Tag: AMZN

What is Trending on Amazon

by Fred Fuld III

Have you ever wondered what the hot items are on Amazon (AMZN) that people are ordering? The following is a list of the latest trending items.

By the way, Amazon reports earnings on April 27.

Nintendo Switch – OLED Model – The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Edition

Polaroid Originals Now I-Type Instant Camera

LEVOIT Air Purifier

Keurig K-Iced Coffee Maker

Gotland 8 Piece Outdoor Patio Furniture Set with Gas Fire Pit

AND FOR MOTHER’S DAY:

Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer Pro

Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat: Mastering the Elements of Good Cooking

Disclosure: Author owns AMZN stock. This article contains Amazon affiliate links whereby I would receive a small commission on any sale through those links at no additional cost to you.

Top 5 Pure Play AI Stocks

By Fred Fuld III

You’ve seen it on TV, you’ve read about it on news websites. Artificial Intelligence, commonly referred to as AI, is now the hottest industry. Stocks that are involved in this industry are taking off.

I originally wrote about a form of artificial intelligence back in October of 2021 in an article called The Future of Artificial Intelligence: Can You Invest In It Now?

So you may be wondering what companies are the purest plays.

WHAT AI IS

Artificial Intelligence, or AI for short, refers to the ability of machines to perform tasks that typically require human intelligence, such as learning, reasoning, problem solving, and decision-making. AI algorithms are designed to analyze data, recognize patterns, and make predictions or recommendations based on that analysis.

In other words, AI is a way to teach machines to perform tasks that would normally require human intelligence, and to improve their performance over time based on the data they analyze. This technology has the potential to revolutionize many aspects of our lives, from healthcare to transportation to entertainment. AI is even being used to write articles and books.

WHAT CHAT AI IS

One of the most popular types of AI services is Chat AI. 

Chat AI refers to the use of artificial intelligence technologies, such as natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning, to enable machines to communicate with humans via chat interfaces, such as chatbots or virtual assistants.

Chat AI is used in a variety of settings, such as customer service, where chatbots can be used to answer frequently asked questions, provide information, or help customers troubleshoot issues. Chat AI can also be used in healthcare to provide personalized support and advice, in education to assist with learning, and in business to streamline operations and improve customer engagement.

The key advantage of Chat AI is that it enables organizations to provide 24/7 support to their customers, without the need for human intervention. Additionally, Chat AI can help organizations save costs by automating routine tasks and reducing the need for human labor.

To enable effective Chat AI, developers must ensure that the algorithms are capable of understanding and interpreting natural language, as well as providing appropriate responses to user queries. This requires a combination of NLP and machine learning techniques, as well as ongoing training and improvement of the chat AI system.

Overall, Chat AI is an increasingly popular technology that has the potential to transform the way we interact with machines and automate routine tasks in various industries.

CREATING IMAGES WITH AI

Yes, artificial intelligence is now being used to create images, such as book covers, logos, album covers, and many other purposes. You just need to type in a simple description, and a picture will automatically be created. One of the most popular AI image services is called DALL-E.

DALL-E is an artificial intelligence system developed by OpenAI that is capable of generating images from textual descriptions. The name “DALL-E” is a combination of the artist Salvador Dali and the Pixar character Wall-E.

The DALL-E system uses a combination of machine learning techniques, including natural language processing and computer vision, to interpret textual descriptions and generate corresponding images. It is capable of creating images of objects and scenes that do not exist in the real world, such as a teapot made of giraffe or a snail-shaped harp.

THE BIG PLAYERS

The DALL-E system was trained on a dataset of text-image pairs, which enabled it to learn the relationship between textual descriptions and their corresponding visual representations. The system was trained on a massive amount of data, including images from the internet and text descriptions from a variety of sources.

The potential applications of DALL-E are numerous, including in the fields of art, design, and advertising. It has the potential to streamline the creative process and help artists and designers bring their ideas to life more quickly and easily. However, there are also concerns about the potential misuse of this technology, such as the creation of fake images or the propagation of harmful stereotypes.

First, let’s get the large stocks out of the way. There are many companies involved in AI, ranging from startups to large corporations. However, some of the biggest companies involved in AI are:

Google (GOOG) (GOOGL) is known for its search engine, but it’s also heavily invested in AI, with products like Google Assistant, Google Photos, and Google Translate all utilizing machine learning.

Amazon (AMZN) is using AI in many areas, such as its recommendation engine, its Alexa voice assistant, and its Amazon Go stores, which use computer vision to enable a checkout-free shopping experience.

Microsoft (MSFT) has been investing heavily in AI and has developed several AI-powered products, including Cortana, Skype Translator, and Microsoft Cognitive Services.

IBM (IBM) has a long history of developing AI technologies, and its Watson platform is one of the most well-known examples of AI in action.

Meta/Facebook (META) uses AI in a variety of ways, including facial recognition technology for tagging photos and content moderation.

Apple (AAPL) has been incorporating AI into many of its products, including Siri and Face ID.

NVIDIA (NVDA) is a leading manufacturer of GPUs, which are essential for training and running AI models.

Baidu (BIDU) is a Chinese search engine that is heavily investing in AI, with projects ranging from self-driving cars to voice recognition.

Tesla (TSLA) is using AI in its autonomous driving technology and is working to develop a fully self-driving car.

Alibaba (BABA), the Chinese e-commerce company, is investing in AI to improve its recommendation engine and other areas of its business.

THE PURE PLAYS

Now let’s get to the purer plays in artificial intelligence.

C3.AI

C3.ai, Inc. (AI) is a software company, located in Redwood City, California, that provides enterprise AI solutions for a variety of industries, including energy, healthcare, and finance. The company was founded in 2009 by Dr. Thomas M. Siebel, who is also the CEO of the company.

Before founding C3.ai, Dr. Siebel was the founder and CEO of Siebel Systems, a leading enterprise software company that was acquired by Oracle Corporation in 2006. After the acquisition, Dr. Siebel focused on developing AI-based solutions for the enterprise market and founded C3.ai.

Initially, C3.ai focused on developing predictive maintenance and energy management solutions for the energy industry. The company’s first product, C3 Energy Management, was designed to help utilities optimize their energy generation and distribution systems using machine learning algorithms.

Over time, C3.ai expanded its focus to other industries, including healthcare, financial services, and manufacturing. The company’s current product offerings include C3 AI Suite, which is a platform that enables organizations to develop and deploy AI applications, and C3.ai Ex Machina, which is an AI-powered data science platform for data scientists and developers.

C3.ai has received funding from several prominent investors, including Breyer Capital, TPG Growth, and the Rise Fund. In December 2020, the company went public on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “AI,” raising $651 million in its initial public offering.

The stock has a market capitalization of $2.45 billion. This debt-free company has $6.76 in cash per share.

SOUNDHOUND AI

SoundHound AI, Inc. (SOUN) is a Silicon Valley-based technology company that specializes in developing sound recognition and voice-enabled AI solutions. The company was founded in 2005 by Dr. Keyvan Mohajer, who is also the CEO of the company.

Initially, the company started as a music recognition app called “Midomi,” which allowed users to hum or sing a song, and the app would identify the song. Later on, the company expanded its focus to voice-enabled AI technology and changed its name to SoundHound Inc.

In 2015, SoundHound Inc. launched its flagship product, Hound, which is an AI-powered voice assistant. Hound uses a natural language processing (NLP) technology that enables users to speak complex and specific queries in a conversational manner. The Hound voice assistant is available as a mobile app and can be integrated into other devices and applications.

In addition to Hound, SoundHound AI, Inc. also offers a suite of AI-based products and services, including sound recognition technologies for speech-to-text and music identification, and voice-enabled AI solutions for automotive, hospitality, and other industries.

The company has received funding from several prominent investors, including NVIDIA, Samsung, and Tencent Holdings. By 2021, SoundHound AI, Inc. had raised over $250 million in funding.

SoundHound has a market cap of $580 million. The company is debt-free and quarterly sales increased by over 79% year-over-year.

BIGBEAR.AI

BigBear.ai Holdings, Inc. (BBAI) is a technology company that develops and provides artificial intelligence (AI) solutions for defense and intelligence organizations, as well as for commercial customers. The company was founded in 2018 and is headquartered in Reston, Virginia.

BigBear.ai’s technology solutions use AI and machine learning to help customers make sense of large and complex data sets, as well as to automate decision-making processes. The company’s AI-driven solutions are designed to improve situational awareness, increase operational efficiency, and support decision-making across a range of industries and applications.

The company’s solutions cover a range of capabilities, including computer vision, natural language processing, and data analytics. BigBear.ai’s solutions are used in a variety of applications, such as intelligence analysis, threat detection, predictive maintenance, and supply chain optimization.

BigBear.ai has a broad customer base that includes government agencies and commercial customers in various industries. The company has received funding from several venture capital firms, including Riverside Partners, Chart National, and Blu Venture Investors.

In 2021, BigBear.ai announced that it had entered into a definitive agreement to merge with GigCapital4, a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), in a deal that valued the combined company at $1.57 billion. The merger was completed in August 2021, and the combined company is now publicly traded on the NASDAQ under the ticker symbol “BBAI” as “BigBear.ai”.

This debt-free company has a market cap of $458 million. 

T STAMP

T Stamp Inc. (IDAI) is an identity authentication software company that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to develop solutions for government, enterprise partners, and peer-to-peer markets in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Malta.

T Stamp’s AI-powered solutions leverage biometric science, cryptography, and data mining to deliver identity and trust predictions, protect sensitive user information, and extend the reach of digital services through global accessibility. The company’s solutions include converting biometric and other identifying data into an Irreversibly Transformed Identity Token that serves as a secure tokenized identity. T Stamp also offers solutions for privacy and data protection, document validation, identity verification, geolocation, duplicate detection, and biometric capture.

T Stamp’s solutions serve a variety of industries, including banking/fintech, humanitarian and development services, KYC/AML compliance, government and law enforcement, P2P transactions, social media, and sharing economy, and real estate, travel, and healthcare. The company was incorporated in 2016 and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.

Overall, T Stamp’s mission is to provide secure and scalable identity authentication solutions that leverage AI and advanced technologies to protect user privacy and combat identity fraud.

This is a microcap stock with an extremely low market cap of $18 million, and should therefore be considered extremely speculative. 

MARPAI

Marpai, Inc. (MRAI) is a software company that specializes in developing and deploying artificial intelligence (AI) systems for the enterprise market. The company was founded in 2016 by a team of experienced entrepreneurs and AI researchers, including CEO and Co-founder Mark Sears.

Marpai’s platform, called “Cortex,” is designed to help businesses leverage AI to automate processes, extract insights from data, and improve decision-making. Cortex uses advanced machine learning algorithms to analyze large amounts of data and provide actionable insights to users.

The company has received funding from prominent venture capital firms, including Bain Capital Ventures, Crosslink Capital, and SVB Capital, among others. In May 2021, Marpai announced that it had raised $30 million in a Series A funding round led by M12, Microsoft’s venture fund, with participation from other investors.

Marpai has a range of customers across different industries, including finance, healthcare, and retail. The company’s solutions are used for a variety of applications, such as fraud detection, customer service automation, and supply chain optimization.

Overall, Marpai’s mission is to democratize AI and make it more accessible to businesses of all sizes, by providing a scalable and user-friendly platform for deploying AI solutions.

The stock is debt-free and quarterly revenue growth year-over-year was 28.8%. This is another microcap stock with an extremely low market cap of $40 million, and should therefore also be considered extremely speculative.

AI SUMMARY

According to Fortune Business Insights, “The Artificial Intelligence market is projected to grow from $387.45 billion in 2022 to $1394.30 billion by 2029, at a CAGR of 20.1%.”

Just remember, that there are many ups and downs in new industries, and all the pure play stocks in this list should be considered speculative. Remember, no recommendations are expressed or implied. 

If you want to learn more about artificial intelligence, you should get the book Artificial Intelligence: What AI Is and How You Can Use It to Make Your Life Easier: A Guide to AI for Beginners, available in both paperback and Kindle.

Disclosure: Author didn’t own any of the above at the time the article was written, although may be making purchases in the near future. This article contains Amazon affiliate links whereby I would receive a small commission on any sale through those links at no additional cost to you. 

Happy Halloween Stocks

by Fred Fuld III

It’s Halloween today, a boon for the candy manufacturers. The companies that produce horror movie also benefit. It’s hard to believe it’s that time of year. Pretty soon it will be Thanksgiving.

The biggest beneficiaries of the Halloween season are the candy makers.

Hershey Foods (HSY), one of the biggest chocolate and candy companies in the world, with two of its most popular products being Hershey Kisses and Hershey Bars, along with Reese’s. The stock has a trailing price to earnings ratio of 33.5, a forward P/E ratio of 27, and  pays a dividend yield of 1.7%. Next year’s annual earnings per share are anticipated to be up 8.36%.

Tootsie Roll Industries (TR) has an assortment of candy kids, such as Tootsie Rolls, Tootsie Roll Pops, Caramel Apple Pops, Charms, Blow-Pops, Blue Razz, Zip-A-Dee Pops, Cella’s, Mason Dots, Mason Crows, Junior Mint, Sugar Daddys, and Sugar Babies. The stock has a P/E of 40.5 and pays a yield of 0.89%. Earnings per share this year were up 12.5%.

Mondelez International (MDLZ) is a multinational producer of candy, along with food and beverages. Its brands include Sour Patch, Swedish Fish, Cadbury, and Toblerone. The trailing P/E is 22 and the forward P/E is 20. The yield is a tasty 2.5%.

Watching scary movies is another popular event on Halloween. Netflix (NFLX), the huge provider of videos in the US, has an extensive selection of scary movies in its collection of titles. The stock trades as 27.9 times trailing earnings and 28.1 times forward earnings. It does not pay a dividend.

A major producer of scary movies is Lions Gate Entertainment (LGF-A), which has made such films as American Psycho, Ginger Snaps, Route 666, The Devil’s Rejects, House of the Dead 2, Saw VI, See No Evil, Hostel: Part II, My Bloody Valentine 3D and many others. Lionsgate currently has generated negative earnings but has a forward price to earnings ratio of 227.

Then of course, Amazon (AMZN) has plenty of Halloween costumes. Amazon has a trailing PE of 93 and a forward PE of 56.

Hopefully, your Halloween portfolio will bring you treats.

Disclosure: Author didn’t own any of the above at the time the article was written.

MAGA is the New FAANG

Do you remember what the FAANG stocks are, or were? MAGA is the New FAANG.

by Fred Fuld III

Do you remember what the FAANG stocks are, or were?

Facebook (FB) (META), Amazon (AMZN), Apple (AAPL), Netflix (NFLX), and Google (GOOG) (GOOGL).

Jim Cramer created the FANG acronym back in 2013 for Facebook, Amazon, Netflix, and Google, because he said that these tech stocks were “totally dominant in their markets“.

However, in 2017, he added Apple due to its growth, adding an extra A to the acronym, changing it to FAANG.

Yet, several changes have taken place since then. First, Facebook has changed its name to Meta,along with its symbol, so the letter M has to be used in the acronym.

Second, Netflix is not really a tech stock. It is actually considered an entertainment company in the communications services sector. Plus, many investors no longer consider it a growth stock if you look at the return over the last few years.

Just in the last twelve months, Netflix has dropped over 61%. If you had bought the stock at the beginning of 2018 and held it, you would have barely broken even. If you had bought in in 2019, 2020, or 2021, and held it, you would have a good size loss.

Finally, even though Google changed its name to Alphabet, nobody calls it that, and the company is still keeping the same stock ticker symbols beginning with the letter G.

So that gives us Meta, Amazon, Google, and Apple as the leading tech stocks.

Or to abbreviate it, MAGA.

Now that should be easy to remember.

Disclosure: Author owns MSFT, AAPL and AMZN.

MORE POPULAR STOCK LISTS OF INTEREST

Top 10 Short Squeeze Plays

Stocks Going Ex Dividend

Business Development Companies Paying Over 10%

Warren Buffett’s Favorite High Yield Stocks All Paying Over 3%

Warren Buffett is the most famous investor in the world. Check out his high yield stocks.

by Fred Fuld III

Warren Buffett, the CEO of Berkshire Hathaway (BRKA) (BRKB), is the most well known investor in the world.

He is also not only one of the wealthiest investors, he is also the seventh wealthiest person in the world, according to Forbes, sporting a net worth of $96.7 billion.

In addition, Buffett is a very interesting character.

Many investors like to follow in Buffett’s footsteps in terms of investments, in order to match his outstanding returns.

Yet, some of Buffett’s stocks don’t pay dividends, such as Amazon (AMZN), and if you are an income investor, you might want to choose the top dividend paying stocks of Berkshire Hathaway.

At the top of the list is Kraft Heinz (KHC), which pays a dividend of $1.60 per year and currency has a very favorable yield of 4.28%. The stock trades at 13.5 times forward earnings and even sells at a discount to book value with a Price to Book ratio of 0.94.

In second place is U. S. Bancorp (USB), which pays a high yield of 4.01%, with a $1.84 dividend rate. The stock has a very reasonable forward price to earnings ratio of 8.91%.

Next is Chevron (CVX) yields 3.60%, paying out $5.68 per year, payable quarterly. The forward P/E ratio is a solid 9.37.

HP Inc. (HPQ) is another one of Buffett’s holdings paying over 3%, with a yield of 3.55%. The stock trades at an extremely low 6.43 times forward earnings.

Finally, Bank of New York Mellon (BK) has a yield of 3.44%. The forward P/E is a solid 8.66. This is another Berkshire company that sells below book value with a price/book ratio of 0.92.

Maybe some of Buffett’s dividend paying stocks can help make you rich.

MORE POPULAR STOCK LISTS OF INTEREST

Top 10 Short Squeeze Plays

Stocks Going Ex Dividend

Business Development Companies Paying Over 10%

Free COVID Tests: What Stocks Will Benefit?

by Fred Fuld III

By now, you have probably heard the news. President Biden has announced that the U.S. Government will be buying 500 million take-at-home COVID test kits to distribute to Americans.

You will be able to order your free COVID test kit from a website in January.

So who is making the test kits? The government hasn’t announced yet what company or companies it will be buying from, but there are several business involved in producing these kits.

For example, Abbott Labs (ABT) is one of the largest manufacturers of COVID test kits. The company produces five different antigen tests (including theBinaxNow COVID-19 Ag Card2 Home Test), three different PCR tests, three different serological tests, and one isothermal amplification test.

Becton, Dickinson (BDX), which makes several COVID tests, has a BD Veritor At-Home COVID-19 Test.

Quidel Corporation (QDEL), produces many COVID tests, has two at-home COVID tests.

Even Amazon (AMZN) is getting in on the act in partnership with SDS Lab Holdco.

The following is a list of the publicly traded stocks that produce COVID tests. Not all of these companies make an at-home test.

Abbott Labs (ABT)
Amazon (AMZN)
Becton, Dickinson and Company (BDX)
Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (BIO)
Bruker Corporation (BRKR)
Co-Diagnostics, Inc. (CODX)
Eli Lilly and Company (LLY)
PerkinElmer, Inc. (PKI)
Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings (LH)
LumiraDx Limited (LMDX)
Ortho Clinical Diagnostics Holdings plc (OCDX)
QIAGEN N.V. (QGEN)
Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (DGX)
Quidel Corporation (QDEL)
Roche Holding AG (RHHBY)
Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (TMO)

Hoping that you and your portfolio stay healthy.

 

Disclosure: Author is long AMZN.

Amazon’s Top Selling Kindle Books

by Fred Fuld III

Amazon $AMZN has just released its list of the top selling books on Kindle. In addition, Amazon is offering three months of Kindle Unlimited for just $0.99 through the end of 2021. This includes over two million eBooks, thousands of audiobooks, and up to three select magazine subscriptions.

So what are the top Kindle books? The top five titles in Kindle Unlimited in 2021 are:

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

The Stopover

When We Believed in Mermaids

If You Tell

Temptation

Happy reading!

 

 

Disclosure: Author owns AMZN. Article includes affiliate links. 

The Amazon Inflation Rate is Running at 68% Per Year

by Fred Fuld III

You might have noticed price increases at the pump. In California, if you can find gas for less than $5 a gallon, even regular, it’s a bargain.

Shell gas prices

Or maybe when you checkout at the supermarket, you noticed that your bill is a bit higher than normal.

groceries

If you have noticed these things, then you are starting to feel the effects of inflation.

According to the United States Government Bureau of Labor Statistics, in October, the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers rose by 6.2 percent over the last 12 months.

I personally think that that rate may be a bit too low. Why? I did my own analysis of a random sample of purchases made through Amazon (AMZN) over the last twelve months, comparing what I paid in the past to what the current price is now, and the results were shocking.

These items included such things as office supplies, food, vitamins, toothpaste, book, disposable masks, garden hose, and even a robot vacuum.

The lowest increase in price was for a 40 ounce bag of raw whole natural Blue Diamond almonds, which increased in price by only 5%.

The next lowest increase had a substantially higher price rise. Scotch Heavy Duty Shipping Packaging Tape went up by 15%.

Now for the big increases. Surprisingly, snack foods had the greatest rise in prices. Crunchmaster Multi-Seed Crackers almost tripled in price by rising 194% and Sensible Portions Garden Veggie Chips spiked by 173%.

Both BROOKSIDE Dark Chocolate Candy with Acai & Blueberry, and a 21 Ounce Bag Dulzura Borincana Sesame Seed with Honey and Almonds doubled in price. (I guess now you can see the kinds of snacks that I like.)

However, what is most interesting is the overall average of the price increases. Based on the rate of increase in cost over the last year for more than 25 different items purchased on Amazon, the average of those percentage increases is 68%!!!

Even if you exclude the high increase outliers, the ones that more than doubled, the overall average price increase of the remaining items is 38%, still extraordinarily high, and way above what the government reported. 

Here is a list of the items below:

Anycolor Compatible Label Tape Replacement for Brother M Tape 39%
Blue Diamond Almonds, Raw Whole Natural, 40 Oz 5%
BROOKSIDE Dark Chocolate Candy , Acai & Blueberry, 21 Ounce Bag 148%
BUMBLE BEE Premium Light Tuna in Water, Ready to Eat Tuna Fish 21%
Columbian Clasp Envelopes, 10 x 13 Inches, Brown Kraft, 100 Per Box 44%
Crunchmaster Multi-Seed Crackers, Artisan Cheesy Garlic Bread, 4 Ounce 194%
Disposable Filter Masks, Eventronic 3 Ply Face Masks, For Home & Office (50 Pcs) 20%
Dulzura Borincana Sesame Seed with Honey and Almonds 134%
FIJI Water Artesian Water, 16.9 Fl Oz (Pack of 6) 34%
Filexec, 93630, Art Presentation Book, 24 Pocket, 11″ x 14″, 1 Each Black 25%
Hammermill Paper, Copy Plus Paper, 8.5 x 11 Paper, Letter Size, 20lb Paper, 1 Ream 53%
Hermard 50ft Expandable Garden Hose with 9 Function Nozzl 32%
KIND Bars, Dark Chocolate Mocha Almond, Gluten Free, 1.4 Ounce, 12 Count 26%
Krazy Glue Home and Office Brush-On Glue, 0.18 oz 74%
NOW Supplements, Vitamin D-3 5,000 IU, High Potency, 240 Softgels 32%
Polysporin First Aid Topical Antibiotic Ointment with Bacitracin Zinc 54%
Puritans Pride Lutein 20 mg with Zeaxanthin Softgels, 120 Count 94%
Samsung POWERbot R7040 Robot Vacuum 159%
Scotch Tape Heavy Duty Shipping Packaging Tape, 1.88 Inches x 800 Inches, 1 Pack 15%
Sensible Portions – 30357 Garden Veggie Straws, Sea Salt, 1 oz. (Pack of 8) 20%
Sensible Portions Garden Veggie Chips, Sea Salt, 7 oz. 173%
Sensodyne Pronamel Intensive Enamel Repair Toothpaste for Sensitive Teeth 62%
Seresto Flea and Tick Collar for Dogs, 8-Month Flea and Tick Collar for Large Dogs Over 18 Pounds 38%
The Family Upstairs: A Novel 114%
Triple Leaf Tea Jasmine Green Tea, Decaffeinated, 20 Count 25%
V8 Juice, Original 100% Vegetable Juice, 11.5 Ounce Can (Pack of 24) 138%
AVERAGE RATE OF INCREASE 68%
AVERAGE RATE OF INCREASE excluding doubling outliers 38%

If you are an avid Amazon shopper like me, you can do your own analysis. Just click on the Orders link, choose 2020, click on View Order Details to get the price you paid, then click on the Order Again button to see what the current price is. Once you have that, subtract the price paid from the current price, then divide that result by the price paid, and that is your percentage increase.

Of course, maybe I have a tendency to only buy things that happen to have a way of significantly rising in price. Or maybe not.

This increase in prices certainly doesn’t come close to Zimbabwe’s previous hyperinflation, whereby $100 trillion dollar bills were issued. However, it is a wake-up call.

Zimbabwe 100 trillion

Let me know what your Amazon inflation rate is.

 

Disclosure: Author owns AMZN and also has a short vertical call position in AMZN. 

The Future of Artificial Intelligence: Can You Invest In It Now?

by Fred Fuld III

Artificial intelligence, also known as AI, is intelligence demonstrated by machines, as opposed to the natural intelligence displayed by humans.
AI applications include advanced web search engines, recommendation systems, speech recognition, self-driving cars, and much more. Now AI is involved in the areas of writing, both fiction and non-fiction, and graphics.

This Woman Does Not Exist

Woman does not exist

First, let’s start out with art. The woman that you see above was created with artificial intelligence (and a little input from me). This person does not exist in real life.

I don’t consider myself an artist, but with the help of a website called ArtBreeder.com, I was able to adjust such things as the ethnicity, eye color, hair color, happiness, age, and many other features.

AI Controls

I could have even added eyeglasses, different earrings, makeup, and various aspects of the picture itself, such as color hues, brightness, and sharpness.

And that is only the beginning. I could have even merged her image with another image.

The best part is that you can try it out for free.

Let me give you one more example. I took the image of Benjamin Franklin, from the $100 bill, and made him younger with some facial hair.

Ben FranklinYoung Ben Franklin

Notice the difference? Incredible technology. You should give it a try.

Who Wrote This?

Now I’m going to give you one more example of AI, this time in the form of writing. You can actually use AI to write non-fiction articles and even fiction.

Check out the following in italics. It is an article that I had a website called ShortlyAI.com write, that based on a starting informative sentence, will write a passage or article for you.

Read it and see if you think a software program could have written this.

It is amazing what artificial intelligence can do now. Websites created by researchers have been able to write text and create pictures that seem like a person wrote them. This is the future of AI and it is amazing what we can learn in this new point in history.

Artificial intelligence can perform amazing tasks, from writing articles, pictures, music, etc. The future of AI will bring us closer to robots taking over many jobs from humans. In the future artificial intelligence may be capable of all these things without any help from a human being.

This futuristic idea is not new and journalists have been talking about this for years. The problem with all this new technology is that it may take away certain jobs from humans and make them obsolete. So robots and computer programs could replace humans at some point in the future.

The AI industry has grown rapidly in the past few years and people are still trying to figure out how to use it correctly. The things that artificial intelligence can do today are amazing and we will look back on this time as the beginning of a new revolution.

The future of AI will also bring us to the point where AI will think for itself, not just work on specific tasks. AI is able to learn and grow and help humans with projects. AI will be able to do things by itself that we cannot even imagine at this time.

Artificial intelligence will continue to get better at more tasks, from writing articles, pictures, music, and other media.

Not bad for a computer. Obviously, it could use a little tweaking and some additional information, but it should give you a good idea of what AI can do. Give it a try.

How to Invest in AI

Unfortunately, there are not really any pure plays in the artificial intelligence arena. Most of the major companies are involved in AI in some way. These stocks include:

  • Alphabet Inc. (GOOG)
  • Apple Inc. (AAPL)
  • Amazon (AMZN)
  • Twilio Inc. (TWLO)
  • ServiceNow, Inc. (NOW)
  • NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA)
  • QUALCOMM Incorporated (QCOM)
  • International Business Machines Corporation (IBM)
  • Splunk Inc. (SPLK)
  • DocuSign, Inc. (DOCU)
  • CrowdStrike Holdings Inc. (CRWD)
  • and many others.

One of the closest pure plays is C3.ai, Inc. (AI), with the appropriate stock ticker symbol. The company is an enterprise artificial intelligence software company with customers around the world. This $4.7 billion market cap company is currently generating negative earnings. Revenues for the latest reported year rose by over 17%. The company has no long term debt. 18% of the float is short.

Another pure play is Remark Holdings (MARK), markets its AI-based products and services under the Remark AI brand in the United States; and under the KanKan brand in China. The stock has a market cap of $228 million. Revenues for the latest reported year rose by over 100%. The short percent of float is 12%.

Maybe one of these days, AI will come up with a way of beating the stock market.

 

Disclosure: Author owns AAPL, AMZN at the time the article was written.

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Many Losing Unemployment Benefits this Month but Amazon Helping to Pick Up the Slack

by Fred Fuld III

Yesterday, the jobs report came out from the Labor Department showing job growth of only 235,000 versus an expectation of 720,000.

However, the bigger problem is that next week, it is estimated that 7.5 million unemployed people will lose their unemployment benefits.

Amazon (AMZN) is one of the companies that is coming to the rescue. The company’s goal is to hire 40,000 people in the United States and 15,000 in the rest of the world.

Amazon has been one of the leaders in providing employment for Americans. Last year, the company, which is the second largest American employer in the private sector, hired 500,000 last year.

The largest, Wal-Mart (WMT), is planning to hire another 20,000 employees, which should help provide some support to the unemployed.

 

 

Disclosure: Author owns AMZN.