Sebastian Rivas is the founder and Head of Product for Andes STR , a leading Short-Term Rental investments and technology firm. getty If there is anything past recessions can tell us about today’s climate, it’s that short-term rental investors can better position themselves during economic uncertainty if they understand how to best leverage their property investments. The start of 2023 is an opportune time to study recessions, as both the Wall Street Journal and Pitchbook said there’s about a 65% likelihood of a recession happening in late 2023 or early 2024. One can turn to historical demands to understand what’s in store for our current economic forecast. For short-term real estate investors, it can be helpful to look at past trends in the travel industry, in particular, as tourism demand can impact investors’ returns and exit opportunities down the line. History tells us that the effect of a recession on tourists’ and businesses’ willingness to travel is nuanced. Following previous events such as 9/11, tourism revenue declined and took years to fully recover, according to data looking at the past 25 years from Trading Economics. Similarly, after the Great Financial Crisis in 2008, the tourism industry experienced a loss […]

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Fitch Ratings – New York – 09 Feb 2023: Fitch Ratings has affirmed the Long-Term Issuer Default Ratings for Retail Opportunity Investments Corp. (ROIC) and Retail Opportunity Investments Partnership, L.P. at ‘BBB’. The Rating Outlook is Stable. The affirmation reflects ROIC’s stable leverage metrics, transparent business model, and the high quality of its grocery-anchored shopping center assets. The company’s portfolio is near the high end of its shopping center REIT peer group with respect to key quality metrics, including household income and population demographics, rent per square foot, occupancy, and market implied cap rate. Consistent Credit Metrics: Fitch expects leverage (net debt/recurring operating EBITDA, excluding preferred stock) to sustain in the mid-to-high 6x range over the ratings horizon, consistent with company’s long-term leverage target at sub-7.0x. Fitch’s forecast of leverage and ROIC’s commitment to its target support ratings at the ‘BBB’ level. Fitch also estimates ROIC’s unencumbered assets/unsecured debt (UA/UD) ratio at 2.2x at a stressed 7.5% cap rate, which is appropriate for the rating. Strong Tenant Diversification: ROIC’s portfolio is well-diversified with its top 10 tenants comprising 19.7% of ABR at Sept. 30, 2022. Positively, the company only has four tenants accounting for 1.5% or more of total […]

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If until now Microsoft’s ( NASDAQ:MSFT ) Bing search engine came across as a poor man’s Google, on Tuesday that changed completely. The tech giant unveiled the new AI-powered Bing, based on OpenAI’s GPT technology. The AI opportunity will not only have a big impact on digital advertising, says Piper Sandler analyst Brent Bracelin, but could have momentous implications elsewhere. “We estimate that the new AI-powered Bing could help expand Microsoft’s share of the digital ad market by 3% to 7% in CY26E. This equates to an incremental $20B in Microsoft consumer AI revenue (mostly digital ads),” the analyst explained. “That said, we see an even bigger enterprise opportunity that could expand to $22B by CY26E leveraging AI transformers further into four product categories: GitHub, Microsoft 365, Teams, and Azure AI services.” What’s more, Microsoft’s AI endeavors could have a much faster impact than previous new offerings. While it took Microsoft Cloud around nine years from the Azure and O365 launches in 2010 and 2013 to reach revenue over $40 billion, Bracelin reckons that across five product categories, Microsoft AI could grow to revenues of $40 billion in half the time, with Microsoft Consumer AI accounting for $20 billion+ […]

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Since kicking off the Talent x Opportunity (TxO) Initiative , we have invested in 27 companies building products and services based on unique cultural insights. The founders we backed and continue to support have taken tremendous strides from initial ideation to accelerating their businesses by growing full-time headcount, strengthening go-to-market strategies with key partnerships and collaborations , and earning recognition for their breakthrough brands and sales . We continue to be motivated by the many impressive founders we meet during our selection process and this new cohort is no exception. The Spring 2023 cohort is an ambitious, driven group, ranging from a founder tackling the grave issue of mortality in Black women during childbirth to founders exposing children to financial literacy at an earlier age. Our work has only begun! Meet the newest TxO founders to join our growing community: Brent Craige, Donovan Williams and Marlon Butler (Jammaround) Brent Craige , and Donovan Williams are New Orleans natives who met as teenagers after Hurricane Katrina and built a working relationship post-college due to their mutual love of music. Brent met Marlon Butler , who hails from Huntsville, Alabama, at Tuskegee University while pledging a fraternity. The pair began working […]

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Monica Click There are lots of concerns weighing on the minds of Datadog (NASDAQ: DDOG ) investors. With the company largely clearing the hurdle in its 3Q22 results, there are still some concerns for the 4Q22 results and what might the full year 2023 guidance for the company be. Some of the concerns include the hyperscalers slowing momentum, concerns about end demand for observability and worries about the consumption model of Datadog. This article aims to provide investors with a preview for Datadog’s earnings that is expected to be released on 16 February. I have written a previous article on Datadog, which can be found here . Brief company description Datadog was founded in 2010 and was publicly listed in 2019. It is a monitoring and security platform for cloud applications, catering to users like developers, IT operations teams and business users. The company first started out in infrastructure monitoring and has expanded to observability, application performance monitoring, log management, UX and more recently into AIOps and Security. Cloud spend optimization, slower workload migration, and decelerating hyperscaler growth There is no doubt that Datadog could see a slowdown as what we have seen for the hyperscalers, which have thus […]

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Written by Summary IBM has evolved its business model to become a leader in the hybrid cloud and artificial intelligence [AI], two major growth industries. The company has over 2,300 AI-related patents and company is a Gartner Magic Quadrant leader in AI for developers. IBM reported strong financial results in the fourth quarter of 2022, as it beat both revenue and earnings growth expectations. The company has a healthy forward dividend yield of 4.85%. David Ramos IBM (NYSE: IBM ) is a legacy technology company which is known for being a pioneer in mainframe computers. This business was of course decimated by the Personal Computer [PC] revolution and Microsoft managed to ride IBM’s coat-tails before leapfrogging them to success. In recent years, IBM has focused on its new "platform" business which focuses on the hybrid cloud and Artificial Intelligence [AI] at its core. Both these are huge growth markets with the Hybrid Cloud forecast to grow at a rapid 21.06% compounded annual growth rate [CAGR] up until 2026. In addition, ~77% of I.T decision makers have announced plans to use a "hybrid cloud" I.T environment, according to an IBM cited study. I also discovered other more independent studies back […]

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iStock Ask nearly any security leader whether they have adequate resources to protect their organization effectively and consistently, and you’ll likely hear an emphatic "No.” Given that an estimated 3.4 million people are needed to fill the global cybersecurity workforce gap, it’s no surprise that CISOs feel that they need more staff to safeguard their networks, let alone focus on more strategic priorities. And nearly 70% of leaders say this skills gap creates additional cyber risks for their business. At the same time, some technology companies are beginning to reduce their payrolls as economic growth slows. In fact, several of the world’s largest tech organizations have laid off over 150,000 employees in recent months. These organizational changes represent an opportunity for companies looking to fill cybersecurity roles. Now more than ever, there are qualified job seekers on the market, many of which are likely strong candidates for security-related positions. Although many of these candidates don’t have a degree or previous work experience related to cybersecurity, the good news is that there are multiple avenues for helping to upskill or reskill candidates who possess other traits that make them a strong fit for a security role. Tweets by @Fortinet Four […]

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Fintel reports that Vanguard Group has filed a 13G/A form with the SEC disclosing ownership of 20.17MM shares of Retail Opportunity Investments Corp ( ROIC ). This represents 16.2% of the company. In their previous filing dated February 10, 2022 they reported 18.94MM shares and 15.60% of the company, an increase in shares of 6.50% and an increase in total ownership of 0.60% (calculated as current – previous percent ownership). Analyst Price Forecast Suggests 10.59% Upside As of February 9, 2023, the average one-year price target for Retail Opportunity Investments is $16.98. The forecasts range from a low of $15.15 to a high of $18.90. The average price target represents an increase of 10.59% from its latest reported closing price of $15.35. The projected annual revenue for Retail Opportunity Investments is $324MM, an increase of 6.17%. The projected annual EPS is $0.33, a decrease of 19.51%. What is the Fund Sentiment? There are 512 funds or institutions reporting positions in Retail Opportunity Investments. This is a decrease of 24 owner(s) or 4.48% in the last quarter. Average portfolio weight of all funds dedicated to ROIC is 0.18%, a decrease of 9.59%. Total shares owned by institutions decreased in the […]

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The short-term summer service projects are open to Americans aged 18 and older WASHINGTON, D.C. – AmeriCorps, the federal agency for national service and volunteerism, today announces two short-term, summer service opportunities with AmeriCorps NCCC and AmeriCorps VISTA programs. While traditional AmeriCorps programs are approximately one year in length, these summer opportunities connect adults 18 and older with six-week service opportunities to build skills, grow their resumes and address the nation’s most pressing needs. AmeriCorps NCCC is a full-time, team-based residential service program that allows young adults to make a positive impact in communities across the country while gaining valuable leadership skills. While the traditional program is ten months, Summer of Service is a three-month program open to young adults between the ages of 18 to 26 to travel and serve together. Members join hands-on, full-time projects for six weeks to support the environment and affordable housing, among other focus areas. Last year, 13 Summer of Service projects supported environmental stewardship and disaster response efforts across the US. Members served a total of 28,396 hours, restoring and constructing more than 28 miles of hiking trails, removing more than 17,000 pounds of debris and trash, harvesting 200 pounds of food […]

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The changing face of Silicon Valley, previously seen as the home of dream employers, creates unprecedented new momentum for public sector that urgently needs tech talent © Stars and Stripes/Alamy The writer is international policy director at Stanford University’s Cyber Policy Center Almost 100,000 people have been fired from technology companies in the US so far in 2023. They came to the office only to find out their badges were disabled or their inboxes inaccessible. For those individuals involved, being caught in a historic wave of lay-offs is obviously dramatic — and painful. But at the same time, the changing face of Silicon Valley, previously seen as the home of dream employers, creates unprecedented new momentum for a public sector that urgently needs tech talent. Special hiring programmes and additional budgets should be made available by governments worldwide to scoop up all those talented people who have suddenly found themselves looking for work. One of the most inspiring and enjoyable parts of my own work is mentoring students. At first glance, the job opportunities for graduates from one of the top technology universities in the world seem almost endless. But in practice they can end up being quite limited […]

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