Aligned with the ambition of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, a new study by Nokia (NYSE:NOK) and Telefónica (NYSE:TEF) claims that 5G networks are up to 90% more energy efficient per traffic unit than legacy 4G networks.
5G is a natively greener technology with more data bits per kilowatt of energy than any previous wireless technology generation. However, 5G networks require further action to enhance energy efficiency and minimize CO2 emissions that will come with exponentially increased data traffic.
In 2019, Nokia delivered zero-emission products to over 150 customers worldwide, and it is committed to decreasing emissions from its operations by 41% by 2030.
Shares down 2% premarket.
Micron treks higher with Needham supporting the bull case
Needham updates on Micron (NASDAQ:MU) after holding a post-earnings fireside chat with the company.
“Both volume and pricing have been positive for DRAM and NAND, though the latter still faces some issues with oversupply. Except enterprise, all end-markets are showing resurgent demand for Micron products, and next calendar year we will see the ramp of 1-alpha DRAM, which is expected to have significant cost advantages that will be visible in Micron’s financial performance come 2H of calendar 2021,” says analyst Rajvindra Gill
Gill notes that Micron is seeing broad end-market demand with mobile, auto, industrial, PC and cloud all experiences surging demand for NAND and DRAM, with industrial being the only lagging end-market.
The firm pushes up its estimate for FY21 revenue to $23.6B and expects FY22 revenue of $27.6B.
A Buy rating and price target of $80 are kept in place.
Shares of Micron are up 0.77% in premarket action to $67.55.
Wedbush sees long-term payoff for Salesforce from Slack deal
Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives weighs in on the $27.7B acquisition by Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) of Slack (NYSE:WORK).
“The core reason for this deal in our opinion is to keep pace with the cloud behemoth in Redmond. Microsoft with its Azure/Office 365 cloud stack and Teams enterprise messaging solution set has dominated the cloud over the past few years and accelerated its growth during this COVID backdrop. With Salesforce having a treadmill approach to collaboration software with its Chatter solution and its 2016 acquisition of Quip gaining minimal traction, it was “now or never” to do a deal for Benioff. Slack despite facing stiff competition from Microsoft has been a clearly successful solution set further penetrating enterprises and thus looks like the natural fit for Salesforce to beef up its collaboration and messaging footprint and keep pace with Nadella & Co. with its cloud dominance. If Salesforce wants to expand beyond its core gold mine of sales and marketing departments and further into the enterprise, this was the moment and thus represents a major shot across the bow against Microsoft.”
In summary, Ives sees Slack as near-term pain for CRM before a long-term payoff as the company looks to compete with Microsoft in the cloud. Wedbush keeps a Buy rating on Salesforce and price target of $300.
Palantir slides 10% after Morgan Stanley warns on negative risk-reward profile
Morgan Stanley drops Palantir Technologies (NYSE:PLTR) to an Equal weight rating after having it slotted at Overweight.
“Too many outstanding debates to sustain current premium valuation… With PLTR up 155% since listing with very little change in the fundamental story, the risk/reward paradigm shifts decidedly negative for the shares,” warns analyst Keith Weiss.
Weiss says the firm sees too many outstanding questions for the current valuation to be sustained.
Shares of Palantir are down 10.17% premarket to $23.06.
PayPal’s Schulman sees digital payment shift boosting crypto use
PayPal Holdings (PYPL-1.8%) CEO Dan Schulman expects the use of digital currencies to go mainstream as more merchants embrace a “digital first” approach to payments, according to comments he made at the Web Summit conference today.
Retailers are shifting to accept payments via smartphones and QR codes and more customers adopt the use of digital wallets, which are “natural complements to digital currencies,” Schulman said.
Schulman sees his biggest rival as Ant Group, China’s biggest mobile-payment company. Ant, which is one-third owned by Alibaba (NYSE:BABA), has had “tremendous success inside China” with a digital wallet that includes “all elements of financial services, all elements of shopping,” he said.
