ReportWire

Tag: Software

  • Dead Stadia Game Lives On Through Sneaky Steam Update

    Dead Stadia Game Lives On Through Sneaky Steam Update

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    Image: Necrosoft

    As Google prepares to kill off its Stadia streaming service for good, there have been a few parting gifts to emerge from its demise. Users got a final game, along with the ability to unlock the Bluetooth capabilities of their controllers (even if that was something they should have been able to do from day one), but one of the last surprises can be enjoyed by all of us. Especially those of us who never paid for Stadia in the first place.

    Back in 2020 Necrosoft (finally) released Gunsport, a sci-fi take on 2D volleyball, as a Stadia exclusive. It was pretty cool! It was also, as a Stadia exclusive, a game that most of us never got to enjoy. In June 2022 it was followed by a sequel, Hyper Gunsport, which was much more widely available, since it came out on PC, Switch, Xbox and PlayStation.

    Gunsport Stadia Teaser

    While two completely separate games, they’ve now been brought a lot closer, with Necrosoft saying in a tweet earlier today “Since we care about game preservation we’ve made an offline version of Gunsport available in the Steam version of Hyper Gunsport, through the beta channel.”

    You can see a video of this game-smuggling move (done by Necrosoft’s Lotte May) in action below:

    G/O Media may get a commission

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    If you’ve never had to use a Steam game’s beta channel system before, the video above will give you a quick rundown on how to activate the original game, then be able to easily switch between playing it and the sequel.

    This is a very cool move! Not just because people are getting essentially a free video game, but because this is a super interesting way to implement a form of game preservation, one that thinks way outside the box but which, thanks to the way Steam is structured, also seems to work pretty damn well!

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    Luke Plunkett

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  • The ‘Best Job’ of 2023 Pays $120,000. What Is It?

    The ‘Best Job’ of 2023 Pays $120,000. What Is It?

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    What job offers you a chance to carry out innovative ideas, a great work-life balance, and a $120,000 annual salary?

    If you guessed software developer, you’re not buggy.

    U.S News and World Report recently released its annual 2023 Best Jobs rankings, which list the 100 top jobs across 17 categories, including business, health care, and technology.

    Software developers have the “best job” because of the position’s growth potential, less stressful nature, and salary.

    The choice was somewhat surprising given the massive layoffs in the tech sector over the last year, but Janica Ingram, the careers editor at U.S. News, noted the position is in high demand across all industries — not just tech.

    “Software developers are becoming increasingly critical for the growth and sustained success of businesses,” she said. “The 10-year outlook for the occupation is strong and expected to grow at an above-average rate. It is predicted to be in high demand, because of the rising number of products and services that leverage software. Low unemployment and a high median salary also contribute to the appeal of this career.”

    Even when software developers lose their jobs, they can get back on their feet fairly rapidly. A study from Revelio Labs found that 72% of laid-off tech workers landed a new job within 90 days.

    Software developers should be in high demand for the next ten years. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects a 26.0% employment growth for software developers between 2021 and 2031.

    Related: Software Development Jobs Are a Bright Spot in Uncertain Economic Times. Here’s What Business Leaders Need to Know.

    Other top jobs

    After software developer, nurse practitioner landed No. 2 spot in the rankings, medical and health services manager were No. 3, and physician’s assistant was No. 4.

    Jobs in health care captured 13 of that list’s top 20 jobs. Why?

    Ingram credits the “higher-than-average salaries, low unemployment rates, and strong future prospects.”

    Here are the top 10 jobs:

    1. Software Developer
    2. Nurse practitioner
    3. Medical and Health Services Manager
    4. Physician Assistant
    5. Information Security Analyst
    6. Physical Therapist
    7. Financial Manager
    8. IT Manager
    9. Web Developer
    10. Dentist

    For the first time, pilots made the list, ranking No. 47.

    Guess it’s better to fly planes than travel in them.

    How the rankings are decided

    To come up with the 100 Best Job rankings, U.S. News looks at data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics based on several factors, such as median salary, stress level, unemployment rate, and projected job openings for the next ten years. They also interview employees in various professions.

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    Jonathan Small

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  • Amazon Bans Lost Ark Bots, Humans Caught In Crossfire

    Amazon Bans Lost Ark Bots, Humans Caught In Crossfire

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    Image: Amazon

    Amazon’s Diablo-like RPG, Lost Ark, had over 1.3 million people playing it at launch. It’s cooled off since then, but there are still tens of thousands of people who log on every week to enjoy it. Or they would, if they hadn’t been banned for no reason.

    Last week Amazon decided to do some house-keeping and kick off a wave of bans, ostensibly targeting bot accounts. Loads of actual human beings were caught up in the bans too, though, and making things even worse was that for Steam players that counted as a ban on their Steam accounts as well, which is a serious blemish on their overall record.

    Amazon were quickly notified of this, and over the weekend were “actively working on reversing them for all affected players regardless of whether a support ticket has been filed”. For Steam players in particular, sweating the consequences of having a ban recorded on their account, Amazon say the reversal will not just “remove your game ban” but also “any marks on your Steam account”.

    The company issued this statement over the weekend:

    Greetings Heroes of Arkesia,

    Following a recent wave of bot bans, we’ve seen an increase in ban appeals from players who have been incorrectly impacted by these bans.

    We have determined the error that triggered these false bans, and are actively working on reversing them for all affected players regardless of whether a support ticket has been filed. This will remove your game ban and any marks on your Steam account. We will let players know when this work has been completed. In the meantime, you are still welcome to submit a Ban Appeal ticket to Customer Support so that the team can more quickly assist with restoring your account and removing all penalties.

    Thank you for your reports and patience as we work to make this right with affected players.

    And followed it up yesterday with a notice saying all bans should now have been reversed. The bans come in the wake of efforts by developers to fix certain areas of the game that were being swamped by bots, particularly the market and auction house.

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    Luke Plunkett

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  • Tesla is a ‘soft landing’ stock, says Goldman Sachs. Here are its picks for a gentle economic landing and stocks for a recession.

    Tesla is a ‘soft landing’ stock, says Goldman Sachs. Here are its picks for a gentle economic landing and stocks for a recession.

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    Pour one out for the beleaguered economists, who for once got an important indicator, the consumer price index, right on the nose, after CPI fell 0.1% in December, while core prices rose 0.3%.

    “The 2021 surge in durable goods demand normalized, and the resulting collapse in durable goods price inflation was stunningly fast,” says Paul Donovan, chief economist of UBS Global Wealth Management.

    “The commodity wave of inflation is fading, and that leaves the profit margin expansion in focus,” he adds. What a good time for earnings season to be upon us, and what do you know, it is, kicking off with the banking sector on Friday before broadening out next week.

    Strategists at Goldman Sachs have a new note out, saying that the market is pricing in a soft landing even though the trend of earnings revisions points to a hard landing.

    They’re not that optimistic — even in the soft-landing scenario, the team led by David Kostin say the S&P 500
    SPX,
    +0.40%
    will end the year right around current levels, at 4,000. But they identify 46 stocks that could benefit — profitable, cyclical companies that are trading at price-to-earnings valuations below their 10-year median, among other factors.

    One name jumps out: Tesla
    TSLA,
    -0.94%    ,
    which trades at 22 times forward earnings versus the 10-year median of 117 times. But the other 45 names are less flashy, ranging from Capital One
    COF,
    +1.81%
    and Carlyle Group
    CG,
    +0.54%    ,
    to a host of industrials including 3M
    MMM,
    +0.12%    ,
    Parker-Hannifan
    PH,
    +0.73%
    and Otis Worldwide
    OTIS,
    +0.42%    .
    As a whole, these typically $10 billion companies are trading at 12 times earnings, versus 17 times usually.

    In the hard landing scenario, S&P 500 profit margins would shrink by 125 basis points, to 10.9% — about in line with the median peak-to-trough decline during the eight recessions since 1970, which has been 132 basis points. Consensus expectations are for a 26 basis-point margin decline.

    The Goldman team also have a 36 stock screen for a hard landing — profitable companies in defensive industries with a positive dividend yield. They’re typically food, beverage and tobacco companies as well as software and services companies — including Costco Wholesale
    COST,
    +0.58%    ,
    Kroger
    KR,
    -0.99%    ,
    Altria
    MO,
    +0.48%    ,
    Tyson Foods
    TSN,
    +0.23%    ,
    Microsoft
    MSFT,
    +0.30%    ,
    MasterCard
    MA,
    -1.13%
    and Visa
    V,
    -0.25%    .
    As a whole, these $37 billion companies are trading at 22 times earnings vs. a historical 24 times.

    The market

    After a 2.3% advance for the S&P 500
    SPX,
    +0.40%
    over the last three sessions, U.S. stock futures
    ES00,
    +0.39%

    NQ00,
    +0.58%
    declined on Friday.

    The yield on the Japanese 10-year bond
    TMBMKJP-10Y,
    0.511%
    exceeded 0.5%, the Bank of Japan’s yield cap, ahead of next week’s rate decision , prompting a second day of aggressive bond purchases from the central bank.

    For more market updates plus actionable trade ideas for stocks, options and crypto, subscribe to MarketDiem by Investor’s Business Daily.

    The buzz

    Fourth-quarter earnings were rolling out from Bank of America
    BAC,
    +2.20%    ,
    JPMorgan Chase
    JPM,
    +2.52%    ,
    Citigroup
    C,
    +1.69%
    and Wells Fargo
    WFC,
    +3.25%    ,
    and outside of banks, Delta Air Lines
    DAL,
    -3.54%    ,
    BlackRock
    BLK,
    +0.00%
    and UnitedHealth
    UNH,
    -1.23%    .

    JPMorgan shares slumped after forecast-beating earnings, though investment bank revenue came in light of estimates. Delta shares also declined after topping earnings estimates.

    Tesla
    TSLA,
    -0.94%
    cut prices of Model 3 and Model Y vehicles in the U.S. and elsewhere by up to 20%. The electric vehicle maker stock dropped 6%.

    Virgin Galactic
    SPCE,
    +12.34%
    surged after saying it’s on track to launch space-tourism flights in the second quarter.

    Apple
    AAPL,
    +1.01%
    says CEO Tim Cook requested, and received, a pay cut after investor criticism.

    The University of Michigan’s consumer-sentiment index is due at 10 a.m. Eastern, and Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari and Philadelphia Fed President Patrick Harker are due to speak.

    Tyler Winklevoss said charges by the Securities and Exchange Commission brought about Gemini Trust for allegedly offering unregistered securities were “super lame” as it seeks to unfreeze $900 million in investor assets.

    Best of the web

    There’s a bull market in swearing on corporate earnings calls.

    The West is now preparing to send tanks to Ukraine in what could be another escalation of its conflict with Russia, which on Friday claimed victory in the eastern town of Soledar.

    A look back at photos of Lisa Marie Presley, who died at age 54.

    Top tickers

    Here were the most active stock-market tickers as of 6 a.m. Eastern.

    Ticker

    		 Security name
    BBBY,
    -30.15%         		Bed Bath & Beyond
    TSLA,
    -0.94%         		Tesla
    GME,
    -0.68%         		GameStop
    AMC,
    +0.80%         		AMC Entertainment
    MULN,
    -8.59%         		Mullen Automotive
    NIO,
    -0.08%         		Nio
    APE,
    -2.56%         		AMC Entertainment preferreds
    AAPL,
    +1.01%         		Apple
    SPCE,
    +12.34%         		Virgin Galactic
    AMZN,
    +2.99%         		Amazon.com
    Random reads

    Like a scene out of “Stranger Things” — there’s uproar after new restrictions on the Hasbro
    HAS,
    +0.21%
    game Dungeons & Dragons.

    Starting next month, Starbucks
    SBUX,
    +1.30%
    rewards will be less generous for most items, though iced coffee will be easier to get.

    Need to Know starts early and is updated until the opening bell, but sign up here to get it delivered once to your email box. The emailed version will be sent out at about 7:30 a.m. Eastern.

    Listen to the Best New Ideas in Money podcast with MarketWatch reporter Charles Passy and economist Stephanie Kelton.

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  • Woman Pays Back Company After Software Catches Her Slacking

    Woman Pays Back Company After Software Catches Her Slacking

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    A Canadian court has ordered a female employee to repay her employer after her laptop’s software revealed that she was wasting time on the company’s dime.

    Karlee Besse, who worked remotely as an accountant for Reach CPA in British Columbia, was accused of “time theft” and must pay $2,459.89 in returned wages.

    Besse had initially sued her company for wrongful termination, asking for $5000 in compensation. But in court, Reach CPA revealed that they had been tracking their employees’ actions using TimeCamp, which collects information on how workers spend their time.

    Through the software, the company proved that Besse had spent more than 50 hours on non-work-related tasks. According to a report in The Guardian, Reach CPA “identified irregularities between her [Besse’s] timesheets and the software usage logs.”

    Besse argued that she printed out hard copies of documents she was working on, which is why the software didn’t track her work. But the company pointed out that the software also monitored her printing activity — and she hadn’t printed many documents.

    Related: 78% of Employers Are Using Remote Work Tools to Spy on You. Here’s a More Effective (and Ethical) Approach to Tracking Employee Productivity.

    Bossware is watching

    Software like TimeCamp is increasingly used by companies wanting to monitor their employees’ work. A survey by Digital.com found that 60% of companies with remote employees use monitoring software to track employee activity and productivity.

    So-called “bossware” blew up after Covid when companies looked for ways to ensure their remote employees were as productive and safe at home as they would be in the office. Companies argue that they use the software to help them run more efficient businesses.

    Companies are also able to catch employees engaged in nefarious behavior. According to Digital.com, 88% of employers terminated workers after implementing monitoring software.

    But many workers and labor unions believe the software is nothing more than corporate spying. Last November, The National Labor Relations Board, an independent federal agency that protects the rights of private-sector employees, announced they wanted to “clamp down” on companies using bossware.

    “Close, constant surveillance and management through electronic means threaten employees’ basic ability to exercise their rights,” General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo wrote in the memo.

    The Electronic Privacy Information Center, a non-profit that has tackled the issue for years, says that bossware goes way beyond just tracking working hours.

    “Internet monitoring and filtering, E-mail monitoring, instant message monitoring, automatic time tracking, phone monitoring, location monitoring, personality, and psychological testing, and keystroke logging” are all part of bossware, it says.

    Karlee Besse found this out the hard way.

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    Jonathan Small

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  • weavix™ Secures $10 Million in Series A Funding From Koch Disruptive Technologies

    weavix™ Secures $10 Million in Series A Funding From Koch Disruptive Technologies

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    Press Release
    –

    Jan 12, 2023


    WICHITA, Kan., January 12, 2023 (Newswire.com)
    –
    Positioned as a leader in digital transformation across industries, weavix™ today announced a $10 million Series A funding round from Koch Disruptive Technologies (KDT), the growth and venture arm of Koch Industries, Inc., a fellow Wichita company. 

    This investment will be used to accelerate the growth of the company’s communication, safety and productivity platform, along with further developments of its walt™ smart radio. 

    As a platform, weavix™ creates a seamless communication ecosystem enterprise-wide. Just as smartphones transformed the way people stay connected, weavix™ is leading the revolution toward smart radios, which provide greater visibility and enable better insights for entire businesses, with capabilities including Enterprise-Vital Push-to-Three (EVPT3) and other multimedia features. These capabilities allow the frontline workforce, with its global population exceeding 2.7 billion, the opportunity to communicate more effectively and reliably than with traditional analog radios. 

    weavix’s Internet of Workers™ platform, powered by Microsoft Azure® private multi-access edge compute (MEC) solutions, is the first of its kind to generate frontline efficiency and safety data and give executives complete visibility into their facilities. Its communication capabilities empower the global frontline workforce, which has historically been ignored by modern innovations.

    This partnership with KDT will not only bring the Koch Labs® capability linking it with teams across Koch, but it will also provide access to KDT’s deep connections with Microsoft and other critical ecosystem partners, creating additional opportunities to develop innovative solutions for industrial customers.

    “This investment from KDT will help us rapidly transform how the ‘hands-on’ worker becomes safer and more productive through our innovative, wearable technology,” said weavix Founder and CEO Kevin Turpin, a seasoned entrepreneur with extensive experience in industrial services. “And it’s especially exciting because we’ll have the opportunity to work alongside Koch companies as we refine and iterate new products for our growing customer base.”

    Each component of the platform is designed to create a single source of truth for enterprises. Globally, weavix™ has been used to increase collaboration across facilities, enhance safety protocols, automate workflows and provide data-driven insights to maximize productivity and enable higher-value tasks. 

    “Kevin’s experience in industrial services, on the frontline, gave him the extensive experience required to develop a platform like weavix, which has the potential to truly improve how facilities of all sizes operate,” said KDT Managing Director Adam DeWolf. “As a benefit of Koch Labs, weavix will be able to tap into Koch’s diverse ecosystem of subject matter experts, businesses, and capabilities to grow its operations, as well as deploy technology within facilities across our businesses. We’re looking forward to seeing how our employees benefit from the innovative technology, while also providing real-world feedback to the weavix team.”

    Learn more at weavix.com.

    About weavix™

    weavix™, the Internet of Workers™ platform, revolutionizes frontline communication and productivity on a global scale. Since its founding, weavix™ has shaped the future of work by introducing innovative methods to better connect and empower the frontline workforce, like Enterprise-Vital Push-to-Three (EVPT3) communication. weavix™ transforms enterprise by providing data-driven insights into facilities and teams to maximize productivity and achieve breakthrough results. weavix™ is the single source of truth for both workers and executives. Our mission is to empower workers around the world with disruptive technology. Visit https://weavix.com/ for more information. 

    About Koch Disruptive Technologies

    Koch Disruptive Technologies (KDT) is a unique investment firm, partnering with principled entrepreneurs who are building transformative companies. KDT provides a flexible, multi-stage investment approach. KDT works with companies that can help Koch transform its capabilities, disrupt existing businesses or expand into new platforms. KDT is a subsidiary of Koch Industries, one of the largest privately held companies in the world, with annual revenues that exceed $125 billion and a presence in over 70 countries. KDT helps its partners unlock their full potential by bringing Koch’s full capabilities and network to them, structuring unique capital solutions and embracing a long-term, mutual benefit mindset. For more information, visit http://www.kochdisrupt.com/.

    Source: weavix

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  • Wrkspot Introduces Integration With Choice Hotels’ Property Management System Software

    Wrkspot Introduces Integration With Choice Hotels’ Property Management System Software

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    Connectivity with leading hotel chain’s systems lets revolutionary hotel operations solution offer real-time data synch, streamlined work for thousands of properties.

    Press Release
    –


    updated: Jan 11, 2023 06:05 PST


    ARCADIA, Calif., January 11, 2023 (Newswire.com)
    –
    Wrkspot has integrated its revolutionary hotel operations app with Choice Hotels’ property management system choiceADVANTAGE via SkyTouch Technology’s cloud-based /CONNECT API platform, making its functionality for communications and housekeeping management even more effective for thousands of the country’s leading hotels. 

    WrkSpot, founded in 2017, is the developer of a revolutionary software suite for hotel portfolio management that integrates HRIS, operations management and communication in a single app. By managing and engaging staff, controlling costs and streamlining operations, and improving compliance and safety, WrkSpot allows hotel managers to avoid being bogged down by the unavoidable details of hotel operations.

    With this new cloud-based integration, in place as of Oct. 15, 2022, Choice branded hotels are able to use their proprietary choiceADVANTAGE PMS to automatically update the room status by flowing detailed room information from choiceADVANTAGE directly to WrkSpot – no downloading and transferring of files required.

    “This integration means that WrkSpot is now a more viable option for Choice Hotel-branded properties that want to use it,” said Raja Epsilon, founder and CEO of Wrkspot. “The integration provides seamless flow of PMS data to the WrkSpot system, enabling real-time data sharing across housekeeping, maintenance and front desk. This enhances efficiency and fosters better collaboration.”

    WrkSpot has been a Choice Hotels Qualified Vendor since January 2022, making it an approved vendor that Choice Hotels franchisees can subscribe to or purchase with no additional approvals or exceptions. 

    The integration also marks a significant milestone for Wrkspot and projects significant growth for the company. Choice operates some 7,100 hotels across all of its brands worldwide, and earlier this year, the company closed a deal to acquire Radisson Hotels Americas. 

    Wrkspot streamlines all aspects of managing a property, handling the entirety of hotel operations and hotel labor management in one integrated solution. It also provides a training platform and document management system, both essential to hotels seeking a digital transformation. Wrkspot also assists managers with hotel portfolio management, allowing visibility into individual hotels and comparison and trend analysis across properties.

    WrkSpot helps hotel managers and owners solve problems they didn’t know they had. To learn more about how Wrkspot integrates and streamlines all aspects of hospitality management, visit wrkspot.com.

    About Wrkspot

    WrkSpot, founded in 2017, is the developer of a revolutionary software suite for hotel portfolio management that integrates HRIS, operations management and communication in a single app. By managing and engaging staff, controlling costs and streamlining operations, and improving compliance and safety, WrkSpot allows hotel managers to avoid being bogged down by the unavoidable details of hotel operations.

    About SkyTouch 

    SkyTouch Technology is the provider of a widely used cloud-based property management system. Built in the cloud by hotel professionals for hotel companies, the SkyTouch hotel operations platform is designed to help hotel executives meet their most important strategic objectives: to enhance the guest experience, advance performance, and achieve growth while evolving with changing market needs. Accessible from anywhere, the SkyTouch PMS provides visibility and control of operations through real-time, impactful business analytics that help improve hotel guest experience, operational decision-making, and financial results for today’s hotelier. SkyTouch provides an integrated approach to online hotel reservations that fits any size property. For more information about SkyTouch Technology, visit www.skytouchtechnology.com

    SkyTouch, SkyTouch Technology, and SkyTouch Hotel OS are proprietary trademarks and service marks of SkyTouch Solutions, LLC.

    Source: Wrkspot

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  • Global spending on mobile games falls 5% as high inflation causes market to cool

    Global spending on mobile games falls 5% as high inflation causes market to cool

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    The Candy Crush Saga logo displayed on a phone screen.

    Jakub Porzycki | NurPhoto via Getty Images

    Spending on mobile games declined last year as consumers got more frugal with their purchasing decisions in response to rising inflation, according to a report from app analytics firm Data.ai.

    Mobile game spending fell 5% globally in 2022, to $110 billion, Data.ai, which was formerly known as App Annie, said in its “State of Mobile” report Wednesday. The report also looks at the broader state of sectors like mobile ads, retail and social media apps.

    Nevertheless, first-time installs of mobile titles rose 8% to a record 90 billion, with so-called “hypercasual” titles leading the gains.

    “We are seeing this major theme emerge of people being more price sensitive and financially more conservative,” Lexi Sydow, head of insights at Data.ai, told CNBC, adding that the “biggest hit” to spending on apps was in gaming.

    Faced with economic headwinds such as higher prices and borrowing costs, people are cutting back on discretionary purchases. Gaming especially has come under pressure.

    Global sales of games and services, including console and PC games, were expected to contract 1.2% year-on-year to $188 billion in 2022, according to a July research note from market data firm Ampere Analysis.

    In recent years, growth in mobile gaming has been the dominant story in the games industry, with major publishers making big bets on mobile game developers.

    Read more about tech and crypto from CNBC Pro

    Early last year, Take-Two bought mobile gaming firm Zynga for $12.7 billion. In 2016, the maker of Candy Crush Saga, King, was purchased by Activision Blizzard for $5.9 billion. U.S. tech giant Microsoft, meanwhile, is banking on continued growth in mobile gaming with its proposed $69 billion takeover of Activision Blizzard.

    That growth has been challenged lately by a number of macroeconomic headwinds, however, including a rise in the cost of living and higher interest rates.

    In 2020, Microsoft and Sony launched their respective next-generation gaming consoles, giving mobile more competition.

    Last year also saw a return to in-person activities and a normalization of travel rules from the height of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, when much of the world was hunkering down at home.

    Non-gaming apps proved more resilient in 2022, according to Data.ai’s research, with the value of purchases in such apps rising 6% year-over-year to $58 billion. The growth was driven mainly by subscriptions and in-app purchases in streaming platforms, dating apps and short-form video services like TikTok.

    Downloads of non-gaming apps grew 13% from the previous year, to 165 billion.

    That did little to offset the slump in mobile game spending, however, with spending across app stores slipping 2% to $167 billion. The figures include installs on third-party Android marketplaces in China, where Google’s official Play app store is banned.

    The market faces further headwinds in 2023, with recently introduced privacy measures from Apple expected to place greater strain on app makers.

    Apple launched its App Tracking Transparency feature, which gives users a prompt asking whether they wish to be targeted by advertisers, in 2021.

    Data.ai expects global app spend on games specifically to drop a further 3% to $107 billion this year as a result of decreased disposable income and changes to privacy.

    Google plans to adopt privacy curbs similar to Apple’s that would limit tracking across Android apps.

    “With limitations on your targeting capabilities from an advertiser standpoint, it becomes harder to attract the big whales who spend the most in games,” Sydow explained.

    The changes spell trouble for Meta, owner of the Facebook and Instagram social media platforms. Meta Chief Financial Officer David Wehner warned previously that Apple’s ATT could decrease its 2022 sales by $10 billion. The company made most of its $117.9 billion revenue in 2021 from advertising sales.

    Meta faces tense competition from rival firm TikTok. The Chinese-owned short video app last year reached $6 billion in overall lifetime spending and is only the second non-game app to achieve that milestone after Tinder, according to Data.ai.

    Sydow said the effects of Apple’s privacy measures hadn’t yet appeared in the 2022 numbers — with total spend dropping across both iOS and Google Play — but was likely to have a much greater impact this year.

    Despite the overall spending slowdown in 2022, there was still “more demand for mobile service than ever before,” Sydow added. First-time app downloads grew 11% to 255 billion, Data.ai said, while hours spent in apps climbed 9% to a record 4.1 trillion.

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  • These 20 stocks were the biggest losers of 2022

    These 20 stocks were the biggest losers of 2022

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    This has been the year of reckoning for Big Tech stocks — even those of companies that have continued to grow sales by double digits.

    Below is a list of the 20 stocks in the S&P 500
    SPX,
    -0.72%
    that have declined the most in 2022.

    First, here’s how the 11 sectors of the benchmark index have performed this year:

    S&P 500 sector

    		 2022 price change

    		 Forward P/E

    		 Forward P/E as of Dec. 31, 2021
    Energy

    		 57.8%

    		 9.6

    		 11.1
    Utilities

    		 -0.5%

    		 18.8

    		 20.4
    Consumer Staples

    		 -2.7%

    		 20.9

    		 21.8
    Healthcare

    		 -3.2%

    		 17.4

    		 17.2
    Industrials

    		 -6.7%

    		 18.0

    		 20.8
    Financials

    		 -12.1%

    		 11.7

    		 14.6
    Materials

    		 -13.4%

    		 15.6

    		 16.6
    Real Estate

    		-27.7%

    		 16.2

    		 24.2
    Information Technology

    		 -28.8%

    		 19.6

    		 28.1
    Consumer Discretionary

    		 -37.4%

    		 20.7

    		 33.2
    Communication Services

    		 -40.4%

    		 14.0

    		 20.8
    S&P 500

    		 -19.2%

    		 16.5

    		 21.4
    Source: FactSet

    The energy sector has been the only one to show a gain in 2022, and it has been a whopper, even as West Texas Intermediate crude oil
    CL.1,
    +0.41%
    has given up most of its gains from earlier in the year. Here’s why investors are still confident in the supply/demand setup for oil and energy stocks.

    Looking at the worst-performing sectors, you might wonder why the consumer discretionary and communication services sectors have fared worse than information-technology, the core tech sector. One reason is that S&P Dow Jones Indices can surprise investors with its sector choices. The consumer discretionary sector includes Tesla Inc.
    TSLA,
    +0.70%
    and Amazon.com Inc.
    AMZN,
    -1.17%    ,
    which has fallen nearly 50% this year. The communications sector includes Meta Platforms Inc.
    META,
    -1.21%    ,
    along with Match Group Inc.
    MTCH,
    +0.50%    ,
    which is down 69% for 2022, and Netflix Inc.
    NFLX,
    -0.44%    ,
    which is down 52% this year.

    There have been many reasons easy to cite for Big Tech’s decline, such as a questionable change in strategy for Facebook’s holding company, Meta, as CEO Mark Zuckerberg has put so much of the company’s resources into developing a new world that most people don’t wish to enter, at least yet. Meta’s shares were down 64% for 2022 through Dec. 29.

    You might also blame the Twitter-related antics and sales of Tesla shares by CEO Elon Musk for the 65% decline in the electric-vehicle maker’s stock this year. But Tesla had a forward price-to-earnings ratio of 120.3 at the end of 2021, while the S&P 500
    SPX,
    -0.72%
    traded for 21.4 times its weighted forward earnings estimate, according to FactSet. Those P/E ratios have now declined to 21.7 and 16.4, respectively. So Tesla no longer appears to be a very expensive stock, especially for a company that increased its vehicle deliveries by 42% in the third quarter from a year earlier.

    Analysts polled by FactSet expect Tesla’s stock to double during 2023. It nearly made this list of 20 EV stocks expected to rebound the most in 2023.

    The worst-performing S&P 500 stocks of 2022

    Here are the 20 stocks in the S&P 500 that fell the most for 2022 through the close on Dec. 29.

    Company

    		 Ticker

    		 2022 price change

    		 Forward P/E

    		 Forward P/E as of Dec. 32, 2021
    Generac Holdings Inc.

    		 GNRC,
    -0.84%         		-71.4%

    		 13.7

    		 30.2
    Match Group Inc.

    		 MTCH,
    +0.50%         		-68.9%

    		 20.1

    		 48.5
    Align Technology Inc.

    		 ALGN,
    -0.52%         		-67.7%

    		 27.4

    		 48.7
    Tesla Inc.

    		 TSLA,
    +0.70%         		-65.4%

    		 21.7

    		 120.3
    SVB Financial Group

    		 SIVB,
    -0.38%         		-65.4%

    		 10.8

    		 23.0
    Catalent Inc.

    		 CTLT,
    -0.40%         		-64.6%

    		 13.0

    		 32.5
    Meta Platforms Inc. Class A

    		 META,
    -1.21%         		-64.2%

    		 14.7

    		 23.5
    Signature Bank

    		 SBNY,
    -0.34%         		-64.1%

    		 6.2

    		 18.6
    PayPal Holdings Inc.

    		 PYPL,
    -0.01%         		-62.6%

    		 14.8

    		 36.0
    V.F. Corp.

    		 VFC,
    +0.15%         		-62.5%

    		 11.9

    		 20.4
    Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. Series A

    		 WBD,
    -1.64%         		-59.9%

    		 N/A

    		 7.5
    Carnival Corp.

    		 CCL,
    -0.23%         		-59.8%

    		 38.1

    		 N/A
    Stanley Black & Decker Inc.

    		 SWK,
    -0.42%         		-59.8%

    		 17.0

    		 15.9
    Lumen Technologies Inc.

    		 LUMN,
    -1.79%         		-57.8%

    		 7.7

    		 7.8
    Zebra Technologies Corp. Class A

    		 ZBRA,
    -0.44%         		-56.7%

    		 14.5

    		 30.1
    Dish Network Corp. Class A

    		 DISH,
    -0.96%         		-56.5%

    		 8.6

    		 10.9
    Caesars Entertainment Inc.

    		 CZR,
    +0.24%         		-55.7%

    		 51.4

    		 144.5
    Lincoln National Corp.

    		 LNC,
    +0.26%         		-55.1%

    		 3.4

    		 6.2
    Advanced Micro Devices Inc.

    		 AMD,
    -0.97%         		-55.0%

    		 17.8

    		 43.1
    Seagate Technology Holdings PLC

    		 STX,
    -0.55%         		-53.1%

    		 15.0

    		 12.4
    Source: FactSet

    Click on the tickers for more information about the companies.

    Click here for Tomi Kilgore’s detailed guide to the wealth of information available for free on the MarketWatch quote page.

    Another way of measuring the biggest stock-market losers of 2022

    It is one thing to have a large decline based on the share price, but that doesn’t tell the entire story. How much of a decline have investors seen in the holdings of their shares during the year? The S&P 500’s total market capitalization declined to $31.66 trillion as of Dec. 28 (the most recent figure available) from $40.36 trillion at the end of 2021, according to FactSet.

    Shareholders of these companies have suffered the largest declines in market cap during 2022.

    Company

    		 Ticker

    		 2022 market capitalization change ($bil)

    		 2022 price change
    Apple Inc.

    		 AAPL,
    -0.63%         		-$851

    		 -27.0%
    Amazon.com Inc.

    		 AMZN,
    -1.17%         		-$832

    		 -49.5%
    Microsoft Corp.

    		 MSFT,
    -1.15%         		-$728

    		 -28.3%
    Tesla Inc.

    		 TSLA,
    +0.70%         		-$677

    		 -65.4%
    Meta Platforms Inc. Class A

    		 META,
    -1.21%         		-$465

    		 -64.2%
    Nvidia Corp.

    		 NVDA,
    -1.37%         		-$376

    		 -50.3%
    PayPal Holdings Inc.

    		 PYPL,
    -0.01%         		-$141

    		 -62.6%
    Netflix Inc.

    		 NFLX,
    -0.44%         		-$138

    		 -51.7%
    Walt Disney Co.

    		 DIS,
    -1.62%         		-$123

    		 -43.7%
    Salesforce Inc.

    		 CRM,
    -0.96%         		-$118

    		 -47.8%
    Source: FactSet

    So there is your surprise for today: Apple is this year’s biggest stock-market loser.

    Don’t miss: Best stock picks for 2023: Here are Wall Street analysts’ most heavily favored choices

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  • 20 Best Steam Deck Games Of 2022

    20 Best Steam Deck Games Of 2022

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    A steam deck shows Ciri, The Master Chief, and Elster from Signalis.

    With so many great titles available on the Steam Deck, 2022 was an explosive introduction to Valve’s handheld.
    Image: Valve / CD Projekt Red / Microsoft / rose-engine / Kotaku

    Steam Deck, Valve’s mega-powerful mini-PC, only arrived this year, and while there are many reasons to check out one of the most exciting pieces of gaming hardware available today, the amount of great, hassle-free games available on the device is proof enough of its success.

    But Steam is a big marketplace, and not every game works well on the Deck. While many hit games do run well on the device, some won’t launch, while others will have you chasing through various settings and scrolling forums and Reddit posts for solutions. Fun for the tech enthusiast, but not ideal when you just want a great gaming experience. Valve has made the process easier by labeling certain games “Verified” on the device, but sometimes that’s not always a guarantee that a game will run without issue.

    Read More: The Steam Deck Had A Phenomenal First Year

    Worry not, this list will guide you to the best experiences you can have in year one of the Steam Deck’s life. All but one of these games are Deck-verified. They work great on the first boot. That said, adjusting a few settings here and there might make a given game experience even better for you, so I’ll call that out where relevant. Tweaking the visual settings…can’t do that on a Switch!

    As you may know, there are relatively simple ways to get non-Steam games running on the Deck, but those we’ll handle another time. This list is focused on great games you’re guaranteed to have access to right out of the box.

    Update 12/27/2022: Wrapping up 2022, we’ve now bumped this list up to 20 amazing games you can play on the Steam Deck now. To hit this number we had to bend a rule: We now have two games that are technically not “Deck Verified,” but are still totally playable.

    Update 10/21/2022: The Steam Deck’s library keeps growing, and so too does this list! I’ve added five new games to the main list and one new honorable mention. Nearly all of these games are Deck-verified, but I’ve made an exception for one particular title.

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    Claire Jackson

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  • These 20 energy stocks are worth a look if you think oil prices will soar in 2023

    These 20 energy stocks are worth a look if you think oil prices will soar in 2023

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    Harris Kupperman, the president of Praetorian Capital, made a couple of interesting calls heading into 2022. He predicted that stocks of the giant tech-oriented companies that led the bull market would be sold off, and that oil prices would continue to rise through the end of 2022.

    The first prediction came true, while the second one for oil prices fizzled. After rising to $130 in March, oil prices have fallen back to where they started the year. Then again, that second prediction still could have made you a lot of money because the share prices of oil companies kept rising anyway.

    That leads to a new prediction for 2023 and a related stock screen below.

    Here’s a chart showing the movement of front-month contract prices for West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil
    CL.1,
    -0.62%
    since the end of 2021:


    FactSet

    Even though Kupperman didn’t get his oil price call right, the energy sector of the S&P 500
    SPX,
    -1.20%
    was up 60% for 2022 through Dec. 27, excluding dividends. That is the only one of the 11 S&P 500 sectors to show a gain in 2022. And the energy sector is also cheapest relative to earnings expectations, with a forward price-to-earnings ratio of 9.8, compared with 16.7 for the full S&P 500.

    WTI pulled back from its momentary peak at $130.50 in early March, but that didn’t reverse the long-term trend of low capital spending by oil and natural gas producers, which has given investors confidence that supplies will remain tight.

    Vicki Hollub, the CEO of Occidental Petroleum Corp.
    OXY,
    -3.50%
    — the best-performing S&P 500 stock of 2022 — said during a recent interview that there was “no pressure to increase production right now,” citing a $40 per barrel break-even point for oil prices.

    Kupperman now expects strong demand and low supplies to push oil as high as $200 a barrel in 2023.

    At the end of November, these 20 oil companies stood out as reasonable plays for 2023 based on expectations for free-cash-flow generation and dividend payments.

    For this next screen, we are only looking at ratings and consensus price targets among analysts polled by FactSet.

    There are 23 energy stocks in the S&P 500, and you can invest in that group easily by purchasing shares of the Energy Select SPDR ETF
    XLE,
    -2.24%    .
    We can expand the list of large-cap names by looking at the components of the iShares Global Energy ETF
    IXC,
    -1.91%    ,
    which holds all the energy stocks in the S&P 500 plus large players based outside the U.S.

    The top five holdings of IXC are:

    Company

    		 Ticker

    		 Country

    		 % of portfolio

    		 Share “buy” ratings

    		 Dec. 27 price

    		 Price target

    		 Implied 12-month upside potential
    Exxon Mobil Corp.

    		 XOM,
    -1.64%         		U.S.

    		 16.4%

    		 54%

    		 110.19

    		 118.89

    		 7.89%
    Chevron Corp.

    		 CVX,
    -1.48%         		U.S.

    		 11.5%

    		 54%

    		 179.63

    		 190.52

    		 6.06%
    Shell PLC

    		 SHEL,
    -0.70%         		U.K.

    		 7.8%

    		 83%

    		 23.67

    		 29.82

    		 25.99%
    TotalEnergies SE

    		 TTE,
    -1.40%         		France

    		 5.6%

    		 62%

    		 59.63

    		 64.40

    		 8.00%
    ConocoPhillips

    		 COP,
    -2.67%         		U.K.

    		 5.4%

    		 83%

    		 118.47

    		 140.84

    		 18.88%
    Source: FactSet

    Prices on the tables in this article are in local currencies.

    IXC holds 51 stocks. To expand the list for a stock screen, we added the energy stocks in the S&P 400 Mid Cap Index
    MID,
    -1.24%
    and the S&P Small Cap 600 Index
    SML,
    -1.89%
    to bring the list up to 91 companies, which we then pared to 83 covered by at least five analysts polled by FactSet.

    Here are the 20 companies in the list with at least 75% “buy” or equivalent ratings that have the most upside potential over the next 12 months, based on consensus price targets:

    Company

    		 Ticker

    		 Country

    		 Share “buy” ratings

    		 Dec. 27 price

    		 Price target

    		 Implied 12-month upside potential
    EQT Corp.

    		 EQT,
    -7.82%         		U.S.

    		 83%

    		 36.34

    		 59.14

    		 63%
    Green Plains Inc.

    		 GPRE,
    -2.72%         		U.S.

    		 80%

    		 29.80

    		 43.40

    		 46%
    Cameco Corp.

    		 CCO,
    +0.33%         		Canada

    		 100%

    		 30.48

    		 44.25

    		 45%
    Talos Energy Inc.

    		 TALO,
    -8.40%         		U.S.

    		 86%

    		 19.77

    		 28.67

    		 45%
    Ranger Oil Corp. Class A

    		 ROCC,
    -6.22%         		U.S.

    		 100%

    		 41.33

    		 58.00

    		 40%
    Tourmaline Oil Corp.

    		 TOU,
    -4.92%         		Canada

    		 100%

    		 71.40

    		 98.83

    		 38%
    Civitas Resources Inc.

    		 CIVI,
    -4.06%         		U.S.

    		 100%

    		 58.82

    		 80.83

    		 37%
    Inpex Corp.

    		 1605,
    -2.08%         		Japan

    		 88%

    		 1,477.00

    		 1,965.56

    		 33%
    Diamondback Energy Inc.

    		 FANG,
    -2.26%         		U.S.

    		 84%

    		 137.58

    		 181.90

    		 32%
    Santos Limited

    		 STO,
    -3.12%         		Australia

    		 100%

    		 7.20

    		 9.26

    		 29%
    Matador Resources Co.

    		 MTDR,
    -3.98%         		U.S.

    		 79%

    		 57.59

    		 73.75

    		 28%
    Targa Resources Corp.

    		 TRGP,
    -2.63%         		U.S.

    		 95%

    		 73.89

    		 94.05

    		 27%
    Cenovus Energy Inc.

    		 CVE,
    -2.55%         		Canada

    		 84%

    		 26.24

    		 33.22

    		 27%
    Shell PLC

    		 SHEL,
    -0.70%         		U.K.

    		 83%

    		 23.67

    		 29.82

    		 26%
    Ampol Limited

    		 ALD,
    -2.89%         		Australia

    		 85%

    		 28.29

    		 35.01

    		 24%
    EOG Resources Inc.

    		 EOG,
    -3.54%         		U.S.

    		 79%

    		 132.08

    		 157.52

    		 19%
    ConocoPhillips

    		 COP,
    -2.67%         		U.S.

    		 83%

    		 118.47

    		 140.84

    		 19%
    Repsol SA

    		 REP,
    -0.66%         		Spain

    		 75%

    		 15.05

    		 17.88

    		 19%
    Halliburton Co.

    		 HAL,
    -3.03%         		U.S.

    		 86%

    		 39.27

    		 45.95

    		 17%
    Marathon Petroleum Corp.

    		 MPC,
    -1.97%         		U.S.

    		 76%

    		 116.82

    		 132.56

    		 13%
    Source: FactSet

    Click on the tickers for more information about the companies.

    Click here for Tomi Kilgore’s detailed guide to the wealth of information available for free on the MarketWatch quote page.

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  • This company has wiped out more investor wealth in 2022 than Tesla

    This company has wiped out more investor wealth in 2022 than Tesla

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    Elon Musk has been trying this week to defend Tesla’s abysmal stock performance in 2022. The electric vehicle giant has seen its stock plummet by 61% this year, making it the 11th-worst performing stock in the S&P 500 in 2022.

    “As bank savings account interest rates, which are guaranteed, start to approach stock market returns, which are *not* guaranteed, people will increasingly move their money out of stocks into cash, thus causing stocks to drop,” Musk tweeted.

    You might expect that Tesla’s stock drop has wiped out more investor wealth than any other stock in the world this year. But you would be wrong.

    If we look at declines in market capitalization — the value of companies’ common-shares outstanding — Tesla
    TSLA,
    -1.76%
    has been the fourth worst-performing stock in the benchmark S&P 500 this year, as of 1 p.m. ET on Dec. 21:

    Company

    		 Ticker

    		 2022 market cap change ($bil)

    		 Intraday market cap on Dec. 21 ($bil)

    		 Dec. 31, 2021 market cap ($bil)

    		 2022 price change
    Amazon.com Inc.

    		 AMZN,
    +1.74%         		-$805

    		 $886

    		 $1,691

    		 -48%
    Apple Inc.

    		 AAPL,
    -0.28%         		-$753

    		 $2,160

    		 $2,913

    		 -24%
    Microsoft Corp.

    		 MSFT,
    +0.23%         		-$700

    		 $1,825

    		 $2,525

    		 -27%
    Tesla Inc.

    		 TSLA,
    -1.76%         		-$622

    		 $439

    		 $1,061

    		 -61%
    Meta Platforms Inc. Class A

    		 META,
    +0.79%         		-$466

    		 $318

    		 $784

    		 -64%
    Nvidia Corp.

    		 NVDA,
    -0.87%         		-$329

    		 $406

    		 $735

    		 -44%
    PayPal Holdings Inc.

    		 PYPL,
    +0.67%         		-$143

    		 $79

    		 $222

    		 -63%
    Netflix Inc.

    		 NFLX,
    -0.94%         		-$134

    		 $133

    		 $267

    		 -51%
    Walt Disney Co.

    		 DIS,
    +1.55%         		-$122

    		 $160

    		 $282

    		 -44%
    Salesforce Inc.

    		 CRM,
    +0.19%         		-$119

    		 $131

    		 $250

    		 -49%
    Source: FactSet

    On a percentage basis, all these stocks have performed worse than the full S&P 500, which has fallen 19%, excluding dividends.

    Amazon.com Inc.
    AMZN,
    +1.74%
    has erased more shareholder wealth than any other publicly traded company in 2022. In total, investors in Amazon have lost $804.6 billion this year. The stock is down 48% in 2022.

    Apple Inc.
    AAPL,
    -0.28%
    and Microsoft Corp.
    MSFT,
    +0.23%
    have also suffered larger market-cap declines than Tesla, by virtue of their sheer size.

    The companies have different fiscal and annual period ends, but if we look at data for the past three reported quarters and compare to the same period a year earlier, here’s how the four stack up:

    Company

    		 Ticker

    		 Change in sales for three quarters from year-earlier period

    		 Change in EPS for three quarters from year-earlier period
    Amazon.com Inc.

    		 AMZN,
    +1.74%
     

    		 10%

    		 N/A
    Apple Inc.

    		  
    AAPL,
    -0.28%         		6%

    		 2%
    Microsoft Corp.

    		  
    MSFT,
    +0.23%         		14%

    		 -2%
    Tesla Inc.

    		  
    TSLA,
    -1.76%         		58%

    		 169%
    Source: FactSet

    Amazon showed a net loss of $3 billion for the first three quarters of 2022 as the company neared the end of its extraordinary multiyear effort to build out its warehouse and fulfillment infrastructure. For the first three quarters of 2021, the company booked $19 billion in profits. When announcing Amazon’s third-quarter results CEO Andy Jassy said the company was working methodically toward “a stronger cost structure for the business moving forward.”

    The incredible growth of Amazon’s cloud business has stalled and disappointed the expectations the company had nurtured on Wall Street. The Amazon Web Services business is facing increasing competition from the likes of Microsoft and its customers are pulling back. Meanwhile, retail sales have also come in weak going into the Christmas and holiday season. 

    Amazon’s stock has declined 22% since it closed at $110.96 on Oct. 27, right before it disappointed investors not only with its third-quarter results, but with its outlook: It expects to break even during the holiday quarter. Analysts polled by FactSet had previously expected a profit of more than $5 billion.

    Tesla stands in contrast to Amazon, as you can see on the table above. Its sales grew by 58% during the first three quarters of 2022 from the year-earlier period and its earnings per share rose nearly threefold.

    This has been a year of significant declines for shares of giant tech-oriented companies, especially those that had traded at lofty price-to-earnings valuations — that group includes Amazon and Tesla. In fact, these companies have given up all their pandemic era gains int he stock market.

    But with Tesla’s results so outstanding through the first three quarters of 2022, it raises the question: How much of the drop in the electric car makers share price was tied to Musk’s actions as CEO of Twitter, which he acquired on Oct. 27 after a monthslong saga? And how much of a relief rally, if any, might there be for Tesla if Musk, as expected, steps down as Twitter CEO?

    How about some bottom-feeding?

    Here’s the same list of 10 stocks in the S&P 500 that have seen the largest declines in market cap this year, with a summary of analysts’ ratings, consensus price targets and declines in their forward price-to-earnings ratios:

    Company

    		 Ticker

    		 Share “buy” ratings

    		 Dec. 21 closing price

    		 Cons. price target

    		 Implied 12-month upside potential

    		 Forward P/E as of Dec. 20

    		 Forward P/E as of Dec. 31, 2021
    Amazon.com Inc.

    		 AMZN,
    +1.74%         		91%

    		 $85.19

    		 $134.85

    		 58%

    		 49.3

    		 64.9
    Apple Inc.

    		 AAPL,
    -0.28%         		74%

    		 $132.30

    		 $173.44

    		 31%

    		 21.4

    		 30.2
    Microsoft Corp.

    		 MSFT,
    +0.23%         		91%

    		 $241.80

    		 $293.06

    		 21%

    		 23.7

    		 34.0
    Tesla Inc.

    		 TSLA,
    -1.76%         		63%

    		 $137.80

    		 $272.64

    		 98%

    		 24.6

    		 120.3
    Meta Platforms Inc. Class A

    		 META,
    +0.79%         		63%

    		 $117.09

    		 $145.45

    		 24%

    		 14.5

    		 23.5
    Nvidia Corp.

    		 NVDA,
    -0.87%         		68%

    		 $160.85

    		 $195.72

    		 22%

    		 39.2

    		 58.0
    PayPal Holdings Inc.

    		 PYPL,
    +0.67%         		71%

    		 $68.76

    		 $104.32

    		 52%

    		 14.5

    		 36.0
    Netflix Inc.

    		 NFLX,
    -0.94%         		47%

    		 $288.19

    		 $302.89

    		 5%

    		 28.4

    		 45.6
    Walt Disney Co.

    		 DIS,
    +1.55%         		82%

    		 $87.02

    		 $119.60

    		 37%

    		 19.8

    		 34.2
    Salesforce Inc.

    		 CRM,
    +0.19%         		78%

    		 $128.45

    		 $195.18

    		 52%

    		 23.4

    		 53.5
    Source: FactSet

    A majority of analysts see a golden path ahead for 2023 for all of these stocks except for Netflix.

    For more information about any of these companies, click the tickers.

    Click here for a detailed guide to the wealth of information available for free on the MarketWatch quote page.

    Don’t miss: 11 high-yield dividend stocks that are Wall Street’s favorites for 2023

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  • Pelosi says she hopes House can pass $1.7 trillion spending bill tonight

    Pelosi says she hopes House can pass $1.7 trillion spending bill tonight

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    Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday said it’s her “hope” that the House of Representatives will pass Congress’ year-end, $1.7 trillion spending package this evening. The Senate earlier Thursday broke a logjam over immigration, clearing the way to pass the massive bill as a partial government shutdown looms early Saturday. The measure contains items that would would automatically enroll workers into retirement plans like 401(k)s; bans the app TikTok on government devices; and funnels billions of dollars in extra aid to Ukraine.

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  • Senate Votes To Ban TikTok On Government Devices

    Senate Votes To Ban TikTok On Government Devices

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    The Senate has unanimously approved legislation that would ban the use of TikTok on government phones and devices as part of the push to combat security concerns related to the Chinese-owned social media company. What do you think?

    “God help the staffer who has to explain to Biden what he’s signing.”

    Samantha Graham, Textiles Coordinator

    “Good. I prefer our congress people’s data to be stolen by an American company.”

    James Gomez, Medical Librarian

    “Now the only hurdle is teaching senile legislators how to delete an app from their phone.”

    Shawn Ko, Debate Coach

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  • Adobe stock jumps after earnings beat, in-line annual forecast

    Adobe stock jumps after earnings beat, in-line annual forecast

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    Adobe Inc. shares rose in the extended session Thursday after the software company capped off its fiscal year by topping quarterly earnings expectations, and executives predicted the new fiscal year would play out close to Wall Street’s expectations.

    Adobe ADBE reported fiscal fourth-quarter net income of $1.18 billion, or $2.53 a share, compared with $1.23 billion, or $2.57 a share, in the year-ago period. Adjusted earnings, which exclude stock-based compensation expenses and other items, were $3.60 a share, compared with…

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  • Valve Reveals Plans To Improve Steam Deck’s Screen, Battery

    Valve Reveals Plans To Improve Steam Deck’s Screen, Battery

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    A Steam Deck shows gameplay from The Last of Us.

    Image: Valve / Sony / Kotaku

    As we discussed earlier this week, the Steam Deck has had one hell of a launch year. It should be no surprise, then, that Valve has its eye on the future of its new handheld, which it has officially categorized as a “multi-generational product.” The company has now revealed a bit of what it’s hoping to improve and where it’s looking to expand in the hardware game.

    In a wide-ranging interview with The Verge, Steam Deck designers Lawrence Yang and Pierre-Loup Griffais talked about ambitions and concrete goals for the Steam Deck. After nearly a year out in the wild, the Deck has certainly impressed with its performance and wide selection of games. However, areas for improvement are clear: The screen is serviceable, but it’s far from that of, say, the new Nintendo Switch OLED Model. And the battery not only tends to drain quickly but, as iFixit observed in its review, it’s one of the least fixable things in an otherwise repair-friendly device. We know now that these last two points are top of mind for Valve.

    Though the company didn’t reveal much of its plans for the screen’s improvement, it did share some insight into the battery, its replaceability, and how future iterations of the product are addressing areas of concern.

    With a battery that’s quick to lose its juice, and the nature of such a power source being to degrade over time, poor replaceability is a disappointment. Griffais told The Verge that due to the possibility of battery expansion, “you can’t really have the battery-shaped hole [inside the Deck] be exactly the same size as the battery” and that all of the glue that holds it in place is to keep it from moving around too much.

    Concern for a rattley battery was apparently an issue in development. “In some of our early prototypes,” Griffais said, “we had [the battery shifting around] and I’ll tell you, it doesn’t feel good at all when you’re just moving around and trying to use your Deck.” Yang comically added, “You don’t want a Steam Deck maraca, and you don’t want a battery possibly touching other important components and jostling them around.”

    So the decision to secure the battery in place so rigidly was necessary to get the Deck in a playable, shippable, and reliably safe state. Yang revealed that Valve has “rolled in a change to the geometry of the [glue that holds the battery]” which should allow for easier removal and repairs down the line.

    Valve also revealed, perhaps to the surprise and joy of a select few, that a new Steam Controller is also something the company is aspiring to make happen. The original Steam Controller was a bit of an odd bird, but its high level of customization certainly caught the attention of a dedicated, if small, fan base. Us select few who fell in love with it already knew it, but the Steam Deck has continued to demonstrate the need for more malleable and dynamic gamepads for PC gaming.

    Read More: The Steam Deck’s Funky Controls Prove That Gamepads Are Outdated

    But if you’re ready to throw money at the screen for a follow-up to Valve’s owl-shaped controller, I’m sorry to say that it might take a while. “Right now, we’re focusing on the Deck,” Yang said. “[A controller is] definitely something where we’d be excited to work with a third-party or explore ourselves.”

     

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  • Best stock picks for 2023: Here are Wall Street analysts’ most heavily favored choices

    Best stock picks for 2023: Here are Wall Street analysts’ most heavily favored choices

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    Following a sharp and sustained rise in interest rates, U.S. stocks have taken a broad beating this year.

    But 2023 may bring very different circumstances.

    Below are lists of analysts’ favorite stocks among the benchmark S&P 500
    SPX,
    the S&P 400 Mid Cap Index
    MID
    and the S&P Small Cap 600 Index
    SML
    that are expected to rise the most over the next year. Those lists are followed by a summary of opinions of all 30 stocks in the Dow Jones Industrial Average
    DJIA.

    Stocks rallied on Dec. 13 when the November CPI report showed a much slower inflation pace than economists had expected. Investors were also anticipating the Federal Open Market Committee’s next monetary policy announcement on Dec. 14. The consensus among economists polled by FactSet is for the Federal Reserve to raise the federal funds rate by 0.50% to a target range of 4.50% to 4.75%.

    Read: 5 things to watch when the Fed makes its interest-rate decision

    A 0.50% increase would be a slowdown from the four previous increases of 0.75%. The rate began 2022 in a range of zero to 0.25%, where it had sat since March 2020.

    A pivot for the Fed Reserve and the possibility that the federal funds rate will reach its “terminal” rate (the highest for this cycle) in the near term could set the stage for a broad rally for stocks in 2023.

    Wall Street’s large-cap favorites

    Among the S&P 500, 92 stocks are rated “buy” or the equivalent by at least 75% of analysts working for brokerage firms. That number itself is interesting — at the end of 2021, 93 of the S&P 500 had this distinction. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 has declined 16% in 2022, with all sectors down except for energy, which has risen 53%, and the utilities sector, which his risen 1% (both excluding dividends).

    Here are the 20 stocks in the S&P 500 with at least 75% “buy” or equivalent ratings that analysts expect to rise the most over the next year, based on consensus price targets:

    Company

    		 Ticker

    		 Industry

    		 Closing price – Dec. 12

    		 Consensus price target

    		 Implied 12-month upside potential

    		 Share “buy” ratings

    		 Price change – 2022 through Dec. 12
    EQT Corp.

    		 EQT Oil and Gas Production

    		 $36.91

    		 $59.70

    		 62%

    		 78%

    		 69%
    Catalent Inc.

    		 CTLT Pharmaceuticals

    		 $45.50

    		 $72.42

    		 59%

    		 75%

    		 -64%
    Amazon.com Inc.

    		 AMZN Internet Retail

    		 $90.55

    		 $136.02

    		 50%

    		 91%

    		 -46%
    Global Payments Inc.

    		 GPN Misc. Commercial Services

    		 $99.64

    		 $147.43

    		 48%

    		 75%

    		 -26%
    Signature Bank

    		 SBNY Regional Banks

    		 $122.73

    		 $180.44

    		 47%

    		 78%

    		 -62%
    Salesforce Inc.

    		 CRM Software

    		 $133.11

    		 $195.59

    		 47%

    		 80%

    		 -48%
    Bio-Rad Laboratories Inc. Class A

    		 BIO Medical Specialties

    		 $418.28

    		 $591.00

    		 41%

    		 100%

    		 -45%
    Zoetis Inc. Class A

    		 ZTS Pharmaceuticals

    		 $152.86

    		 $212.80

    		 39%

    		 87%

    		 -37%
    Delta Air Lines Inc.

    		 DAL Airlines

    		 $34.77

    		 $48.31

    		 39%

    		 90%

    		 -11%
    Diamondback Energy Inc.

    		 FANG Oil and Gas Production

    		 $134.21

    		 $182.33

    		 36%

    		 84%

    		 24%
    Caesars Entertainment Inc

    		 CZR Casinos/ Gaming

    		 $50.27

    		 $67.79

    		 35%

    		 81%

    		 -46%
    Alphabet Inc. Class A

    		 GOOGL Internet Software/ Services

    		 $93.31

    		 $125.70

    		 35%

    		 92%

    		 -36%
    Halliburton Co.

    		 HAL Oilfield Services/ Equipment

    		 $34.30

    		 $45.95

    		 34%

    		 86%

    		 50%
    Alaska Air Group Inc.

    		 ALK Airlines

    		 $45.75

    		 $61.08

    		 34%

    		 93%

    		 -12%
    Targa Resources Corp.

    		 TRGP Gas Distributors

    		 $70.42

    		 $93.95

    		 33%

    		 95%

    		 35%
    Charles River Laboratories International Inc.

    		 CRL Misc. Commercial Services

    		 $201.94

    		 $269.25

    		 33%

    		 88%

    		 -46%
    ServiceNow Inc.

    		 NOW Information Technology Services

    		 $401.64

    		 $529.83

    		 32%

    		 92%

    		 -38%
    Take-Two Interactive Software Inc.

    		 TTWO Software

    		 $102.61

    		 $135.04

    		 32%

    		 79%

    		 -42%
    EOG Resources Inc.

    		 EOG Oil and Gas Production

    		 $124.06

    		 $158.24

    		 28%

    		 82%

    		 40%
    Southwest Airlines Co.

    		 LUV Airlines

    		 $38.94

    		 $49.56

    		 27%

    		 76%

    		 -9%
    Source: FactSet

    Most of the companies on the S&P 500 list expected to soar in 2023 have seen large declines in 2022. But the company at the top of the list, EQT Corp.
    EQT,
    is an exception. The stock has risen 69% in 2022 and is expected to add another 62% over the next 12 months. Analysts expect the company’s earnings per share to double during 2023 (in part from its expected acquisition of THQ), after nearly a four-fold EPS increase in 2022.

    Shares of Amazon.com Inc.
    AMZN
    are expected to soar 50% over the next year, following a decline of 46% so far in 2022. If the shares were to rise 50% from here to the price target of $136.02, they would still be 18% below their closing price of 166.72 at the end of 2021.

    Read: Here’s why Amazon is Citi’s top internet stock idea

    You can see the earnings estimates and more for any stock in this article by clicking on its ticker.

    Click here for Tomi Kilgore’s detailed guide to the wealth of information available for free on the MarketWatch quote page.

    Mid-cap stocks expected to rise the most

    The lists of favored stocks are limited to those covered by at least five analysts polled by FactSet.

    Among components of the S&P 400 Mid Cap Index, there are 84 stocks with at least 75% “buy” ratings. Here at the 20 expected to rise the most over the next year:

    Company

    		 Ticker

    		 Industry

    		 Closing price – Dec. 12

    		 Consensus price target

    		 Implied 12-month upside potential

    		 Share “buy” ratings

    		 Price change – 2022 through Dec. 12
    Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals Inc.

    		 ARWR Biotechnology

    		 $31.85

    		 $69.69

    		 119%

    		 83%

    		 -52%
    Lantheus Holdings Inc.

    		 LNTH Medical Specialties

    		 $54.92

    		 $102.00

    		 86%

    		 100%

    		 90%
    Progyny Inc.

    		 PGNY Misc. Commercial Services

    		 $31.21

    		 $55.57

    		 78%

    		 100%

    		 -38%
    Coherent Corp.

    		 COHR Electronic Equipment/ Instruments

    		 $35.41

    		 $60.56

    		 71%

    		 84%

    		 -48%
    Exelixis Inc.

    		 EXEL Biotechnology

    		 $16.08

    		 $26.07

    		 62%

    		 81%

    		 -12%
    Darling Ingredients Inc.

    		 DAR Food: Specialty/ Candy

    		 $61.17

    		 $97.36

    		 59%

    		 93%

    		 -12%
    Perrigo Co. PLC

    		 PRGO Pharmaceuticals

    		 $31.83

    		 $49.25

    		 55%

    		 100%

    		 -18%
    Mattel Inc.

    		 MAT Recreational Products

    		 $17.39

    		 $26.58

    		 53%

    		 87%

    		 -19%
    ACI Worldwide Inc.

    		 ACIW Software

    		 $20.75

    		 $31.40

    		 51%

    		 83%

    		 -40%
    Topgolf Callaway Brands Corp.

    		 MODG Recreational Products

    		 $21.99

    		 $32.91

    		 50%

    		 83%

    		 -20%
    Dycom Industries Inc.

    		 DY Engineering and Construction

    		 $86.03

    		 $128.13

    		 49%

    		 100%

    		 -8%
    Travel + Leisure Co.

    		 TNL Hotels/ Resorts/ Cruiselines

    		 $37.98

    		 $56.00

    		 47%

    		 75%

    		 -31%
    Frontier Communications Parent Inc.

    		 FYBR Telecommunications

    		 $25.21

    		 $36.18

    		 44%

    		 82%

    		 -15%
    Manhattan Associates Inc.

    		 MANH Software

    		 $120.06

    		 $171.80

    		 43%

    		 88%

    		 -23%
    MP Materials Corp Class A

    		 MP Other Metals/ Minerals

    		 $31.39

    		 $44.79

    		 43%

    		 92%

    		 -31%
    Lumentum Holdings Inc.

    		 LITE Electrical Products

    		 $54.45

    		 $76.44

    		 40%

    		 76%

    		 -49%
    Tenet Healthcare Corp.

    		 THC Hospital/ Nursing Management

    		 $44.22

    		 $62.00

    		 40%

    		 80%

    		 -46%
    Repligen Corp.

    		 RGEN Pharmaceuticals

    		 $166.88

    		 $233.10

    		 40%

    		 82%

    		 -37%
    STAAR Surgical Co.

    		 STAA Medical Specialties

    		 $59.57

    		 $82.67

    		 39%

    		 82%

    		 -35%
    Carlisle Cos. Inc.

    		 CSL Building Products

    		 $251.99

    		 $348.33

    		 38%

    		 75%

    		 2%
    Source: FactSet
    Wall Street’s favorite small-cap names

    Among companies in the S&P Small Cap 600 Index, 91 are rated “buy” or the equivalent by at least 75% of analysts. Here are the 20 with the highest 12-month upside potential indicated by consensus price targets:

    Company

    		 Ticker

    		 Industry

    		 Closing price – Dec. 12

    		 Consensus price target

    		 Implied 12-month upside potential

    		 Share “buy” ratings

    		 Price change – 2022 through Dec. 12
    UniQure NV

    		 QURE Biotechnology

    		 $22.99

    		 $51.29

    		 123%

    		 95%

    		 11%
    Cara Therapeutics Inc.

    		 CARA Biotechnology

    		 $11.34

    		 $23.63

    		 108%

    		 88%

    		 -7%
    Vir Biotechnology Inc.

    		 VIR Biotechnology

    		 $25.50

    		 $53.00

    		 108%

    		 75%

    		 -39%
    Dynavax Technologies Corp.

    		 DVAX Biotechnology

    		 $11.22

    		 $23.20

    		 107%

    		 100%

    		 -20%
    Thryv Holdings Inc.

    		 THRY Advertising/ Marketing Services

    		 $18.40

    		 $36.75

    		 100%

    		 100%

    		 -55%
    Artivion Inc.

    		 AORT Medical Specialties

    		 $12.93

    		 $23.13

    		 79%

    		 83%

    		 -36%
    Cytokinetics Inc.

    		 CYTK Pharmaceuticals

    		 $38.33

    		 $67.43

    		 76%

    		 100%

    		 -16%
    Harsco Corp.

    		 HSC Environmental Services

    		 $7.17

    		 $12.30

    		 72%

    		 80%

    		 -57%
    Ligand Pharmaceuticals Inc.

    		 LGND Pharmaceuticals

    		 $64.80

    		 $110.83

    		 71%

    		 100%

    		 -35%
    Corcept Therapeutics Inc.

    		 CORT Pharmaceuticals

    		 $20.84

    		 $34.20

    		 64%

    		 80%

    		 5%
    Payoneer Global Inc.

    		 PAYO Misc. Commercial Services

    		 $5.70

    		 $9.33

    		 64%

    		 100%

    		 -22%
    Xencor Inc.

    		 XNCR Biotechnology

    		 $28.69

    		 $46.71

    		 63%

    		 93%

    		 -28%
    Pacira Biosciences Inc.

    		 PCRX Pharmaceuticals

    		 $45.50

    		 $72.90

    		 60%

    		 80%

    		 -24%
    BioLife Solutions Inc.

    		 BLFS Chemicals

    		 $19.72

    		 $31.38

    		 59%

    		 89%

    		 -47%
    Customers Bancorp Inc.

    		 CUBI Regional Banks

    		 $30.00

    		 $47.63

    		 59%

    		 75%

    		 -54%
    ModivCare Inc.

    		 MODV Other Transportation

    		 $92.22

    		 $145.83

    		 58%

    		 100%

    		 -38%
    Stride Inc.

    		 LRN Consumer Services

    		 $32.56

    		 $51.25

    		 57%

    		 100%

    		 -2%
    Ranger Oil Corp. Class A

    		 ROCC Oil and Gas Production

    		 $36.98

    		 $58.00

    		 57%

    		 100%

    		 37%
    Outfront Media Inc.

    		 OUT Real Estate Investment Trusts

    		 $17.59

    		 $27.00

    		 53%

    		 83%

    		 -34%
    Walker & Dunlop Inc.

    		 WD Finance/ Rental/ Leasing

    		 $82.22

    		 $125.20

    		 52%

    		 100%

    		 -46%
    Source: FactSet
    The Dow

    Here are all 30 components of the Dow Jones Industrial Average ranked by how much analysts expect their prices to rise over the next year:

    Company

    		 Ticker

    		 Industry

    		 Closing price – Dec. 12

    		 Consensus price target

    		 Implied 12-month upside potential

    		 Share “buy” ratings

    		 Price change – 2022 through Dec. 12
    Salesforce Inc.

    		 CRM Software

    		 $133.11

    		 $195.59

    		 47%

    		 80%

    		 -48%
    Walt Disney Co.

    		 DIS Movies/ Entertainment

    		 $94.66

    		 $119.60

    		 26%

    		 82%

    		 -39%
    Apple Inc.

    		 AAPL Telecommunications Equipment

    		 $144.49

    		 $173.70

    		 20%

    		 74%

    		 -19%
    Verizon Communications Inc.

    		 VZ Telecommunications

    		 $37.95

    		 $44.60

    		 18%

    		 21%

    		 -27%
    Visa Inc. Class A

    		 V Misc.s Commercial Services

    		 $214.59

    		 $249.33

    		 16%

    		 86%

    		 -1%
    Microsoft Corp.

    		 MSFT Software

    		 $252.51

    		 $293.06

    		 16%

    		 91%

    		 -25%
    Chevron Corp.

    		 CVX Integrated Oil

    		 $169.75

    		 $191.20

    		 13%

    		 54%

    		 45%
    Cisco Systems Inc.

    		 CSCO Information Technology Services

    		 $49.30

    		 $53.76

    		 9%

    		 44%

    		 -22%
    UnitedHealth Group Inc.

    		 UNH Managed Health Care

    		 $545.86

    		 $593.30

    		 9%

    		 85%

    		 9%
    Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

    		 GS Investment Banks/ Brokers

    		 $363.18

    		 $392.63

    		 8%

    		 59%

    		 -5%
    Walmart Inc.

    		 WMT Specialty Stores

    		 $148.02

    		 $159.86

    		 8%

    		 72%

    		 2%
    JPMorgan Chase & Co.

    		 JPM Banks

    		 $134.21

    		 $143.84

    		 7%

    		 59%

    		 -15%
    Home Depot Inc.

    		 HD Home Improvement Chains

    		 $327.98

    		 $346.61

    		 6%

    		 61%

    		 -21%
    American Express Co.

    		 AXP Finance/ Rental/ Leasing

    		 $157.31

    		 $164.57

    		 5%

    		 43%

    		 -4%
    McDonald’s Corp.

    		 MCD Restaurants

    		 $276.62

    		 $288.67

    		 4%

    		 72%

    		 3%
    Johnson & Johnson

    		 JNJ Pharmaceuticals

    		 $177.84

    		 $185.35

    		 4%

    		 36%

    		 4%
    Coca-Cola Co.

    		 KO Beverages: Non-Alcoholic

    		 $63.97

    		 $66.62

    		 4%

    		 73%

    		 8%
    Boeing Co.

    		 BA Aerospace and Defense

    		 $186.27

    		 $192.69

    		 3%

    		 77%

    		 -7%
    Intel Corp.

    		 INTC Semiconductors

    		 $28.69

    		 $29.54

    		 3%

    		 13%

    		 -44%
    Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc.

    		 WBA Drugstore Chains

    		 $41.06

    		 $42.24

    		 3%

    		 17%

    		 -21%
    Merck & Co. Inc.

    		 MRK Pharmaceuticals

    		 $108.97

    		 $110.62

    		 2%

    		 65%

    		 42%
    Caterpillar Inc.

    		 CAT Trucks/ Construction/ Farm Machinery

    		 $233.06

    		 $236.23

    		 1%

    		 41%

    		 13%
    Honeywell International Inc.

    		 HON Aerospace and Defense

    		 $214.50

    		 $217.35

    		 1%

    		 54%

    		 3%
    Nike Inc. Class B

    		 NKE Apparel/ Footwear

    		 $112.07

    		 $112.58

    		 0%

    		 64%

    		 -33%
    3M Co.

    		 MMM Industrial Conglomerates

    		 $126.85

    		 $127.30

    		 0%

    		 5%

    		 -29%
    Procter & Gamble Co.

    		 PG Household/ Personal Care

    		 $152.47

    		 $150.22

    		 -1%

    		 59%

    		 -7%
    Travelers Companies Inc.

    		 TRV Multi-Line Insurance

    		 $187.11

    		 $184.24

    		 -2%

    		 18%

    		 20%
    Amgen Inc.

    		 AMGN Biotechnology

    		 $276.78

    		 $264.79

    		 -4%

    		 24%

    		 23%
    Dow Inc.

    		 DOW Chemicals

    		 $51.11

    		 $48.73

    		 -5%

    		 15%

    		 -10%
    International Business Machines Corp.

    		 IBM Information Technology Services

    		 $149.21

    		 $140.29

    		 -6%

    		 33%

    		 12%
    Source: FactSet

    Don’t miss: 10 Dividend Aristocrat stocks expected by analysts to rise up to 54% in 2023

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  • Oracle’s Cloud Business Is Still Growing

    Oracle’s Cloud Business Is Still Growing

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    Oracle


    shares were moving higher late Monday after the company posted better-than-expected financial results for its latest quarter. The enterprise software giant continued to see success in shifting more of its business to the cloud during the period.

    “Simply put, we had an outstanding quarter,” Oracle CEO Safra Catz said on a call with analysts. “More and more customers are recognizing our second generation infrastructure cloud as being better architected for higher performance, better security and unmatched reliability” than other cloud providers.

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  • Oracle stock rises as earnings and revenue beat, but forecast is still to come

    Oracle stock rises as earnings and revenue beat, but forecast is still to come

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    Oracle Corp. topped Wall Street’s expectations for profit and revenue in its most recent quarter, though the software company is still expected to issue a forecast that could be more fraught.

    Oracle
    ORCL,
    +1.78%
    on Monday reported fiscal second-quarter net income of $1.74 billion, or 63 cents a share, on revenue of $12.28 billion, up from $10.36 billion a year ago. After adjusting for stock-based compensation and other costs, Oracle reported earnings of $1.21 a share, even with the same quarter a year ago.

    Analysts on average expected adjusted earnings of $1.17 a share on sales of $11.96 billion, according to FactSet. Oracle shares gained nearly 3% in after-hours trading immediately after the results were announced, following a 1.8% increase to $81.29 in regular trading.

    Oracle executives did not provide guidance for the fiscal third quarter in Monday’s announcement, but Chief Executive Safra Catz does typically provide a forecast in their conference call, which is scheduled for 5 p.m. Eastern time. Those numbers are likely to affect earnings more than the results, as concerns about an increasing slowdown in business spending have rocked a swath of software companies in recent weeks.

    “We believe the darkest days of this downturn are ahead of us,” Monness Crespi Hardt analyst Brian J. White wrote in a preview of Oracle results, later adding that “results across Big Tech, the leading public clouds, and the enterprise software complex paint an increasingly concerning picture for the software world heading into 2023.”

    Oracle stock has outperformed the S&P 500 index
    SPX,
    +1.43%
    since executives hosted an event for financial analysts and investors in October, with shares gaining 4.8% in the past three months while the larger index fell 3.9%. Oracle executives promised to grow adjusted earnings by more than 10% every year as revenue growth accelerates, after years of stagnant sales growth led to large share repurchases and constant cuts to improve the software company’s bottom line.

    Oracle is experiencing strong revenue growth thanks to the acquisition of healthcare-focused company Cerner, a $28 billion deal that closed in June. There are hopes for organic growth as well, though, as Oracle’s cloud-computing effort starts to show fruit, including winning part of a recent Defense Department contract after suing to halt an earlier version of that award.

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  • Adobe Embraces AI Art, Can Get In The Bin

    Adobe Embraces AI Art, Can Get In The Bin

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    One of the AI-generated images Adobe used to promote their announcement

    Adobe used to be known as the company that made Acrobat and PhotoShop. Adobe is increasingly becoming known, however, as one of the great digital grifters of the modern age.

    From its shonky subscription models to making people pay for certain colours in PhotoShop (which is also Pantone’s doing in a “jointly” made decision), the company is, like so many others in these tumultuous times, more concerned with growing its bottom line no matter the cost than it is in taking a moment to consider the needs of its users, or the consequences of its actions.

    I’m bringing this up today because, a week after forcing people to check they weren’t reading an Onion story when learning about the colours thing, the company has announced that it is embracing AI art. This is not only an enormous grift, but also a serious threat to the livelihoods of artists around the world, big and small.

    I’ve made my feelings about AI very clear on this website already—I wrote this feature back in August interviewing a range of video game and entertainment industry artists—and think it sucks not just because it’s a threat to artists, but to art. While people’s jobs are of course important, we’re not just talking about cotton gins here, and how this is in many ways a labour v capital breakdown; we’re talking about a process that is encroaching on a fundamentally human pastime and creative pursuit.

    Machines don’t make art. They’re machines! They’re just making an approximated casserole out of human art that has been fed into it, in the vast amount of cases without credit or compensation. As Dan Sheehan says in his fantastic piece, Art In The Age Of Optimization, it’s merely “a technology that clearly exists to remove the human element from the process of artistic expression.”

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    Anyway! Last week, Adobe dropped an announcement saying that AI-generated art was going to be made available as part of the company’s vast library of stock images, going so far as to say the field is “amplifying human creativity.” The company boldly says, repeatedly, stuff like they have “deeply considered these questions and implemented a new submission policy that we believe will ensure our content uses AI technology responsibly by creators and customers alike,” and that “generative AI is a major leap forward for creators, leveraging machine learning’s incredible power to ideate faster by developing imagery using words, sketches, and gestures.”

    Creators? Fuck off! These people aren’t creating anything! They’re punching words into a computer that has been fed actual art! And even if Adobe can, as they’re claiming, only release images that have been “properly built, used, and disclosed,” it still sucks! Gah! Attempting to make good on one of AI art’s issues—art theft—doesn’t absolve it from its others, like the fact nothing to do with these images or their creation has anything to do with art!

    Reaction among artists has of course been as wildly negative as any other AI art announcement over the past six months, with some criticising the company, while others resort to more traditional cries, encouraging people to seek out alternatives to Adobe’s products.

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    Luke Plunkett

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