E*TRADE Generation Trader: FitBit's Position in Wearable Tech
FitBit is a pioneer in wearable technology. But the company has recently shifted its strategy amid competition from the Apple Watch, and as the wearable market has failed to really see mass adoption. Cheddar's Hope King and Brad Smith explore the company's performance using E*Trade's innovative platform.
Adult wearable technology users in the U.S. is expected to grow nearly 12 percent this year, according to eMarketer. In a survey conducted by Cheddar, 18 percent said they own a FitBit compared to 27 percent who've said they own an Apple Watch. 47 percent of those surveyed by Cheddar say they don't wear any wearable technology.
FitBit has had an up and down year, with shares ranging between $5 and $7 a share. Overall, shares are down 17 percent over the course of the past year. The company did introduce its first smartwatch in 2017, and is looking to directly compete against the Apple Watch at a similar price point. Shares also hit a 52-week high in December during the holiday shopping season.
FitBit reports fourth quarter earnings after the Closing Bell Monday. Analysts expect revenue of nearly $590 Million, and to break even in profit.
U.S. stocks closed Thursday at session lows to end the month of March, posting their worst quarter since the pandemic crash of 2020. However, March was the first positive of 2022. MJP Wealth Advisors President Brian Vendig joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Venus Aerospace is joining the space tourism race in a nonconventional way. Instead of taking passengers to Mars or the Moon, the startup’s goal is to take passengers around the Earth — in less than an hour. Sarah "Sassie" Duggleby, CEO and co-founder, joined Cheddar News to talk about her company's innovative approach to travel and when she expects to carry passengers. "We would hope in the next five years we'll have our plane fully developed and then start entering into all the FAA certifications and qualifications in order to get to commercial flights," she said.
Ride-hailing service Uber has unveiled its plans to become a travel super app, which will include options for users to make plane and train arrangements directly.
If you've sold or exchanged any crypto in 2021, the IRS wants to know. Henry Yoshida, Co-founder & CEO, OF Rocket Dollar joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss which crypto activities are taxable and how to best spend your tax refund.
The $2 trillion crypto market will soon be subject to much greater governmental oversight. SEC Chair Gary Gensler announced this week that his agency plans to register and regulate digital currencies. He also revealed that the U.S. will focus on three different areas - crypto platforms, stablecoins, and crypto tokens. Jarrod Loadholt, partner at the law firm Ice Miller, LLP, joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Blueprints and paper maps might soon be a thing of the past as more cities potentially turn to digital twin technology to create virtual models of urban environments. Michael Jansen, CEO of the digital twin platform CityZenith, broke down how this technology works, what it's being used for, and how it might be a game-changer for the future of urban planning.
"Our focus at CityZenith is on helping cities to decarbonize," Jansen said. "We joined the World Economic Forum recently to work in their net-zero carbon cities program. So what digital twins can do here with cities is aggregate all this complex data around that issue: transport, building emissions, etc., and scenario-ize how they interrelate and then how to optimize the entire process of decarbonizing, which is itself complex."
