Virtual Reality Revolution: 4 Stocks Set To Cash In

Envision moving from your couch to a land where dragons still soar throughout the skies, or onto a dogsled in the middle of Antarctica, within a manner of seconds. Virtual Reality (VR) stands to do just that, and has made significant progress in recent years, as the once humble technology has seemingly entered the mainstream.

With this year’s release of the Oculus Rift, HTC’s Vive along with the expected Fall release of Sony’s (NYSE:SNE) Playstation VR, the budding industry is slowly but surely teeming with activity. As new as the industry may be, firms are already beginning to see notable sales.

Before discounting VR as a fad and moving on, it is important to note that it is an already marketable venture. According to Statista, Samsung (KS:005930) has already seen sales of 5 million units worldwide of their Gear VR product, while Facebook’s (NASDAQ:FB) Oculus Rift has sold 3.6 million units. Not too far behind is the HTC Vive with sales of 2.1 million units and the not-yet released Sony Playstation VR with 1.4 million unit sales.

Although this is an industry that many know little to nothing about, it has the potential to serve as a notable source of revenue for firms moving forward, and could be in as many as 9.6 million households by the end of the year. Let’s take a look at four firms for whom, if all goes well, will benefit greatly from VR.

Sony

Sony is currently developing the Playstation VR, dubbed “Project Morpheus.” Part of what separates it from competing VR products is the fact that it does not require a PC for use, as our team pointed out.

PSVR is slated for release on October 13^th at a price of $400. It connects to the Playstation 4 and is a headset that will be used along with the Playstation Eye and the Move controller, Sony’s counter to the WiiMote from Nintendo (OTC:NTDOY) . This remote is part of the critique of the product, with some arguing that it does not allow for precise enough control.

The critique is met equally by those satisfied with the pricing, especially when compared to Oculus Rift’s $599 and the HTC Vive’s hefty $799 price tags. Should their release go well, SNE will be on track for a great 2016.

Alphabet

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) has been busy in the world of VR, partnering with New York Times to distribute nearly two million copies of Google Cardboard, their low cost VR creation. The cardboard device has a cell phone insert and special lenses through which users can view articles, images, videos, play games, and participate in virtual field trips.

GOOGL also invested $542M in tech startup Magic Leap in October of 2014. The firm makes use of Augmented Reality (AR) glasses and creates holograms that users can see within their field of vision when using the glasses.

GOOGL has a separate VR division which is head by Clay Bavor. Not much is available on their secret VR project, titled “Project Tango,” but consumers have high expectations.

Facebook

Facebook first entered the VR scene when it purchased Oculus Rift in March of 2014. Released on March 28^th of this year, Oculus Rift has advanced motion tracking, having reduced lag to just two milliseconds.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg believes that Oculus will be used for more than video games, such as experiences like movies, courtside basketball games, and in an educational setting, to name a few. According to PC Gamer, VR hardware sales are projected over $2B, the bulk of which is expected to comprise of sales from HTC’s Vive and the Oculus Rift with the PSVR to follow suit later in the year.

GoPro

GoPro (NASDAQ:GPRO) first made progress towards VR in April of 2015 when it acquired the startup firm Kolor, an acquisition meant to enhance video editing and help with Odyssey, their 360-degree video capture product.

GoPro has a partnership with Google, through which they can upload 360 degree YouTube videos that can be watched using Google Cardboard. The success of Google’s VR division will directly benefit GPRO as well.

The 16-camera Odyssey is currently priced at $15,000 and is currently only available to “certain industry professionals” as per their official website.

Bottom Line

VR is very much still an industry in its infancy, but therein lies the potential. Each of these firms are very large companies that derive revenues from a variety of sources. Because of this, VR will likely not have a major effect on their bottom lines just yet. However, should VR technology really take off, they are worth watching in the long term.

Although these firms have an opportunity to capitalize on VR, whether or not they will follow through on expectations is something that investors will find out in due time.