the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^ DJI) couldn’t hold out on Monday, falling about 0.89% at 10:05 am EST. COVID-19 vaccine situation improved after Moderna released the full results of its Phase 3 study, but the news was not enough to propel markets higher. Moderna found 94.1% vaccine efficacy against COVID-19, with 100% efficacy against severe cases of COVID-19.
Actions of Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) got a boost after receiving a price target increase from analysts on optimism for the 5G upgrade. Meanwhile, the actions of salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM) collapsed over a report that the acquisition of the company Soft (NYSE: WORK) arrive tomorrow.
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Apple gets higher price target on 5G optimism
Asking people what they are going to do is not a very reliable method of predicting what they are going to do. Actually go do. Surveys often indicate that a high percentage of NetflixThe company’s user base would either cancel or downgrade its subscriptions in the face of a price hike, but Netflix has steadily increased prices over the years without suffering any kind of significant customer drain.
Since surveys are unreliable, buying a stock based on the outcome of a survey is probably not a good idea. Still, stock analysts need to find reasons to talk about their favorite stocks. Morgan Stanley raised its Apple share price target from $ 171 to $ 191 on Monday, citing the results of a survey of 3,500 people that indicated strong intention to buy smartphones driven by 5G technology.
Morgan Stanley pointed to the long lead times for the iPhone 12 Pro and the initial strong demand from US mobile carriers as supporting evidence. Apple will outperform other smartphone companies in terms of upgrades, Morgan Stanley estimates, with a bull deal calling for 268 million iPhone shipments in fiscal 2021. The current consensus analysts estimate for iPhone shipments is only 213 million.
It is still unclear how much consumers really care about 5G technology. No one has made a particularly strong argument in favor of the technology other than “it’s faster”. How willing are consumers to upgrade their expensive phones during a pandemic, and without the economic boost they had earlier in the year? We’ll have a good idea when Apple releases its quarterly results in January.
Apple shares rose about 1.9% on Monday morning. The tech stock has gained around 62% so far this year.
Salesforce could announce the acquisition of Slack tomorrow
CNBC announced Monday that Salesforce is set to announce the acquisition of collaboration software provider Slack. CNBC sources say the announcement comes after the market closed on Tuesday, right in conjunction with Salesforce’s quarterly report.
While an exact price was not known until the deal was announced, Salesforce is expected to pay a premium over Slack’s current price, CNBC sources say. The sources also say the deal is expected to be half cash and half stocks.
With Slack currently valued at around $ 24 billion after Monday’s surge, a deal with the software company would be the biggest acquisition Salesforce has ever made. It would also be one of the largest software acquisitions in history.
Slack’s biggest competitor is Microsoft Teams. Microsoft is bundling Teams with some of its Office for business subscription plans, giving the business a major advantage. Salesforce could do something similar with Slack, pushing the software onto its large existing user base.
Salesforce shares were down 3.5% on Monday morning, while Slack shares jumped about 3.6%.
