Technology Roundup – Amazon rally expected to extend as online dominates, WarnerMedia names new chief technology officer

Published on: Jun 1, 2020
Author: Amy Liu

Amazon rally expected to extend as online dominates

Morgan Stanley hikes its price target on Amazon (AMZN +1.1%) to $2,800 from $2,600 on an online buying thesis that continues to gain strength.

“2020 is setting up to be an e-commerce inflection year as the combination of shelter-in place, lower spend on experiences (dining out, bars, travel, etc) and gov’t stimulus have driven dollars online. Trends have accelerated monthly as shoppers have moved from stocking up (March), to buying more essentials and home items (March/April), to broad based larger, more frequent buying (April to now) as our bottom-up e-commerce model leads us to estimated 58% Y/Y e-commerce growth in April.”

MS has an Overweight rating on Amazon.

Shares of Amazon have been in an accelerated upward trend since the lockdowns began in the U.S.

WarnerMedia names new chief technology officer

WarnerMedia (T +0.6%) has named Richard Tom its chief technology officer.

He’ll report to WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar; Tom was also Kilar’s CTO at Hulu and Vessel.

Tom also previously served as CTO of Digital Entertainment at Verizon.

He’s replacing Jeremy Legg, who’s moving over to AT&T Communications as its CTO.

“WarnerMedia’s future will be as much about technology as it will be about storytelling and having Rich report to me as our technical leader strongly signals that,” Kilar says.

Fairfax held talks to buy remaining shares of BlackBerry – Street Insider

BlackBerry (BB +5.2%) surges as much as 7% after Street Insider reported Fairfax Financial recently held talks to acquire the remaining shares it did not already own.

According to the article, BlackBerry has formed a special committee and hired bankers to assist in the potential acquisition.

Rosenblatt boosts Zoom target; shares +10%

Zoom Video Communications (NASDAQ:ZM) is up 10.2% today after Rosenblatt gave a hefty boost to its price target.

The firm now sees fair value at $150, up from a previous price target of $95. It has a Neutral rating.

That’s an above-average target for the Street, though it implies 24% downside.

Wall Street analysts are Neutral on the stock, as are Seeking Alpha authors. It has a Quant Rating of Neutral as well.

Apple reopening rest of Japan stores Wednesday

Apple (AAPL +0.5%) is set to reopen its remaining stores in Japan on Wednesday.

That follows the end of the government’s emergency order.

It will bring back stores in Tokyo, Osaka, Kanagawa and Kyoto prefectures as of midday Wednesday.

Another 100 U.S. stores had resumed some operations last week, with more than half of them offering curbside service only.

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