In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. Friedrich Nietzsche
The volume of Venmo payments increased by 86% during 2017, rising from $6.8 billion in 1st Quarter to $10.4 billion in 4th Quarter, Statisa reported. If those figures are accurate, Venmo’s payment volume increased by $3.6 billion during 2017.
These figures indicate that PayPal might be the most successful payment solution in the world. It might also be creating a Fintech network that will one day rival those of Visa (NYSE: VA) and MasterCard (NYSE: MA).
It goes without saying that Ford will be in a great position to buy up the remains of Tesla when it finally collapses.
Until then Ford and its competitors are enjoying some great auto sales. Americans purchased 17.4 million vehicles in November 2017, down slightly from 18.1 million in vehicles in October and 18.6 million in September, The Detroit Free Press reported.
More importantly, Ford’s sales rose by 6.7% in November while those at competitors fell. Fiat Chrysler’s (NYSE: FCAU) sales fell by 4% and General Motors’ (NYSE: GM) slid by 2.9%.
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Jeep is planning to bring out a plug-in hybrid version of its iconic Wrangler in 2020, The Free Press reported. The Wrangler is the basic four-wheel-drive Jeep modeled on the iconic off-road vehicle that served America’s military in three wars.
The Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOG) alliance is vital to Chrysler’s future, because it provides access to autonomous vehicle technology, data, and expertise, without a lot of risks. Another alliance that Fiat Chrysler should seriously consider is one with Tesla Motors (NASDAQ: TSLA) which has vast amounts of expertise in electric and autonomous vehicle technology.
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The decision to buy 21st Century Fox (NYSE: FOX) will have many observers wondering if the Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS) is making money. The financial data indicates Disney is making money, but it also shows why the company’s CEO Bob Iger wants Fox.
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All the companies and governments planning to harness AI will need something to develop it on, and NVIDIA is selling technology that creates the AI.
All of this points to a classic value investing strategy, do not buy the high-profile brand that puts the products before the public. Buy the company that makes the tools they use. In the AI revolution is that company because it makes the infrastructure AI needs to operate on.
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These figures gave Tesla; which produced 83,922 vehicles and delivered 76,230 cars and SUVs in 2016 according to CleanTechnica, an “Enterprise Value” of $58.58 billion on 6 December 5, 2017. Meanwhile Tata; which shipped 554,401 vehicles from just one subsidiary in 2016, had an enterprise value of $26.33 billion.
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The Union Pacific has a pretty bright future because it owns four rail lines that connect the Great Plains to the West Coast.
They include the original transcontinental rail line from Omaha, Nebraska to Oakland, California and the Southern Pacific line from Los Angeles to Houston. Shorter routes include the line from Salt Lake City to Los Angeles, and the Oregon shortcut from Pocatello, Idaho, to Portland, Oregon, and Seattle. Other key routes include a line from El Paso to Chicago, the line from Houston to Chicago, and the line from Denver to Salt Lake City.
These tracks put the Union Pacific in a great position to cash in on all the raw materials shipped from the West and Midwest to Pacific and Gulf Coast Ports. It is also in a good position to haul all the consumer goods shipped from China to U.S. ports.
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That means nearly 90% of the desktop computers in the world are running on Windows products. It also means that the rival operating systems are not even competitive with Microsoft’s offerings.
All of the Apple Mac OS 10 systems had a market share of 6.71% and Linux had a share of 2.98%. This means that Apple is not even big enough to be a niche player in this market. Even Linux, which is theoretically the biggest threat to Windows, is tiny.
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Larry Ellison’s formula for generating all that cash is the same as Warren Buffett’s: float.
If you are looking for a value stock in technology that can make a lot of money, Oracle is it. Just be aware of the serious threats that fast-developing technology poses to its’ lucrative business model.
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The potential of this are absolutely staggering. Just a few of the things Uncle Warren can do with all that cash include:
Buy America’s second largest grocer; Kroger (NYSE: KR), outright and still have $75.56 billion left in the bank. That’s amazing because Kroger reported revenues of $118.05 billion on 31 July 2017. Kroger had an enterprise value of $32.74 billion on November 10, 2017.