The R&D Index for the holiday-shortened week ending March 30, 2018 (with closed markets on March 30th for Good Friday) closed at 4,029.99 for the 25 companies in the R&D Index. The Index was up 0.25% (or 9.88 basis points) from the week ending March 23, 2018. Twenty-four R&D Index companies posted a gain for the week from 1.03% (Google) to 5.73% (Volkswagen). Only one R&D Index company posted a loss for the week: -3.22% (Amazon). The DJIA ended last week up more than 250 basis points on Thursday, but ended the quarter down by about 2.5%, its first quarterly loss in two years.
A federal appeals court last week ruled that Google’s use of Oracle’s (both R&D Index members) Java programming technology was not considered “fair,” reversing a ruling in a case dating back to 2010 when Oracle alleged Google’s Android operating system infringed on Oracle copyrights. Oracle sought as much as $9 billion in damages and now states that those values have increased. The “fair use” ruling could have an impact on the overall software industry that strengthens copyright protections.
R&D Index member Microsoft announced last Thursday that it was reorganizing its company to focus more resources on its Azure cloud computing operations and less on its Windows software operating system businesses. Azure is growing more than twice as fast as Windows (98% vs 41% revenue growth respectively over the past year). As a result, the head of the Windows business, Terry Myerson, is leaving the company and the Windows operations will be distributed into various areas. Azure has grown to become the number two cloud services supplier, behind Amazon.com’s AWS, and the leader in cloud computing and software, significantly ahead of Amazon. Microsoft Windows is not going away and still accounts for about 42% of Microsoft’s total revenue of nearly $30 billion/quarter.
According to a report released by the U.S. Dept. of Commerce last week, consumer spending rose a seasonally adjusted 0.2% in February, its second “muted” increase in as many months. The personal saving rate was up 3.4% in February, up from 3.2% in January indicating that consumers are feeling stretched by the credit they took on in 2017 and are now putting more money into their savings. Disposable personal income only rose 0.4% in February, down from the 1.0% gain seen in January. The Atlanta Fed also noted that economic output rose at a 2.4% annual rate in the first quarter, down from 2.9% and 3.2% in the previous two quarters.
R&D Index Week Ending March 30, 2018
| Ticker | Exchange | 2017 R&D billions$ | 03/23/18 | 03/29/18 | 3/29/2018 to 3/23/18 | 3/29/18 to 12/29/17 | |
| Amazon | AMZN | NASDAQ | 17,774 | 1,495.56 | 1,447.34 | -3.22% | 23.76% |
| Alphabet/Google | GOOGL | NASDAQ | 15,845 | 1,026.55 | 1,037.14 | 1.03% | -1.54% |
| Microsoft | MSFT | NASDAQ | 13,987 | 87.18 | 91.27 | 4.69% | 6.70% |
| Intel | INTC | NASDAQ | 13,499 | 49.36 | 52.08 | 5.51% | 12.82% |
| Apple | AAPL | NASDAQ | 11,506 | 164.94 | 167.78 | 1.72% | -0.86% |
| Volkswagen AG | VLKAY | OTC | 11,260 | 37.87 | 40.04 | 5.73% | -0.99% |
| Roche Pharm | RHHBY | OTC | 10,174 | 28.26 | 28.63 | 1.31% | -9.34% |
| Toyota | TM | NYSE | 9,170 | 124.50 | 130.37 | 4.71% | 2.52% |
| Johnson & Johnson | JNJ | NYSE | 9,060 | 125.10 | 128.15 | 2.44% | -8.28% |
| Novartis | NVS | NYSE | 7,870 | 78.56 | 80.85 | 2.92% | -3.70% |
| General Motors | GM | NYSE | 7,468 | 35.17 | 36.34 | 3.33% | -11.34% |
| Pfizer | PFE | NYSE | 7,288 | 34.49 | 35.49 | 2.90% | -2.02% |
| Bristol-Myers Squibb | BMY | NYSE | 6,942 | 62.06 | 63.25 | 1.92% | 3.21% |
| Cisco | CSCO | NASDAQ | 6,827 | 42.42 | 42.89 | 1.11% | 11.98% |
| Qualcomm | QCOM | NASDAQ | 6,723 | 53.66 | 55.41 | 3.26% | -13.45% |
| Oracle | ORCL | NYSE | 6,702 | 44.79 | 45.75 | 2.14% | -3.24% |
| Honda | HMC | NYSE | 6,519 | 32.91 | 34.73 | 5.53% | 1.91% |
| Astra Zeneca PLC | AZN | NYSE | 6,363 | 34.17 | 34.97 | 2.34% | 0.78% |
| Merck & Co. | MRK | NYSE | 5,759 | 53.41 | 54.47 | 1.98% | -3.20% |
| Daimler | DDAIY | OTC | 5,084 | 81.00 | 84.83 | 4.73% | 0.32% |
| Bayer AG | BAYN | XETRA | 4,880 | 27.75 | 28.26 | 1.84% | -9.10% |
| Sanofi SA | SNY | NYSE | 4,755 | 39.33 | 40.08 | 1.91% | -6.79% |
| IBM | IBM | NYSE | 4,628 | 148.89 | 153.43 | 3.05% | 0.01% |
| GlaxoSmithKline | GSK | NYSE | 4,508 | 37.42 | 39.07 | 4.41% | 10.15% |
| Eli Lilly Co | LLY | NYSE | 4,489 | 74.76 | 77.37 | 3.49% | -8.39% |
| Total | 209,080 | 4,020.11 | 4,029.99 | 0.25% | 6.28% | ||
| Biopharmaceutical | 595.31 | 610.59 | 2.57% | -4.26% | |||
| Automotive | 311.45 | 326.31 | 4.77% | -0.28% | |||
| ICT | 1,617.79 | 1,645.75 | 1.73% | -0.70% | |||
About the R&D Index
R&D Magazine’s R&D Index is a weekly stock market summary of the top international companies involved in research and development. The top 25 industrial spenders of R&D in 2017 were selected based on the latest listings from Schonfeld & Associates’ June 2017 R&D Ratios & Budgets. These 25 companies include pharmaceutical (11 companies), automotive (5), ICT (8) and conglomerate (1) organizations who invested a cumulative total of more than $209 billion in R&D in 2017, or approximately 10% of all the R&D spent in the world by government, industries and academia combined, according to R&D Magazine’s 2017 Global R&D Funding Forecast. The stock prices used in the R&D Index are tabulated from NASDAQ, NYSE, XETRA and OTC common stock prices (in U.S. dollars) for the companies selected at the close of stock trading business on the Friday preceding the publication of the R&D Index in R&D Magazine’s R&D Daily eNewsletter.
The companies used in the R&D Index include Amazon, Alphabet/Google, Microsoft, Intel, Apple, Volkswagen AG, Roche Pharma, Toyota, Johnson & Johnson, Novartis, General Motors, Pfizer, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Cisco, Qualcomm, Oracle, Honda Motor Company, Astra Zeneca plc, Merck & Company, Daimler, Bayer AG, Sanofi SA, IBM, GlaxoSmithKline and Eli Lilly Co. Stock prices are based on those stocks traded on the U.S. exchanges. R&D Index trends (in the stock prices) are just one indicator of the amount of capital available to these high-technology companies to invest in R&D and should not be implied to indicate the absolute value of R&D investments made by these organizations. The companies chosen for the R&D Index have very large sophisticated internal and global R&D organizations with each company investing between $4.5 and $17 billion annually on their R&D efforts.
