Leigh Drogen, CEO of Estimize, joins Yahoo Finance Live to discuss their prospects for technology in 2021 and which companies will maintain the momentum they saw in 2020.
Video transcription
– We talk a lot about technology because it is so crucial to our lives, both during this pandemic. But in the future, let’s take a look at the technology outlook with Leigh Drogen, CEO of Estimize, joining us now. And the focus in 2021, Leigh– The companies that brought us to this point that we are celebrating this year, will we be rooting for next year or is there a growth trajectory made as we get out of the pandemic?
LEIGH DROGEN: Well, we are looking in a few different groups there. The first group is the SaaS service companies that we trust so much this year. And some of them operate in the background. But if you think about the growth at Shopify and Twilio and those companies that drive all the Internet products that we use and provide us with the physical products that we bought this year, we don’t see the growth of these companies taking a step back.
And when we look at the estimates of the Estimize platform, you know, three, four quarters, if there would be a big change in the growth of these companies or consumer spending significantly impacting the companies for which these companies provide services, you would see the growth in the estimate stagnating. But, in fact, we are seeing these estimates grow significantly. In the past two months, we’ve seen Shopify’s estimates rise 15% on the revenue side. So, we continue to believe that we will see a lot of growth next year in these companies.
Now, the other interesting set is the social media companies. And this is where you can see some significant reversal in revenue growth on these platforms, as everyone leaves home this summer with the vaccine. You can see less time spent on these platforms. And the payoffs for these companies will be really difficult, because we were basically sitting inside our homes from last spring until last summer. And as soon as we turn the corner here, these stocks may have a hard time dealing with earnings reports that are not as good, respectively, compared to last year.
– And to go into detail about what you’re talking about there, with consumer behavior practically returning to normal with tens of millions of Americans, you know, being vaccinated in the spring and summer, what do you think it means for actions like Uber , Zoom and DoorDash?
LEIGH DROGEN: Yes, these are also companies that may experience difficulties in the coming year, as consumer behavior normalizes. In terms of DoorDash, we have already seen the shares being sold on the IPO. And this again because the compensations are going to be really difficult, since everyone is going back to travel this summer, we are all going back to restaurants, so this is not a name I would be very invested in here.
The zoom is interesting, where you are in a supersecular growth in remote work. Now, I think what is happening here is that some of the stocks have definitely been valued very richly, as well as traders’ investors potentially outnumbering people who are taking a step back from these platforms this summer.
I think the other reason that it may have been, it may be a little weak here in the past two months and going forward is because 2021 will probably be the year when we will see augmented reality start to take the place of looking at 2D screens. It’s really hard to keep looking at a 2D screen all day when you’re answering, after answering, after answering.
And remote work will only accelerate here, as companies realize that it hasn’t hurt them. In fact, for many companies, they will benefit physically. We’re going to get new products, and those products can get in the way of something like Zoom.
– What will happen to Twitter? Forgive me for going to the old school here, but we’re going to have a change in management. We’re not going to have the president, maybe, you know, screaming so much. He may even be kicked off the platform, some people speculate. What is the future of this social media and also the world’s Facebooks?
LEIGH DROGEN: You know, and it’s funny. The concept of regime change is often mentioned on Twitter. And year after year, it just doesn’t seem to matter one way or the other. Now, Twitter has definitely benefited, like other social media companies, from the pandemic, in a sense. But in reality what investors are looking for on Twitter is whether they can develop ancillary and secondary lines about what people are interested in on the platform.
And it really revolves around, and the feeling about the stock revolves around specific events. Are there many people paying attention to the Super Bowl? Are they talking about it? Because these things happen every year, and investors want to see if they’re constantly building momentum around these conversations. And I don’t see the end of the pandemic impacting that necessarily.
And Twitter has been able to increase its participation in these events over time. Obviously, it has been difficult. It’s been up and down for them. But in general, in the long run, it has gone up. So I don’t see the Trump administration leaving as such a serious problem for Twitter.
– All right. Leigh Drogen is the CEO of Estimize. We appreciate your presence and wish you a happy, healthy and safe new year.