Gen Z Graduates Into A New World Of Work, Here Is Why You Should Care

&l;p&g;&l;img class=&q;dam-image getty size-large wp-image-957456666&q; src=&q;https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/dam/imageserve/957456666/960x0.jpg?fit=scale&q; data-height=&q;640&q; data-width=&q;960&q;&g; LOS ANGELES, CA - MAY 11: Media producer Oprah Winfrey addresses The USC Annenberg School For Communication And Journalism Celebrates Commencement at The Shrine Auditorium on May 11, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Leon Bennett/Getty Images)

Generation Z, the leading edge of young people born after 1997, are now 21 years old. Many of them are graduating from college and listening to the well wishes and advice of graduation speakers. After the microphones are silenced and the last diploma is awarded, Gen Z will enter the workforce.

Today&a;rsquo;s workplace is undergoing an unprecedented rate of change placing new demands on workers of all ages. A new &l;em&g;high velocity workplace&l;/em&g; is emerging &a;ndash; a world of work characterized by the rapid development of new knowledge, an accelerating rate of industry disruption and advancing technology.

Graduation speakers are asking students &l;em&g;to be daring&l;/em&g;, &l;em&g;to hone personal resilience&l;/em&g; and more. My personal favorite is a &l;a href=&q;https://www.npr.org/2018/05/25/614518550/from-oprah-to-rex-tillerson-commencement-speeches-for-the-class-of-2018&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;speech&l;/a&g;, a mixture of practical and aspirational guidance, delivered by Oprah Winfrey to University of Southern California graduates. She advised the class of 2018 to &a;ldquo;eat breakfast&a;hellip;make your bed&a;hellip;recycle&a;hellip;pay your bills on time&a;hellip;and to aim high.&a;rdquo;

But, in the &l;a href=&q;https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/billyjoel/preludeangryyoungman.html&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;words&l;/a&g; of another Baby Boomer, Billy Joel, not from a podium, but in song, sometimes &a;ldquo;just surviving is a noble fight.&a;rdquo;

Surviving &l;em&g;and thriving&l;/em&g; in the emerging high velocity workplace will require Gen Z graduates to confront the new realities of work &a;ndash; realities that are changing the rules of work for all generations. Here are four.

&l;strong&g;School Is Never Out&l;/strong&g;

Sorry graduates. You thought final exams were&a;hellip;well, &l;em&g;final&l;/em&g;. The half-life of education is perhaps shorter than any previous generation perhaps placing&a;nbsp;Gen Z at a higher risk for professional obsolescence in fewer years than&a;nbsp;even the Millennials.

Buckminster Fuller coined the idea of &l;a href=&q;https://www.bfi.org/search?search_api_views_fulltext=knowledge+doubling+curve&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;knowledge doubling&l;/a&g; which suggests that knowledge, in a given field or human endeavor, doubles at a predictable, but accelerating rate. Fuller argued that in 1900 human knowledge doubled about every 100 years and by 1950 knowledge doubled every 25 years. A 2006 IBM &l;a href=&q;http://www-935.ibm.com/services/no/cio/leverage/levinfo_wp_gts_thetoxic.pdf&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;study&l;/a&g; forecasted that human knowledge might be doubling every 11 hours! Today it is widely accepted that knowledge doubles, but at different rates in different fields. Medical education provides a startling example. One researcher projects that by 2020 medical knowledge might double every 73 days.

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Just when you thought you were done with school, you will be back in the classroom (on campus or online) sooner than you think. Just consider what might be the half-life of computer programming languages that dominate today only to become storied skills tomorrow?

Even for Gen Z, the first generation where the Internet always existed, the accelerating pace of technological advance will soon transform their smart phones and smart speakers into technologies reminiscent of rotary phones and high fidelity stereos. Continuous learning and skills building is no longer the hallmark of the high achiever; it is now the required behavior of the workplace survivor.

&l;strong&g;Industry Destruction &a;amp; Disruption&l;/strong&g;

Political economist &l;a href=&q;https://www.britannica.com/biography/Joseph-Schumpeter&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;Joseph Schumpeter&l;/a&g;, wrote about &l;a href=&q;https://www.amazon.com/Capitalism-Socialism-Democracy-Joseph-Schumpeter/dp/1169832121/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_14_t_0?_encoding=UTF8&a;amp;psc=1&a;amp;refRID=QDM0Q3TSZ3ATBCDSK35V&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;creative destruction&l;/a&g; long before consultants began muttering about &l;em&g;disruption&l;/em&g;. Schumpeter argued that every business model contains the seeds of its own destruction. Organizations are designed to address the problems and solutions available at the time of their creation. Technology certainly accelerates creative destruction but so do social, political and economic forces &a;ndash; driving some businesses to the top of markets and others into oblivion.

Baby Boomers graduating in 1968 entered a work environment that featured unimaginable technological achievement. Against the backdrop of the first humans to land on the moon, the class of &a;rsquo;68 must have believed that they, and the organizations they worked for, were vanguards of the future. But, few of the companies that were the titans then, are giants today. Some no longer exist.

A comparison of the Fortune 500&a;rsquo;s top 25 companies in &l;a href=&q;http://archive.fortune.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500_archive/full/1968/&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;1968&l;/a&g; and &l;a href=&q;http://fortune.com/fortune500/list/&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;2018&l;/a&g; shows more than changes in revenues among leading companies, it also reveals the transience of industries that once appeared to offer careers for a lifetime. A job in the petrochemical, steel or telecommunications industries made sense in 1968. For Gen Z, Fortune&a;rsquo;s top 25 in 2018 reflects only five firms from 1968 and a profound change in the mix of leading industries. Today retail, health and financial firms have displaced petrochemical, steel and telecommunications companies that garnered top spots decades earlier.

The class of 2018 is walking off graduation platforms and into 50-plus years of work. Which industries will be transformed? Will transformation occur faster during Gen Z&a;rsquo;s work life than previous generations? Gen Z workers will need to be agile. Many Baby Boomers, and even some Gen X&a;rsquo;ers, committed to one company to &l;em&g;build&l;/em&g; a career. It may no longer be effective career planning to bet decades, let alone five-decades of work, on one or two firms or even industries. Gaining experience and developing skills that apply &l;em&g;across&l;/em&g; industries&a;nbsp;is fast becoming a requirement for&a;nbsp;workers&a;nbsp;to&a;nbsp;successfully navigate five-plus decades of work.

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&l;strong&g;Yes, The Robots Are Coming&l;/strong&g;

Artificial intelligence, and robotics generally, is changing the workplace. &l;a href=&q;https://hbr.org/2016/10/robots-will-replace-doctors-lawyers-and-other-professionals&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;No one is exempt&l;/a&g;. From commercial drivers that will be displaced by the widespread deployment of autonomous vehicles, to physicians who will be second fiddle to an AI diagnostician, every Gen Z professional will need to rapidly adapt to the new human-robot workplace.

Working with robots will not necessarily be a &l;em&g;to be, or not to be&l;/em&g; question for Gen Z workers. But, artificial intelligence will require humans to adapt to new ways of working. Some Gen Z workers will need to learn how to be a robot&a;rsquo;s supervisor, while others may be supervised by a &a;lsquo;bot. Gen Z professionals, such as those in law or financial advice, will have to learn how to partner with AI &a;ndash; not just to excel in their profession, but to simply keep their job. Future annual performance reviews may include how well you work with your human colleagues &l;em&g;and&l;/em&g; how well you collaborate with your robot colleague.

Gen Z graduates have an entire career ahead of them. However, many Baby Boomers, Gen X&a;rsquo;ers and Millennials will be navigating the same rapidly changing workplace for years and decades to come &a;ndash; a future of work that has new unarticulated rules and demands for all workers.&l;/p&g;

3 Top Dividend Stocks to Buy Right Now

Everyone has their investing preferences, and people have studied the efficacy of various investing methods over the years. Unsurprisingly, all of those types of investing -- growth, value, income, etc. -- share one common trait: Buying and holding over long time periods.

If you are looking to buy a few stocks with that long-term strategy in mind, we have three dividend stocks for you. Here's why our Fool.com contributors think�TerraForm Power (NASDAQ:TERP), China Mobile (NYSE:CHL), and Texas Roadhouse (NASDAQ:TXRH) are ones you should consider right now.�

Image source: Getty Images.

New management, new investment opportunity

Tyler Crowe (TerraForm Power): When TerraForm Power was a subsidiary of its former parent, the now-bankrupt SunEdison, it was unsurprising that investors decided to tuck tail and run. When SunEdison went under, asset manager Brookfield Asset Management (NYSE:BAM) acquired TerraForm. That change of management is monumental to the investment thesis for TerraForm and its future.

On the surface, TerraForm was a solid business idea. It owned and operated a portfolio of solar and wind power generating assets that all had long-term power purchase agreements in place for years. The problem it ran into with SunEdison was that the parent company would sell it assets at rates that were favorable to SunEdison, and it used a lot of debt and equity to finance those deals. That strategy eventually put both TerraForm and SunEdison in a financial bind that led to the latter's bankruptcy.

The reason that having Brookfield at the helm is such a monumental change is that Brookfield's business strategy for these kinds of businesses is the exact opposite of SunEdison's. Rather than focusing on growth at all costs and relying heavily on external sources of capital, Brookfield's objective is to grow individual share value by acquiring assets selling at a discount and funding some of its growth with free cash flow. It has used this approach with all of its various partnerships -- there are a lot of them -- and it has been a pretty successful approach thus far.

BIP Total Return Price data by YCharts.

Brookfield has to do a lot of cleaning up at TerraForm. It plans to wring out $25 million in operational costs and amortize close to $500 million in project-level debt. As Brookfield gets TerraForm in fighting shape, today's price looks like a great entry point.

China's top wireless carrier

Leo Sun (China Mobile): China Mobile, the largest wireless carrier in China, lost 16% of its market value over the past 12 months amid concerns about 5G expenses and ongoing trade tensions between the U.S. and China. However, the company remains one of the safest income plays in China.

China Mobile pays semiannual dividends that vary year to year based on its earnings growth, but its yield has generally stayed between 3% and 5% over the past five years. Its yield has consistently been higher than the dividends from its two main peers,�China Unicom�and China Telecom.

China Mobile, China Unicom, and China Telecom are all state-backed enterprises, and the Chinese government often rotates the management at the three telcos. That oversight provides a wide safety net and ensures that the three telcos collaborate on certain deals, like the sale of their towers to China Tower in late 2015.

China Mobile hit 899.7 million mobile subscribers in April, representing 4.6% growth from a year earlier. Within that total, its 4G customers jumped 16.7% to 669.3 million. Its wireline customer base also grew 44% to 127.1 million -- giving it a wider base for cross-selling bundled products.

Analysts expect China Mobile's sales and earnings to rise 3% and 1%, respectively, this year. That growth seems glacial, but its stock is also dirt cheap at 10 times this year's earnings. Investors looking for an overseas telco play with a low valuation and decent dividend should consider buying this stock.

Bucking the trend

Brian Feroldi (Texas Roadhouse): The last few years haven't been kind to most restaurant operators. Many chain restaurants have been expanding their store base so rapidly over the last decade that some industry watchers believe that the country is�"over-restauranted." With scores of chains reporting declining or flat comps, it's hard to disagree.

However, even in these difficult times, a handful of top-notch operators have continued to thrive. Texas Roadhouse has increased its comps for several years in a row thanks to its focus on value pricing and creating a fun atmosphere for its guests. Last quarter the company posted total same-store sales growth of 4.9% at its company-owned�restaurants. That's a number that any other restaurant chain would kill for.

Texas Roadhouse is also doing a fantastic job at translating the top-line gains into bottom-line success. Net income and EPS jumped by 59% and 58%, respectively, last quarter. While�that's partially attributable to a lower tax bill, management�is also driving margin expansion by keep�its costs in check.

Looking ahead, I think that Texas Roadhouse can continue to thrive as it steadily grabs market share and opens new stores. Analysts think that will lead to 18% growth in EPS over the next five years, which is quite strong for a stock that� costs around 22 times next year's earnings estimates.�Throwing in a 1.6% dividend yield that only consumes 42% of profits is icing on the cake.

Malls May Still Be in Trouble, but the Suffering Is Not Spread Evenly

If there's one thing we know about the "retail apocalypse," it's that the pain of it is being felt most keenly in America's malls.

In this segment of the Motley Fool Money podcast, host Chris Hill and Fool analysts Jason Moser, Matt Argersinger, and Ron Gross review the latest earnings reports from the department stores that anchor those fading monuments to commerce and discover at least some good news: Macy's�(NYSE:M) comps rose nicely, but Nordstrom�(NYSE:JWN)�and J.C. Penney�(NYSE:JCP) managed only fractional gains. They also reflect on the long decline of department store sales -- it's longer than you think -- the planned BJ's Wholesale IPO, the future of J.C. Penney, and more.

A full transcript follows the video.

This video was recorded on May 18, 2018.

Chris Hill: Let's move on to the malls. We had reports this week from Macy's, JCPenney, Nordstrom. In general, Matty, it's pretty rough out there. Although, Macy's did surprise a lot of people. That stock is up more than 10%.

Matt Argersinger: Right. Macy's had comparable sales up 4.2%. On the flip side, you had Nordstrom, which was just up 0.6%. JCPenney, up just 0.2%. It's a real mixed bag. I was looking at this very long-term chart of the sales of department stores. This is courtesy of the U.S. Census. I was surprised at this. Department store sales, this includes the Macy's and Nordstrom's of the world, sales actually peaked in 2000. So, we have to go back 18 years ago. If you go back to 2000, most people still hadn't heard of Amazon, let alone shopped on it. And we had this narrative, well, this e-commerce rise for the last two decades has really kicked the teeth in at a lot of these department stores.

But really, I think it's more of a phenomenon of consumer behavior. People have decided not to go to malls. Specifically, you're not going to department stores. So, we can talk about the death of malls and the demise of traditional retail, but you can see the retail sales in general have continued to rise for the last two decades, and e-commerce is a part of that. But, I feel like these companies are just slicing and dicing a smaller and smaller pie.

Jason Moser: I'll tell you, in line with what you're saying there, it actually shocked me a little bit to see this week that BJ's Wholesale Club is going to go public again after being taken private a little while back. We talk about Costco and how they've done such a great job in running that bricks-and-mortar store in what's becoming more and more an online environment. To me, there are just so many red flags with that BJ's Club IPO filing. I don't understand exactly what they think they're going to do here. But, they really do have their work cut out for them between Costco and, don't forget, Walmart has Sam's Club, as well.

Hill: Is it possible that what's going on with BJ's is simply, the company that took them private is looking for an exit strategy?

Ron Gross: Ding ding ding ding!

Moser: I think it's more than possible. I think it's very, very likely.

Gross: You know, department stores are not dead. There's always going to be department stores. The problem was, it got out of hand. There were too many stores and the footprint was too large. So, kudos to Macy's, who did what they had to do and closed a hundred stores and laid off thousands of employees. And that hurts, and it's painful. But if the business isn't working, you have to make those tough decisions. This last quarter showed some pretty good results from Macy's. And it'll be interesting to see if they can follow through.

Argersinger: I'll just note that Nordstrom was down about 10% on Friday to $46 a share. So, that $50 take-private deal by the family is looking pretty good right now, if you're a shareholder.

Hill: That was going to be my next question. It seems like, with Nordstrom, for as good a business as that has been over the last 20 years, it seems like a stock that you would be crazy to buy, just because it's all about the Nordstrom family and their attempt to take it private, right?

Gross: Pretty much. And that puts a value on the business that you can see. It's 15X earnings, I want to say, right now, which is not expensive. But, when you look at Macy's at 8X, it gets a little pricey up there, and it doesn't look to me like it would be a market-beater over the next few years.

Hill: The last thing on JCPenney, and I'm sorry to end on this note. Are we getting into RadioShack territory here? It really seems like this business has been so challenged for so long that it's almost a real estate play at this point.

Argersinger: I don't know if it's any kind of play, to be honest with you. I think the mall business, the department store business itself, is shrinking, and JCPenney is just the worst of the worst.

Research Analysts’ Weekly Ratings Updates for Stabilus (STM)

Several analysts have recently updated their ratings and price targets for Stabilus (ETR: STM):

5/24/2018 – Stabilus was given a new €90.00 ($107.14) price target on by analysts at Berenberg Bank. They now have a “buy” rating on the stock. 5/22/2018 – Stabilus was given a new €86.00 ($102.38) price target on by analysts at Warburg Research. They now have a “neutral” rating on the stock. 5/17/2018 – Stabilus was given a new €85.00 ($101.19) price target on by analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co.. They now have a “neutral” rating on the stock. 5/8/2018 – Stabilus was given a new €81.00 ($96.43) price target on by analysts at Credit Suisse Group. They now have a “neutral” rating on the stock. 5/8/2018 – Stabilus was given a new €100.00 ($119.05) price target on by analysts at Hauck & Aufhaeuser. They now have a “buy” rating on the stock. 5/7/2018 – Stabilus was given a new €70.00 ($83.33) price target on by analysts at Commerzbank. They now have a “neutral” rating on the stock. 5/7/2018 – Stabilus was given a new €68.00 ($80.95) price target on by analysts at Kepler Capital Markets. They now have a “neutral” rating on the stock. 5/7/2018 – Stabilus was given a new €84.00 ($100.00) price target on by analysts at Warburg Research. They now have a “buy” rating on the stock. 5/7/2018 – Stabilus was given a new €91.00 ($108.33) price target on by analysts at equinet AG. They now have a “buy” rating on the stock. 5/7/2018 – Stabilus was given a new €85.00 ($101.19) price target on by analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co.. They now have a “buy” rating on the stock. 4/27/2018 – Stabilus was given a new €81.00 ($96.43) price target on by analysts at Credit Suisse Group. They now have a “neutral” rating on the stock.

Stabilus opened at €84.45 ($100.54) on Friday, according to MarketBeat. Stabilus has a twelve month low of €55.47 ($66.04) and a twelve month high of €83.10 ($98.93).

Stabilus SA, formerly Servus HoldCo SARL is a Luxembourg-based company. The Company is the automotive and industrial supplier. It develops and produces electromechanical drives, gas springs and dampers. Its products in the automotive segment are used in a broad range of applications such as tailgates, hoods, doors and convertible tops.

How 3 Retail Giants Are Going to Slug It Out in India

In this�Industry Focus discussion dedicated to�Walmart's (NYSE:WMT) acquisition of Indian e-tailer Flipkart, the team breaks down the current and future battles in the world's second most populous country between Walmart and its major competitors:�Amazon�(NASDAQ:AMZN) and Alibaba (NYSE:BABA).

Find out about the strategies these three behemoths are using to crack the Indian consumer code.

A full transcript follows the video.

This video was recorded on May 15, 2018.

Vincent Shen: We're going to move on to the competition, because there's some really interesting developments there. I'll just add that something to keep in mind if you're a Walmart investor or if you're considering picking up shares, you like this opportunity and you like the other opportunities that it has in its bigger markets, like in the U.S. Walmart does have some experience in India as well. It first entered the market about ten years ago in partnership with Bharti Enterprises and has an existing 21 Best Price stores, totaling about 1 million square feet of brick-and-mortar retail presence in the country.

This deal -- the company is funding it with a mix of cash and debt. When the deal closes, Flipkart will be reported as part of Walmart's international segment. That segment generated almost $120 billion of revenue last year, about a quarter of the company's total top line. Just keep in mind that scale here, again. For a company like this, massive, it takes a lot to move the needle.

On the investor call, analysts dedicated a decent amount of time to questions regarding the deal's impact on Walmart's financials. Asit, you mentioned that $0.60 per share headwind for earnings. I'll just expand on that. The purchase will have a negative impact on fiscal 2019 earnings specifically, about $0.25 to $0.30 per share. And then, the following year, due to those ongoing investments in India, the earnings hit will be another $0.60 per share.

You have to keep in mind that for the trailing 12-month period, earnings were $3.28 per share, so that's no small impact on the bottom line. Not only that, another question that cropped up on the investor call that I think is important is, you have to consider whether a $16 billion spend in India -- that's a 5x sales valuation for Flipkart, by the way so quite generous -- will mean that Walmart will be forced to short change its investments in its home market and other markets. Clearly, the company is thinking about its global footprint right now and its operations.

This is actually the second of two big deals from Walmart in the past month or so, because they also had that announcement regarding Asda and Sainsbury in the U.K. market. Really quick, we didn't cover that on Industry Focus. Recently, Walmart announced that it's going to allow its third-place supermarket chain, Asda, to be acquired by the No. 2 chain, Sainsbury, for about $10 billion in a cash and stock deal. Walmart will still hold on to a 42% stake in the combined company, and that company, if it passes regulatory muster, will take the crown as the U.K.'s largest grocer with $70 billion of sales and 2,000 stores. But management is clearly thinking about their international operations and how they want to right-size things and optimize things.

Going back to Flipkart, though, Walmart's management noted that spending and losses in India will shrink over time. But declining losses, that's not the same as turning a profit. As we've seen with the long history with Amazon, that does take time. Management was ultimately unwilling to look out beyond fiscal 2020 to pinpoint when Flipkart, for example, might transition its bottom line to the black.

The last thing I'll note: if you're a Walmart shareholder, the company also has a pretty spotty track record outside North America. The U.S. and Mexico operations, strong, but the company has either shuttered, sold out of, or downsized operations in places like Germany, South Korea, Japan, and Brazil. It also sold its Yihaodian e-commerce arm in China to JD.com for a stake in JD.com. That's a lot of context and considerations to keep in mind. I think, in this case, Walmart has considered some of those challenges, and they've said to themselves, "We're going to write a big check, $16 billion, to take this majority stake and immediately have a place as the No. 1 e-commerce player in this very fast-growing, important market."

The next thing I'd like to touch on is just what Walmart brings to the table for Flipkart, too. You have to keep in mind that Walmart generates significant revenue from groceries, and Flipkart does not. That presents a big opportunity for Walmart to lend its expertise in that food and groceries category. Retail in India is over $650 billion, and grocery and foods account for the majority of that. They represent something very important in that they are consistent, repeatable purchases. Then, not only that, but Walmart will also have plenty of expertise in terms of any brick-and-mortar operations that pop up, the e-commerce supply chains, and it can connect Flipkart, obviously, with a huge network of product vendors and suppliers.

So all in all, I think from what I've seen, Flipkart will remain a more independent part of the international segment, similar to how Marc Lore has been given the reins for e-commerce within the United States. Then, with Flipkart, their branding is really interesting, because they market themselves as this homegrown Indian success story, and they're focused on really great customer experiences.

But that brings us now, finally, to a look at the competitive landscape. Let's talk a little bit about how competition in India is shaping up. How do things look on that end, Asit?

Asit Sharma: The first thing that we want to look at is, I think, delivery logistics, which I mentioned earlier. Ultimately, this will determine who wins in India. When I order from Amazon, I might order toothpaste. I've done it occasionally. I might order some household goods. But again, in India, because of these small grocers -- the term is kirana, it's like your neighborhood grocer -- there's a large amount of goods on a U.S. website or Walmart or Amazon which you simply don't see as much on a Flipkart website or Amazon.in. The battlegrounds are really in electronics, in mobile phones, and in fashion. Flipkart, as you mentioned, Vince, that's where it's been really successful, and that's where Amazon has to compete. So confined to these goods, the delivery becomes extremely important.

Vince, you mentioned the stumbles that Walmart has had over the years with foreign investments. This is the one thing that bothers me about this deal. In competing with Amazon, I do believe that Walmart will have to invest in more infrastructure. One of the reasons they don't want to talk about eventual profits or losses beyond this window of a year or two is because, I think, they're going to the drawing board and figuring out what they need to build out in India to compete with those fulfillment centers and sorting facilities I mentioned.

Amazon is extremely good at understanding local market logistics. One of the things they've done in India is to go into that very difficult thing called the last mile. Here in the U.S., last-mile logistics may mean, from a UPS center, getting that onto your doorstep, or the U.S. Postal Service getting it to your mailbox. You can imagine a city in India, which, they're incredibly dense, very, very, difficult sometimes to find an address.

Amazon has actually partnered up with thousands of these small stores that I mentioned, these kirana stores. They have about 27,000 stores they have relationships with, and they have an app which enables Amazon to take a parcel from its sorting center to these mom and pop shops, and they can wash their hands of the delivery from there. The mom or pop will deliver the goods to this hard-to-find address, maybe behind a bazaar -- that is, a marketplace -- or in a dense neighborhood. The person who delivers it then gets paid once a month using this app. So Amazon is fighting back against Flipkart's really well-entrenched logistical capability. And Walmart is going to have to invest here.

Moving on, we should talk about the other big player in India, and that's Alibaba, the company founded by Jack Ma. Alibaba is sort of interesting. I talked about how Walmart is coming in and getting this one piece. Alibaba is very methodical in the way it enters countries. India is actually its first real big foray outside of China. And they have started with two interesting acquisitions, to me. The first is a company called PayTM, like ATM, it's pronounced Pay-t-m. This is another phone-enabled payment service, and it's a competitor to Flipkart's own PhonePe service. This was acquired in, I believe, 2015. I might need to correct that in a moment.

Shen: It wasn't too long ago.

Sharma: It wasn't too long ago. Alibaba has only been in India, actually, for about two years. Recently, they added to their strategy by acquiring a company called BigBasket. This was a $200 million acquisition of an online grocer. Vince talked about the importance of grocery to Walmart. In a country with 1.3 billion people, where food distribution is a problem and the options for people who have resources -- that is, this burgeoning middle class -- those options are expanding. It's really important to get a foothold in the online grocery marketplace, and Alibaba has made its first investment in this space there.

So you see Alibaba also coming in, picking and choosing its own parts of the battlefield. But you can look for them to also be a formidable competitor. Right now, they don't have the type of market share that Flipkart and Amazon do, but as a Walmart investor, you want to keep your eye on what Alibaba's up to.

Shen: Yeah. I'll say, just to wrap up the competitive discussion, some things to remember, especially with Amazon, is they're entering this Indian market, and I feel like, in the back of their minds, they're kind of remembering what happened to them in China, where they were shut out by domestic players like Alibaba and JD. So they're going to be very aggressive in how they invest in India. I think they've already had plans to invest about $5 billion in the region, and it has only taken them a few years to catch up and take the No. 2 position behind Flipkart in terms of e-commerce. Half of that $5 billion dollars that they've spent, I've found, has been in logistics -- faster, more reliable delivery. Amazon has seen how important that convenience was in setting it apart in its home market, and I'm sure they believe that a robust logistics delivery network will offer similar advantages in this market.

In terms of market share, some of the numbers varied by source, but I found market share figures for Flipkart and for Amazon at about 36% and 20% respectively in 2017. In terms of the war chest for these companies, prior to this Walmart deal, Flipkart's estimated to have raised about $7.5 billion from other investment and funding rounds. As of August last year, the company said that they had about $4 billion on their balance sheet to grow operations in India. But on a monthly basis, I found an interesting number where Amazon is burning through about $35 to $40 million every month in this market, while Flipkart is at about half that, $17 to $18 million, as they've had to rein in their spending a little bit.

Those are the top two players. Alibaba, I think, we've covered the big investments that they've made. In total, I think, they've spent about $2 billion in India through these various start-ups, these various e-commerce companies. Some others that I found include Zomato, that's a food tech start-up; Xpressbees, another logistics start-up. Overall, Alibaba appears to be taking a slower approach, but they're keeping a very long-term mindset as they develop the important pillars to their e-commerce strategy, and that includes, for them, logistics, payments with PayTM, and then grocery.

Closing out our discussion here, I'll note a few other things about this deal and what to look forward to. Brett Biggs, he's the Walmart CFO, he mentioned during the investor call regarding the deal that other parties might actually come in on this investment round. I thought that was interesting to note. I haven't seen any news regarding who those investors might be.

But I actually have seen reports about a potential change of heart from SoftBank and their initial decision to part with their entire 21% stake in Flipkart. Apparently, SoftBank said on paper that they're ready to sell out of their entire stake. That's a big part of this deal and what drove Walmart to make the announcement. But now, they're having second thoughts, potentially. But even if they do, and Walmart doesn't pick up SoftBank's specific stake, they'll still be a majority shareholder, but their stake will be closer to 56%. That's just something interesting to keep in mind as that part of the negotiations is finalized. You mentioned, Asit, earlier, that Walmart will have the option to invest an additional $3 billion more in Flipkart at the same valuation level within a year of closing the current deal. That might bump up its ownership stake as well.

Top Tech Stocks To Invest In 2019

tags:INXN,SMTC,NVDA,MTCH,

Quick quiz: What's the one material Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) desperately needs more of if it's going to continue on with its mission of mainstreaming electric vehicles? If you said lithium -- the stuff used to make its big, powerful batteries -- you were right about a year and a half ago. The supply/demand imbalance has settled down since then, with miners finally getting up to speed with consumption.

The correct answer to the question is cobalt. Most investors may not even fully appreciate or even recognize it now, but the looming cobalt crunch is going to make the lithium crunch from yesteryear look like child's play... and that's great news for CobalTech Mining, Inc. (OTCMKTS:BNCIF, CVE:CSK).

Cobalt (Co) is a metal used in several commercial, industrial, and military applications. On a global basis, the leading use of cobalt is in rechargeable battery electrodes, and the batteries that power electric vehicles.� As of last year, the manufacture of electric vehicles became the most prolific use of cobalt, thanks to the aforementioned Tesla Motors along with a handful of fringe competitors. Thing is Tesla is only on pace to make just a few less than 100,000 electric vehicles this year, and there's already a supply problem. When Tesla Motors is cranking out 500,000 units per year by 2019, the lack of supply could be downright painful.

InvestorIntel crunched the numbers earlier this year, concluding:

Top Tech Stocks To Invest In 2019: InterXion Holding N.V.(INXN)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Max Byerly]

  Jacobson & Schmitt Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Interxion (NYSE:INXN) by 1.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 102,697 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 1,927 shares during the quarter. Interxion comprises approximately 4.4% of Jacobson & Schmitt Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. Jacobson & Schmitt Advisors LLC owned 0.14% of Interxion worth $6,378,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

• [By Stephan Byrd]

  Interxion (NYSE:INXN) had its price objective boosted by Citigroup from $68.00 to $75.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday morning. Citigroup currently has a buy rating on the technology company’s stock.

Top Tech Stocks To Invest In 2019: Semtech Corporation(SMTC)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Benzinga News Desk]

  The wealthy are hoarding $10 billion of bitcoin in bunkers: Link $

  ECONOMIC DATA US May MBA mortgage applications -0.4% vs, -2.5% prior USA Core PPI (MoM) for Apr 0.20% vs 0.20% Est; Prior 0.30%. USA PPI (MoM) for Apr 0.10% vs 0.20% Est; Prior 0.30% Data on wholesale trade inventories for March will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET. The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on petroleum inventories in the U.S. is schedule for release at 10:30 a.m. ET. The Treasury is set to auction 10-year notes at 1:00 p.m. ET. Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Raphael Bostic is set to speak at 1:15 p.m. ET. ANALYST RATINGS Cantor upgraded Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: ARWR) from Neutral to Overweight RBC upgraded Semtech (NASDAQ: SMTC) from Sector Perform to Outperform Morgan Stanley downgraded Adient (NYSE: ADNT) from Overweight to Equal-Weight Jefferies downgraded Beacon Roofing (NASDAQ: BECN) from Buy to Hold

  This is a tool used by the Benzinga News Desk each trading day — it's a look at everything happening in the market, in five minutes. To get the full version of this note every morning, click here.

Top Tech Stocks To Invest In 2019: NVIDIA Corporation(NVDA)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Danny Vena]

  Investors in NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA) have had a lot to celebrate. The company's graphics processing unit (GPU) remains the gold standard among hardcore and casual gamers alike, and the advent of cloud computing and artificial intelligence (AI) have created vast new markets for NVIDIA's products.

• [By ]

  So whether it's Twitter (TWTR) , up 11.4%, or Apple (AAPL) or Nvidia (NVDA) , the FANG stocks have an effect on all of them, Cramer concluded, and best of all, they are all totally unaffected by a looming trade war with China.

• [By Jayson Derrick]

  NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ: NVDA) reported first-quarter results Thursday that turned Morgan Stanley incrementally bullish.

  The Analyst

  Morgan Stanley's Joseph Moore maintains an Overweight rating on Nvidia's stock with a price target lifted from $258 to $273.

Top Tech Stocks To Invest In 2019: Match Group, Inc.(MTCH)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By The Ticker Tape]

  Similar challenges may be in store for online dating service Match.com from Match Group Inc. (NASDAQ: MTCH), whose stock decline of -22 percent around the time of the Facedate announcement may have indicated investor concern regarding Facebook’s entry into the online dating market.

• [By Mac Greer]

  Greer: Guys, speaking of passionate communities and controversy, let's talk Facebook. Facebook is getting into the online dating business.�Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg says the�new service is meant to help people find "long-term�relationships rather than hookups." The opt-in�feature will match users with�people they're not already connected to on the site. Let's�talk about the response from Match (NASDAQ:MTCH), which owns dating sites Tinder, match.com, OkCupid and PlentyOfFish --�I'm not even sure what that is,�PlentyOfFish. Shares of Match falling more than 20% on this Facebook news. Andy, what do you think?

• [By Leo Sun]

  Tantan claims that its app, which is also often dubbed "China's Tinder", has already made over five billion matches since its launch in 2015. By comparison, Match Group's (NASDAQ:MTCH) Tinder reportedly made eight billion matches since its launch in 2012.

• [By Motley Fool Staff]

  Stock No. 4: We're down to the M's. Match Group (NASDAQ:MTCH). Match.com. A lot of older people my age in our 50's or so, we grew up with that over the last 10 or 20 years. To me that's almost like the LinkedIn, but for dating. That's kind of the more corporate, professional world site, but many other people know and use Tinder, which is maybe for a younger generation. I'm sure it's used by people of all ages. Never by me, as a happily married man.

Keysight (KEYS) Earning Somewhat Positive Press Coverage, Analysis Shows

News articles about Keysight (NYSE:KEYS) have been trending somewhat positive this week, according to Accern. Accern ranks the sentiment of media coverage by reviewing more than twenty million blog and news sources in real time. Accern ranks coverage of publicly-traded companies on a scale of -1 to 1, with scores closest to one being the most favorable. Keysight earned a daily sentiment score of 0.22 on Accern’s scale. Accern also assigned news articles about the scientific and technical instruments company an impact score of 45.6700267330093 out of 100, indicating that recent media coverage is somewhat unlikely to have an effect on the stock’s share price in the near term.

These are some of the news stories that may have impacted Accern’s scoring:

Get Keysight alerts: Flicker Noise Measurement System Market 2023 Top Companies �� Keysight, ProPlus Design Solutions, AdMOS … (thecleantechnology.com) Global AC Power Source Market Trend 2018- Chroma Systems Solutions, Inc, Keysight Technologies, B&K Precision … (nwctrail.com) Flicker Noise Measurement System Market Forecasts �� Keysight, ProPlus Design Solutions, AdMOS, Platform Design … (thetechnicalprogress.com) Keysight reveals CSR goals for 2020 (telecomlead.com) Keysight Technologies Releases 2017 Annual Corporate Social Responsibility Report (markets.financialcontent.com)

KEYS has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Zacks Investment Research cut shares of Keysight from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Keysight from $53.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 7th. Deutsche Bank raised their target price on shares of Keysight to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. Robert W. Baird restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $60.00 target price (up previously from $52.00) on shares of Keysight in a report on Thursday, March 8th. Finally, ValuEngine upgraded shares of Keysight from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 1st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. The company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $55.50.

Shares of Keysight stock traded up $0.17 on Monday, hitting $54.00. The stock had a trading volume of 891,300 shares, compared to its average volume of 914,163. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 1.88 and a current ratio of 2.57. Keysight has a one year low of $35.62 and a one year high of $55.21. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.22 and a beta of 1.01.

Keysight (NYSE:KEYS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 1st. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32 by $0.19. Keysight had a return on equity of 18.19% and a net margin of 2.64%. The company had revenue of $837.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $805.96 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.57 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. equities research analysts forecast that Keysight will post 2.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Keysight announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Tuesday, March 6th that allows the company to repurchase $350.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the scientific and technical instruments company to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

In related news, SVP Jay Alexander sold 12,922 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.67, for a total value of $706,445.74. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 70,120 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,833,460.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Ingrid A. Estrada sold 43,134 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.78, for a total value of $2,276,612.52. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 74,213 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,916,962.14. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 116,049 shares of company stock valued at $6,107,829 in the last ninety days. 0.97% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Keysight Company Profile

Keysight Technologies, Inc provides electronic design and test solutions to communications and electronics industries internationally. Its Communications Solutions Group segment provides radio frequency and microwave test instruments and related software, and electronic design automation (EDA) software tools; oscilloscopes, logic and serial protocol analyzers, logic-signal sources, arbitrary waveform generators, and bit error rate testers; optical modulation analyzers, component analyzers, power meters, and laser source products, as well as optical amplifier, filter, and other passive component solutions; and related software solutions.

Somewhat Favorable Media Coverage Somewhat Unlikely to Impact PG&E (PCG) Stock Price

Media coverage about PG&E (NYSE:PCG) has been trending somewhat positive on Saturday, Accern reports. The research firm identifies positive and negative media coverage by analyzing more than 20 million news and blog sources in real-time. Accern ranks coverage of companies on a scale of negative one to positive one, with scores nearest to one being the most favorable. PG&E earned a news sentiment score of 0.20 on Accern’s scale. Accern also gave media stories about the utilities provider an impact score of 46.1218598724786 out of 100, indicating that recent media coverage is somewhat unlikely to have an effect on the stock’s share price in the next few days.

Here are some of the news articles that may have effected Accern’s rankings:

Get PG&E alerts: PG&E Relocating Natural Gas Pipeline In San Mateo (patch.com) Ask Finney: PG&E credits, engagement rings, auto repair shops (abc7news.com) PG&E helps rescue cat from power pole in Tarpey Village (yourcentralvalley.com) PG&E offering higher energy efficiency incentives to wildfire victims (elp.com) Key hearing held on PG&E’s North Bay wildfire liability, rate hikes (abc7news.com)

PCG has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Zacks Investment Research upgraded shares of PG&E from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 19th. Citigroup reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $45.00 target price on shares of PG&E in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. ValuEngine downgraded shares of PG&E from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. UBS initiated coverage on shares of PG&E in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $48.00 target price for the company. Finally, Wells Fargo reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $45.00 target price (down previously from $60.00) on shares of PG&E in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. The stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $56.79.

Shares of PG&E traded up $0.56, hitting $42.78, during mid-day trading on Friday, according to MarketBeat.com. 4,759,020 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,963,448. PG&E has a twelve month low of $37.30 and a twelve month high of $71.57. The firm has a market cap of $21.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.69 and a beta of -0.03. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87.

PG&E (NYSE:PCG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 3rd. The utilities provider reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, missing the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $1.04 by ($0.13). PG&E had a return on equity of 9.38% and a net margin of 9.02%. The business had revenue of $4.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.23 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.06 EPS. research analysts predict that PG&E will post 3.81 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

In related news, COO Nickolas Stavropoulos sold 4,728 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.93, for a total value of $198,245.04. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 82,830 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,473,061.90. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP John R. Simon sold 3,211 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.93, for a total transaction of $134,637.23. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 8,875 shares of company stock worth $372,129 over the last quarter. 0.15% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About PG&E

PG&E Corporation, through its subsidiary, Pacific Gas and Electric Company, engages in the sale and delivery of electricity and natural gas to residential, commercial, industrial, and agricultural customers in northern and central California, the United States. The company's electricity distribution network consists of approximately 107,200 circuit miles of distribution lines, 59 transmission switching substations, and 605 distribution substations; and electricity transmission network comprises approximately 19,200 circuit miles of interconnected transmission lines and 92 electric transmission substations.

Microsemi (MSCC) Hits New 1-Year High and Low at $68.63

Microsemi (NASDAQ:MSCC) hit a new 52-week high and low during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $68.63 and last traded at $68.61, with a volume of 245865 shares. The stock had previously closed at $68.56.

MSCC has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Susquehanna Bancshares increased their price objective on Microsemi to $70.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $70.00 price objective (up from $61.00) on shares of Microsemi in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. KeyCorp increased their price objective on Microsemi to $70.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Mizuho increased their price objective on Microsemi from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Microsemi from $67.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Microsemi currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $64.32.

Get Microsemi alerts:

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 2.27 and a quick ratio of 1.57. The company has a market capitalization of $8.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.04, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.21.

In other news, Director Paul F. Folino sold 4,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.27, for a total transaction of $302,715.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 1,070 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $71,978.90. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Paul F. Folino sold 3,605 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.52, for a total value of $243,409.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 12,297 shares of company stock valued at $821,089 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Microsemi during the 4th quarter worth about $108,000. IFP Advisors Inc raised its stake in shares of Microsemi by 235.2% during the 4th quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 2,212 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $114,000 after purchasing an additional 1,552 shares in the last quarter. Advisor Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Microsemi by 92.7% during the 4th quarter. Advisor Group Inc. now owns 2,226 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $115,000 after purchasing an additional 1,071 shares in the last quarter. Cerebellum GP LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Microsemi during the 4th quarter worth about $124,000. Finally, Balter Liquid Alternatives LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Microsemi during the 4th quarter worth about $142,000. 92.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Microsemi Company Profile

Microsemi Corporation designs, manufactures, and markets analog and mixed-signal semiconductor solutions in the United States, Europe, and Asia. The company offers analog mixed-signal integrated circuits; field programmable gate arrays; system on chip solutions and application-specific integrated circuits; power management products; and timing and synchronization devices, and precise time solutions.