In what seems like an event that's more like the Academy Awards, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) CEO Steve Jobs will take center stage at San Francisco's Moscone Center on Monday to announce something. That "something," if you've been paying attention to tech news over the last month in any corner of the globe, will be the second version of the iPhone.
Expect Apple's stock activity and message board nuttiness to be in overdrive until a few minutes before Jobs give his messiah-like speech about something. You see, the religious love affair much of the media (and diehard Apple fans) have with the company and Jobs himself will create so much buzz that it would not be surprising to see Apple shares top $200 easily and maybe go beyond their 52-week high. That high will come just as Jobs lets the word drop on the next iPhone.
As Timothy Sykes reminds you, don't consider this a prime opportunity to buy Apple. Although, sitting at $190 before the market opens this morning may tempt you, what do you gain with a rise to $200 per share? 5%? If that's good for you in a day or two -- if it happens -- more power to you.
There are some who time their Apple profits on the two meetings or so per year that happen from Apple's top guy (known as Steve-o), but an investing strategy for the long term and a frenzied quest for an extremely short-term gain are two totally different things. I'll be watching with interest this Monday, but still won't have added Apple shares to my stable.
Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) is set to release Q1 earnings next Tuesday for the quarter ended in December. Average analyst estimates peg the tech company's earnings at $1.61 per share, which would be a 41% improvement on last year's quarterly earnings. Although some believe Apple is overvalued on the fundamentals and is overpriced, momentum can sometimes outweigh standard market measures.
Apple shares have hunkered down in recent days amid what the market must be considering a mediocre array of announcements this past Tuesday at Macworld. Although a cutting-edge laptop and what I consider to be a paradigm-shifting update to the Apple TV were both announced, there was no iPod or iPhone fever. Unfortunately, panicky market makers started sending Apple's shares down immediately.
But then again, Apple did say that it has sold 4 million iPhones since launch. Next week, we'll get to find out how many of those were sold for the holiday season this year, which could send Apple shares back on an upward trend again. What could be Apple's most anticipated quarterly results in the last four quarters is set for next Tuesday. Stay with BloggingStocks, as we'll delve into the results once they are released.
Oooh, ahh, oh. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) announced its newest luscious piece of hardware, the MacBook Air, today at the MacWorld conference. Every one of my geeky friends on Twitter wants the newest, thinnest, most desirable piece of hardware since the iPhone (one of my friends has already purchased one, in fact) -- but most of us can't afford it.
Could it be because we're just not Jobsian enough?
I was ooh-ing and ahh-ing over the MacBook Air on Engadget's hands-on photo gallery when I saw this photo, above. Notice something? Each and every MacWorld attendee allowed to touch the super-light laptop is wearing a variation on Steve Jobs' trademark black mock turtleneck. Sure, there are a few button-up shirts, a sport coat, a crewneck or two, but all is a sea of black. Note to self: If I go to MacWorld next year, wear orange! And see what happens. All that conformity could be key to Apple's stock price (seriously!): Apple followers, both spiritual and financial, tend to behave a bit like lemmings.
While the staff at Engadget prepares for Steve Jobs' verbal onslaught tomorrow at the Macworld conference in San Francisco, investors will be dancing around today with visions of new Apple products in their heads.
This time last year, Jobs dropped the iPhone on the world and the cellphone market hasn't been the same since. Instead of giving into the death grip wireless carriers had on handsets and customers as well, Jobs gave the power to itself and the customer. So the world will be asking today: what exactly is up Steve's sleeve? Answers abound, but probably just a few key people really know what's going to go down this week at Macworld. Right now, Jobs has those people bound and gagged behind his Macworld stage. Just kidding.
Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL)'s stock will start the day slightly over $172 per share after touching $200 just a few weeks ago. If there is any hype, it can't possibly be bigger than the iPhone that was rumored to be announced a year ago -- and was. Could there be any higher expectation tomorrow when Jobs announces ... whatever he will announce? Very doubtful. Whatever comes out of Apple's coffers tomorrow during Jobs' keynote will probably disappoint the market compared to the nuttiness the iPhone announcement generated.
Does that mean Apple's future is dimming? Not at all -- but the company may have set itself up for media questions like "is this all Apple could announce?" come tomorrow unless it can surpass the market buzz the iPhone generated. Two candidates have emerged: a mini-laptop that weighs a few pounds and a smaller iPhone that works on faster 3G wireless data networks. Would a newer, smaller iPhone kick the Apple investment community into high gear? Absolutely.
Apple Inc.(NASDAQ: AAPL) is trading at $173.15 at 10 am, up a bit more than 1%.
Steve Jobs is expected to introduce the Apple 3G iPhone with pricing in early 2008, and AAPL is expected to report EPS in mid-January. Macworld will be held January 14-18 in San Francisco.
AAPL January and February option implied volatility of 68 is above its 26-week average of 48 according to Track Data, suggesting larger risk.
Options Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com
At any trade show featuring Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), hordes of Apple-believers start foaming at the mouth, wondering what magical sentences will float from the tongue of CEO Steve Jobs. More than any CEO in recent business history, Jobs causes an odd panic and a consuming guessing game by ardent Apple followers, with legions of websites and blogs dedicated just to what the man says, let alone what product Apple actually delivers.
MacWorld, Apple's own trade show for its developers and customers, is scheduled in a few weeks. As such, the first few weeks in January will be filled with massive buzz on the web about what new products, enhancements, initiatives or other things Jobs will announce or hint at. With the iPhone's release last year, the continuing dominance of the iPod and massive sales increases of Mac PCs from the company, 2007 was a rather ritzy year for the company and its charismatic leader, who commands an almost god-like following in many circles.
With shares of eBay Inc (NASDAQ: EBAY) down 17% from their highs in 2007, CEO Meg Whitman is more than likely on her way out, TheDeal Blogs speculated.
According to sources in London and New York, Merrill Lynch and Co Inc's (NYSE: MER) CEO, John Thain, is in talks with Chinese and Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds this weekend, which could lead to the sale of another big stake in the U.S. bank, the Observer reported.
iLounge learned that Apple Inc (NASDAQ: APPL) is planning a push for iTunes tagging-ready, HD Radio-equipped boomboxes with iPod docks and is expected to make an announcement at Macworld in mid-January.
Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) is recently trading at $199.84. Steve Jobs is expected to introduce the Apple 3G iPhone with pricing in early 2008. International CES will be held January 7-10 in Las Vegas. Macworld will be held January 14-18 in San Francisco. AAPL is expected to report EPS in mid-January. AAPL January option implied volatility is at 48, February is at 51, near its 26-week average of 48 according to Track Data, suggesting non-directional risk.
Options Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com
While United Parcel Service (NYSE: UPS) is preparing for the busiest time of the year, high costs and a slowing economy are set to present big challenges for the Atlanta company once the holiday season is over, the Wall Street Journal reported.
OTHER PAPERS:
BusinessWeek's "Inside Wall Street" column reported that shares of Abiomed Inc (NASDAQ: ABMD) have recovered nearly to its 52-week high of $15, rallying on buzz that the FDA could approve the company's chief product, Impella, a miniature pump at the end of a catheter, within 12 months.
The "Inside Wall Street" column also reported that Focus Media Holding Limited (NASDAQ: FMCN), the top advertising company in Internet, Mobile and Poster/Panel Markets, should benefit from the 2008 Summer Olympics.
WEB SITES:
According to sources and reported by AppleInsider, there have been additional sightings of an "unfamiliar MacBook model floating around" Apple Inc's (NASDAQ: AAPL) campus perhaps indicating a new Macbook is coming at next month's Macworld Expo.
Steve Jobs is expected to introduce the Apple 3G iPhone with pricing in early 2008. Macworld will be held January 14-18 in San Francisco. COMDEX will be held January 7-10 in Las Vegas. AAPL December option implied volatility was at 40, January was at 50. AAPL's 26-week average option implied volatility was 45 according to Track Data, suggesting larger price risk in January.
Daily Options Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com
Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) reported very solid numbers last night. Revenue hit $7.1 billion, up from $5.7 billion last year, or a 24% increase. Apple beat the consensus estimate of $6.4 billion. It appears Apple, once again, set the bar pretty low.
iPod sales jumped to 21 million units, up from 14 million units last year, for a 50% increase.
It appears a lot of the Apple-hype ran out last week at MacWorld and the next catalyst appears to be the launch of iPhone.
Apple's stock, historically, has waited to appreciate until data is available on the success of a new product. Obviously, iPhone is the next big push. Wait for data points on the iPhone launch before getting into this stock. iPod is entering a seasonally weaker period and Apple needs the next great product to drive this stock higher.
First, the specs: the iPhone 4GB model will be $499 and will ship in June (not, it turns out, January 15th). It will run Cingular and Yahoo! IMAP email. Shivers. This is one phone I'm dying to own.
How will Apple Computer, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)'s iPhone be different from every other "mobile communication device" out there? How? Just tell us, Steve. It will be done without a keyboard... without a stylus... thanks to the patented power of "multi-touch."
Hmmm. Well, whatever that is, it's certainly lovely. In Engadget's live coverage of Steve Job's MacWorld keynote address, the photos have been rolling out like so much gadget porn. Yum. But, as they say in the business, "that's not all."
Steve Jobs knows his audience. And the audience at the MacWorld 2007 conference keynote (speaker, as always, the mock-turtlenecked Steve Jobs, but in brown -- a jab at the Zune perhaps?) had been camping out 'since nine the night before.
Naturally, in our opinion here, the Big News is the iPhone. We've been wondering about it for months, giving it optimistic release dates (hey, still could happen, right?) and wondering whether Apple Computer, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) could even call it that, given that the trademark to the name is owned by Linksys. And, basically, loving it from afar. Well, it's true, and it is called the iPhone, and Engadget reports Jobs saying that it will be a "leapfrog product," it will include an iPod (duh), a widescreen with touch controls, and it will be a "breakthrough internet communications device," whatever that is.
Also big news from Steve was that the Apple TV will be shipped in February; lots of details over at Engadget, photos of the interface and lots of details on how it will work. There is also ridiculous eye candy coming up every minute on the iPhone. I can't wait to do a montage!
Steve Jobs' Macworld keynote (this year it will be tomorrow morning) has always drawn tons of media coverage, especially in advance as Apple followers everywhere make a game out of predicting his pronouncements. (In a previous post, I linked to some of the speculation.)
Now someone has actually made a real game out of the showcase speech; bingo. The New York Times's inimitable personal; tech columnist David Pogue draws our attention to a "witty programmer" who created "Macworld Bingo" for all live listeners and viewers of the Jobs keynote.
The programmer's Bingo template includes a randomized list of 50 possible keynote subjects. If Jobs touches on it, one can press a button and check it off. If you get five buttons in a row, column, or diagonally, you have won Macworld Bingo
Subjects range from "iTV released" to Steve in his famous "turtle neck and jeans." So which crazed Mac fans will be participating in the Macworld Bingo? Obviously, too many as the top of the site's web page notes: "The server is collapsing under the unforseen popularity of Keynote Bingo!"
In what seems like an event that's more like the Academy Awards, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) CEO Steve Jobs will take center stage at San Francisco's Moscone Center on Monday to announce something. That "something," if you've been paying attention to tech news over the last month in any corner of the globe, will be the second version of the iPhone.
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Before the bell: Wall Street headed higher; automakers, retailers in focus
