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The Bot Brief

POSTED 03/18/2024

"There is no force on earth more powerful than an idea whose time has come."   

- VIctor Hugo

 

Bots In the News:Bot Index vs. S & P 500

In somewhat of a reversal of the prior week, the Bot Index fell 1.92% with one of its biggest losers – AeroVironment, the leading gainer in the first week of March. The company jumped nearly 30% on its earning release only to suffer some profit taking this week. The stock fell 10.6%.

The Bot Brief’s holdings of Japanese stocks, which had been on an upsurge, gave up some of their strength as Keyence Corp. fell 5.63% and Yaskawa Electric dropped 9.34%.

Other weaknesses were felt in the lower priced issues of 3D Systems (-9.9%) and Accuray (-10%). Also of note was the 9% fall experienced by Azenta Corp. after reporting first quarter revenues fell by 13%.

In the gainer column Immersion Corp. rose 17.06% following its earnings and revenue beat. Revenue exceeded analyst estimates by 6.8%. Earnings per share (EPS) also surpassed analyst estimates by 46%.

Offshore International rose nearly 6% on the strength of crude oil prices and Google gained 4.51% on an interesting comment by Microsoft regarding AI competition.


 

2020's Decade of Bot Index Performance

 

Productivity and Automation:

A recent research report from Bank of America noted significant improvement in the level of worker productivity. Their recent analysis showed the average revenue per worker for companies in the S&P 500 hit an all-time high in February after 15 years of no gains. This is one of several signs that labor productivity is rebounding after slumping during 2022.

Some on Wall Street think the developments in labor productivity could help the stock market survive stickier-than-expected inflation that has emerged as a concern in recent weeks.

"If productivity goes higher, then [companies] are able to cut costs, improve margins, things like that," Bank of America US and Canada equity strategist Ohsung Kwon.”

The analysis noted that the level of productivity increased from the second quarter of 2023 to the fourth quarter of 2023 was 3.7%. That level was reminiscent of the later 1990’s…. a similar period of technological growth – the Dot-Com era!