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Ride-hailing company Lyft is celebrating a milestone of sorts this week: It has now given 5,000 public rides in prototype self-driving vehicles operated by high-tech auto-industry supplier Aptiv PLC (NYSE:APTV). Lyft was very late to join the self-driving technology rush, and its own research and development effort is still in early stages. But thanks to Aptiv and -- soon, perhaps -- other partners, some of Lyft's customers are getting a taste of the self-driving taxi experience. APTIV'S FLEET OF SELF-DRIVING LYFT TAXIS HAS NOW RACKED UP 5,000 PAID RIDES IN LAS VEGAS. IMAGE SOURCE: APTIV PLC. A fleet of robot BMW taxis is operating in Vegas This pilot program began earlier this year, when Aptiv deployed a fleet of 30 BMW sedans fitted with its prototype self-driving system in Las Vegas and made them available via Lyft's ride-hailing platform. Lyft customers who use the company's app to hail a ride in Las Vegas are given a prompt asking if they agree to ride in a self-driving vehicle. If the rider's destination is on a route approved for the self-driving vehicles, then they may get picked up by one of Aptiv's self-driving BMWs. Riders in the self-driving vehicles are charged Lyft's usual fares. These vehicles are prototypes, meaning that they're not empty when they arrive to pick up a rider: The cars have human drivers ready to take control if the self-driving system begins to go awry. But so far, they've been well-received by Lyft customers in Vegas. The average passenger rating for a self-driving Lyft ride is 4.96 out of a possible 5 stars, the company said, and 96% of the passengers say that they intend to ride in a self-driving Lyft again. Who is Aptiv and how did it connect with Lyft? Aptiv is the high-tech portion of former giant auto supplier Delphi Automotive, which split itself in two last year. The company has been working with Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) and Intel's machine-vision subsidiary Mobileye on a self-driving system that they hope to begin offering to automakers by the end of next year. In a parallel effort, the three have also been working with German automaker BMW AG(NASDAQOTH:BAMXF) on a series of systems for vehicles that BMW is aiming to begin producing in 2021. (It's no coincidence that Aptiv's self-driving Lyft vehicles are BMWs.) Delphi's self-driving effort got a big boost last October, when it acquired self-driving start-up nuTonomoy, a company formed by researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. A few months earlier, nuTonomy had signed a deal with Lyft to collaborate on a test of self-driving vehicles in Lyft service in Boston. (The nuTonomy team is part of Aptiv now.) Why Lyft is looking to Aptiv (and others) for self-driving Lyft's own self-driving technology program is thought to be far behind that of its larger rival, Uber Technologies -- and even farther behind the companies generally cited as the self-driving leaders, Alphabet's (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Waymo and General Motors' (NYSE:GM) Cruise. Waymo has already begun deploying its own self-driving taxi fleet, and Cruise is expected to follow within months. But while it works to catch up with the technology, it has come up with a workaround: Last year, it opened up its ride-hailing platform to a number of companies developing autonomous-vehicle systems, including nuTonomy, Ford Motor Company, and Jaguar Land Rover, which took a small stake in Lyft. NOTE HOW WELL THE SELF-DRIVING SENSORS ARE INTEGRATED INTO THIS BMW. THAT LEVEL OF INTEGRATION SUGGESTS THAT THIS IS A LATER-STAGE PROTOTYPE. BMW HAS SAID THAT IT PLANS TO BRING SELF-DRIVING TECHNOLOGY TO MARKET IN 2021. IMAGE SOURCE: APTIV PLC. What does it mean for investors interested in self-driving? Self-driving vehicles have the potential to be a transformative technology, and the space has drawn tremendous interest from investors. But it's not easy to invest in "self-driving" right now. At the moment at least, there isn't really a "pure play" self-driving stock to buy. The closest thing we've seen so far was probably Mobileye -- but Intel acquired the company (at a hefty premium) early in 2017. That has left investors searching for the next-best opportunities. If you're one of those investors, Aptiv probably deserves a closer look. Revenue and earnings have both grown solidly this year, and the company has so far shown a knack for bolting on acquisitions that help advance its technology. And what of Lyft? If and when it goes public, Lyft is likely to show up on a lot of investors' take-a-closer-look lists. Much will depend on how well it stacks up against its more prominent rival, Uber, on many fronts -- including self-driving technology. But in its favor, Lyft has so far managed to put up good growth while avoiding the scandals that plagued Uber until last year. I suspect that it will have no trouble attracting interest -- and cash -- from investors. Aptiv PLC is not on our top "Buy" list, but these 10 stocks are Investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner just released their best stocks to buy now -- and it could pay to listen. Especially when you consider their average stock pick is up 353% vs. a mere 81% for the S&P 500. They just shared what they think are the ten best stocks for investors to buy right now to members inside their service Motley Fool Stock Advisor- and Aptiv PLC wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys.

The price competition of blue LED continues and has impacted the revenue of the Taiwanese LED chip maker, Epistar. Facing the challenges, the company plans to expand the production of four-element LED and to increase the proportion of Mini LED products in blue LED. Epistar`s Q2 revenue was NT$ 5.29 billion (US$ 172.9 million), with an increase of 2.81% QoQ and a decrease of 20.25% YoY. Although the demand in Q2 is slightly better than Q1, the total growth of the company remains tepid. Epistar aims to escalate the production of four-element LED to reach 40 percent of the total production as well as to boost the shipment of Mini LED in 2019 and 2020. The company expects that by 2020, Mini LED can take 30-40 percent of the blue LED production capacity. Epistar has announced earlier this year that it will begin the production of Mini LED backlights applications in 3Q18 and the mass production would be in 2019. Epistar will showcase its RGB displays and Mini LED backlight applications at Touch Taiwan Display International, which takes place during August 29 – 31. (Image: Epistar)

Nissan admits falsifying emissions tests in Japan 9 July 2018 Share this with Facebook Share this with Messenger Share this with Twitter Share this with Email Share Related Topics Diesel emissions scandal Image copyrightGETTY IMAGES Nissan has admitted that it has uncovered falsified data from car exhaust emissions tests at most of its Japanese factories. The firm did not disclose how many cars were involved, but said emissions and fuel economy tests had "deviated from the prescribed testing environment". The carmaker added that inspection reports had been "based on altered measurement values". Nissan pledged there would be a "full and comprehensive investigation". It added that "appropriate measures" would be taken to stop any future recurrence. Nissan has not revealed how many cars were involved in the altering of data, or if it involved vehicles manufactured outside Japan. The company said it had rechecked "reliable" data and confirmed that all vehicles except the GT-R sports car conformed to Japanese safety standards. It did not explain why the GT-R had been excluded. Analysis: by Jonty Bloom, BBC business correspondent Image copyrightGETTY IMAGES This is a very embarrassing affair for Nissan and it will damage its reputation, but it does not seem at the highest levels to have been deliberately trying to beat the system. VW was caught cheating emissions testing by deliberately writing software that meant its cars met emissions standards only when they were being tested but not at any other time. Nissan on the other hand seems to have been running its testing system very badly, they did not meet legal requirements and measurements were altered. That does not sound as bad as what happened at VW but it is still very shocking. This was going on at all of Nissan's factories in Japan, bar one; that means it is hardly a one-off accident or down to a few rotten apples. Nissan is still investigating what went wrong and so more details may emerge, although strangely enough Nissan believes nearly all of its cars do pass emissions standards. But, if this scandal ends here, Nissan will probably be able to say it made a sin of omission rather than VW's sin of commission. Safety probe Nissan's shares fell more than 4.5% on Monday after the company alerted investors that a statement on exhaust emissions was imminent. Last year, Nissan recalled 1.2 million vehicles in Japan after regulators said safety checks did not meet domestic requirements. A subsequent investigation into why its safety inspections did not meet government standards has now led to the latest revelations. The admission by Nissan comes after a huge scandal involving diesel emissions test cheating by Germany's Volkswagen. Last month, VW was fined €1bn (£880m) by German prosecutors for selling more than 10 million cars between mid-2007 and 2015 that had test-cheating software installed.

LEDinside is ready to welcome the experts and professionals in the industry to join us at Micro LEDforum 2018, titled [Key Technology and Application Market – Transfer, Inspection and Drive Solution Boost," on 12th July at NTUH International Convention Center in Taipei, Taiwan. Despite the approaching typhoon, LEDinside is fully prepared to host the pioneer annual event of Micro LED on Tuesday. Speakers from all over the world are on their way to Taipei and getting excited to share their insights and innovative development of Micro LED technologies. According to the forecast, the typhoon will most likely to affect Taiwan during 10th – 11th July. However, if the Central Weather Bureau of Taiwan still announces mandatory closure for schools and businesses in Taipei City on 12 July (Thursday), the event Micro LEDforum 2018 will be postponed and held later on 13 July (Friday). TrendForce and LEDinside will monitor the situation and notify the schedule change via emails and text messages. If the mandatory closure is extended to July 13, then TrendForce and LEDinside will further notify event participants about the rescheduling. For more details, please visit: http://seminar.trendforce.com/Ledforum/2018/US/index/

Full disclosure. I wrote this headline before my visit to a JD distribution center. And upon arriving, it was clear that me helping would just slow everyone down. So I stepped aside. This article should probably be titled [6 Things I Learned Hanging Out with JD Delivery Guys." *** A few weeks ago, I visited a JD distribution center in west Beijing. It was a small facility consisting of a storefront, a bunch of delivery karts lined up outside and space for trucks to pull up. As I showed up, the distribution center staff and the JD delivery drivers were already there waiting for trucks to come for the afternoon sort. They do three sorts per day and this was the last of the day. Over the next couple hours, I basically observed, asked a bunch questions and tried to stay out of the way. Here's what I learned. Lesson 6: Grocery distribution (and cold chain) doesn`t seem to be a big challenge. Last year, groceries were a big new frontier for Chinese e-commerce. JD and Alibaba both moved into it in a major way. One of my questions was how much of a problem was it going to be in terms of logistics? Could JD use the same infrastructure it had been building for almost a decade? Moving fresh seafood and fruits does seem different than moving laptops and dishwashers. However, the center I was at was for small and medium items (large items go direct from warehouse to customer) and lots of grocery items were coming through the center. In the trucks and karts, there were special boxes that could contain food items and keep them cold and fresh. And given the rapid delivery of JD (order by 11am get the item that day, order by 11pm and get it the next day), that apparently is enough for most food items to stay fresh. It looks like a lot of JD`s food and grocery distribution is being handled by the Small and Medium Package division. And it doesn`t seem to be much of a problem. Note: this center delivers to a radius of about 5km, which is a bit larger than distribution centers deeper in the city. That struck me as interesting because a lot of the talk around [new retail" (or boundaryless) supermarkets is how they can also function as logistics hubs. And most cite a 2-3 km radius for delivery. Lesson 5: The JD team dress well and have nice delivery vehicles - and this is important. Take a look at how nice the JD karts are. And how well dressed the delivery team is. Now next time you`re on the street look at some of the others delivery vehicles. One of the reasons bike-sharing took off was because the brightly colored bikes were a particularly powerful form of marketing. You saw thousands of them every day. Appearance matters. And the JD delivery people (and their karts) are probably the most visible part of the company in the physical world. And JD looks pretty good on the streets. Lesson 4: The point of delivery is probably the largest remaining inefficiency in the system. It was pretty amazing to watch the trucks come in. The team rapidly unloads the packages, scans and sorts them and then gets them on the right delivery karts, which then take off. Everything happens fast. If there are inefficiencies in the system, it`s not at the distribution centers. It seems that the biggest remaining issue is the actual point of actual delivery. Do you leave the package with the doorman? What if nobody is home? Do you take it back to the distribution center? And this is where the new [trunk delivery" (i.e., they leave the package in your car), smart kiosks (basically lockers outside your apt) and home delivery are going to make a difference. These new systems focused on the point of delivery should be fun to watch. Personally, I am totally comfortable with JD delivery folk entering my place and putting items right in my drawers and kitchen. That would basically make my home like a hotel. In a hotel, I don`t know how the Coke in the fridge gets replaced after I drink it. But it does. And I just get a bill. That`s pretty much my dream. Lesson 3: Speed of delivery across China is a big competitive barrier. If two online retailers both offer the same product (say a Huawei phone) at the same price, but one can deliver in 2-3 days and the other the same day (or the next morning), consumers usually go for the faster delivery. Why not? But it doesn`t feel like a massive distinction between when buying. However, behind the scenes it is a big deal. JD offers 11-11 delivery to a massive geography. Order by 11 in the morning and get it that day. Order by 11 at night and get it the next morning. To actually fulfill that promise requires a huge operational footprint. As I watched hundreds of packages move quickly through the distribution center, I was thinking about this same process was happening in thousands of similar centers across China. And that this process happens three times every day. Guaranteeing rapid delivery across Mainland China is a massive operation. It`s really impressive. And if you`re an online retailer trying to replicate that (and match JD) in terms of speed and reach of delivery, good luck with that. I am also starting to think that this sort of rapid, flexible delivery is a unique China advantage. The delivery people racing around on their karts creates a really flexible system. They can stop almost anywhere. Compare that to doing package deliveries in San Francisco or New York, where there are only cars and trucks (no karts and scooters). And there are pretty rigid rules for parking. Delivery in China is fast and flexible. And we can see this in e-commerce, food delivery, bike-sharing and other services. Lesson 2: You can`t be a quality online retailer without quality delivery. JD has an [asset heavy" business model, when compared with other e-commerce companies. They own their own warehouses and have their own in-house delivery service. That is an interesting approach and it follows from their focus on quality. From literally day one of operations, JD has positioned itself as a quality alternative to much of China retail. Even when JD was just a booth in Zhongguancun selling computers and other parts, they didn`t sell fakes. They didn`t haggle. They were the shop that guaranteed quality. As JD moved online and grew across China (and now internationally), they have kept their customer-first and quality-focused strategy. And while lots of companies say this, that kind of commitment is actually pretty hard to maintain. It can be really expensive. If you are going to be known for [quality", that plays out in several places. It means fewer items offered. It means guaranteed quality (i.e., no fakes and easy returns). It means fewer merchants in your marketplace. It means you have to provide good customer service. And it means you have to provide really good delivery. Because ultimately, your customer only interacts with you at three points: online, customer service and delivery. So you have to give CEO Richard Liu credit. Everyone says they are quality-focused but he really put his money where his mouth is. A decade ago when it became clear that their biggest source of customer complaints was in delivery, he brought the entire process in-house and spent a staggering amount of money building out a national infrastructure for logistics and delivery. This commitment to quality (and other things) took JD from a company with +10,000 employees to one with +150,000 people. And most of that growth has been in logistics and delivery. Lesson 1: The JD delivery folk are awesome - and this is really important. Approximately 18 people work at this distribution center. They staff the center and the drivers fan outward in their karts to deliver to their assigned neighborhoods. And as there are three sorts per day, they all come back to the center three times a day to reload. And to chat and hang out a bit. And they`re just really good guys (this center was all men, but there are women at other centers). They are super friendly. They are fun to hang out with. And they look like they`re having fun, chatting with each other while they move the packages. This speaks to one of the most important questions about the power of platforms businesses. How they can both enable and exploit. There was a recent article in the Atlantic (here) about how hard it was to be a delivery driver for Amazon Flex in the USA. You sign up as an independent contractor and use your own car. The pay is apparently low. Delivering downtown is a difficult because you have to find parking. More and more, there are serious questions being raised about the increasing number of people working on platforms. And how this can be a great thing and a bad thing, depending on the situation. But JD employs its own delivery people and they are not paid per package delivered. And watching them chat and laugh was nice to see. I`m sure there are issues (there are for every type of employment) but this appears to be a really good model for delivery. Anyways, those were my main take-aways. Thanks for reading, jeff A special thanks to Ella Kidron of JD. She was kind enough to let me come along with her visit to the distribution center. --------- I write and speak about the Chinese consumers and digital China. If you would like to read my posts, please click 'Follow' Also, please sign up at www.jefftowson.com for my monthly recommended China reading email. Plus, you also get a free chapter of my One Hour China Book and other stuff. Some previous posts include: I Took 20 Chinese Students to Meet Warren Buffett. Here's What Happened. Stop Calling Me an Introvert. I Prefer "Power Thinker" How I Went From NYC to Working for Prince Alwaleed My Favorite Map for Understanding China About: I am a Professor of Investment at Peking University Guanghua School of Management in Beijing. I am also an investor, speaker and former executive / slave to Prince Alwaleed.

BJ's Wholesale Club shares may seem like a bargain compared to Costco's pricey stock, but BJ's business is on much shakier ground. Adam Levine-Weinberg (TMFGemHunter) Jul 2, 2018 at 9:10PM Last Thursday, BJ's Wholesale Club (UNKNOWN:UNKNOWN) returned to the public markets after a seven-year stint under private ownership. The IPO priced at $17 a share -- at the high end of the expected range. Furthermore, BJ's stock had a nice pop during its first two days of trading, opening at more than $20 and reaching $23.65 by the end of the week. This gave the company a market cap of about $3 billion. BJ'S WHOLESALE STOCK PERFORMANCE, DATA BY YCHARTS. However, BJ's Wholesale Club is clearly inferior to its larger competitor Costco Wholesale(NASDAQ:COST) in several key respects. This makes it vulnerable to Costco's ongoing growth in the long run. That's why I am steering clear of BJ's stock. Low sales productivity BJ's first (and arguably most serious) problem is the low productivity of its warehouses. The company has sales per square foot of about $540, according to retail analyst Chuck Grom. By contrast, Costco generated $93.9 billion of revenue in the U.S. last year with 75.4 million square feet of retail space (as of the end of the fiscal year). This puts Costco's domestic sales per square foot at an incredible $1,245. This gap in sales productivity is particularly striking because the typical BJ's club is a good deal smaller than a typical Costco (roughly 110,000 square feet compared to 145,000 square feet). Having a smaller club size should theoretically bolster sales per square foot. However, BJ's doesn't have the same real estate quality as Costco. Furthermore, its target demographic has a lower income than the average Costco member. Finally, Costco has nearly three times as many members per warehouse as BJ's. COSTCO HAS MUCH HIGHER SALES VOLUMES PER WAREHOUSE THAN BJ'S. IMAGE SOURCE: COSTCO WHOLESALE. Subpar sales trends The second strike against BJ's Wholesale Club is that it hasn't been able to grow its sales. Comparable-club sales decreased in four of the last five fiscal years. Excluding gasoline sales -- which can be volatile due to changes in gas prices -- BJ's has reported comp sales declines in each of its five most recent fiscal years. For comparison, Costco has posted mid-single-digit domestic comp sales growth (excluding gasoline sales) over the past year. For its three most recent fiscal years, it has averaged domestic comp sales growth (ex-gas) of approximately 4%. BJ's already spends more than 15% of its sales on operating expenses, compared to just 10.3% at Costco. This means that BJ's needs higher gross margins to be profitable. Given that Costco has 10 times as much revenue as BJ's -- and thus more buying power -- the only way that BJ's can maintain a higher gross margin than its larger rival is to charge higher prices (on average). Costco's strong comp sales growth allows it to continue lowering prices in a way that BJ's cannot match. In the long run, this will widen Costco's competitive moat and enable it to steal share from BJ's. Not surprisingly, BJ's members are not as loyal, with a recent renewal rate of 86%, compared to more than 90% for Costco in the United States. The balance sheet remains weak BJ's also has a weak balance sheet, a legacy of its 2011 leveraged buyout. While the company will use its IPO proceeds to pay down high-cost debt, it still expects to have $2.1 billion of debt (and hardly any cash) following the IPO. Meanwhile, Costco has roughly zero net debt. Due to this heavy debt load, interest expense will eat up about 1% of BJ's revenue going forward. Given that warehouse clubs tend to operate on very tight margins -- Costco's operating margin was just 3.2% in fiscal 2017 -- it's very risky to have a high debt load (and correspondingly high interest expense). BJ's high debt burden could come back to haunt it during the next recession. There are some encouraging signs -- but not enough It's not all doom and gloom for BJ's Wholesale Club. The company's profitability has improved dramatically over the past two years, excluding some special items. In addition, sales trends are slowly improving. Last quarter, comp sales rose 2% excluding gasoline. Nevertheless, I wouldn't want to bet on a sustainable turnaround for BJ's. Costco appears to be interested in moving into more of BJ's core markets, such as upstate New York. In the long run, BJ's will likely struggle to compete against Costco's industry-leading cost structure and massive buying power. That's reason enough for investors to stay away from BJ's Wholesale Club. Adam Levine-Weinberg has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Costco Wholesale. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This "Total Conviction" Stock Could Be Like Buying Amazon for $3.19 Imagine if you had bought Amazon in 1997- a $5,000 investment then would be worth more than $5 million today. You can't go back and buy Amazon 20 years ago- but we've uncovered what our analysts think could be the next-best thing: A special stock with mind-boggling growth potential. With hundreds of thousands of business customers already signed up, this stock has been described as "strikingly similar to an early Amazon.com."

Which of the two financial technology giants belongs in your portfolio? Adam Levy (TMFnCaffeine) Jul 1, 2018 at 2:48PM PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) and Square (NYSE:SQ) are two of the biggest names in financial technology. Both companies provide the same value to merchants; they help them make more sales. PayPal excels in the e-commerce space while Square has built up a network of brick-and-mortar merchants. But both are increasingly moving into each other's territory. Both stocks have performed well in 2018, but Square's 78% price increase year to date dwarf's PayPal's 13% jump in share price. After the rapid run-up in Square's stock price, investors may be wondering if it's still a buy, or if PayPal presents a better option for those interested in the fintech space. Let's take a closer look at both companies to determine which is a better buy. THE PAYPAL APP. IMAGE SOURCE: PAYPAL Do they have a moat? I like to invest in companies with a significant competitive advantage. PayPal has built a two-sided network: 237 million active consumer accounts and 19 million merchant accounts. That network produces a real competitive advantage. The network of merchants encourages users to sign up for PayPal in order to conveniently pay for goods and services at 19 million online retailers without having to provide payment information to each one. That value proposition is strengthened with the growth of mobile commerce where consumers are more likely to abandon shopping carts in favor of typing in their credit cards. PayPal's mobile-focused One Touch system, which allows customers to checkout even more quickly on mobile, ended the first quarter with 92 million active consumers and 8.6 million active merchants. On the merchant side, PayPal gives businesses easier access to 237 million customers. PayPal boasts that it improves checkout rates 60% better than other digital wallets and 82% better than all payment types combined. On mobile, One Touch converts 47% better than non-PayPal purchases. As PayPal attracts more merchants, it helps attract more customer accounts, producing a virtuous cycle. Square, on the other hand, takes a different approach. It doesn't require a thing from customers; they just go about using the same old payment methods they're used to. And merchants have a growing number of choices when it comes to setting up credit card readers, point-of-sale systems, and other services Square provides. Square's value proposition is simplicity. From its pricing (a flat 2.75% cut from every swipe in the U.S.) to its hardware designs, Square makes everything as simple as possible. But simplicity isn't a competitive advantage. Any company, even PayPal, can easily copy that model. Square's competitive advantage ultimately stems from merchants taking multiple services from Square. To that end, Square has made significant progress in the past year, developing products that encourage merchants to fully adopt the Square ecosystem. Still, PayPal's network effect provides much greater protection against competitors than a burgeoning ecosystem. What do the numbers say? Both PayPal and Square experienced similar growth in total payment volume -- the main revenue driver for both companies -- in the first quarter. PayPal increased TPV 32% year over year while Square increased 31%. But Square has managed to grow its revenue a bit faster. Square's adjusted revenue increased 51% in the first quarter, accelerating for the fourth straight quarter. Square's revenue is boosted by its ancillary products like Square Capital and Invoices, which make up a growing portion of its revenue. PayPal, meanwhile, grew revenue 24%, eight percentage points less than its TPV growth. The slower revenue growth is due to a declining take rate, which is the percentage of each payment PayPal keeps. That's due to the rise of Venmo, PayPal's peer-to-peer payments app, which is in the very early stages of monetization. Venmo has massive potential, but it's currently a drag on revenue and earnings for PayPal. Still, PayPal has managed to maintain strong earnings growth. PayPal's EBITDA increased 33% year over year in the first quarter, the same as Square's adjusted EBITDA growth. A look at valuation PayPal has a stronger competitive advantage and it's growing its core source of revenue at the same pace as Square. Despite pressure on its take rate from Venmo, PayPal's managing to grow earnings at the same rate as Square as well. If the price is right, PayPal is looking like the better buy. Metric PayPal Square EV/Revenue (TTM) 6.60 8.53 EV/EBITDA 31.25 127.74* DATA SOURCE: YCHARTS, SQUARE QUARTERLY LETTERS TO SHAREHOLDERS. *USING ADJUSTED EBITDA PayPal stock is much cheaper than Square stock in terms of the multiples on both sales and earnings. That would certainly make it a better buy. That said, PayPal stock isn't exactly cheap. It's trading at unprecedented valuations for the company, and it faces numerous challenges in the coming years. But if an investor is deadset on investing in fintech, PayPal is their best bet. 10 stocks we like better than PayPal Holdings When investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has quadrupled the market.* David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the ten best stocks for investors to buy right now- and PayPal Holdings wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys.

In Part 1 and Part 2, I described my visit to several Luckin Coffee outlets and a couple strategies for how they can beat Starbucks in China – which is their stated goal. However, this isn`t really necessary. As their CEO Qian Zhiya has said, coffee consumption per capita in China is about 4-5 cups per year. While it is 750 in Europe. And about 400 in the USA. So the big opportunity is increased consumption. They don`t need to beat Starbucks to win big in China. They just need more people to drink coffee. Which brings us back to the three most important things I think Luckin is doing: #1 Cost innovation: They are dropping the price from 35RMB to 25RMB for a typical drink. Cost innovation is really a powerful approach for China. You take a product or service that is affordable to a small part of the population and make it available to a lot more. Xiaomi did this with the iPhone and quickly became the top smartphone maker in China (for a while). China Mobile did this with a lower price mobile service and increased their user base by over a hundred million people in about a year. Starbucks is selling a luxury product, a comfortable location and an experience (going to get a coffee with friends). It is not just the product. It is the experience. Luckin is dropping the price of this product plus experience and bringing it to a much larger population. Keep in mind, 35 rmb for a latte is very expensive for most of China. These are basically the same prices as in New York and London but China has a a GDP per capita 1/6th that of the USA. Luckin is offering a much lower price point – and this could open up the market dramatically. #2 They are opening lots of stores, pushing digital and making it really convenient. By opening a lot of outlets and selling to customers through their smart phones, they are making it really convenient to order, pick-up and deliver. Low price plus increased convenience is a great strategy for consumer China. You see this strategy in a lot in digital China. JD and Amazon make it simple to order, pay and get your product. And of course, you can do it all from your phone. Mobike really pushed convenience by literally putting millions of bikes on the streets. Luckin putting in +500 stores similarly will increase convenience. There is always one near you. #3 Price effect: They are using capital to acquire customers. One of the first things you see in the Luckin app, outlets and advertisements are offers to buy two and get one free. Or to buy five and get five free. And as people don`t normally drink two cups of coffee, this is about getting customers to bring in other customers (and get a group discount). I'm assuming they using a lot of their raised capital for this (and to open outlets). It`s a typical digital play. Pinduoduo gives customers discounts based on getting friends to buy along with you. Paypal famously signed up people by offering them $50(?) free in their new accounts. For retail coffee, there are probably a couple of benefits to this. You get more customers drinking coffee. Many for the first time? You get them used to caffeine and sugar, which are addictive (think coffee, Coca-Cola, Red Bull, etc.) Maybe you get them into a daily habit of going to get a cup (habit formation is a big deal). Everyone signs up and buys via the app so you build in customer stickiness via software. Overall, you are going for what Warren Buffett calls a [share of the consumer mind". You want your product or service to become integrated into people`s daily lives. *** A couple of final points: Retail coffee is not a winner-take-all business. You aren`t going to see only 1-2 winners like you do in ride-sharing, search and social media. We could easily have 5-10 big retail coffee chains across China. The biggest problem these companies have is not fighting each other. It is opening lots of stores and increasing coffee consumption by Chinese consumers. What Luckin really needs is a way to open 3,000-4,000 stores quickly and get lots of consumer attention. And they seem to be doing the right stuff in this regard. They are generating lots of press. They seem to be particularly good at this. They are opening tons of outlets quickly. They seem shockingly good at this. They have picked a fight with a big famous (and foreign) company. That is a great way to get noticed. The lawsuit also probably helps in this regard. They are raising lots of money and focusing on consumer usage. They are not behaving like a traditional business that is planning on growing based on positive cash flow. They are operating more like an internet company funded by venture capitalists. They are raising rounds and going for scale, traffic and market share. The profits will come later. I think this will work in the short-term. Chinese consumers will try them out. They are fickle and love new stuff. What will happen in the longer-term is less clear. Maybe they will get lots of adoption, build a national chain and end up with a stable, profitable business? Maybe they will get acquired by a bigger company? Perhaps as part of a "new retail" strategy? Maybe they will inspire lots of copycats and we will see a wave of competitors? Maybe the hype will fade over time and Chinese consumers will move on to the next cool thing? Who knows? Consumer China is immensely profitable. But it`s also pretty unpredictable. We shall see. In the meantime, I'm going to take advantage of investor subsidized coffee. :) Thanks for reading, jeff My Visit to Luckin Coffee: Starbucks' First Serious Challenger in China. (Pt 1 of 3) How Luckin Coffee Can Beat Starbucks in China (Pt 2 of 3) --------- I write and speak about the Chinese consumers and digital China. If you would like to read my posts, please click 'Follow'. Also, please sign up at www.jefftowson.com for my monthly recommended China reading email. Plus, you also get a free chapter of my One Hour China Book and other stuff. Some previous posts include: I Took 20 Chinese Students to Meet Warren Buffett. Here's What Happened. Stop Calling Me an Introvert. I Prefer "Power Thinker" How I Went From NYC to Working for Prince Alwaleed My Favorite Map for Understanding China About: I am a Professor of Investment at Peking University Guanghua School of Management in Beijing. I am also an investor, speaker and former executive / slave to Prince Alwaleed.

Who would have thought that Kroger would be able to beat Walmart and Amazon at their own game? While many grocery stores -- from Safeway to Publix to Whole Foods -- have offered to deliver food to your home for quite some time, two sellers have risen to the top of the heap: Amazon (which now owns Whole Foods) and Walmart. Despite increased interest in home delivery of groceries, only 2 percent of groceries are bought online by Americans. Compare this to the 6 percent of groceries bought online by UK residents. The dominance of Amazon and Walmart was recently threatened by an unlikely source, however: Kroger -- the old-school grocer founded in Cincinnati, Ohio more than 130 years ago, in 1883. This change of affairs came about after Kroger made a $250 million investment in Ocado, an extremely innovative online grocer located in the UK. Ocado has turned to technology to give it a leg up on the competition, using robotics and specialized software to make the process of picking and packaging orders much more efficient. According to a Wall Street Journal article, in one of Ocado's warehouses, "robots constantly shuffle a 'hive' of stacked boxes to expose the right groceries for human pickers to bag on behalf of customers." It is reported that as a part of its deal with Ocado, within the next three years Kroger will build 20 automated warehouses to drive its grocery home delivery service -- at a cost of approximately $400 million each. Kroger's new digital approach, including the ClickList service which allows for home delivery or curbside pickup, has resulted in a 66% increase in online sales compared to last year. #ecommerce https://t.co/Tw6rxGnSVI -- Institute for Supply Management (@ism) June 21, 2018 Kroger's online grocery strategy is already bearing fruit. According to the company, online sales surged by 66 percent over the past year -- putting the company in the lead for grocery delivery in the US. Of course, it's unlikely that Amazon and Walmart will idly sit by as Kroger gains traction with an increasing number of online grocery shoppers. Amazon in particular is poised to strike back quickly. Said grocery industry consultant, Brittain Ladd, "Amazon has every intention of re-engineering their supply chain. They just haven't done it yet." But until then, it appears that Kroger is going to enjoy its #1 position in grocery delivery for some time to come. PUBLISHED ON: JUN 26, 2018

When many think of e-commerce, Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) is what comes to mind. It's largely the success of the digital retailer that has helped spawn consumers' fast move to online shopping over the years, and its stock has provided huge returns for investors. However, for those looking to capitalize on further gains in online shopping, brick-and-mortar retailers are catching on. One of the best success stories is Home Depot (NYSE:HD), and its stock is an even better value than Amazon's. A side-by-side comparison Home Depot's online sales were a mere 6.7% of total revenue at the end of 2017, but Home Depot's online sales are growing at a healthy pace. Period Amazon Product Sales Growth Home Depot Online Sales Growth Q1 2018 33% 20% 2017 25% 22% 2016 19% 19% DATA SOURCE: AMAZON AND HOME DEPOT. Some extra context is needed here. Amazon purchased grocery chain Whole Foods last year, so to get a true apples-to-apples comparison, that needs to be excluded. Product sales from its new physical stores totaled $4.5 billion in the first quarter of 2018, meaning its online-only business grew only 14%. So Home Depot is actually the faster digital sales growth play. Other traditional retailers have been replacing in-store foot traffic with online traffic, but not Home Depot. Since online sales are still very small, comparable-store sales -- a combination of foot traffic and average customer ticket size -- are still getting a bump primarily from physical locations. In 2017, those comparables at stores in the U.S. increased 6.9%. That means that the online store is adding value to the company, rather than poaching revenue from another business segment. One could argue that Home Depot has been getting a big boost from strong spending on home improvement since the financial crisis of 2008. However, the same could be argued for Amazon. General retail spending has been growing steadily since 2009 as well, and home improvement spending usually follows the overall trend. So, for the sake of this discussion, suffice to say that both companies are benefiting from the same tailwind. At the moment, though, it's the big-box store that's posting the better digital growth. IMAGE SOURCE: HOME DEPOT. Two very different stocks Both Home Depot and Amazon are priced at a premium because of their fast growth, but Amazon especially so. Price-to-earnings ratios based on the last 12 months' performance are 27.5 and 279, respectively. Amazon's number is huge, but when valuing a business, it's the future that really matters. Home Depot's one-year forward P/E is 19.7. Amazon's, on the other hand, is 85.6, implying not just huge growth in the months ahead but strong bottom-line growth for many more years. That is, of course, a good possibility, especially with Amazon Web Services firing on all cylinders; that segment grew 62% and contributed 89% of operating income in the first quarter of 2018. But strictly in terms of retail, Home Depot is more profitable and a better growth story at the moment. The majority of retail spending in the U.S. still happens at brick-and-mortar stores, so Home Depot will continue to benefit from that trend while building its e-commerce. With lower P/E ratios on a trailing- and forward-12-month basis and a faster-growing online presence, Home Depot is a better value play on digital sales over industry leader Amazon, and a best-in-class pick for investors looking to tap into the shift to online retail. John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Nicholas Rossolillo has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Amazon. The Motley Fool has the following options: short September 2018 $180 calls on Home Depot and long January 2020 $110 calls on Home Depot. The Motley Fool recommends Home Depot. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

The retail industry is in flux. Find out how Stitch Fix, Home Depot, and Amazon are influencing its evolution. Jeremy Bowman (TMFHobo) Jun 16, 2018 at 12:18PM The rise of e-commerce has rocked the retail industry like nothing before. The brick-and-mortar storefront, a model that has persisted for thousands of years, is being gradually replaced by online retail, and the convenience of shopping from home or a smartphone is changing the way retailers, both physical and online, do business. Not surprisingly, more than a few disruptive companies have emerged in this climate as mobile technology created opportunities that previously didn't exist. Let's take a look at a few companies that are changing the retail industry. IMAGE SOURCE: GETTY IMAGES. 1. Stitch Fix Personalized styling services have emerged as one type of innovation in clothing retail, but no one is doing it better than Stitch Fix (NASDAQ:SFIX), which is much larger than any of its direct competitors. At a market value of $2.5 billion, the company is the only publicly traded pure-play styling service. Stitch Fix is disrupting apparel retail by giving consumers the ability to buy new clothes without the time, energy, and hassle that normally goes into shopping. Unlike traditional retail or even online options, Stitch Fix doesn't allow you to choose your own clothes. Instead, it sends you five items at a time based on an interface through which you select your style preferences, budget, and fit. Customers only pay for what they want to keep and return the rest. The fee for the service is $20, which is credited toward whatever items the customer decides to purchase. This is all done online, which means Stitch Fix has heaps of data on what customers like and how its clothes fit, giving it a distinct advantage over traditional retail, which does not collect any such information. Management often talks about how the company uses data science and algorithms to help select clothes for its customers. Thus far, the service seems to be picking up steam as revenue growth accelerated to 29% in its most recent quarter, and the company posted a wider profit than expected. Stitch Fix -- which already has petite and maternity offshoots from its standard offerings for men and women -- is preparing to launch a kids' line, showing that the company has plenty of room for growth as it moves into new product categories. Don't be surprised if Stitch Fix continues to take share from traditional clothing retailers. 2. Home Depot Home Depot (NYSE:HD) may seem like an odd choice because the company is seen by many consumers as a typical big-box chain; however, the home-improvement retailer is changing quickly and pushing the envelope in a number of ways. It was early among brick-and-mortar chains to recognize the opportunity in e-commerce as it essentially stopped opening stores 10 years ago and instead invested that money in its current store base and building out its online capabilities. Arguably, no retailer has done a better job at integrating digital technologies with the in-store experience. More than 40% of Home Depot's online orders are now picked up in stores as the company has focused its e-commerce strategy around products that don't lend themselves to online retail. It offers in-store demonstrations for customers who want to learn more about products or home improvement projects. Its associates all carry interactive smartphones to help them assist customers, and its mobile app uses augmented reality to help customers see how products would look inside their homes. The company was even named one of the 50 Most Innovative Retailers by Fast Company last year. In April, Home Depot said it was hiring 1,000 technology associates to work on projects relating to artificial intelligence, machine learning, and augmented reality. It's no surprise that the company has consistently outperformed rival Lowe's and has been one of the best-performing retail stocks over the last decade. 3. Amazon It's impossible to discuss retail disruption without mentioning Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN). Since its inception, the e-commerce giant has been rewriting the rules of retail with innovations like its Prime loyalty program, which has won over 100 million customers with benefits including free two-day delivery. Amazon continues to roil its competition with new initiatives, such as rolling out free same-day delivery from Whole Foods locations following its acquisition of the grocery chain a year ago, and it's also experimenting with a high-tech, cashier-less Amazon Go store. Using a network of cameras and artificial intelligence, the store charges customers automatically based on what they take off the shelves and has no checkouts or lines. It's unclear what the future of Amazon Go will be, or if such technology will become mainstream, but according to reports, the company is planning to expand the concept to six new stores in addition to the original one in Seattle. Meanwhile, Amazon continues to innovate in other ways, testing drone delivery and using robots in its warehouses, and its core philosophies like being customer-focused and building for the long term have put pressure across the retail industry to follow suit. Margins, for example, have generally fallen once Amazon enters a sector. Its tech prowess in areas like cloud computing and voice-activated technology also give it a leg up on the competition. Companies across the retail spectrum are striving to reinvent themselves thanks to pressure from Amazon and others, but as the retail industry continues to evolve, these three companies will be among the leaders. John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Jeremy Bowman owns shares of Stitch Fix. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Amazon. The Motley Fool owns shares of Stitch Fix and has the following options: short September 2018 $180 calls on Home Depot and long January 2020 $110 calls on Home Depot. The Motley Fool recommends Home Depot. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

LG Innotek launched the new brand [InnoUV" and planned to adopt the new brand logo to all of its UV LEDproducts. The name [InnoUV" combined `innovation` and `UV`, according to LG Innotek, it represents [an LED that embodies LG Innotek`s innovative UV technology." Ultraviolet ray (UV) LED with its wavelength can eliminates germs and viruses and be used to disinfect water, air and surface for medical and biotechnology application. UV light also reacts with particular substances chemically to be utilized in curing and light exposure equipment. Last year, LG Innotek successfully developed the 100mW UV-C LED; it boasts the world`s highest light output and can wipe out 99.9% Salmonella, one bacteria causing food poisoning, in 3.4 seconds. (Image: LG Innotek) The new brand logo of [InnoUV" will be applied to all 40 types of the UV LED packages and modules developed by LG Innotek. And once negotiated with LG Innotek, companies can also use [InnoUV" logo on exterior, packaging and promotion materials of finished UV LED products. LG Innotek expects to build a high-quality standard represented by the new brand and promote the environmental-friendly feature of UV LED. LG Innotek hopes to target the global market and to keep its leading position in UV LED with the new brand [InnoUV." The company official said, [We are going to make UV LED available in many areas with `InnoUV`, a brand which customers can trust."

TWEET THIS Walgreens is under pressure to execute a new strategy amid the threat of Amazon entering the pharmacy business Walgreens is investing hundreds of millions of dollars in new systems Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. signage is displayed in the window of a store in downtown Chicago, Illinois, U.S., on Oct. 18, 2016. Walgreens is opening a new technology and digital office in Chicago's Old Post Office in 2019. (Photo: Christopher Dilts/Bloomberg) Walgreens Boots Alliance will open a new office for 1,800 workers in downtown Chicago`s Old Post Office building next year to house a workforce of technology and digital health employees. The new 200,000 square-foot office won`t replace the existing headquarters in Chicago`s north suburbs, but it is important to Walgreens future strategy to grow its pharmacy business and increase traffic into its stores. [Investing in our infrastructure and building our digital and technical capabilities are essential elements of our business transformation strategy, as we work to improve access for our customers and enhance the customer experience," Walgreens president Alex Gourlay said. [The space in the iconic Old Post Office building allows us to attract and retain the best talent from all of Chicagoland." Walgreens employs more than 235,000 across the U.S. and will still have about 3,200 at its headquarters in the northern Chicago suburb of Deerfield. The company expects 1,800 positions to be based at the new downtown Chicago Post Office location, which includes 1,300 relocating from Deerfield and 500 relocating from another office already in Chicago. It is expected to be open by fall of 2019. [Digital and IT operations employees supporting the Walgreens business, as well as some Walgreens Boots Alliance global IT personnel, will be located in the new office space," Walgreens said in a statement. [The space expands the company`s Technology Center of Excellence launched last year that further combines the company`s retail pharmacy technology teams with digital, mobile and e-commerce teams who currently work in the City." Walgreens is under pressure to execute a new strategy amid the threat of Amazon entering the pharmacy business and the potential closing later this year of rival drugstore chain CVS Health`s acquisition of Aetna, the nation`s third-largest health insurer. Walgreens is investing hundreds of millions of dollars in new systems and even more on rebranding more than 2,000 Rite Aid stores purchased in the last year. By having a larger technology and digital presence in a new downtown Chicago facility, Walgreens is hoping it can become more attractive to high tech workers. [This is a smart decision by an innovative company, it will contribute to our city's thriving tech sector, and we are looking forward to cutting the ribbon and welcoming 1,800 members of the Walgreens team to Chicago," Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel said in a statement. [Walgreens was born in Chicago with one small pharmacy on the South Side, and their big new presence in one of our city`s most iconic locations is a great way to look to the future." For more information on healthcare, read Bruce Japsen's book, Inside Obamacare: From Barack And Michelle To The Affordable Care Act.

Apple CEO Tim Cook recently disclosed an interesting detail about Apple Park, the company's new headquarters: Everyone gets a standing desk. "It's much better for your lifestyle," Cook said in a recent interview. Cook has previously cited doctors who say "sitting is the new cancer." Most of what happens inside Apple Park, the iPhone company's stunning new headquarters, is top secret. But Apple CEO Tim Cook recently disclosed one new detail about the work environment: Everyone gets a standing desk. Kif Leswing "We have given all of our employees, 100%, standing desks. If you can stand for a while, then sit, and so on and so forth, it's much better for your lifestyle," Cook said in a recent interview with The Carlyle Group's David Rubenstein published on Wednesday. He then encouraged the billionaire financier to stand with him - just like a prominent feature on the Apple Watch. Cook has previously cited doctors who say "sitting is the new cancer." "We have a lot of people using the Apple Watch at Apple, and 10 minutes before the hour, suddenly they all get up and move. It took a little to get used to, but it's great," he said at a Goldman Sachs conference in 2015. Apple Park YouTube/Matthew RobertsThe ability to use a standing desk is only one of a slew of perks available to Apple employees at the company's new headquarters, which was rumored to cost over $5 billion to construct. Apple Park is built to blur the lines between the largely glass "spaceship," or "ring," building and the carefully landscaped campus outside. ADVERTISEMENT That campus is full of fruit trees, and the on-campus "Caffe Macs" cafeterias actually use those fruits in its lunches and dinners. There's also a massive gym and a shuttle serviceto take workers to satellite offices and the company's old headquarters, which is a 10-minute drive away. Apple's table is identical to this one, only twice as long.Arco That's not even mentioning the furniture inside Apple Park, which has been carefully hand-selected. Here are some of the pieces we know about: In addition to a standing desk, workers get desk chairs made by Vitra, which cost $1,200. Common areas and cafés are dotted with chairs designed by Naoto Fukasawa that cost $2,500. Many tables are 18-foot-long oak slabs, which are custom as well. Apple didn't respond to a question from Business Insider about the specific model of standing desk its employees use. Interior photos published in The Wall Street Journalshow desks that can be raised and lowered. A Wired feature about the campus included some details about the desks as well as a photo of their controls: ADVERTISEMENT "The desk itself is height-­adjustable and went through multiple versions, mostly involving different configurations of the brackets that fix it to the wall: These contain the fiber for connectivity as well as electrical wires. (It would be a crime to see them dangling.) To bring the desk up or down, there are two buttons underneath. Users can tell them apart by feel: The convex one raises the table, the concave lowers it." One reason a company would invest so much in a new building is to help it recruit highly paid software developers and tech workers, who have other options for employment but could be persuaded to work in a beautiful architectural landmark. Cook and Apple seem happy with Apple Park. In the interview with Rubenstein, Cook said the Apple cofounder Steve Jobs "had the vision that the workplace should facilitate people working together," with "common areas that people could work together and run into each other without planning on doing it." "And that the level of ideas and creativity and innovation that would come out of that would be phenomenal," Cook added. "And we're seeing that." Have you used an Apple standing desk? We'd love to hear about your experience. Email the author at kleswing@businessinsider.com

The company has turned a corner, but it's still in the early stages of recovery. Macy's (NYSE:M) has turned a corner. The company, which has struggled in the face of the so-called "retail apocalypse," found its footing in the most-recent quarter. The retail chain, which has closed underperforming locations, reported first-quarter earnings of $0.45 per diluted share, up from $0.26 in the same period a year ago. Perhaps more importantly, the company saw same-store sales increase by 3.9% compared to Q1 2017 on an owned basis, and 4.2% on an owned plus licensed basis. "The winning formula for Macy's, Inc. is a healthy brick & mortar business, robust e-commerce and a great mobile experience," said CEO Jeff Gennette in the company's first-quarter earnings release. "While we have more work to do, the continuing improvement in our stores is encouraging and we once again achieved double-digit growth in the digital business. Our best customer is responding well to the improvements we've made to her experience in our stores, on .com and through the Macy's app." MACY'S HAS WORKED ON ENHANCING ITS OMNICHANNEL CAPABILITIES. IMAGE SOURCE: MACY'S. Where is Macy's now? Give Gennette credit for stopping the bleeding and putting some initiatives in place that have performed well. In addition to strengthening its portfolio of Macy's and Bloomingdale's stores, the company has also built out its omnichannel capacity, including the ability to fulfill digital orders from more than 500 stores. In addition, the company has been adding the ability to buy online and pick up in a store to all of its locations. Omnichannel operations will give Macy's additional protection against digital rivals. The company has also created Macy's Backstage and The Outlet, outlet/discount stores for its two brands. This gives the company a way to reach customers who might otherwise not shop at its regular stores. The company also purchased Bluemercury, a beauty and spa brand. That expands the company's reach with younger customers and broadens its audience. Macy's is moving forward Macy's has stabilized its store base, largely moving out of lower-tier malls and shopping centers. Its stores, however, still remain vulnerable due to the general industry trends that are impacting brick-and-mortar chains in general. If consumers shop less at malls, that's going to impact the Macy's recovery. Its stores are sometimes destinations themselves -- for example, a man who needs a suit and wants immediate tailoring may head to Macy's even if he has no other needs at the mall -- but lower traffic will cost the company sales from casual customers. The risk for Macy's is that shopping, in general, will shift further to the purely digital world. The chain has improved its online products, but it's still primarily a physical company. While the company does not break down its digital versus in-store sales in its earnings releases, Gennette did say "our digital business continues with double-digit growth" during the Q1 earnings call, though he did not offer any specific details. Macy's is investing heavily in augmented reality and virtual reality in an effort to boost digital clothing and furniture sales. How vulnerable is Macy's? Macy's was a digital laggard for some time. Now, while the company has work to do in growing its delivery options and refining its supply chain, it has become a leader among major retail companies. Gennette has an aggressive plan for growth, and is testing new concepts to see if they work and implementing them when they do. The company is vulnerable if mall traffic plummets suddenly, but that's not likely to happen. Macy's may not be all the way back to the point where its CEO can say "mission accomplished, turnaround complete," but it's getting closer, and it appears it's going to make it. Daniel B. Kline has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Motley Fool Gives Rare "Total Conviction" Buy Sign Not to alarm you but you're missing out on an important and rare event. Renowned investor David Gardner has identified a stock he thinks resembles Amazon in its early days. He's also one of the few that picked Amazon in its early days- it's now up 10219% since his original recommendation. David hasn't just recommended this little internet company once -- he's advocated for investors to buy it twice in the last year. And wouldn't you know - each time it's gone on to crush the S&P 500!

Mars Inc is one of the biggest family-owned companies in the world, with more than $35 billion in annual sales. The 106-year-old company is known for its iconic candy brands, including Snickers, M&Ms, Milky Way, and Twix. But the company's biggest business is its pet-care business. Business Insider spoke to Mars chairman Stephen Badger, the great-grandson of founder Franklin Mars, about what he has learned about leadership during his role at the company. Badger said that the best things you can do when stepping into a new leadership position are to keep an open mind and engage others. He also said it's important to not think you must have all the answers. With some $35 billion in annual sales, Mars Inc, which is known for its iconic candy brands like Snickers and M&Ms, is one of the biggest family-owned businesses in the world. But the family doesn't just own the company. Some family members play key roles at the corporate giant. One of those family members is Stephen Badger, the great-grandson of Mars' founder, Franklin Mars. Badger currently serves as the company's chairman, but he has also worked as the global director of corporate affairs and served as the president of Seeds of Change, a Mars subsidiary that makes organic food. While all of his positions at Mars have come with their own challenges, Badger said that becoming Mars chairman was by far the most difficult role to move into. "The biggest challenge that I've had in my career was when the second of my uncles stepped off the board and I stepped into being chairman. The difficulty in that is you are moving from a dynamic where you had two individuals who had run the business for over 40 years and really fundamentally were playing the role of both a governance role as well as an operational role in management in terms of running it," Badger said. "And so all of a sudden it was a significant shift in the dynamics of the board and in the dynamics of the family, in terms of really a generational transition." Badger said he was able to get through the transition by being open with his family and building a collective vision for what the company was trying to do. While stepping into the chairman role was a challenge, Badger said he learned a lot about leadership. And he said if he had to give one piece of advice about how to grow into a new leadership gracefully, it would be to listen. "The biggest thing that I have learned is to not think that you do or need all the answers. I find it more powerful to approach a situation if I can get my ego out of the way and engage people with questions and an open mind and without a preconceived notion. That really helps," Badger said. "That's not to say that you shouldn't have an opinion and at a certain point need to make a judgment and a call, but to really approach it with an open mind, and not thinking that you need to or that you do have all the answers in advance." Read more about what Mars has planned for the future: Mars chairman explains why the $35 billion chocolate giant will never go public The chairman of the company behind Snickers and M&Ms reveals what's next for the chocolate giant The $35 billion chocolate giant Mars was once notoriously private. Here's why the company is now speaking out.

Shares of the crumbling retailer bounced on news of an expansion of its partnership with Amazon. Jeremy Bowman (TMFHobo) Jun 12, 2018 at 1:20PM What happened Shares of Sears Holding Corp (NASDAQ:SHLD) were moving higher today after the struggling retailer announced an expansion of its partnership between Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) and its own auto centers. As a result, the stock was up 7.5% as of 12:14 p.m. EDT. So what Building on a relationship that began last year when Sears announced it would make Kenmore appliances like air conditioners Alexa-enabled and Amazon said it would sell Kenmore products on its website, Sears said it would expand the number of its auto centers that are partnering with Amazon to install tires that are purchased on the e-commerce site. IMAGE SOURCE: GETTY IMAGES. Initially the program was available at just 47 stores, but Sears said it would add another 71 today. In a statement, Sears Automotive Vice President Mike McCarthy said, "Amazon customer reviews have been very positive and we are two months ahead of schedule." He also said that customers were adding other services like oil changes when they came to get their tires installed. Now what The expanded partnership with Amazon won't have any material impact on Sears' bottom line because the company has been rapidly losing sales as comparable sales plunge as it closes stores. In its most recent quarter, revenue fell by nearly a third. However, investors are hopeful that the relationship with Amazon could advance and even lead to an acquisition, or at least purchases of certain Sears' assets like the Kenmore brand. While an all-out acquisition seems highly unlikely, the relationship with Amazon can't hurt. Sears stock has been so volatile lately that even minor news like this can move it significantly. John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Jeremy Bowman has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Amazon. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

During Display Week 2018 held by SID (Society for Information Display), LEDinside noticed that many manufacturers have demonstrated products applying Mini LED panels. Leading companies had released Mini LED backlight products in difference sizes, including display VR devices, mobile phones, notebooks, automotive display and TVs. Taiwanese LED chip maker Epistar announced its Mini LED technology development and started to connect its clients for collaboration of various products including smartphone, laptop and indoor signage last year. The company has been working on Mini LED backlights application and is preparing production for clients on the third quarter 2018 and by the fourth quarter, Mini LED application could be found in the market. It is said that Epistar is processing Mini LED orders for Huawei for about 1 million devices. (Image: LEDinside) Meanwhile, Epistar also progresses Mini LED-based applications on larger size displays and is trying to speed up the manufacturing of 27 inch panel. The company expects to launch the display the latest by 2019 and to break through the current obstacles in mass production to increase the production by 2020 in an investor conference. For Micro LED, the company said its application on TVs and wearable devices will be demonstrated by the second half of 2018, however, due to the limitation of technology and high cost, Epistar forecasts that Micro LED-based products might be showcased during 2023-2025. Currently the company runs faster with Mini LED and estimated that Mini LED would take 30-40% of the revenue by 2020.

Call for Paper Abstracts: TrendForce is inviting companies and academic institutions to submit abstracts or outlines of their latest technical papers related to Innovative Micro LED Technologies. Below are instructions, terms, and conditions for the submission. ▲ Submission Period: Jun. 6, 2018 to Sep. 30, 2018 ▲ Prize winners will be announced on Oct 30, 2018. [I] Intention and Range of Topics for Submission Micro LED is widely recognized as having the potential to become one of the major next-gen display technologies. Since LEDinside, a division of TrendForce, held its first seminar conference (LEDforum 2016), there has been an upsurge in technological advances made in Micro LED manufacturing. At the same time, numerous new startups that are working in the related fields have also emerged. While the pace in the formation of the Micro LED supply chain is accelerating, there are still very few channels to promote these pioneering technologies and the companies behind them. To address this challenge, TrendForce has launched a special call for paper abstracts/outlines on this subject. We especially want to engage with companies around the world that are in the upstream, mid-stream, and downstream sections of the Micro LED supply chain. LEDinside is one of the most influential research and media platforms in the global LED industry, and it wants to have the most cutting-edge solutions on Micro LED production to be presented to the public in LEDinside.com on Oct 30. By issuing this call for abstracts and outlines, LEDinside hopes to create new growth opportunities for the whole LED industry. TrendForce welcomes submissions from companies, academic institutions and other corporate entities that want to unveil their technologies and patents related to Micro LED. [II] Eligible Participants: [1] Companies that reside in the global supply chains of the following industries: LED, semiconductor, and display. [2] Departments of academic institutions (i.e. colleges and universities), research agencies, and governmental organizations that study Micro LED and related technologies. [III] Submission Period: 2018.6.6~2018.9.30 [IV] Judging and Prizes: [1] Prize winners will be announced on Oct 30, 2018. [2] Description of Prizes Ranking Prizes Description 1st and 2nd Place [a] One piece of 2-inch Micro LED wafer [b] Complimentary promotion package from LEDinside [a] Winner of the 2nd place award will receive one piece of 2-inch Micro LED wafer for product research and development. The wafer is provided by the Consortium of Intelligence Micro-Assembly System (CIMS). [b] The promotions that LEDinside offer via the webpages include paper revealment and a interview article. 3rd Place [a] Complimentary promotion package from LEDinside [a] The promotions that LEDinside offer via the webpages include paper revealment Honorable Mention [a] Exposure on the LEDinside website [a] TrendForce will choose 10 abstracts/outlines as honorable mentions and publicize their content on the LEDinside website. [V] Judging Panel/Organizations: [1] The Consortium of Intelligence Micro-Assembly System (CIMS), an organization established by Taiwan`s Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) [2] Institute of EO Engineering at National Chiao Tung University (Taiwan/ROC) [VI] Judging Criteria and Scoring: [1]Relevance to the topic and validity of the research and data: 20% [2]Originality of the presented technological solution: 40% [3]Potential for future development of the presented solution: 40% [VII] Formatting Requirements for Submission Entries [1] Formatting Guidelines: Abstracts/outlines must be submitted electronically in PDF format sized under 2MB. The writing must be in English and formatted for A4 paper (210 × 297 millimeters or 8.27 × 11.69 inches) with 1-inch margin. Texts must be double spaced and presented in a common 12-point font (Times New Roman). The required word count is 1,000 words minimum and 1,500 words maximum. The maximum allowable number of tables, figures, photos, and images that are included in a submission entry is five. [2] Submission Method: Please convert the text document of the abstract/outline into a PDF file sized under 2MB and attach it to an email addressed to GraceLi@trendforce.com; JoanneWu@trendforce.com, with the subject line:Call for Abstracts/Outlines on Innovative Micro LED Technologies. [3] Abstract/Outline Template: The structure of the abstract/outline must be organized according to the following order. [a] A brief description of the main topic (e.g. the research or the technological solution that is being presented) [b] Motivations behind the research or the development of the technological solution (e.g. objectives, core values, and mission statements) [c] A description of the problem and the approach to carry out the research or finding the technological solution [d] Results and implications (i.e. the conclusion) [VIII] Important Notices: [1] In addition to submitting the entry in the PDF format, all authors are required to complete and attach the official submission/registration form and the copyright license agreement to their submission emails. The official submission/registration form and the copyright license agreement can be downloaded at [http:// LINK]. Please fill in the forms: Copyright Form and Submission Form [2] The entry must be in the PDF file format and sized under 2MB. [3] Only the participants that win the 1st place, 2nd place, 3rd place and honorable mention will be respectively notified after the judging process of the competition. TrendForce will not notify the remaining participants on whether their submissions have been accepted or rejected. [4] All submission entries must be original works of their respective authors and must include proper citations. Please adhere to international copyright laws. TrendForce accepts no legal responsibility or liability for submission entries that infringe on the copyright and the intellectual property rights of any other party.

According to the latest report from LEDinside, a division of the market research firm TrendForce, 1Q18 Micro LEDNext-Generation Display Technology Market Report- 2018 Micro LED and Mini LED Industry Trend, the Micro LED market value in 2025 is expected to reach USD 2.891 billion. Due to Micro LED`s good performance, it can be applied in the fields such as wearable watch device, cellphone, automotive display, AR/VR, digital display and TV. However, owing to tough technique and high cost, it is more suitable to be applied in high-level TV, digital display and automotive display; in terms of Micro LED market scale, large-size display will become the mainstream application. The Micro LED market value in large-size display in 2025 is expected to reach USD 1.98 billion, which takes up 68% of the entire application. There are six directions for the current obstacles of Micro LED, including epitaxial wafer/chip, transfer, full color, drive IC, backplane and inspection / repair technology. Currently, for Micro LED production, GaN LED Wafers have been grown on sapphire substrates. However, some LED manufacturers are focusing on GaN on Si technology, hoping to increase wavelength uniformity and thickness uniformity and to largely lower the inspection cost from back-end chip process. Current pick up technology can be implemented through physical and chemical methods. The physical methods include electrostatic adsorption, phase change transfer, fluidic assembly, electromagnetic adsorption and vacuum adsorption. The chemical methods include van der waals force, laser ablation and other methods. There are three major types of full color technology, including the applications of RGB chip mixed light, RGB epitaxial wafer and color conversion material. In terms of driving schemes, there are active matrix and passive matrix. Different driving scheme will result in different color performance and product application. For backplane materials, because LTPS has high electron mobility, the leakage current is high. Thus, in terms of future Micro LED`s low-current operation, IGZO backplane will be preferentially adopted due to high electron mobility and low leakage current. Currently, the types of inspection can be divided into PL and EL inspection. The size of Micro LED is too small to conduct the EL test with probe. Therefore, a Japanese equipment manufacturer is developing its technologies to simulate the test results with its PL test and image processing system. Compared with traditional LCD and OLED TV, the cost of Micro LED TV is still hard to compete in the short term. Except above 65-inch TV fields, there are chances for Micro LED TV to enter the market. Compared with other industries, semiconductor industry has advantage in Micro LED`s related technology, equipment, cleanroom, capital and end-customer relationship. However, because the market value of Micro LED is much lower than semiconductor industry, for semiconductor industry, whether Micro LED is worth developing, benefit evaluation from each manufacturer is needed. 1Q18 Micro LED Next-Generation Display Technology Market Report 2018 Micro LED and Mini LED Industry Trend Micro LED Current Development and Technical Challenge Micro LED Current Manufacturing Supply Chain Micro LED Key Technology- LED Wafer and Chip Process Micro LED Key Technology- Transfer, Bonding, Driver and Backplane Technologies 2018 Micro LED Manufacturing Evaluation and Analysis LEDinside Micro LED Technology Overall Analysis Comprehensive Micro LED Technology Analysis Topic One: Epi Wafer and Chip Technology Solution Topic One: Epi Wafer and Chip Technology Solution -Micro LED Chip Design Challenge Topic Two: Transfer Technology Solution- Pick Up Technology Topic Two: Transfer Technology Solution- Selectivity Technology Topic Two: Transfer Technology Solution- Major Transfer Technology Evaluation and Analysis Topic Two: Transfer Technology Solution- Major Transfer Technology Evaluation and Analysis Topic Two: Transfer Technology Solutions- Bonding Materials Topic Three: Full Color Technology Solutions Topic Three: Full Color Technology Solutions- RGB in Same Wafer Topic Three: Full Color Technology Solutions- Full Color Solution Analysis Topic Four: Driver Solutions- Micro LED Driver Key Factor Analysis Topic Four: Driver Solutions- Active Matrix and Passive Matrix Topic Five: Backplane Solutions Topic Five: Backplane Solution- TFT Backplane Technology Analysis Topic Five: Backplane Solutions- Micro LED PCB Key Factor Analysis Topic Five: Backplane Solutions- Micro LED PCB Market Trend Topic Six: Inspection and Repair Solution- Key Barriers to Be Overcome Urgently Topic Six: Inspection and Repair Solution- Current PL and EL Inspection Status Topic Six: Inspection and Repair Solution- Redundancy to Realize Active Defect Detection Mini LED Market Scale and Current Development 2017-2018 Micro & Mini LED Market Trend Micro & Mini LED Product Definition and Market Application Mini LED Speed up Being Implemented in Display Applications Mini LED Utilizes Limits of Existing Equipment in LED industry Mini LED Industry Trend and Value Chain Micro/ Mini LED Application and Outlook Micro LED Market Road Map and Application 2017-2025 Micro LED Market Value and Volume By Application 2017-2025 Mini LED Market Value and Volume By Application 2018 Micro LED Application Market Overview Topic One: Watch Market- Development Trend Topic One: Watch Market- Technical Analysis Topic One: Watch Market- Cost Analysis Topic Two: Mobile Market- Development Trend Topic Two: Mobile Market- Technical Analysis Topic Two: Mobile Market- Cost Analysis Topic Three: TV Market- Development Trend Topic Three: TV Market- Technical Analysis Topic Three: TV Market- Cost Analysis Topic Four: Automotive Display Market- Development Trend Topic Four: Automotive Display Market- Technical Analysis Topic Four: Automotive Display Market- Cost Analysis Topic Five: Digital Display Market- Development Trend Topic Five: Digital Display Market- Development Trend and Supply Chain Topic Six: AR and VR Market- Development Trend Topic Six: AR and VR Market- Technical Analysis Conclusion Analysis on Micro/Mini LED Application Market Penetration Who will be the Leading Manufacturer in Micro LED Industry Micro LED Supply Chain Map Customized Report / Consulting Service: LEDinside Keeps the Right to Adjust the Contents, Depending on Industry Development Trend.