Finance

Apple’s stock surges to its highest price ever amid growing optimism over iPhone 8

Christian Zibreg ∙ February 15, 2017

Apple is breaking records—the company's stock price has surged to an all-time intraday high, trading as high as $134.88 today and having surpassed the previous all-time intraday high of $134.54 set on April 28, 2015. The current stock price gives the Cupertino company a market capitalization of nearly $710 billion, the largest market valuation for a publicly traded American company.

According to MarketWatch, just yesterday the stock had closed at a record $133.00, passing the previous record set two years earlier.

Despite Note 7 fiasco & bribery scandal, Samsung just had the most profitable quarter in 3 years

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 24, 2017

Despite seeing its brand tarnished and anywhere between $2 billion and $5 billion wiped off its operating profit in the aftermath of Note 7 fiasco, Samsung of South Korea has managed to boost its fourth quarter earnings on the back of its semiconductor division and strong sales of the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge flagship devices.

Operating profits rose to $7.2 billion over the last three months of 2016 on sales of about $45.8 billion. Samsung's mobile division captured $2.1 billion in operating income, a four percent year-over-year profit increase.

Samsung Mobile expects sales of its low-cost phones in the Galaxy A and J series to grow in the coming months. All in all, this was Samsung's most profitable quarter in three years as the company has clearly bounced back from the global Note 7 recall.

Apple stock hits 14-month high, its highest price since 2015

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 18, 2017

We didn't want to let this milestone pass by without acknowledging it: shares of Apple have hit the $119.95 mark in intraday trading, the highest stock price for the Cupertino firm since late 2015 and good for a cool $639.7 billion market cap. $AAPL hit a 52-week low of $89.47 in May 2016.

Foxconn reports first ever annual sales decline since going public 25 years ago

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 10, 2017

iPhone manufacturer Foxconn Technology Group posted its first ever sales decline since it went public back in 1991, Japanese outlet Nikkei reported Tuesday. The outlet expectedly blames “lukewarm demand” from Foxconn's biggest client Apple and the “saturated smartphone market” for the 2.81 percent drop in annual sales.

For context, Foxconn earns more than half of its revenue from doing business with Apple. The Taiwanese company is also known as Hon Hai Precision Industry and assembles iPhones and other gadgets like PlayStation consoles, notebooks, wearable devices and so forth on a mass scale.

Why Apple shouldn’t pass on the rumored Jet White iPhone 7

Steffen Reich ∙ Updated May 17, 2018

On Tuesday, Apple afficionados were treated to a new wave of white shell iPhone 7 mock-ups and purported leaks hitting the internet, advancing the notion that the Cupertino-based company could plan to release a white counterpart to their Jet Black coating some time around March 2017.

From an aesthetic standpoint, everyone is going to have their two cents on the necessity of it in the grand scheme of things. Simply by moving the discussion from the fashion sphere to the finance department though, the ambivalence in regard to whether or not this iPhone release is genuinely necessary quickly crumbles and clearly comes down on one side of the fence.

As we will learn in late January, Apple’s first quarter of the fiscal year 2017 is going to look after itself nicely, but in view of the Q2 figures and a long summer following, Jet White definitely needs to happen. Two key reasons must be paid attention to in order to understand the imperative of a Jet White iPhone for a healthier bottom line in the fiscal year of 2017.

In November, App Store captured highest monthly sales ever in its history

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 6, 2017

According to Phil Schiller, Apple's Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing, the App Store last month enjoyed the highest monthly sales ever since its inception in the summer of 2008. “November 2016 was a record breaker for the App Store—the highest monthly sales ever in its history,” reads the tweet.

Although Schiller didn't provide any hard numbers, in just two weeks during last year's holiday season the App Store raked in a massive $1.1 billion revenue from sales of iOS apps and In-App Purchases.

Spotify could finally turn a profit in 2017, expand to China, Russia & South Korea

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated December 8, 2016

Apple Music rival Spotify could finally turn a profit in 2107, one of its board members told the media Thursday. Asked if the Swedish music service could become profitable soon, Par-Jorgen Parson, one of Spotify's first investors, told Reuters that it was “absolutely” the case.

Spotify currently operates in 60 markets and has more than 40 million paid subscribers. Apple Music is available in 115 markets and has 17 million paying customers and over 30 million songs in its catalog.

Apple seizes a whopping 104% of smartphone industry profits in Q3

Sébastien Page ∙ November 4, 2016

Apple captured 103.6% of smartphone industry profits in the third quarter of 2016, making it by far the most profitable company in the business, according to BMO Capital Markets analyst Tim Long. This represents a notable increase from the year-ago quarter where Apple had grabbed 90% of smartphones profits.

Apple will hold September quarter earnings call on October 27

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 27, 2016

Apple said on the Investor webpage that it has scheduled an earnings call to discuss fiscal 2016 fourth quarter earnings a month from today on Thursday, October 27, 2016 at 2:00pm PT / 5:00pm ET. The company's fourth fiscal quarter corresponds to the third calendar quarter. A press release will go out 30 minutes in advance of the earnings call.

Here’s Tim Cook’s message to Apple community regarding massive Irish tax bill

Christian Zibreg ∙ August 30, 2016

The European Commission has ruled that Apple is on the hook for €13 billion ($14.5 billion) in back taxes as its “sweetheart deal” to pay a lower tax rate in Ireland has been characterized as “illegal state aid”.

Apple is going to appeal the ruling and now CEO Tim Cook has penned an open letter, entitled “A Message to the Apple Community in Europe,” in which he explains Apple's position in this case, writing he is “confident” that the huge tax bill will be reversed.

EU orders Apple to pay $14.5 billion in back taxes

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated September 6, 2017

At a press conference Tuesday, the European Commission's competition commissioner Margarethe Vestager announced that the European Union has ordered the government of Ireland to collect up to €13 billion, or about $14.5 billion, in back taxes from Apple. The sum represents Europe’s largest tax penalty and a significant increase over the 1 billion figure floated around ahead of the ruling.

Apple will appeal the decision.

European Commission to reportedly rule against Apple’s sweetheart tax deal with Ireland

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 1, 2017

According to a 130-page judgment seen by The Financial Times, the European Commission (EC) is set to rule Tuesday against Apple's sweetheart tax deal it struck with the government of Ireland back in 1999.

The Commission is reportedly set to demand that Ireland recoup over 1 billion euros in back taxes from the iPhone maker, or circa $1.12 billion.

“Apple will on Tuesday be hit with Europe’s largest tax penalty after Brussels ruled that the company received illegal state aid from Ireland,” warns the financial newspaper.