Usage increase that will be hard to monetise. There has been a large increase in smartphone usage, but I think that a lot of companies are going to struggle to make real money from the impact of COVID-19. App Annie (see here) which measures app download and usage held a webinar yesterday to discuss what it was seeing in terms...
The pandemic is a great use case for wireless power. Until there is a vaccine, no one is going to want to touch anything they don’t own which paves the way for greater penetration of touchless technology for things like payments, doors, bathrooms and so on. Touchless technology almost always requires the device to have a power source which can...
Samsung Electronics Q1 20 – Cloud rescue. Samsung has reported good Q1 2020 results where the clear indication is that demand for memory, storage and other silicon chips for the cloud has offset weakness in consumer. Q1 2020 revenues / EBIT were approximately KRW55tn / KRW6.4tn below the revenue forecast of KRW56tn but above the EBIT forecast of KRW6.2tn. Samsung’s...
An equity raise will be brutal. I have very little doubt that Airbnb will survive this crisis but there is very little visibility in terms of how much value the market will put on its operations the next time it has a market event. Airbnb is in a very tough spot as not only it is a travel company, but...
Amazon and Microsoft are in pole position. The COVID-19 pandemic is making both temporary and permanent changes to the way the economy works but picking the beneficiaries is much more difficult than it would seem. The net result of everyone staying at home has been skyrocketing internet usage which is beginning to put a strain on the core network which...
SoftBank is likely to have to sell more assets. SoftBank is in an increasingly tight spot as many of its portfolio companies are in trouble and need cash injections right at the exact time when SoftBank needs to conserve cash the most. WeWork – Any more work? WeWork is in real trouble and SoftBank’s withdrawal from the share purchase worsens...
2020 likely to be a very difficult year. Huawei has done an excellent job of weathering the storm in 2019 but the tidal wave in 2020 is likely to overwhelm any growth prospects that the company might have otherwise had. Huawei has released its 2019 annual report where the cover very appropriately depicts a lighthouse withstanding a severe battering from...
Risk that many partners don’t come back at all. Meituan-Dianping reported good Q4 19 results that no one really cared about with all attention being placed upon how this company has fared during the crisis and what shape the recovery will take. Q4 19 Revenues / Adj. Net Income were RMB28.2bn / RMB2.3bn well ahead of forecasts of RMB26.5bn /...
The sharing economy is in meltdown. I think that it is extremely unlikely that SoftBank will become insolvent but a continued decline in confidence in its business model and potential further failures within its portfolio could trigger a serious liquidity crisis. The bankruptcy of OneWeb combined with the news that WeWork burned through $1.4bn in cash in Q4 2019 adds...
Richard is founder, owner of research company, Radio Free Mobile. He has 16 years of experience working in sell side equity research. During his 11 year tenure at Nomura Securities, he focused on the equity coverage of the Global Technology sector.
Zoom Video Communications – Harsh Limelight
Short-term issues mask long-term promise. Zoom has been thrust into the limelight due to the current pandemic and as a result, its shortcomings (typical for any young company), it has lost customers which masks its long term potential. RFM is a subscriber to Zoom’s professional service and regularly uses all of the other systems with its clients as the nature...