore by opening a research and development centre and will immediately hire hundreds of engineering staff for the new operations.
The video-conferencing services provider said in a statement that is also doubling its data centre capacity in the country. The San Jose, California-based company launched the Singapore data centre, its first in Southeast Asia, in August.
The company has seen a surge in users of its video conferencing service this year, with millions of workers and students using its video platform as they work and study from home due to the coronavirus-led lockdowns.
3.#DELTA AIR:-Delta Air Lines Inc is in early talks with governments to add more quarantine-free flights overseas, a company executive said on Tuesday, as the aviation industry turns to such testing-backed programs to revive demand battered by COVID-19.
The U.S. carrier is rolling out two quarantine-free flights this week to Europe, where passengers are required to be tested for the novel coronavirus.
The flights, which are restricted to essential travel to meet government requirements, begin later on Tuesday with a departure from Atlanta to Amsterdam.
4. #AMAZON:- Amazon.com urged a U.S. judge to toss out the Pentagon's $10 billion JEDI cloud computing contract award after the Defense Department said in September a court-ordered re-evaluation had determined Microsoft Corp proposal still represented the best value for the government.
The company's Amazon Web Services (AWS) unit said in a redacted Oct. 23 court filing unsealed on Tuesday that the award to Microsoft must "be invalidated because it is the product of systematic bias, bad faith, and undue influence exerted by President Trump to steer the award away from" the company. It called it a "flawed and politically corrupted decision."
The White House declined to comment, referring questions to the Justice Department. The Pentagon did not immediately comment.
Microsoft said in a statement Tuesday "career procurement officials at the DoD decided that given the superior technical advantages and overall value, we continued to offer the best solution."
5. #HONDA MOTOR CO:- Honda Motor Co said on Tuesday it was recalling 1.79 million vehicles worldwide in four separate campaigns, including some linked to reported fires.
The recalls cover 1.4 million vehicles in the United States.The Japanese automaker said one recall covers 268,000 2002-2006 model year CR-V vehicles in the United States to replace power window master switches. Honda said there had been no reported injuries, but 16 fires reported related to the issue.
Honda conducted a prior recall of the power window master switches in 2012. The new recall is in response to moisture-related failures of switches repaired under the previous campaign.
TOP 5 STOCKS TO WATCHOUT:-
1.#KIA CORP- South Korean automaker Kia Corp said on Wednesday it's reviewing cooperation on self-driving electric cars with multiple foreign firms, making no mention of a report linking it to a project with tech giant Apple Inc.
Kia's comment, issued in a regulatory filing as its shares surged nearly 20% in Seoul, came after domestic online publication Edaily reported late on Tuesday that Kia's parent, Hyundai Motor Group, had decided Kia would be in charge of proposed cooperation with Apple on electric cars. The report cited unnamed industry sources.
Hyundai Motor declined to comment. Apple was not immediately available for comment outside of U.S. business hours.
2.#EBay :- EBay Inc said on Tuesday it has started a process to explore a range of strategic alternatives for its South Korean business, which includes Gmarket, one of the largest online marketplaces in the country.
The Korea Economic Daily, a Seoul-based newspaper, reported in March last year that the e-commerce firm was looking to sell its South Korean unit in a deal that could fetch nearly $5 billion.
3.#ZOOM:- Zoom Video Communications Inc said on Tuesday it had resolved an issue that was preventing some users in Europe from accessing its desktop and mobile apps.
The issue, however, did not affect the access to the platform through a web browser,The popularity of video conferencing platforms such as Zoom has skyrocketed during the pandemic as people rely on such tools in the absence of in-person meetings at work or to stay in touch with family and friends.
4. #PINTEREST:-Ankara has imposed advertising bans on Twitter, Periscope and Pinterest after they failed to appoint local representatives in Turkey under a new social media law, according to decisions published on Tuesday.
Under the law, which critics say stifles dissent, social media companies that do not appoint such representatives are liable for a series of penalties, including the latest move by the Information and Communication Technologies Authority (BTK).
The law allows authorities to remove content from platforms, rather than blocking access as they did in the past. It has caused concern as people turn more to online platforms after Ankara tightened its grip on mainstream media.
The latest decisions in the country's Official Gazette said the advertising bans went into effect from Tuesday. Twitter, its live-streaming app Periscope, and image sharing app Pinterest were not immediately available to comment.
Deputy Transport Minister Omer Fatih Sayan said Twitter and Pinterest's bandwidth would be cut by 50% in April and by 90% in May. Twitter said last month it would shut down Periscope by March due to declining usage.
5.#LOGITECH:- Logitech International Chief Executive Bracken Darrell's recent sale of $4.2 million of stock was due to the upcoming expiry of share options and should not be taken as any pessimism about the computer peripherals maker's future, he said on Tuesday.
"It says nothing about how optimistic I am," Darrell told Reuters. "I am super optimistic, and I have every intention to be here as long as they let me," he said after Logitech reported an 85% surge in third-quarter sales and raised its guidance for the third time during its 2021 business year.
Darrell said following the record results, he would be surprised if Logitech did not raise its dividend from the 0.80 Swiss francs it paid out for 2020, although this was a matter for the board to decide.
1.#KIA CORP- South Korean automaker Kia Corp said on Wednesday it's reviewing cooperation on self-driving electric cars with multiple foreign firms, making no mention of a report linking it to a project with tech giant Apple Inc.
Kia's comment, issued in a regulatory filing as its shares surged nearly 20% in Seoul, came after domestic online publication Edaily reported late on Tuesday that Kia's parent, Hyundai Motor Group, had decided Kia would be in charge of proposed cooperation with Apple on electric cars. The report cited unnamed industry sources.
Hyundai Motor declined to comment. Apple was not immediately available for comment outside of U.S. business hours.
2.#EBay :- EBay Inc said on Tuesday it has started a process to explore a range of strategic alternatives for its South Korean business, which includes Gmarket, one of the largest online marketplaces in the country.
The Korea Economic Daily, a Seoul-based newspaper, reported in March last year that the e-commerce firm was looking to sell its South Korean unit in a deal that could fetch nearly $5 billion.
3.#ZOOM:- Zoom Video Communications Inc said on Tuesday it had resolved an issue that was preventing some users in Europe from accessing its desktop and mobile apps.
The issue, however, did not affect the access to the platform through a web browser,The popularity of video conferencing platforms such as Zoom has skyrocketed during the pandemic as people rely on such tools in the absence of in-person meetings at work or to stay in touch with family and friends.
4. #PINTEREST:-Ankara has imposed advertising bans on Twitter, Periscope and Pinterest after they failed to appoint local representatives in Turkey under a new social media law, according to decisions published on Tuesday.
Under the law, which critics say stifles dissent, social media companies that do not appoint such representatives are liable for a series of penalties, including the latest move by the Information and Communication Technologies Authority (BTK).
The law allows authorities to remove content from platforms, rather than blocking access as they did in the past. It has caused concern as people turn more to online platforms after Ankara tightened its grip on mainstream media.
The latest decisions in the country's Official Gazette said the advertising bans went into effect from Tuesday. Twitter, its live-streaming app Periscope, and image sharing app Pinterest were not immediately available to comment.
Deputy Transport Minister Omer Fatih Sayan said Twitter and Pinterest's bandwidth would be cut by 50% in April and by 90% in May. Twitter said last month it would shut down Periscope by March due to declining usage.
5.#LOGITECH:- Logitech International Chief Executive Bracken Darrell's recent sale of $4.2 million of stock was due to the upcoming expiry of share options and should not be taken as any pessimism about the computer peripherals maker's future, he said on Tuesday.
"It says nothing about how optimistic I am," Darrell told Reuters. "I am super optimistic, and I have every intention to be here as long as they let me," he said after Logitech reported an 85% surge in third-quarter sales and raised its guidance for the third time during its 2021 business year.
Darrell said following the record results, he would be surprised if Logitech did not raise its dividend from the 0.80 Swiss francs it paid out for 2020, although this was a matter for the board to decide.
4.#DISNEY :Surprisingly strong interest from adults who do not have kids at home has helped increase subscriptions to Walt Disney Co's Disney streaming service beyond initial projections, Chief Executive Bob Chapek said on Monday.
Disney+ debuted in November 2019 and growth has exceeded Wall Street expectations and Disney's forecast. While Disney is known for family entertainment, Disney+ also features movies and TV shows from Marvel, "Star Wars" studio Lucasfilm and others.
As of Jan. 2, Disney+ had signed up 94.9 million customers worldwide. Half of those live in households without children, Chapek said, a higher proportion than expected.
"What we didn't realize was the non-family appeal that a service like Disney+ would have," Chapek said via online video to the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media and Telecommunications Conference.
"In fact, over 50% of our global marketplace don't have kids," he added. "When 50% of the people in Disney+ don't have kids, you really have the opportunity now to think much more broadly about the nature of your content."
The service has generated buzz for current Marvel show "WandaVision" and "Star Wars" series "The Mandalorian" featuring the character known as Baby Yoda.
Chapek, who became Disney CEO a year ago, refocused Disney's media and entertainment businesses to make streaming the priority as customers gravitate to options such as Netflix Inc .
In December, Disney raised initial projections and said it expected to attract as many as 350 million global subscribers across all of its streaming services, which include Hulu and ESPN+, by the end of fiscal 2024.
5.#ZOOM- Zoom Video Communications Inc forecast current-quarter revenue above expectations, as the company expects millions of people to continue using its video-conferencing platform to work remotely and attend online classes, sending its shares up 10%.
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Zoom was a relative upstart founded by a former Cisco executive that had gone public on a promise to make video conferencing software easier to use.
However, businesses around the globe took to the company's video conferencing services during the virus outbreak. Zoom has since seen a meteoric rise over the last year, with investors keen on knowing if the firm can maintain this level of growth.
Eric Yuan founder and chief executive officer of Zoom, said the firm was "well positioned for strong growth" in the coming year.
The company forecast current-quarter revenue between $900 million and $905 million, compared with estimates of $829.2 million, according to IBES Refinitiv data.
Zoom has seen its user numbers surge in the past year, while its shares more than quadrupled during the same period. The platform said it has 1,644 customers contributing more than $100,000 in trailing 12 months revenue, more than double from a year earlier.
Disney+ debuted in November 2019 and growth has exceeded Wall Street expectations and Disney's forecast. While Disney is known for family entertainment, Disney+ also features movies and TV shows from Marvel, "Star Wars" studio Lucasfilm and others.
As of Jan. 2, Disney+ had signed up 94.9 million customers worldwide. Half of those live in households without children, Chapek said, a higher proportion than expected.
"What we didn't realize was the non-family appeal that a service like Disney+ would have," Chapek said via online video to the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media and Telecommunications Conference.
"In fact, over 50% of our global marketplace don't have kids," he added. "When 50% of the people in Disney+ don't have kids, you really have the opportunity now to think much more broadly about the nature of your content."
The service has generated buzz for current Marvel show "WandaVision" and "Star Wars" series "The Mandalorian" featuring the character known as Baby Yoda.
Chapek, who became Disney CEO a year ago, refocused Disney's media and entertainment businesses to make streaming the priority as customers gravitate to options such as Netflix Inc .
In December, Disney raised initial projections and said it expected to attract as many as 350 million global subscribers across all of its streaming services, which include Hulu and ESPN+, by the end of fiscal 2024.
5.#ZOOM- Zoom Video Communications Inc forecast current-quarter revenue above expectations, as the company expects millions of people to continue using its video-conferencing platform to work remotely and attend online classes, sending its shares up 10%.
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Zoom was a relative upstart founded by a former Cisco executive that had gone public on a promise to make video conferencing software easier to use.
However, businesses around the globe took to the company's video conferencing services during the virus outbreak. Zoom has since seen a meteoric rise over the last year, with investors keen on knowing if the firm can maintain this level of growth.
Eric Yuan founder and chief executive officer of Zoom, said the firm was "well positioned for strong growth" in the coming year.
The company forecast current-quarter revenue between $900 million and $905 million, compared with estimates of $829.2 million, according to IBES Refinitiv data.
Zoom has seen its user numbers surge in the past year, while its shares more than quadrupled during the same period. The platform said it has 1,644 customers contributing more than $100,000 in trailing 12 months revenue, more than double from a year earlier.
TOP 5 STOCKS TO WATCHOUT:-
1.#BYTE DANCE - TikTok owner ByteDance is working on a Clubhouse-like app for China, sources familiar with the matter said, as the global success of the U.S.-based audio chat service inspires a rush of copycats in the country.
At least a dozen similar apps have been launched in the past month, with momentum picking up after Clubhouse was blocked in China in early February. Clubhouse had seen a surge in users who participated in discussions on sensitive topics such as Xinjiang detention camps and Hong Kong independence.
New offerings include Xiaomi Corp's reworking of its Mi Talk app into an invitation-only audio service targeted at professionals last week. More are currently under development, industry executives say.
ByteDance's plans are still in the early stages, said two sources who were not authorised to speak to media and declined to be identified.
Discussions about TikTok and ByteDance on Clubhouse had prompted interest in the genre from ByteDance executives including CEO Zhang Yiming, said one of the sources.
ByteDance declined to comment.
The success of Clubhouse, which can host up to 8,000 people per chat room and has seen a discussion between Tesla Inc Chief Executive Elon Musk and Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev boost user numbers, has rammed home the potential of audio chat services.
But similar apps in China are expected to take on Chinese characteristics that will accommodate censorship and government oversight.
One such example is Nasdaq-listed Lizhi Inc's Zhiya app which was launched in 2013 and whose users usually talk about video games or sing songs.
The app requires real name registration, a trait Lizhi CEO Marco Lai says is key in China. The company also employs staff to listen to conversations in every room and deploys artificial intelligence tools to weed out "unwanted" content, such as pornography or politically sensitive issues.
The app was briefly taken down by Chinese regulators in 2019, but reinstated after Lizhi made rectifications.
2. #WALMART:-Walmart Inc-owned Indian e-commerce company Flipkart is looking at going public in the United States through a merger with a blank-check company, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter.
Flipkart has reached out to several special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) and could seek a valuation of at least $35 billion in a blank-check deal, the report Both Flipkart and Walmart did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.
Reuters reported in September that Bengaluru-based Flipkart, which vies with players such as Amazon.com's local unit and India's Reliance Industries, was preparing for an initial public offering overseas as early as 2021.
3. #ZOOM :--Zoom Video Communications Inc said it had recovered from an outage where some users were unable to join meetings on the video-conferencing platform on Wednesday.
The company's status page said all systems were operational.
Zoom said the glitch was likely due to a localized internet service issue.
The platform has seen a meteoric rise in users, thanks to remote work and online learning against the backdrop of stay-at-home orders.
Outage tracking website Downdetector.com showed nearly 2,000 incidents of people reporting issues with Zoom at its peak at 9 a.m. ET.
Separately, telecom operator Verizon Communication Inc S internet services were also affected earlier, with nearly 5,400 users registering complaints at 10 a.m. ET, according to Downdetector.
Verizon said it had since resolved the issue. "Earlier today there was an issue impacting internet routing for some of our customers. The issue has since been resolved," a spokesperson for the telecom operator said.
In January, thousands of users across the U.S. East Coast faced widespread internet outage from providers including Verizon, which disrupted services offered by Google, Amazon, Zoom, Slack and other technology firms.
1.#BYTE DANCE - TikTok owner ByteDance is working on a Clubhouse-like app for China, sources familiar with the matter said, as the global success of the U.S.-based audio chat service inspires a rush of copycats in the country.
At least a dozen similar apps have been launched in the past month, with momentum picking up after Clubhouse was blocked in China in early February. Clubhouse had seen a surge in users who participated in discussions on sensitive topics such as Xinjiang detention camps and Hong Kong independence.
New offerings include Xiaomi Corp's reworking of its Mi Talk app into an invitation-only audio service targeted at professionals last week. More are currently under development, industry executives say.
ByteDance's plans are still in the early stages, said two sources who were not authorised to speak to media and declined to be identified.
Discussions about TikTok and ByteDance on Clubhouse had prompted interest in the genre from ByteDance executives including CEO Zhang Yiming, said one of the sources.
ByteDance declined to comment.
The success of Clubhouse, which can host up to 8,000 people per chat room and has seen a discussion between Tesla Inc Chief Executive Elon Musk and Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev boost user numbers, has rammed home the potential of audio chat services.
But similar apps in China are expected to take on Chinese characteristics that will accommodate censorship and government oversight.
One such example is Nasdaq-listed Lizhi Inc's Zhiya app which was launched in 2013 and whose users usually talk about video games or sing songs.
The app requires real name registration, a trait Lizhi CEO Marco Lai says is key in China. The company also employs staff to listen to conversations in every room and deploys artificial intelligence tools to weed out "unwanted" content, such as pornography or politically sensitive issues.
The app was briefly taken down by Chinese regulators in 2019, but reinstated after Lizhi made rectifications.
2. #WALMART:-Walmart Inc-owned Indian e-commerce company Flipkart is looking at going public in the United States through a merger with a blank-check company, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter.
Flipkart has reached out to several special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) and could seek a valuation of at least $35 billion in a blank-check deal, the report Both Flipkart and Walmart did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.
Reuters reported in September that Bengaluru-based Flipkart, which vies with players such as Amazon.com's local unit and India's Reliance Industries, was preparing for an initial public offering overseas as early as 2021.
3. #ZOOM :--Zoom Video Communications Inc said it had recovered from an outage where some users were unable to join meetings on the video-conferencing platform on Wednesday.
The company's status page said all systems were operational.
Zoom said the glitch was likely due to a localized internet service issue.
The platform has seen a meteoric rise in users, thanks to remote work and online learning against the backdrop of stay-at-home orders.
Outage tracking website Downdetector.com showed nearly 2,000 incidents of people reporting issues with Zoom at its peak at 9 a.m. ET.
Separately, telecom operator Verizon Communication Inc S internet services were also affected earlier, with nearly 5,400 users registering complaints at 10 a.m. ET, according to Downdetector.
Verizon said it had since resolved the issue. "Earlier today there was an issue impacting internet routing for some of our customers. The issue has since been resolved," a spokesperson for the telecom operator said.
In January, thousands of users across the U.S. East Coast faced widespread internet outage from providers including Verizon, which disrupted services offered by Google, Amazon, Zoom, Slack and other technology firms.