Google No Longer Reigns Supreme
Summary
- When you think of Google – the platform, not the company legally known as Alphabet (GOOG) – what do you automatically associate it with?
- Apparently “the king” is just “a king” now.
- Sorry, Google. No empire dominates forever.
Quote of the Day:
“I don’t set trends. I just find out what they are and exploit them.” – Dick Clark
When you think of Google – the platform, not the company legally known as Alphabet (GOOG) – what do you automatically associate it with?
A dominating force?
The king of the internet?
Absolutely invincible?
The first one can still be true, but apparently “the king” is just “a king” now. Not the high one, thanks to China’s Tiktok.
Search Engine Journal reported that global TikTok users grew 59.8% in 2020 and another 40.8% in 2021. “Further, Insider Intelligence estimates TikTok will see a 15.1% growth in global users in 2022.”
In which case, “it will hold a 20% share of overall social media users by the end of the next year.” And even now, the ranking of most popular domains this year goes:
- TikTok
- Microsoft
- Apple
- Amazon
- Netflix
- YouTube
- WhatsApp.
Sorry, Google. No empire dominates forever.
I also need to issue an apology – of the more “mea culpa” variety – to anyone who flew somewhere for Christmas. Yesterday morning, I assumed most travelers would have woken up in their own beds.
But apparently, you might have woken up in a hotel or airport even this morning. Fox Business reports:
“U.S. airlines are struggling with a flood of Covid-related cancellations yet again Monday as the omicron variant causes staffing shortages – and it’s not clear the issues will completely clear up after the holiday travel season.
“According to FlightAware, there were more than 1,100 flights canceled in the United States as of just before 3 p.m. Monday. The airline hit the hardest was SkyWest, which runs regional flights for Delta, United, and American Airlines, among others.”
It had to completely cancel 297 flights, or 12% of its schedule due to a lack of available staff.
The World According to REITs
Next up, Santa Claus apparently will grace us with his presence after all. The S&P 500 hit a new all-time record yesterday, and the Dow rose 352+ points, just short of its own high.
Futures were up this morning as well at last check before I sent this post to publish.
There’s also short-term good news for the U.S. economy, since retail sales jumped 8.5% over the holidays. E-commerce, for the record, took up more than a fifth of that spending, gaining ground over last year’s 20.6% and 2019’s 14.6%.
Now on to our real estate investment trust (REIT) reports:
- National Health Investors (NHI) filed suit against Welltower (WELL) over more than $14.1 million in alleged unpaid back rent. In a press release, it said “the Welltower entities have failed repeatedly to honor their legal obligations.” Moreover, it “acquired assets from a third party, Holiday Retirement that included leases to NHI senior living facilities and fraudulently induced NHI to consent to the assignment of the leases… then immediately failed to pay rent or provide a promised security agreement that was intended to secure against their default.”
- Terreno Realty (TRNO) purchased an industrial property in Woodinville, Washington, for $33.5 million. The two buildings there, which total 118,000 square feet of rentable space, are filled by four tenants.
- Easterly Government Properties (DEA) finished its joint-venture acquisition of a VA facility in San Antonio, Texas. The outpatient asset covers 226,148 square feet inside.
None of those companies made yesterday’s nice or naughty lists. Though even the REITs that did go down didn’t suffer that much.
Most of them anyway.
(Source: The Daily REITBeat)
Inflation Is a Monster REITs Can Help You Beat
One of my readers recently wanted to know if I was worried about inflation – an intensely legitimate question.
The simple answer is that I definitely do have it on my mind. Fortunately though, I also have REITs.
As I wrote months ago, real estate investment trusts offer “natural protection against inflation” since rental contracts tend to include such considerations. In fact:
“… many leases are tied to inflation. This supports REIT dividend growth and provides a reliable stream of income regardless, helping to support the following fact…
“That, in all but two of the last 20 years, REIT dividend increases have outpaced inflation as measured by the Consumer Price Index.”
Not bad, right?
Not bad at all! Just as long as you know which ones are worth your money at any given time – both from a valuation and quality perspective.
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Analyst's Disclosure: I/we have a beneficial long position in the shares of DEA, NHI either through stock ownership, options, or other derivatives.
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