Amazon Isn't Coming After Cisco, After All

Cisco Systems�(NASDAQ:CSCO) had a bit of a scare last week when a report suggested that habitual disrupter Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) was�contemplating entering the lucrative market for networking switches that Cisco has long dominated. Cisco shares fell 4% on the news. With Amazon Web Services (AWS) being the largest cloud infrastructure provider in the world, it made quite a bit of sense that the e-commerce titan would consider such a move, seeing as how its cloud operations continue to grow along with its own internal needs for networking switches. Amazon could save on costs by in-sourcing the component (Amazon is a prominent Cisco customer) while also selling them to third-party customers.

Cisco and its investors can now breathe a sigh of relief. Kind of.

Image source: Getty Images.

A partial denial

MarketWatch reports that Amazon is "not actively building a commercial network switch," according to a statement that Cisco provided to the outlet. The Cisco spokesperson said AWS CEO Andy Jassy confirmed as much to Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins, noting that "Cisco and AWS have a long-standing customer and partner relationship." An AWS spokesperson backed up the statement without elaborating further.

However, Cisco may not be entirely out of the woods, as Amazon declined to comment on whether or not it was developing networking equipment for internal use. The statement merely says that Amazon isn't interested in commercializing any such product to sell to third-party customers. Amazon still very much has a strong incentive to utilize "white-box" switches with customized open-source software that would allow it to better customize the performance for its own specialized needs.

If Amazon did so, Cisco could stand to lose a prominent customer. The silver lining is that Cisco's customer concentration risk isn't too great, noting in its most recent 10-K that "no single customer accounted for 10% or more of revenue" in each of the last three fiscal years. That said, Cisco has been struggling with revenue growth for years, with growth oscillating somewhat inconsistently. Losing a major customer like Amazon wouldn't help in that regard.

CSCO Revenue (Quarterly YoY Growth) data by YCharts.

The good news for Cisco is that it has withstood these types of "white-box" threats in the past, which are not new concepts in the networking space. Those types of offerings may save costs up front, but don't offer the kind of support that large enterprise data center operators need at scale. Saving up front only to incur greater expenses in support and maintenance later on is a poor trade-off, and IT managers factor all of these variables into their long-term operating budgets.

Still, if there's any company that can innovate in order to find a way to bring more of its networking needs in-house, it's Amazon.

National Ice Cream Day 2018: Deals From Baskin-Robbins, Cold Stone Creamery, Dippin’ Dots and

Sunday is National Ice Cream Day and that means there will be loads of deals for customers to keep an eye out for.

Source: Shutterstock

The following are a collection of National Ice Cream Day deals that customers can take advantage of on July 15, 2018.

Cold Stone Creamery — Customers can get a “Buy One Get One Free Creation” coupon when they sign up for the company’s rewards app this Sunday. Current customers with accounts may also get a coupon for the deal. Baskin-Robbins — The ice cream chain is offer special deals to customers with its app, including 99-cent sundaes and a buy-one-get-one-free deal on ice cream cones. Dairy Queen — Customers that stop in at their local store this Sunday can grab themselves a free small Blizzard, but only after downloading the app and signing up for an account. Dippin’ Dots — Select stores around the U.S. will be offering a free mini cup of Dippin’ Dots to celebrate National Ice Cream Day this year. Whole Foods — Customers pick up two pints of  Ben & Jerry’s or Talenti ice cream from July 13, through July 15. Ma & Pa Shops — As with any National Food Day, its a good idea to check out local small stores for special deals that may be available this Sunday.

National Ice Cream Day actually got its start thanks to President Ronald Reagan. The former President announced the third Sunday of July as National Ice Cream Day back in 1984. At the same time, he also announced July as National Ice Cream Month.

As of this writing, William White did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.

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$0.30 EPS Expected for ILG Inc (ILG) This Quarter

Analysts expect ILG Inc (NASDAQ:ILG) to announce earnings per share (EPS) of $0.30 for the current fiscal quarter, Zacks reports. Three analysts have issued estimates for ILG’s earnings. ILG posted earnings of $0.26 per share in the same quarter last year, which would suggest a positive year over year growth rate of 15.4%. The business is scheduled to issue its next quarterly earnings report on Thursday, August 2nd.

According to Zacks, analysts expect that ILG will report full year earnings of $1.33 per share for the current fiscal year, with EPS estimates ranging from $1.32 to $1.33. For the next financial year, analysts forecast that the business will post earnings of $1.65 per share, with EPS estimates ranging from $1.52 to $1.77. Zacks’ EPS averages are a mean average based on a survey of research analysts that cover ILG.

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ILG (NASDAQ:ILG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 3rd. The business services provider reported $0.36 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.02. ILG had a net margin of 9.14% and a return on equity of 8.50%. The business had revenue of $482.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $477.33 million.

A number of equities analysts have commented on ILG shares. ValuEngine raised shares of ILG from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 2nd. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of ILG from $32.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 15th. Finally, BidaskClub cut shares of ILG from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 30th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. ILG has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $34.80.

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ILG. California Public Employees Retirement System lifted its holdings in shares of ILG by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 227,684 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $6,484,000 after acquiring an additional 7,217 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its holdings in shares of ILG by 8.1% in the 4th quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 252,394 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $7,189,000 after acquiring an additional 18,917 shares during the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System lifted its holdings in shares of ILG by 25.8% in the 4th quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 75,890 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,161,000 after acquiring an additional 15,588 shares during the last quarter. UBS Asset Management Americas Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of ILG by 4.4% in the 4th quarter. UBS Asset Management Americas Inc. now owns 70,781 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,016,000 after acquiring an additional 2,963 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Suntrust Banks Inc. bought a new stake in shares of ILG in the 4th quarter worth about $441,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.36% of the company’s stock.

Shares of ILG opened at $33.78 on Wednesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. ILG has a 52 week low of $24.38 and a 52 week high of $35.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.42 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 1.77 and a quick ratio of 1.09.

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 1st were issued a $0.175 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 31st. This represents a $0.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.07%. ILG’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 63.64%.

About ILG

ILG, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides professional vacation services in the United States and internationally. The company operates in two segments, Vacation Ownership (VO), and Exchange and Rental. The VO segment engages in the sale, marketing, financing, and development of vacation ownership interests; and management of vacation ownership resorts, as well as in the provision of related services to owners and homeowners' associations (HOAs).

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