Tag: AMZN

Amazon Partners with Ownera on Hackathon to Launch the Revolutionary Ownera Digital Securities API

Los Angeles – Ownera, the institutional-grade blockchain network for digital securities (AKA Security Tokens), has announced it will be releasing its Digital Securities API utilizing the Amazon (AMZN) Managed Blockchain service running HyperLedger Fabric. Ownera is a network where all nodes will be regulated financial entities (such as banks, asset managers and exchanges), who underwrite and distribute the assets on the network.

The Ownera API to be released is so simple and powerful, that the Hackathon will challenge digital securities platform developers to fully adapt their applications to support Ownera within the 3 days of The Global Hackathon, between October 13-15 at the CIS conference (as part of the Los Angeles blockchain week).

 

A Blockchain for Asset Ownership

Ownera will be demoing the API and also leading a technical session for developers on October 15-16 at the Los Angeles Convention Center during CIS.  The API will also be made available early to participants in The Global Hackathon that begins on October 13 and ends on stage at CIS, where Ownera and AWS will give an award for the most innovative use of their API.

 

The Ownera Digital Securities API connects ownership apps to Ownera, while unlocking the core features necessary for launching compliant digital security platforms and apps:

  • Connects to the Ownera institutional-grade test net, built with HyperLedger Fabric utilizing the Amazon Managed Blockchain Service.
  • Runs on a version of HyperLedger Fabric, converted by Ownera from a private to a public network, which will initially be permissioned, and eventually become permissionless.
  • Connect digital securities platforms and developers to a network of verified assets managed by nodes which are all regulated financial institutions.
  • Enables the simple development of institutional-grade digital securities issuance, trading and management platforms.
  • Includes profile management, including KYC, investor accreditation, etc.
  • Includes asset management, including Know your Asset (KYA), an innovation Ownera pioneered to include verified asset information and investor rights in an immutable and legally-binding way in the blockchain as an integral part of every digital security – so investors know exactly what they are getting.
  • Has built-in Atomic Swap transaction capabilities to enable the instant sale of digital securities for any currency credit, fiat or digital, minimizing counterparty risk.
  • Connects to the innovative Ownera Regulation App Store, turning regulation compliance into AI-powered blockchain apps that asset-issuers can simply choose from a list!.

 

Fireside Chat with Ami Ben-David

Additionally, Security Token Pioneer Ami Ben-David, the Founder and CEO of Ownera, will be doing a presentation, followed by a fireside chat at CIS to discuss the next evolution of digital securities into the instituitional market, and how Amazon is providing the infrastructure for this paradigm shift on which Ownera will be running.

 

About Ownera

Ownera is an institutional-grade digital securities network, where all nodes are regulated financial entities (such as banks, asset managers and exchanges), who underwrite, verify transactions for regulation-compliance, and then distribute the assets to their institutional clients across the network. Ownera is built on a version of HyperLedger Fabric, upgraded from a private blockchain configuration, to a public permissionless model.

What Warren Buffett has been Buying

by Fred Fuld III

Warren Buffett, top investor and one of the richest people in the world, is in charge of Berkshire Hathaway (BRKA) (BRKB) which is up about 50% over the last five years. Even during the last month, BRKA outperformed the S&P 500 by 1.3%. So many look to Buffett to see where he is investing his money.

According to the latest reported filing with the SEC, Berkshire has made the following purchases earlier this year:

Bank of America (BAC) bought 31,081,000 shares

US Bancorp (USB) bought 3,150,787 shares

Amazon (AMZN) bought 54,000 shares

Red hat (RHT) bought 61,419 shares

In regards to what Warren Buffett sold, he liquidated all shares of USG Corp. (USG), and sold 284,102 shares of Charter Communications (CHTR).

Disclosure: Author owns AMZN & BAC.

Are You Watching the Streaming Video Stocks?

by Fred Fuld III

Could you have imagined 15 years ago that you would have the ability to watch almost any movie or TV show whenever you want, as many times as you want, and could pause it and replay parts of it, without having to insert a disc into a player, would you have believed it?

Most major films and television programs can now be watched on your smart TV, you computer, your laptop, and even your phone. Several companies are benefiting from this major trend, providing investors with stocks that they should keep an eye on.

Amazon’s (AMZN) Prime Video is an Internet video on demand service that offers television shows and films for rent or purchase and Prime Video, a group of Amazon Studios original content and licensed acquisitions including Bosch, The Man in the High Castle, Sneaky Pete, and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. Amazon trades at 64 times forward earnings, and revenues for the latest reported quarter jumped by almost 20% year-over-year.

Netflix (NFLX) is the biggest pure play in this arena, having around 140 million subscribers. The company also has extensive original programming including stand-up comedy specials. The stock trades at 88 times forward earnings. Sales for the latest quarter went up by over 27%.

Streaming video is a small but growing piece of Disney (DIS) which owns 60% of Hulu, in addition to its own streaming services. Like Netflix and Amazon, Hulu has its own original content. Disney has a very reasonable forward price to earnings ratio of 16, and even pays a dividend of 1.53%.

Of course, video streaming is a small part of a lot of large companies, such as Apple (AAPL), Facebook (FB), and YouTube, owned by Alphabet (GOOG) (GOOGL), better known as Google.

Let’s watch and see which company will be the best performer.

Disclosure: Author owns AMZN, AAPL, and DIS.

How to Invest in Valentine’s Day

by Fred Fuld III

There are just a couple days left to shop for Valentine’s Day. Why not give your loved one a Valentines stock, instead of one of the typical ones. The Valentines stocks include those that sell chocolate, jewelry, greeting cards, and gift wrap.

Here is a stock that is not very well know but very gift oriented. CSS Industries Inc. (CSS) markets gift wrap, gift bags, boxed greeting cards, gift tags, tissue paper, decorations, and decorative ribbons and bows. The stock trades at 7.8 times forward earnings, and pays a generous forward dividend yield of about 10%.

red rose

Flowers are always popular. 1-800-Flowers.com Inc. (FLWS) is the largest publicly traded company of flowers, plus it markets cakes, cookies, candy, wines, gift baskets, and other goodies for your valentine. The stock trades at 45.9 times forward earnings, and a price to sales ratio of 0.93.

chocolate candy

 Unless they have an allergy, all valentines like chocolate. The Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory Inc. (RMCF), based in Durango, Colorado produces and sells various types of chocolate candy including caramels, creams, mints, and truffles. The company was founded in 1981, has over 300 franchise locations. The price to earnings ratio is 21.2. Rocky Mountain pays a very tasty dividend yield of 5.5%.

What valentine doesn’t like jewelry? Something like a Platinum Pear Cut Emerald And Round Diamond Pendant would make a nice gift. The price is only $120,443 and is available through Amazon (AMZN).

Tiffany (TIF), founded in 1837, is one of the largest jewelry companies in the world, with over 60 U.S. stores and numerous international locations. The stock trades at 16.8 times forward earnings. This stock also pays a dividend, with a decent yield of 2.5%.

 For more stocks that could increase sales from the Valentine experience, such as candy and chocolate stocks, check out the free lists here at WSTNN.com.

Disclosure: Author did not own any of the above at the time the article was written.

How to Get Free Same Day and One Day Delivery from Amazon

If you are doing some last minute shopping, you may be pleased to know that Amazon offers Free Same Day and One Day Delivery. Here are the catches:

  1. It is limited to certain items but over a million items qualify.
  2. It is limited to certain cities but over 10,000 cities and towns qualify.
  3. The order must be for over $35.
  4. Same day orders must be placed by noon.
  5. Next day orders must be placed by the afternoon.
  6. Must be a member of Amazon Prime.

For more information, go HERE.

 

Invest Like a Billionaire

Did you know that ten out of the top twelve American billionaires made their money from a stock? The Forbes 400 Magazine was published about a month ago, which listed the wealthiest people in the United States.

It is interesting to note that most of the wealthiest achievements are from publicly traded companies. Maybe you can piggyback on some of these billionaires and their stocks.

Here is a list of the top dozen wealthy people with stock connections.

  1. Jeff Bezos – Amazon (AMZN)
  2. Bill Gates – Microsoft (MSFT)
  3. Warren Buffett – Berkshire Hathaway (BRKA) (BRKB)
  4. Mark Zuckerberg – Facebook (FB)
  5. Larry Ellison – Oracle (ORCL)
  6. Larry Page – Google (GOOG) (GOOGL)
  7. Sergey Brin – Google (GOOG) (GOOGL)
  8. Jim Walton – Walmart (WMT)
  9. Alice Walton – Walmart (WMT)
  10. S. Robson Walton – Walmart (WMT)
  11. Steve Ballmer – Microsoft (MSFT)
  12. Phil Knight – Nike (NKE)

How to Invest in Halloween

by Fred Fuld III

It’s time to buy Halloween candy yet for the trick-or-treaters. The candy manufacturers need your help. Other business can also benefit from Halloween holiday, such as the horror movie companies.

The biggest beneficiaries of Halloween are the confectionary makers. One example is Hershey Foods (HSY), one of the largest 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 20.4, a forward P/E ratio of 19.2, and  pays a dividend yield of 2.7%. The latest quarterly earnings per share were up 13.7% year over year.

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 26.3 and a yield of 1.15%. Earnings per share for the latest quarter are down slightly from a year ago.

Mondelez International (MDLZ) is a multinational producer of candy, along with food and beverages. Its brands include Sour Patch, Swedish Fish, Cadbury, and Toblerone. Trailing P/E is 18.5 and the forward P/E is 16.2. 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 114 times trailing earnings and 72 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 has a price to earnings ratio of 11.4, and pays a dividend of 1.9%.

Then of course, Amazon (AMZN) has plenty of Halloween costumes. Amazon has a trailing PE of 167 and a forward PE of 60.

May your Halloween portfolio be a treat and not a trick.

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

How to Get $5 from Amazon for Free (Today Only)

Amazon (AMZN) is having a special promotion, today July 17 only, whereby if you buy an Amazon gift card of at least $25 or more for someone (including yourself), you can receive $5 in credit for future purchases.

This is like receiving an immediate 20% return on your money, with no risk, since you will probably spend at least $30 on Amazon at some point

The only catch is that you have to be an Amazon Prime member. Also, when you check out, you need to enter the promotion cade:

GCPRIME16

before you click on the Order button.

More information about the gift cards can be found at:

Amazon gift card

Would You Pay $40,000 for a Kramer Action Figure on Amazon?

Amazon (AMZN) sells a lot of stuff, some things that you never knew existed. For example, do you remember the Kramer character from the Seinfeld TV show?

One toy company has made an action figure out of him. The Funko Vinyl Idolz Seinfeld Kramer Action Figure is currently available on Amazon, but at a price.

At the time this was written, you could buy this eight inch tall toy that comes in a window display box for only $40,475.26.

What a bargain!

It’s Not a Dead Body in Your Trunk, It’s an Amazon Package

If you haven’t heard yet, Amazon (AMZN) has come up with a new service called Amazon Key, which allows you to have your package deliveries right to your car or truck. This is just one of several new ways that Amazon has come up with to benefit its customers.

It doesn’t matter where you are parked, it could be home or work, but for Prime members, the packages can be placed in the trunk of your car. Of course, you get real time notification. And it’s probably a safer place to put it than leaving it outside your front door.

If you have a Chevrolet, Buick, GMC, Cadillac, or Volvo vehicle from 2015 or later, with a connected car service, you are probably eligible. The service is presently available in certain cities.

To set it up, all you need to do is download the Amazon Key App. The cost is free. More info is available at the Amazon website.