Weekly Bot Brief on Robotic Research and Investment Review 8-31-2018

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

Weekly Bot Highlights:

In the final week of August, the Bot Index crossed a major milestone in terms of performance. Since its inception on December 31, 2015, the Bot Index has faithfully reflected the significant investor acceptance of robotic, AI, drone and 3D printing companies. This week, the Bot Index jumped 2.51% to reach a new high level and a more than doubling of performance since its launch.

Fourteen of the thirty components of the Bot Index exceeded 3% price movements for the week. Leading the gainers was Ekso Bionics who was the subject of two articles placing the stock in a positive position. Accesswire noted, “Investors recently long Ekso have made 65% with more potential upside to come.” In addition, Investopedia included Ekso in its article entitled, ‘Penny Stocks to Watch for September 2018’. The stock rose just under 6% for the week. Amazon gave investors a 5.63% gain as it surged above $2,000 per share. Apple gained 5.31% as Warren Buffet revealed that Berkshire Hathaway had increased its already heavy position in the stock and the company announced it would be buying back stock with some of its $281 billion cash hoard. Raising guidance to a revenue gain of 21.5% for all of 2018, IRobot shares rose 5.02%. Nvidia increased by 3.11% following investor recognition of the potential for its new Turning GPU architecture that permits cinematic quality pictures within video games. The following companies produced gains of 3% or greater with no discernable news to account for the strength:

Cognex                             4.10%

Mazor Robotics               3.91%

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Intuitive Surgical            3.42%

Rockwell Automation     3.38%

AeroVironment                 3.09%

The only notable decliner in this week’s trading of the bot companies was 3D Systems which fell only 2.68%

They’re Back:

Asian names have been a notable inhibitor to the performance of the Bot Index in recent weeks. For example, since late January shares of the Japanese company Cyberdyne have fallen from $18.20 to a low of $7.52 on August 24 before rebounding 5.94% last week. Also, experiencing gains were shares of Hiwin Technologies who rose 5.95%, Yaskawa Electric Co. that increased 3.76%, OMRON Corp. up 3.58% and Keyence which had a gain of 3.29%. Maybe, after a long hiatus, the Asian names within the Bot Index will start to contribute to the upward movement that the index has enjoyed.

Member: American Economic Association, Society of Professional Journalists, United States Press Association. Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts, Robotic Industries Association.

The Bot Brief is a weekly newsletter designed for economists, investment specialists, journalists and academicians. It receives no remuneration from any companies that may from time to time be featured and its commentaries, analysis, opinions and research represent the subjective views of Balcones Investment Research, LLC. Due to the complex and rapidly changing nature of the subject matter, the company makes no assurances as to the absolute accuracy of material presented.

Balcones Investment Research can be reached at its website BalconesInvestmentResearch.com and is headquartered in Florida; with offices in Texas and North Carolina, United States

Cover photo courtesy of The Mirror, UK