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When data platform companySnowflake (SNOW 4.85%) had its initial public offering in September 2020, it immediately became one of the most highly valued publicly traded cloud and software companies. Even after high inflation, rising interest rates, and the possibility of a global recession reduced its value, the company remains among the most highly valued cloud companies in the market.

Here is one big reason Snowflake outperforms the rest of the cloud and software industry.

Over the last two years, several consulting firms have published research concluding that data-driven companies are more likely to acquire customers, beat revenue goals, and increase profits than those without a data strategy. As a result, business leaders have become more aware that to remain competitive in their industry, they must pursue data-driven and digital transformation strategies -- requiring increased investment in data management technology. And many companies are choosing Snowflake for this essential service.

Image source: Snowflake.

Snowflake differentiated itself from other data management platforms by developing a disruptive architecture for data storage, processing, analyzing, sharing, and monetization, which it calls the data cloud. This data cloud can function as a database (holds data for application use), a data warehouse (contains filtered data for later analysis), or a data lake (stores unfiltered data). In addition, the data cloud includes a modern marketplace that permits companies, governments, and other entities to trade, buy, or share data -- an industry first.

As a result of Snowflake's unique innovations in the data industry, it rapidly grew from the time its founders started the company in 2012 to achieving a 19.73% market share in the data warehousing category in 2022, according to the marketing intelligence firm Slintel. Only Amazon'sRedshift is ahead with a 22.16% share.

Yet, despite its strong growth, Snowflake has only penetrated a tiny sliver of its opportunity.

Image source: Snowflake.

As of quarter's end in June of fiscal 2023, the company made $1.63 billion in trailing 12-month (TTM) revenue against a projected $248 billion total addressable market (TAM), meaning it has yet to reach even 1% of its TAM.

Despite the ongoing macroeconomic turbulence, Snowflake's revenue growth trajectory exceeds that of virtually every other cloud company. The following chart compares its revenue growth trend on a TTM basis to a few other significant cloud stocks.

SNOW Revenue (TTM) data by YCharts

In addition, this revenue growth is translating into rapid free cash flow (FCF) growth.

SNOW Free Cash Flow data by YCharts

As long as Snowflake maintains a strong positive free cash flow, it can continue judiciously hiring and investing in key growth initiatives throughout this downturn -- extending its lead over emerging competitors. For instance, in June the company revealed in Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail that it would open a Toronto office and hire hundreds of people -- impressive considering that many technology companies are hiring slowly, canceling projects, and even laying off workers in this poor economy.

Although the company has performed well up until now, one issue that Snowflake bears worry about is that its usage-based pricing model could present a problem should customers cut back on using its services in a worsening economy.

CFO Mike Scarpelli's commentary on the first-quarter fiscal 2023 earnings call likely contributed to the stock's sluggish performance from late May to the middle of June. Scarpelli noted slowing growth for consumer-facing cloud companies. Any further news of slowing growth in other sectors of the economy could result in a further downdraft in the stock, especially considering the stock's relatively high valuation. Snowflake sells at a price-to-sales (P/S) ratio of 33.3 compared to the computer processing and cloud services industry P/S ratio of 4.3.

However, the good news is that Scarpelli said on the second-quarter earnings call that leading indicators of the macro economy's impact on the business remain solid across most of its customer base. For example, one metric he highlighted was the outperformance of small and medium-sized companies in net new bookings during the quarter. Additionally, Snowflake's largest global customers continue to increase their usage, indicating that these large enterprises consider the data cloud essential to their business operations.

While this stock could remain volatile in the short term, Snowflake is still an excellent bet for continued outperformance. If you are a long-term investor, there are few better places to invest than this dominant data platform.

John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Rob Starks Jr has positions in Amazon, CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc., MongoDB, Okta, and Snowflake Inc. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Amazon, CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc., MongoDB, Okta, Salesforce, Inc., ServiceNow, Inc., Snowflake Inc., Twilio, Zendesk, and Zscaler. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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1 Big Reason Why Snowflake Is Outperforming the Rest of the Software Industry - The Motley Fool

General Motors' subsidiary, BrightDrop, will offer self-driving electric commercial delivery vehicles in the future.

During a webcast presentation at the Evercore ISI 2ndAnnual Technology Conference on Thursday, BrightDrop CEO Travis Katz said the company is "actively" looking at how to apply autonomous driving technology to its commercial trucks.

But BrightDrop spokesman Daniel Roberts said Friday the company has no immediate plans to offer self-driving vehicles.

"We can say with certainty that autonomy is going to play a huge role in commercial delivery," Katz said. "There is no need to have humans driving vehicles in all of these routes. One of the benefits of being General Motors, is we have our sister company Cruise, which is one of the leaders, if not the leader, in autonomous systems."

Katz said BrightDrop's EVs can save a fleet $10,000 to $12,000 of cost per vehicle each year. Also, some say that eliminating the driver could result in greater cost savings.

"There really arent enough drivers to do the work and itsnot a super glamorous job," Katz said. "Its a hard job.

In June, the GM-owned Cruise became the first companytoruna commercial taxi service ofself-driving cars in a major city San Francisco, where it is based, Katz said

BrightDrop, which GM started in early 2021, offers two commercial electric delivery vehiclesthe Zevo 600, which resembles the big brown UPS-style truck, and a smaller EV410 midsize truck. They will be built at GM's CAMI Assembly plant in Ingersol, Canada, which opens in the fourth quarter. Katz said it expects to be making 50,000 trucks a year there starting in 2025 and bring in "a lot of revenue."

"Were lining up customers. Were hiring like crazy across all fronts, support, software development, engineering we see big growth ahead," Katz said. "We feel pretty good about the supply chain heading into next year. We have a lot of people managing this and weve worked through the hardest moments. Were not seeing anything on the horizon thats scaring us.

Katz said he did not have specific news to share yet on self-driving technology, but he said that Cruise has been testing autonomous delivery vehicles with Walmart. It has been using the Cruise Origin, which is the self-driving vehicle that Factory Zero in Detroit and Hamtramck will make.

There are a lot of challenges to still be solved, Katz said. The last 100 feet, you cant just have an autonomous vehicle pull up, you have to figure out how does the vehicle get to the end? We have e-carts and things like this and software to help design a solution.

But he said commercial self-driving vehicles will be "huge" and "were better positioned than anyone else in the industry to go after it.

Besides the delivery trucks, BrightDrop also offers technological solutions for the delivery industry such as a propulsion-assistedelectric pallet to move goods over short distances, includingfrom the delivery truck to a front door. It also offersmobile asset management for thepallet to allow forlocation monitoring, battery status and otherremote commands.

BrightDrop currently has FedEx, Merchants Fleet and Walmart as its biggest clients. Its biggest truck, the Zevo 600, made the Guinness World Records in April when driver Stephen Marlin achieved the recordfor the greatest distance traveled by an electric van on a single charge. He drove a Zevo 600 that's part of FedEx's fleet from New York City to Washington, D.C., a trip of nearly 260 miles.

Contact Jamie L. LaReau: jlareau@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter@jlareauan. Read more onGeneral Motorsand sign up for ourautos newsletter.Become a subscriber.

Excerpt from:
GM's BrightDrop looks to self-driving delivery trucks in the future - Detroit Free Press

September 7, 2022

PRESS RELEASE

Apple announces the next generation of AirPodsPro

Delivering unrivaled audio quality, enhanced Active Noise Cancellation, and new features for even more convenience

CUPERTINO, CALIFORNIA Apple today announced the second generation ofAirPods Pro, the most advanced AirPods ever.With the power of the new H2 chip, AirPods Pro unlock breakthrough audio performance including major upgrades to Active Noise Cancellation and Transparency mode while also offering a unique way to experience Spatial Audio thats even more immersive. Now, customers can enjoy Touch control for media playback and volume adjustments directly from the stem, along with longer battery life, a brand-new charging case, and an additional ear tip size for a better fit.

AirPods Pro (2nd generation) will be available to order online and in the Apple Store app starting Friday, September 9, with availability in stores beginning Friday, September 23.

AirPods revolutionized the wireless headphone category with an innovative design and incredible sound quality. With the new AirPods Pro, Apple raises the bar once again, said Bob Borchers, Apples vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. The new AirPods Pro deliver even better sound quality, a more immersive listening experience with Personalized Spatial Audio, and transformative audio features like Adaptive Transparency. With up to double the noise-cancelling power of their predecessor, the worlds bestselling wireless headphones just got even better.

Breakthrough Audio

Built into a lightweight and compact body, the power of the new H2 chip provides an exceptional acoustic experience and cancels up to twice as much noise over the previous generation AirPods Pro. With a new low-distortion audio driver and custom amplifier, AirPods Pro now offer richer bass and crystal-clear sound across a wider range of frequencies. Since the best audio experience isnt complete without a great in-ear fit, a new extra small ear tip is included so even more people can experience the magic of AirPods Pro.

Transparency mode makes it possible for listeners to stay connected to and aware of the world around them. Now, Adaptive Transparency takes this customer-loved feature even further. The powerful H2 chip enables on-device processing, which reduces loud environmental noise like a passing vehicle siren, construction tools, or even loud speakers at a concert for more comfortable everyday listening.

Precise and Immersive Sound

With Personalized Spatial Audio, the AirPods listening experience is even more immersive. Users perceive sound individually, based on the size and shape of their head and ears. Using the TrueDepth camera on iPhone, users can create a personal profile for Spatial Audio that delivers a listening experience precisely tuned just for them. Users can enjoy Personalized Spatial Audio with music, movies, and TV shows with dynamic head tracking across iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple TV.1

Convenient Features

The magical experience users have come to love from the AirPods family gets even better with the next generation of AirPods Pro. Instant pairing to all Apple devices makes setup effortless, while the new dedicated AirPods section in iOS Settings lets users easily access and control their AirPods features.

Now, users can control media playback and turn up the volume without using another device. With Touch control on AirPods Pro, a light swipe up or down on the stem enables quick volume adjustments. Press the stem to change the music, answer phone calls, and more, or say Hey Siri to make requests hands-free. The improved, built-in skin-detect sensor more accurately turns on or off playback, and delivers better battery life.

Extended Battery Life

AirPods Pro offer 1.5 hours of additional listening time over the first generation, for a total of up to six hours with Active Noise Cancellation.2 Using the case for four additional charges, users can enjoy up to 30 hours of total listening time with Active Noise Cancellation a full six hours more than the previous generation.3

For more flexibility when traveling, customers can now charge AirPods Pro with an Apple Watch charger, in addition to a MagSafe charger, Qi-certified charging mat, or the Lightning cable.

All-New Charging Case

AirPods Pro come with a newly designed charging case that is sweat- and water-resistant,4 and includes a lanyard loop5 so its always within reach. With Precision Finding, users with a U1-enabled iPhone can locate their charging case with guided directions. The charging case also has a built-in speaker to deliver louder tones, so its even easier to locate.

Customers can now personalize the charging case with their individual Memoji, including custom-posed Memoji, Animoji, and a curated list of stickers. To begin engraving, create and upload a Memoji in the Apple Store app.

AirPods and the Environment

AirPods Pro are designed with numerous materials and features to minimize their impact on the environment, including the use of 100 percent recycled rare earth elements in all magnets and for the first time 100 percent recycled gold in the plating of multiple printed circuit boards. The case also uses 100 percent recycled tin in the solder of the main logic board, and 100 percent recycled aluminum in the hinge. AirPods Pro are free of potentially harmful substances such as mercury, BFRs, PVC, and beryllium. Redesigned packaging eliminates the outer plastic wrap, and 90 percent or more of the packaging is made using fiber-based materials, bringing Apple closer to its goal of completely removing plastic from all packaging by 2025.

Today, Apple is carbon neutral for global corporate operations, and by 2030, plans to be 100 percent carbon neutral across its entire manufacturing supply chain and all product life cycles. This means that every Apple device sold, from component manufacturing, assembly, transport, customer use, charging, all the way through recycling and material recovery, will have net-zero climate impact.

Pricing and Availability

Press Contacts

Emily Ewing

Apple

e_ewing@apple.com

Lance Lin

Apple

lance_lin@apple.com

(408) 974-5036

Apple Media Helpline

media.help@apple.com

(408) 974-2042

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Apple announces the next generation of AirPods Pro - Apple

Generally speaking the aim of active stock picking is to find companies that provide returns that are superior to the market average. And in our experience, buying the right stocks can give your wealth a significant boost. For example, long term GoDaddy Inc. (NYSE:GDDY) shareholders have enjoyed a 78% share price rise over the last half decade, well in excess of the market return of around 56% (not including dividends). However, more recent returns haven't been as impressive as that, with the stock returning just 3.7% in the last year.

After a strong gain in the past week, it's worth seeing if longer term returns have been driven by improving fundamentals.

View our latest analysis for GoDaddy

While markets are a powerful pricing mechanism, share prices reflect investor sentiment, not just underlying business performance. One flawed but reasonable way to assess how sentiment around a company has changed is to compare the earnings per share (EPS) with the share price.

Over half a decade, GoDaddy managed to grow its earnings per share at 46% a year. The EPS growth is more impressive than the yearly share price gain of 12% over the same period. So one could conclude that the broader market has become more cautious towards the stock.

The image below shows how EPS has tracked over time (if you click on the image you can see greater detail).

We know that GoDaddy has improved its bottom line over the last three years, but what does the future have in store? This free interactive report on GoDaddy's balance sheet strength is a great place to start, if you want to investigate the stock further.

It's good to see that GoDaddy has rewarded shareholders with a total shareholder return of 3.7% in the last twelve months. Having said that, the five-year TSR of 12% a year, is even better. Potential buyers might understandably feel they've missed the opportunity, but it's always possible business is still firing on all cylinders. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand GoDaddy better, we need to consider many other factors. For instance, we've identified 3 warning signs for GoDaddy (1 doesn't sit too well with us) that you should be aware of.

If you are like me, then you will not want to miss this free list of growing companies that insiders are buying.

Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on US exchanges.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.

This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

Simply Wall St does a detailed discounted cash flow calculation every 6 hours for every stock on the market, so if you want to find the intrinsic value of any company just search here. Its FREE.

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GoDaddy's (NYSE:GDDY) 12% CAGR outpaced the company's earnings growth over the same five-year period - Simply Wall St

Ford's hands-free cruise control technology is set to take a step forward this fall when the company adds three new features to its roster. Set to launch first on the 2023 Ford Mustang Mach-E electric SUV this fall, version 1.2 of the system brings three new features, including one that aids in lane change maneuvers.

Called BlueCruise on Ford models and Active Glide on Lincoln ones, the system relies on cameras, sensors, and software and allows the driver to remove their hands from the wheel while the system handles physical piloting duties. Like other hands-free driving systems available from rivals such as General Motors and BMW, the system isn't entirely self-driving as it requires the driver to remain alert and ready to take control of the vehicle.

Ford

The more advanced features included in version 1.2 will require the driver to take over less often though. For example, using the new lane-change assist feature allows the driver to remain in hands-free mode by having the car maneuver to an adjacent lane simply by tapping the turn signal stalk. Ford claims the vehicle will even suggest a lane change to the driver if it detects that traffic in an adjacent lane is moving quicker than the one it's in.

The other two features are designed with driver comfort in mind. Predictive-speed assist will automatically slow the vehicle's speed when encountering a sharp turn on the highway similar to how a human driver might and an in-lane repositioning feature tells the system to move the vehicle from the center of the lane to closer to the outside edge of the lane when passing a semi-truck.

BlueCruise and ActiveGlide have worked fairly well on the few occasions we've sampled them, but their driving nature doesn't feel as natural as the GM Super Cruise system. Ford says other enhancements to the system in version 1.2 have been made to improve the driver and passenger experience, and we're looking forward to evaluating how BlueCruise has evolved.

The software still only works on pre-qualified roads and highways, but Ford says over 130,000 miles of roadway in North America have now been mapped thanks to the 75,000 Ford and Lincoln owners who have been using the system since its launch. Those current owners, however, will have to wait for version 1.2. A Ford spokesman told Car and Driver that the updated features will not be pushed to older vehicles via an over-the-air update just yet.

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Ford BlueCruise Adds Automatic Lane Changing to Mustang Mach-E EV - Car and Driver