June may be a fairly quiet month for investors because of a low volume of earnings reports, but some companies are stirring up serious news in this quiet period. Let me show you why investors should keep a close eye on FuboTV (FUBO 0.72%), Nintendo (NTDOY -0.82%), and Amazon.com (AMZN -1.14%) in the second half of June 2021.
Nintendo: E3 announcements
Video gaming legend Nintendo takes the stage later today at the annual E3 conference. The Electronic Entertainment Expo was canceled last year due to COVID-19 lockdowns and Nintendo needs to make the most of this year's digitally streamed event.
The company is widely expected to unveil an upgraded version of the Switch console. The Nintendo Switch Pro should come with a beefier graphics processor, an OLED screen. The console's own screen won't be large enough to handle 4K resolution graphics, but gamers should expect an ultra-HD experience when connected to the living room TV. Presenting a new console today would let Nintendo and its game development partners introduce new titles that take full advantage of the new hardware, as well.
With or without an upgraded Switch console, Nintendo is sure to have some fresh game titles to share. The company pre-announced another game in the Zelda franchise at E3 2019 but has not followed up on that promise yet. Another Pokemon game seems likely and Nintendo could at least give the sneak-peek treatment to the next Metroid title. These are popular franchises and fans are hanging on every word that might indicate another surefire hit.
And you never quite know what to expect from this mercurial company. Nintendo has a long history of pulling out sleeper hits from thin air such as last year's Animal Crossings: New Horizons or the Pokemon GO blockbuster of 2016. Who knows what the Nintendo skunkworks has been up to during quarantine?
Image source: Getty Images.
FuboTV: World Cup qualifiers
Soccer is a surefire eyeball magnet for content publishers in South America. This year, TV and streaming broadcasters play a particularly important role in this market since the World Cup Qualifiers are being played to empty stadiums. In the middle of this important event, the prestigious Copa America tournament was moved from Colombia and Argentina to Brazil amid some controversy. FuboTV holds the exclusive streaming rights to the World Cup qualifiers while sharing the streaming stage with other providers for Copa America.
The Copa gives FuboTV a huge stage from which it can show off its event coverage muscles and attract advertisers for the larger World Cup opportunity. A successful event in June and July will pay dividends in terms of accelerated subscriber additions, boosting FuboTV's long-term growth prospects. The company wants to evolve into a global provider of streaming sports content. This summer's COVID-burdened soccer events will either hurt or help.
Image source: Getty Images.
Amazon: Prime Day
We are less than a week away from Prime Day 2021. Amazon's homegrown discount shopping holiday takes place on June 21 and 22 after a temporary stint in October last year. Before that, Prime Day had always taken place in July.
The shopping event is back to its old mid-summer schedule, give or take a couple of weeks. Last year's bonanza delivered record-breaking online sales, including $3.5 billion in third-party transactions across 19 countries.
Prime Day attracts lots of Amazon Prime subscribers every year and this event will be no different. The company will also use the event to launch more Alexa-powered devices and other Amazon-branded gear. Amazon is usually quick to release a high-level overview of each year's Prime Day results, highlighting the biggest-selling types of merchandise and the financial impact on Amazon's overall results.
The earlier date moved Prime Day from the normal third-quarter spot to the tail end of the second reporting period, shifting the financial impact ahead in the calendar. Keep that in mind when you look at the year-over-year comparisons in next month's full second-quarter report.
