The sell-off in technology is more about market reversion to the mean than it is indicative of some gloom and doom scenario where technology stocks lead the rest of the market lower.
Credit Suisse just released a report to clients where they are neutral to slightly cautious on technology stocks for the next 3 months, but remain positive longer out.
There are many bottoms-up drivers in the technology sector right now including the new iPhone, continued increase in cloud usage, greater adoption of artificial intelligence across various sectors, and autonomous driving. Technology adoption and market penetration are likely to increase over the next couple of years.
The S&P 500 is dominated by a few big tech companies. Innovations such as more automation in the grocery industry from Amazon, the iPhone 8, and Tesla’s Model 3 are catalysts for the S&P 500 to move even higher.
Reversion To The Mean
The green line is what I would calculate the mean to be at. As you can see, QQQ has overshot the mean over the last few months and so a move back towards the 10 year mean line is normal.
Fiscal policy will also be a catalyst for continued growth such as tax reform. The medical device tax, investment tax, tanning tax, Medicare Hospital Insurance surtax, the health insurance fee and tax on brand pharmaceutical manufacturers, all will likely be repealed at some point in the future.
Credit Suisse set negative expectations for consumer goods. Stocks that trade in the consumer goods sector are likely going to be stocks we should avoid. Fundamentals and valuation are likely to continue to deteriorate in clothing, department stores, grocery, and packaged food.
A trade war between the US and China is likely going to start next year with a key promise of Trump to declare China a “currency manipulator” on day one of his Presidency and to enact a 45% tariff on certain Chinese produced products sold in US markets.
China has threatened to retaliate by dumping Boeing and instead ordering from Airbus. China has said it will block sales of US automobiles and iPhones in China and that US soybeans and maize imports will be halted.
To better understand why I think 3D printing stocks are a good play on a trade war with China, we have to go back in history and use macroeconomic analysis to see how we got to where we are today.
China Joins the WTO
In 2001 China joined the World Trade Organization and began flooding America with illegally subsidized exports. Over the next ten years, the US would shut down over 60,000 factories, lose more than 5 million manufacturing jobs and see it’s historical annual rate of GDP growth cut by two-thirds.
Trade Deficits and Offshoring Subtract From GDP Growth
As a result of China joining the WTO, structural problems hit the US, Europe, and other major economies like Japan and South Korea.
If a country like the US runs a trade deficit, this directly subtract’s from its GDP growth. From that observation, you can see what the two most important structure drags on growth for many developed nations like the US have been.
The first has been the drag of the large trade deficits. The second has been the drag on lower domestic investment growth, as multinational corporations like Caterpillar, General Electric, and General Motors, have built more plants in other countries and fewer plants in the US.
Where have most of the offshoring of productions gone? The answer is China.
It’s no accident that the start of America’s era of slow growth in 2001 coincided with China joining the World Trade Organization or WTO, which gave China full access to American markets.
Contrary to the rules of the WTO, China began to flood the US with cheap, often illegally subsidized exports, and over the next decade and a half; the US would see the loss of over 60,000 factories and more than 5,000,000 manufacturing jobs.
The Emergence of Structural Trade Imbalances
During this time the economies of Europe, India, Brazil, among others, would likewise begin to have significant growth-sapping trade deficits with China and this would reduce global growth below what it would otherwise be.
The result would be the structural emergence of a growth-sapping global trade imbalance, as illustrated in the following set of figures.
Here, we see chronic annual trade deficits on the order of 200 to 400 billion dollars annually, with the heavily exported China.
By the year 2012, these deficits would help slow growth dramatically in both Europe and the US, and as a result, China’s two biggest customers would thereby be too weak to sustain China’s export-dependent growth.
In a ripple effect, slow growth in China, in turn, would lead to slower growth in so-called commodity countries like Australia, Brazil, and Canada, whose economies depend heavily on the sale of natural resources like coal, iron ore, and soybeans to China. More broadly, these structural trade relationships would lead to a new type of butterfly effect the world had not yet seen.
Here, we see that weak demand for Chinese exports from Europe and the US leads to weak import demand from China for commodities and other natural resources. In this way, chronic trade imbalances between China and other countries around the world would make it very difficult for a robust, global economic recovery.
Why Keynesian Stimulus Failed
From this butterfly effect, you can see why expansionary, Keynesian fiscal and monetary stimulus in the US and Europe, did not have the full effects anticipated. Indeed, this short-run Keynesian approach did nothing to address the underlying, chronic, long-term structural trade imbalances, acting as a drag on both the U.S. and European economies and by extension, much of the rest of the world.
3D Printing and China Manufacturing
China is rapidly losing ground to 3D printing technology. The business model of it being cheaper to manufacture goods in China could come to an end over the next ten years.
US companies will soon be able to make most things in small 3D printer factories right in your neighborhood or town. Factories, as we know them today, will get broken up and made smaller and local. Newsweek writes…
In the distributed manufacturing scenario, the carbon footprint, so to speak, of each shoe drops precipitously. Asian manufacturing is toast, probably upsetting the global balance of power. And factory jobs—well, they’re likely never coming “back.” 3-D printing automates a lot of what factory workers would’ve done. The hope is that distributed manufacturing creates a whole new set of opportunities for middle-class workers and keeps money local instead of funneling it overseas.
Coming Trade War With China
A Trump Administration will be placing tariffs on Chinese-produced goods effectively penalizing US corporations that manufacture products in China. China will retaliate by blocking the sale of US goods inside of China.
This trade war with China will only speed up the adoption of cheaper and faster 3D printing facilities inside the US IMO.
Many US businesses could increase their purchases of 3D printing machines as a result of the worsening trade relationship with China as well as the public outcry over the loss of millions of US jobs to China.
The earnings recession which began in Q1 2015 prevented businesses from buying 3D printers as consumer demand was uncertain. This last quarter we saw an end to the earnings recession, and if corporate earnings continue to rise, we could see more companies buying 3D printers.
Big Players and Big Money Flowing Into 3D Printing Technology
In May of 2016, the 2D printing giant HP revealed that it has been spending billions of dollars developing 3D printing technology and announced the release of its Jet Fusion 3D 3200 and 4200 printers. The more powerful 4200 was slated to begin shipping in the fall of 2016, while the 3200 will be available in 2017. HP claims these polymer 3D printers are up to 10 times as fast and twice as cost-efficient as current 3D printers powered by the leading technologies. HP sees the incredible future for 3D printing and aims to become the leading 3D printing company.
3D Printing Stock Chart
Chart Comments: Not a great looking chart. Twiggs Money Flow is rising but still below the 0% line. The 50-day moving average (blue line) at $15.21 is currently being tested, and a breakout above this level would be bullish.
Stratasys Stock Chart
Chart Comments: Stratasys’ chart looks even worse than DDD. The Twiggs Money Flow is rising nicely, but it is still below the 0% line.
HP Inc Stock Chart
Chart Comments: Twiggs Money Flow falls below 0% line after missing on revenue; however, overall, the strongest looking chart of the 3D printing stocks. Fantastic valuation at P/E 9.9 and forward P/E 9.2. Wait for candle over candle bounce before taking a long entry.
Disclosure: I do not hold any stocks mentioned in this article.
June 17, 2016: Reportedly Apple iPhones were found to have violated Chinese rival’s parent LOL. That’s rich folks. The king of patent rip-offs China, who allowed fake iPhones to be sold for years, is now accusing Apple of violating China patents. So much for big-cheese Tim Cook’s visit to China recently.
iPhone 6 and 6-plus models infringe on patent rights owned by Shenzhen Baili because of similarities to its 100c phone, the Beijing intellectual property office wrote in its decision.
Apple can appeal the ruling and could be allowed to continue selling its phones during the process.
June 13, 2016: Apple Inc’s annual rate of iPhones sales said to decline for the first time in 2016. iPhone annual shipments to fall for first time since 2007 this year due to lukewarm demand for a new model with shipments seen between 210-220 million.
Reminder: At the beginning of the year, Nikkei reported that Apple could lower its production of iPhone 6 by more than expected in the Jan-Mar quarter. In mid-April, Nikkei reported Apple would sustain its lower rate of production in the April-June quarter. On May 11th, Nikkei reported that Taiwan tech suppliers expected significantly fewer orders from Apple in the second half of 2016.
May 22, 2016: Apple Inc rumored to have requested up to 78 million units of iPhone 7 production from suppliers according to the Taiwan press. This is the highest in 2 years.
Apple Inc Industry sources indicating that chip orders from Apple in Q2 have been disappointing on year over year basis according to a report in the DigiTimes. Report adding there is no sign of a substantial rise in chip orders in Q3 despite the expected launch of the new iPhone.
Apple CEO Cook has met with India PM Modi. The talks addressed cybersecurity and data encryption, along with Apple’s plans for possibilities of manufacturing in India. This was CEO Cook’s first trip to India.
May 16, 2016: Berkshire Hathaway discloses latest quarterly holdings; new stake in Apple of 9.8 million shares according to a new 13 F-HR filing. CNBC reports the Apple stake was not taken by Warren Buffet himself, but by one of his lieutenants.
May 12, 2016: Apple Inc to invest $1 billion in China’s Didi Chuxing (direct competitor of Uber). Didi Chuxing announced today important progress in its latest fundraising round. Among a group of prestigious Chinese and international institutions, Apple has invested USD$1 billion in DiDi, creating the single largest investment the Company has ever received. Through this investment, Apple becomes a strategic investor of DiDi, and joins Tencent, Alibaba and other key supporters to help further DiDi’s mission of building a data-driven rideshare platform to serve hundreds of millions of Chinese drivers and passengers. Building on its data mining and analysis capabilities, DiDi now completes over 11 million rides a day on its platform, serving close to 300 million users across over 400 Chinese cities with a diverse range of mobile technology-based transportation options. DiDi works with over 14 million Chinese car-owners and drivers, holding over 87% market share in private car-hailing and over 99% market share in taxi-hailing.
– Follow Up: Apple investment said to boost Didi fundraising to $3.0B – financial press
May 06, 2016: Apple CEO Tim Cook is planning a visit to China this month to meet with Senior Chinese government officials in Beijing. On April 26th Apple Q2 earnings had a -26% decline in Greater China (steepest drop among the five regions). Apple is expected to take its latest trademark dispute over the iPhone name to China’s Supreme Court. Currently Xintong is allowed to use iPhone mark on goods.
China is trying to copy popular products in the US by ripping off their trademarks and technology. This is why the story of China’s economic power is a joke. China is a copycat, a poser if you will and that means their economy is built on a deck of cards. Their communism form of government does not foster an environment that allows the people of China to be able to intellectually compete with people from the US. This is why I seldom, if ever, invest in China. China’s economy has gotten where it’s at today by intellectual property and technology theft. That, my friends, is a house of cards waiting to collapse.
CEO Tim Cook should tell China that if they don’t enforce international trademark and IP laws, Apple will no longer make iPhone parts in China which will put thousands of Chinese people out of work.
May 03, 2016: In an earnings conference call, Greenlight’s Einhorn says he continues to hold stake in Apple Inc. and sees great value in the Apple brand.
May 1, 2016: It’s a good time to take a position in Apple imo. With the earnings and revenue miss last week, the stock has overreacted to the downside.
Folks, Apple is a buy while there’s blood-in-the-streets play. Check out the recent carnage:
– Goldman Sachs removed Apple from its Conviction Buy list
– Carl Icahn dumped the stock
– Barclay’s cut its price target
– Morgan Stanley cut its price target
– Oppenheimer cuts Apple stock to a Perform rating, from Outperform
– Nomura cut its price target
– Drexel Hamilton cut its price target
What caused all this ruckus?
Last Tuesday, Aprill 26, 2016, Apple reported Q2 2016 EPS of $1.90 versus the $1.97 estimate. Revenue also missed coming in at $50.6 billion versus the $52.2 billion estimate. Apple also lowered its Q3 revenue guidance to $41 – $43 billion versus the previous guidance of $45.8 billion.
iPhone shipments came in at 51.2 million versus 61.2 million from the previous year. iPad shipments also fell, coming in at 10.3 million versus the 12.6 million from the previous year. Mac shipments fell to 4 million versus the 4.6 million from the previous year.
Not only do I think that traders overreacted to the earnings report, there are two catalysts in-play.
The first catalyst is Apple’s dividend payable on May 12, 2016 to shareholders of record as of the close of business on May 9, 2016. Why not capture that dividend if you can?
The second catalyst is the iPhone 7. Apple releases its new phone every year, in the second half of the year. Apple’s stock usually runs up in anticipation of the new release. We may have an opportunity to position early ahead of the seasonal new iPhone run up. There are also rumors that Apple will release more than one phone model this year which may help boost revenue.
Finally, as seen in the chart of Apple below, the stock is oversold and at horizontal support which could make for the last oversold RSI entry we will get before the seasonal iPhone 7 run-up. Just remember, don’t try and catch a falling knife. Look for a candle over candle entry.
Apple Inc. makes mobile communication and media devices, personal computers, and portable digital music players. The company also sells related software, services, accessories, networking solutions, and third-party digital content and applications.
It offers iPhone, a line of smartphones that comprise a phone, music player, and Internet device; iPad, a line of multi-purpose tablets; Mac, a line of desktop and portable personal computers; iPod, a line of portable digital music and media players, such as iPod touch, iPod nano, and iPod shuffle; and Apple Watches, personal electronic devices that combine watch technology with an iOS-based user interface.
The company also provides iTunes app and the iTunes Store; Mac App Store that allows customers to discover, download, and install Mac applications; iCloud, a cloud service; Apple Pay for making mobile payments; Apple TV, a portfolio of consumer and professional software applications; iOS and OS X operating systems software; iLife, a consumer-oriented digital lifestyle software application suite; iWork, an integrated productivity suite designed to help users create, present, and publish documents, presentations, and spreadsheets; and other application software, including Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro X, and its FileMaker Pro database software.
In addition, Apple offers various Apple-branded and third-party Mac-compatible and iOS-compatible accessories, including headphones, cases, displays, storage devices, and various other connectivity and computing products and supplies. The company sells and delivers digital content and applications through the iTunes Store, App Store, iBooks Store, and Mac App Store; and sells its products through its retail stores, online stores, and direct sales force, as well as through third-party cellular network carriers, wholesalers, retailers, and value-added resellers.
