Apple’s new Wall Street runaway hit: iDebt

By Ed Sutherland on May 1, 2013

Wall Street is nothing if not fickle. Questions over Apple’s future profits sent the company’s stock into a tailspin for the past six months, then a recovery of sorts is now underway.

The iPhone maker Tuesday floated a record $17 billion in debt, an action that literally had investors falling over themselves.

Consider that Apple up until now was literally the only major technology corporation with zero debt on its books. By the end of yesterday, $50 billion in orders were received for what now looks to be Apple’s latest hot product: the iDebt… Read More

 

Sanity returns: lower Apple earnings, but higher revenue projected

By Ed Sutherland on Mar 25, 2013

Like the first hints of green during a long-awaited spring, some sanity regarding Apple’s fiscal future is poking its head above ground. Wild speculation that the iPhone maker was washed up has been replaced with realism. The latest example: calm predictions that Apple’s second quarter income will be down – but with record projected revenue.

Fortune reports a Wall Street consensus of $10.18 per share, down from $12.30 for the second quarter of 2012. At the same time, Apple is projecting record quarterly revenues of $41 billion to $43 billion. If there is a “problem,” it may be lower margins from all the new products Apple introduced… Read More

 

Analyst: higher dividend can help AAPL rebound

By Ed Sutherland on Mar 19, 2013

With Apple’s cash pile projected to balloon from a whopping $137 billion at the end of the previous quarter to an astounding $170 billion by year’s end, there is a growing call for the iPhone maker to increase its stock dividend as a way to build a safety net under its beleaguered shares. The report of a bulging corporate vault comes as one Wall Street analyst proposes a four-step solution to pull Apple out of the weeds.

According to Topeka Capital Markets analyst Brian White, Tim Cook & Co. should start with raising the quarterly dividend to at least $3.75 per share. A five-year program should begin with Apple increasing the $2.65 per share quarterly dividend paid to investors while also repurchasing up to $100 billion in company stock… Read More

 

Google and Samsung go up every time Apple goes down, but not for long

By Christian Zibreg on Mar 6, 2013

With Apple’s market capitalization having fallen below the $400 billion mark, the first such drop since January 2012, many armchair analysts are observing on Twitter and elsewhere a worrying correlation between stock prices of Apple and its chief rivals Google and Samsung. Looking at the period from Apple’s September 2012 peak, each time Apple went down, Google and Samsung seemingly rose.

And with this weird correspondence between Apple’s lows and Google’s and Samsung’s highs, some analysts are calling the Internet giant “the next Apple”, estimating that Google is on its way to join the $1,000 a share club. What a difference a few months make: one analyst in April 2012 said Apple would become the world’s first $1 trillion company. While Apple’s pain = Google’s gain, luck in the stock market changes quickly… Read More

 

AAPL dips below $400B, Buffett tells Cook to ignore cash complaints, buy back stock

By Ed Sutherland on Mar 4, 2013

You can’t get a better financial advisor than Warren Buffett. The so-called ‘Oracle of Omaha’ Monday weighed in on what Apple should do, faced with low stock prices and one investor’s call to use the iPhone maker’s billions in cash. Although Buffett’s appearance Monday morning on CNBC lasted three hours, the short version is this:

Apple CEO Tim Cook should buy his company’s stock while cheap. It’s uncertain whether the financial whiz will have any luck, seeing Cook’s predecessor Steve Jobs supposedly ignored similar advice. Coincidentally or not, Apple’s market capitalization dropped below $400 billion in early trading Monday, the first such drop since January 2012… Read More

 

Are analysts responsible for AAPL decline?

By Ed Sutherland on Jan 25, 2013

So… Exxon passed Apple to reclaim the title of the World’s Most Valuable Corporation. But how much did Wall Street’s prognosticators have to do with Apple’s drop in value following its earnings report earlier this week?

While investors realize the company is facing stiff competition and potentially lower profits, a number of financial observers were way off in the predictions ahead of Wednesday results. Indeed, while Apple reported $54 billion in fourth-quarter revenue, analysts had forecast between $51.7 billion and $65.69 billion.

According to Fortune, some analysts were up to 17 percent wrong, while some well-known Wall Street Apple watchers came within 3 percent of the iPhone maker’s final numbers. Partially as a result of such wildly-varying forecasts, Apple is changing the way to releases its revenue guidance… Read More

 

Exxon surpasses Apple’s market cap, becomes most valuable corporation

By Christian Zibreg on Jan 25, 2013

Despite Apple’s record holiday quarter earnings, investors continue to punish the Apple stock which has took quite a beating since Tuesday’s earnings report. As the stock continues to slide, Apple on Friday hit a new 52-week low, becoming worth less than Exxon Mobil and ceding the top spot to the oil corporation.

As of this writing, Exxon Mobil was worth about $1 billion more than Apple. Though Apple was briefly ahead, Exxon has reclaimed the lead. The situation is changing by the second so we’ll have to wait until the end of trading today to see who emerges victorious… Read More

 

Al Gore teaches us some nice AAPL stock tricks

By Ed Sutherland on Jan 18, 2013

I also have another headline: Al Gore profits from Apple losses. Regardless of where you stand, the debate over whether Apple’s iPhone is facing declining demand has now spread from simply a question of iOS versus Android. It’s about Benjamins, who wins and who loses. Facing the ‘threat’ of Apple share value rebounding when its quarterly sales numbers are released next Wednesday, investors are hoping the company’s stock remains low. Among them: former U.S. Vice President and Apple board member Al Gore.

Gore last week exercised options to buy 59,000 shares of Apple stock for only $7.475 per share. Because of the low option price versus the actual stock price of $495.2, he was able to buy Apple stock worth more than $29 million for just $441,000… Read More

 

WSJ: Apple working on less expensive iPhone

By Cody Lee on Jan 8, 2013

As hard as we try, we just can’t escape the ongoing ‘iPhone nano’ rumors. It seems that everyone in the tech industry is waiting on Apple to diversify its handset lineup and introduce a less expensive iPhone for prepaid and emerging markets.

In fact, we’ve already heard a report on the topic today from DigiTimes, who says that their sources have actually seen the low-cost smartphone. And this afternoon, The Wall Street Journal throws its hat into the ring with its own scoop… Read More

 

Analysts cut AAPL target price average to $740

By Ed Sutherland on Dec 29, 2012

All of the concerns voiced about the impending leap off the ‘fiscal cliff’ and its associated increase in capital gains taxes on stock sales have sent Wall Street into a tizzy. The end result: knocking Apple’s target share price down to $740. Nearly a dozen analysts have cut their target price for Apple stock amid talk that the iPhone maker has a dodgy future, what with supply questions hanging over the executives at One Infinity Loop. Despite all the rain clouds, the $740 per share target price reduction is about $225 more than Friday’s opening on Wall Street… Read More

 

Analyst: Apple needs ITV to stay alive – but the iPad is a ‘rocket’

By Ed Sutherland on Dec 28, 2012

Some days, you almost wish the Mayan Calendar believers were right and today was the end of the world. Executives at Apple headquarters have likely been popping antacids like Christmas candy as wave after wave of pessimism washes through Wall Street.

Now comes word Apple is destined to be a has-been unless it cranks out an iTV – or cheapo smartphone. The depression-laded missive of the day arrived last Thursday from Toni Sacconaghi, analyst with Bernstein Research. In a note to bewildered investors, he alternated between calling the iPad “an absolute juggernaut” worth $32 billion in annual revenue and forecasting Apple will languish in single-digit growth by 2015… Read More

 

Apple shares fall 4 percent amid heavy trading and post-Jobs era concerns

By Ed Sutherland on Dec 7, 2012

Questions about Apple’s future lead to heavy trading in the technology giant Wednesday afternoon, prompting a 4.2 percent drop to $551.50 per share and an almost 22 percent decline since it’s all-time high of $705 in September. More than 17 million shares were traded during midday action on Wall Street. Among questions facing investors: can Apple management perform without Steve Jobs, can the company produce another hit product, and can the iPad maker fend off Android… Read More

 

Disney CEO buys $1M of Apple stock, a vote of confidence amid insane sell-off

By Ed Sutherland on Nov 21, 2012

Disney CEO and Apple board member Bob Iger earlier this week purchased $1 million worth of shares of the iPhone maker, just one week after exercising an option on a million shares for $17.9 million. The move is seen as an attempt by the Disney executive to show confidence during a period of sell-offs one analyst described as “insane”.

Iger joined Apple’s board of directors a year ago and is credited with healing wounds between the two companies when his predecessor Michael Eisner led the studio. The executive purchased $1 million worth of Apple stock at the time, then worth near $375 per share. Under Iger, Disney has been a loyal supporter of Apple, permitting movies on iTunes during a time when other Hollywood content owners avoided Steve Jobs… Read More

 

AAPL rebounds from the ‘insanely insane’ sell-off

By Christian Zibreg on Nov 19, 2012

After seeing a quarter of its market cap wiped off as shares hit a half-year low, Apple has finally rebounded as investors return to senses with a big rally on Monday. The unexpected sell-off has been “insanely insane”, according to Topeka’s Brian White. AAPL hit $565.35 a share in after-hours trading.

It closed at $565.73 a share. All told, AAPL soared today $38.05, or 7.21 percent, its second highest one-day dollar gain since 1984. It also pulled Nasdaq and S&P 500 with it. Though still a far cry from the mid-September high of $705.07, it’s a good sign that investors haven’t lost confidence in Apple’s longer-term prospect, especially after eight straight weeks of losses… Read More

 

Apple shake-up cost investors $12+ billion

By Christian Zibreg on Oct 31, 2012

Markets finally opened this morning after a two-day period of suspended trading over Hurricane Sandy. Apple on its part has cunningly slipped in news late Monday that it fired iOS chief Scott Forstall and retail boss John Browett over a series of missteps that cost the Cupertino, California-headquartered company both reputation and market position.

Apple’s bet was that investors, fans and the general public would have some time to process the news before jumping to conclusions. Many watchers and analysts deemed the move a strategic re-aligning, one that gave Apple’s design guru Jony Ive more power, turning him into the steward of the user experience across Apple products. Still, some investors were spooked and sent shares of Apple down to their lowest level since late July… Read More