Are Apple Inc. (AAPL) and Visa Inc (V) in Trouble With Apple Pay Lawsuit?

AAPL stock barely flinched when news of the lawsuit surfaced

Source: iPhoneDigital (Flickr)

Both Wall Street and consumers alike have become numb to breaking news stories involving the world’s gigantic corporations. It’s near impossible to scroll through the day’s business headlines or — gasp! — pick up an actual newspaper without coming across at least a handful of articles and stories describing how this company is suing that one, or this company stole trade secrets from that one, or somehow otherwise wronged somebody somewhere.

The technology industry is no stranger to lawsuits, either, so when news surfaced on Monday of the most recent filing against Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), consumers shrugged their shoulders and Wall Street analysts shook their heads.

The New York Times first broke the story and explained the lawsuit filed by Universal Secure Registry CEO Kenneth Weiss against both Apple and Visa Inc (NYSE:V), which claims the two companies have infringed on existing patents since the 2014 release of Apple Pay and continue to do so without license, concern for or acknowledgement of Weiss’ legal standing.

Twitter, Inc. (TWTR) Stock Isn’t Done Running With Bloomberg

TWTR stock jumped another 4% on Tuesday to continue a torrid weeklong rally. Could a UFC joiner be next?

Source: Esther Vargas (Flickr)

Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) is partnering with Bloomberg Media to launch its first permanent streaming channel, and Wall Street is downright giddy. TWTR stock has jumped by double digits in the past two days alone, including a 4% bump in Tuesday morning’s trade.

There are still a number of details that must be worked out, many of which will remain confidential, but the channel is expected to go live later this fall.

This round-the-clock Bloomberg TWTR channel will, apparently, be comprised of live news reports and coverage from five separate outlets, as opposed to simply a re-broadcast of other Bloomberg content. Justin Smith, Bloomberg Media CEO, told the Wall Street Journal, “It is going to be focused on the most important news for an intelligent audience around the globe and it’s going to be broader in focus than our existing network.”

Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) to Battle Alphabet Inc (GOOGL) for Class Crown

MSFT stock could get a boost from Windows 10 Cloud, but we won't know for a while

Next week, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) will host a spring hardware event in New York City to showcase its latest and greatest new devices, as well as unveil the Windows 10 Cloud edition of the company’s iconic operating system.

The interesting part, though, is not anticipation of a new device or expectancy of some revolutionary program rollout.

Rather, the focus is expected to heavily surround the Windows 10 Cloud OS and management’s intentions to shift significant attention to the education market.

CEO Satya Nadella will, apparently, be allocating a larger portion of the company’s resources to wage war against tech behemoth Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG, NASDAQ:GOOGL) in the classroom arena. Both Microsoft and Google each sport their own classroom services that offer teachers and students alike the opportunity to learn, work and collaborate using a variety of tools designed to increase efficiency and cultivate a productive environment.

However, despite having equally robust and functional Classroom products, MSFT has struggled to gain ground against GOOGL since the official release of Microsoft Classroom in April 2016. Comparatively, Google Classroom has been around since August 2014 and, for the most part, it has been very well-received across the country by professors and teachers as well as students ranging from elementary school-age up through universities and grad schools.

PayPal Holdings Inc (PYPL) Hopes Partnership Will Make It the King of Mobile Payments

PYPL is No. 1 online, but not in-store. Partnering with GOOGL may fix that.

Source: Gregory Gambone

Earlier this week, it was announced that PayPal Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:PYPL) and Google parent company Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL, NASDAQ:GOOG) will be partnering up to integrate PayPal’s mobile payment options into Google’s NFC-enabled smartphone payment app, Android Pay.

No specific details of the arrangements were revealed, but according to Fortune, “PayPal’s chief operating officer, Bill Ready, said that his company’s partnership with Google will be implemented in the coming weeks.”

Executives at both GOOGL and PYPL hope that the addition of PayPal as a funding source for Android Pay will serve to increase the number of smartphone owners who actively use Google’s digital wallet, while also making PayPal a more common choice for consumers making in-store purchases.

Big Tech Goes to War Over Toshiba Corp (TOSBF) Flash Memory

While Toshiba drowns in debt, sharks are circling the water

Last week, shareholders of Toshiba Corp (USA) (OTCMKTS:TOSBF) voted to approve the separation of the company’s NAND flash memory business, with the intention of attracting outside companies and initiating what amounts to, essentially, an auction of its most valuable asset.

In early February, Barron’s reported that Toshiba execs were apparently considering the sale of the NAND business to offset the company’s debt. At the time, “Toshiba’s equity [had] dropped to negative $1.7 billion, so it needs to come up with at least that much cash to stay afloat.”

That negative equity was the result of a $6.3 billion write-down, which apparently stemmed from “accounting regularities” and “overstated profits” of more than $1.2 billion and ultimately led to the resignation of the company’s chairman.

Initially, Toshiba attempted to auction off a 20% stake in its NAND business, but nothing came of that, likely because “the serious proposals probably all required the investor to get majority control of the business.”

With no alternative options, the proposal to completely sever and sell the flash memory business was put to a vote, with more than two-thirds of shareholders approving the proposal.

Why Nvidia Corporation (NVDA) Stock Will Keep Jumping Higher

NVDA stock is set to continue its impressive run up

Earlier this month, Nvidia Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) announced the Jetson TX2, which is the latest iteration of the TX1, which NVDA describes as “the world’s first supercomputer on a module.” The company designed the Jetson module as a tool to assist developers in advancing and creating new technology. Additionally, in partnership with Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), Nvidia announced development of the HGX-1 Hyperscale GPU Accelerator, which promises improved performance and standardization for cloud-computing servers.

These tools will also serve NVDA stock investors (indirectly, of course), as they further the company’s rise to the top of the AI industry ladder.

Android Central described the Jetson TX2 best, saying:

The people who will build this technology of the future will need the tools to do so. In 2017, NVIDIA is doing its part, and the Jetson TX2 is the embodiment of this idea.

Simply put, the Jetson TX2 is a mini supercomputer that can process massive amounts of data on the spot, which can be a huge advantage for technology developers who would otherwise have had to upload all that data to an online server for cloud computing.

Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD) Stock Gears Up for War

The meteoric rise of AMD stock isn't over yet

Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD) stock has quite literally skyrocketed over the past year, as shares of AMD are up nearly 400%, while the Nasdaq is up only 22% over the same period.

With the release of its Ryzen 7 processor line earlier this month, and the Ryzen 5 products slated for April 11, more than a few analysts on the Street have issued upgrades and raised price targets for AMD stock.

According to MarketWatch, 11 of the 29 analysts providing recommendations call AMD stock a “buy” and 15 call it a hold.