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Fang

The iPhone rules the S&P 500

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Let’s kick things off… with a shocking statistic about your phone (and if you don’t have an iPhone…get out) – the iPhone is expected to bring in more revenue than 492 of the 500 companies in the S&P 500 did last year. Apple is hopeful that the iPhone will bring in $165 billion in sales this fiscal year. In fact, $165 billion in revenue [from just the iPhone] crushes the revenue Amazon brings in from online store sales.

 

You’ll be saying ‘TGIW’… when Wednesday rolls around and Apple announces the new iPhone models. Well, maybe not, because remember, this is a “minor” update year, so we probably won’t see anything too groundbreaking. But hopefully, there will be good news to report so that investors can hang on to their near 20% gains the company’s stock saw in August.

 

They do other stuff, too… which we have covered here many times at Sanebull. But to reiterate for those just joining us – Apple makes a $#!% ton of money by offering services like the App Store, Apple Pay, iTunes, and Apple Music. So it’s not all about the iPhone (although it kind of is…).

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Mid caps

Uh oh… Ford is making a break for China…

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Not everyone is dodging the tariffs… or at least not one company and that company is Ford. Donald Trump tweeted saying “This is just the beginning. This car can now be BUILT IN THE U.S.A. and Ford will pay no tariffs!” to the company. However, we have come to find that such a reason wasn’t actually “the reason” for Ford building cars in China.

 

Americans don’t like… the Focus Active which is why it won’t be built in the United States. The model is expected to sell fewer than 50,000 units in the United States, so why not make the car where it will sell? That is what the car-maker is doing. Although, Ford won’t be importing any of the vehicles to the states because of tariffs – so I guess they are tariff dodgers after all.

 

It’s not just the Focus Active… that American consumers don’t like – it’s sedans and small cars altogether. To combat this, Ford is reallocating $7 billion of R&D money from cars to trucks and SUVs. It’s not just Ford, either – General Motors and Fiat Chrysler also plan to focus on the larger automobiles, as well. Who knew sedans were out of style?

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Blue Chip

Amazon: Take what you want and GET OUT

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Cashier-free? Works for me… or maybe it doesn’t because I don’t live in New York. However, if you happen to live in the Big Apple, you may be interested to hear that Amazon is expanding their cashier-free convenience stores to your state. While there will be no cashiers, there will be humans there, such as store managers.

 

It’s called Amazon Go… and there are already three of them in Seattle. You may be wondering – what can I get there? Well, mainly food – breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, and some groceries and meal kits. There will also be employees in the store to answer your questions and keep the shelves stocked.

 

I know what you’re thinking… how is this any different from the self-checkouts at, say, Walmart? It is a lot different because you need to open the Amazon Go app to enter the store. Once the app is open and you’re in, you can take whatever you want and leave. Oh, and don’t worry – Amazon is watching you and will charge you for it later. All the fun of shoplifting with none of the “free” stuff.

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International

Alibaba is under new management

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Because Jack Ma is calling it quits… apparently, being CEO and chairman of a $420 billion empire takes a lot out of you. Jack Ma started out as English teacher and transformed into a tech tycoon over the course of his 20-year run with Alibaba. The current CEO, Daniel Zhang, will take over as executive chairman next year.

 

In case you don’t know… Alibaba is a vast online retail platform all over the world, but especially prominent in China. Also, just like Amazon, the company has expanded into other areas such as movies, news, and cloud computing as it aims to take over the world.

 

Forget $1M for retirement… because Jack Ma has a net worth of around $40 billion. Jack Ma is leaving at the right time, too, because the United States is preparing to slap $200 billion worth of tariffs on Chinese goods. Additionally, although China’s economy has been trucking along to this point, it has shown signs of slowing down. But oh well, that’s Daniel Zhang’s problem now because Jack Ma has left the building!

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