Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL), the famous name behind the iPod and other nifty tech products, and a company that competes with formidable opponents such as Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) and Dell (NASDAQ: DELL), issued its Q3 numbers yesterday. Once again, Apple proves itself to be a company that an investor should have owned.

According to Tom Johansmeyer's earnings preview, Apple was supposed to deliver $8.2 billion in sales and $1.16 per share in bottom-line income. It was even thought that Apple might go beyond Wall Street's estimates and make $1.32 per share. Well, investors were pretty pleased to see over $8.3 billion in sales and $1.35 per share in income. Impressive.

Continue reading Apple looking good in Q3

Apple looking good in Q3 originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 22 Jul 2009 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

SEC probes Apple over Steve Jobs disclosures originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 21 Jan 2009 08:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Apple's new CEO speaks softly and carries a big stick originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 16 Jan 2009 13:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Apple (AAPL) soars on iPhone sales

Apple (AAPL) soars on iPhone sales originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 21 Oct 2008 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Apple slides down: a buy in opportunity? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 17 Sep 2008 17:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Mac clones -- good or bad for Apple? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 15 Jul 2008 18:07:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

As Steve Jobs came to the end of his presentation at Macworld, Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) shares were off almost 6%.

Jobs had little to say to excite shareholders. His announcement that the company had sold four million iPhones to date seems light compared to some analysts' estimates.

Jobs also said the company would cut the price of the Apple TV product. Cutting the price, and presumably the margin, on a product no one wants will not add any money to the revenue line.

Perhaps the biggest mistake Jobs made was to launch the MacBook Air into the teeth of a recession. It may be nice to own the world's thinnest notebook, but who has $1,800? All the people who can't pay their mortgages?

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

Why the market hates Steve Jobs' Macworld speech originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 15 Jan 2008 13:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Bloggingstockcast: Apple passes $200, what next?

Bloggingstockcast: Apple passes $200, what next? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 27 Dec 2007 17:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The media is making much of Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL)'s move above $200 and it is a nice milestone. What is much more impressive is that about 20 months ago, the shares were only a bit above $50.

The question for Apple investors now is not how far the stock has come, but whether it can continue the trip. The company is now burdened by expectations which did not exist two or three years ago.

The assumptions on which a continued rise in the stock are based see the iPhone becoming a significant player in the smartphone market, the iPod continuing to sell tens of million of units a year, and the Mac getting well beyond 5% of the global PC market.

The Mac goal may be more difficult than the others. With over a billion handsets sold a year worldwide, the thought that the iPhone could capture 20 million units a year is not extraordinary. And, with a dominant position in the multimedia player market, the iPod is likely to have long-term growth so long as consumers want music and video to go.

But, the computer market is a much tougher nut. Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE: HPQ), Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL), and Asia manufacturers Lenovo and Acer, are not going to give up the share that they have now, at least not without cutting costs and improving features. Apple may not be able to hold the high-priced end of the market forever.

If Apple stumbles, it is likely to trip over expectations for the Mac.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

Apple jumps above $200 originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 26 Dec 2007 16:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

This post was part of AOL Money & Finance's Best & Worst of 2007 feature. The voting has now closed and readers have chosen Google Inc. as the company of the year. Be sure and let us know in the comments if you are pleased with this result.

Corporate America, the markets, and Wall Street are lumbering through a so-so year -- one likely to be characterized by mediocre U.S. GDP and earnings performance, along with ample portions of market volatility.

To be sure, no one will confuse 2007 with a peak year during the "Roaring '20s" or even the "Roaring '90s." Still, there were several standout performances, which we summarize in our "Company of the Year" award.

Facebook

Facebook deserves an honorable mention. The online directory shows considerable promise as an online community and networking device. Provided information is kept confidential and is not released or sold to unauthorized third parties, the business model can serve as another meeting room for groups that might not otherwise be able to meet for geographic or other reasons.

Continue reading Best & Worst of 2007: Company of the year

Best & Worst of 2007: Company of the year originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 29 Nov 2007 18:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

It is a tremendous amount of fun when you can get involved with a company early in its growth cycle and just watch it develop while you're invested in it! Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) just reported its September 30th fiscal fourth quarter results and they were stunning. Not only were the results better than expected, but the guidance going forward is just as strong. Apple is now fast approaching a market capitalization of $160 billion -- now greater than IBM (NYSE: IBM).

Wall Street estimates called for $0.85 per share for the September quarter, yet the company came in at $1.01 per share. Revenues were $6.22 billion and the Street's estimates were at $6.06 billion. Apple's management endorsed a December quarterly estimate of $9.22 billion and earnings per share of $1.42. Although the December quarter is Apple's fiscal first quarter, it is the biggest due to Christmas sales. So what will drive this company to higher levels of growth, profitability and of course, share price?

A solid 40% of Apple's revenues come from the international markets taking advantage of the weak U.S. dollar as local currency transactions are converted into dollars. Such powerful international revenues also mitigate any possibility of the U.S. market slowing down. Apple has not experienced a slow down in the U.S., but in the event our economy does slow, the cushion for Apple is in place.

Continue reading Apple: What will drive growth going forward?

Apple: What will drive growth going forward? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 23 Oct 2007 09:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Well it's harvest season here in New England, and the Macintoshes are ripe. But in Silicon Valley, it looks like Apple (NYSE: AAPL)'s Macintosh brand is the fruit filling in the PC market pie. According to TheStreet.com, Apple's Macintosh is gaining market share.

How much? In the third quarter, Apple's Mac computers accounted for 6.3% of all PCs sold, up from 5.7% a year earlier, according to IDC. This growth means that Apple pulled further ahead of its competitors as it increased its lead as the third-ranked player in the market, a position it took over earlier in the year.

This gain in market share should help Apple when it reports on Monday, as the Macintosh has been accounting for a greater share of Apple's own profit pie. In the first nine months of the company's fiscal year, the Mac accounted for 41% of the company's total revenue, up from 36% during the same time last year.

It's a tasty time to own Apple shares. The question for investors is whether Apple -- trading at a Price/Earnings to Growth (PEG) ratio of 2.6 (on a P/E of 49 and earnings growth forecast of 19% to $4.48 in 2008) -- is ripe for harvest or hot to hold. What do you think?

Peter Cohan is president of Peter S. Cohan & Associates. He also teaches management at Babson College and edits The Cohan Letter. He has no financial interest in Apple.

Visit AOL Money & Finance for more earnings coverage

Apple takes a bigger slice of the PC pie originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 19 Oct 2007 11:37:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Was Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) wrong not to offer its Mac across a broad range of retailers? Instead, the consumer electronics company has elected to sell the machine online and at its few Apple retail outlets.

In the meantime, market leader Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) has long sold its PCs at retailers and Dell (NASDAQ: DELL) has made deals with companies like Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) an integral part of its turnaround.

The New York Times argues that Apple missed an opportunity. When Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) Vista stumbled after its introduction due to bugs and reluctance of users to upgrade, Jobs & Co. should have sought the widest possible retail distribution for the Mac.

According to Roger L. Kay, president of Endpoint Technologies Associates, the Mac's worldwide market share was 3% as of June 2007. The Times also says that "based on the ratio of Windows and Macs actually in use, no gains can be seen for Apple." While Apple and some industry experts might dispute those figures, the Mac was not widely available at large numbers of retail locations.

Did Apple do the right thing? It might argue that part of its brand is the environment where it is sold. The company has complete control of how the machine is presented on its website. Employees at the ultra-clean Apple stores are experts on the Mac in a way that other retailers would find impossible to match. Apple may have been protecting the Mac brand by keeping it in the best hands.

What is true is that Apple still has only a small share of the market. Only so many people can get to an Apple store and not everyone will buy a computer online. So the company is fighting with one hand tied behind its back.

Douglas A. McIntyre is a partner at 24/7 Wall St.

Did Apple (AAPL) lose a big retail opportunity? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 17 Sep 2007 10:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

This post is part of our Money Face-Offs feature. Let us know who you think comes out ahead in this head-to-head match-up, and check out our other Money Face-Off posts.

The technology stories of the 1980s have a lot to do with the dawn of the PC era. IBM was about to license its personal computer technology to the open market (leading to the rising popularity of Microsoft) and Apple's computers were a hit-or-miss proposition with consumers as el-cheapo PCs made their entrance and became the dominant force in many homes and offices. Remember 1,200-bps modems and bulletin boards, folks?

Microsoft's arguably illegal tactics made it flourish in the 1990s under CEO and company cofounder William H. Gates, and the debate continues to this day whether the Windows 3.0 and Windows 95 operating systems were in part copies of Apple's MacIntosh operating system. Suggested viewing: Pirates of Silicon Valley.

Apple seemed dead in the water in the mid '90s, and Microsoft was growing by leaps and bounds. Bill Gates became the richest person in the world on paper (which would last more than a decade), and Steve Jobs came back in 1997 to try and resurrect a floundering Apple that had not done much in terms of innovation or growth under then-CEO Gil Amelio. Gates seemed on top of the world; Jobs, not so much.

Continue reading Money Face-Off: Steve Jobs vs. Bill Gates

Money Face-Off: Steve Jobs vs. Bill Gates originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 15 Sep 2007 11:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

"Analysts and skeptics are trying to find holes in the Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) story," says Toby Smith, editor of ChangeWave Investing. As a result, he says, negative rumors have taken hold, causing a buying opportunity for the Apple "believers."

The stock's recent sharp drop was in part based on a "trading note" which claimed APPL was cutting iPhone production. Meanwhile, he suggests, "Analysts are lying in the bush, trying to find holes in the Apple story and take shots wherever they can. For those of us who know the real deal on AAPL, this provides a great buying opportunity."

He continues, "If there were one rumor out there that holds a little water, it would be the speculation that Apple is about to refresh its line of iPod digital media players. Trust me, this will be a good thing for Apple if it's true, as we can expect a new surge in purchases."

Continue reading Apple's (AAPL) drop: A 'great opportunity'

Apple's (AAPL) drop: A 'great opportunity' originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 03 Aug 2007 12:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

So much has been written about Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) as we witnessed the long lines to buy the iPhone on June 29. Numbers were circulating that Apple sold 700,000 units of the new, revolutionary device in the first weekend. Apple has yet to confirm that, but the anecdotal evidence is certainly pointing toward blow-out numbers. Apple stated a goal of 10 million units sold by year end 2008, now I am hearing from several sources that the goal will be raised to 13-14 million. What does all this mean for the stock and its march to $200?

Apple is such a unique company because it transcends the typical technology company profile. With its massive retail store system, 180 strong, Apple has DIRECT contact with its customers: soup to nuts, it controls the sale. Apple controls not only the principal purchases of iPhones, iPods, Macs, etc., but controls the accessory sales and is building its own database of customer names and critical information. That list is worth its weight in gold. It's called future add-on sales with very low sales and marketing expenditures.

With all the moving parts to the Apple story, analysts intuitively know that forward numbers are quite conservative and going higher. The question is do we wait until July 25 for the release of the June quarter results or take a gander right here, right now? The June quarter consensus estimates call for revenues of $5.28 billion and earnings per share (EPS) of $0.72 versus last year's June results of $4.3 billion and EPS of $0.54. For the September 30 fiscal year 2007, expectations are for total revenues of $23.7 billion and EPS of $3.56. September 30, 2008 fiscal year expectations call for revenues of $29.2 billion and EPS of $4.13.

Let me give you my prediction and projections.

Continue reading Apple outlook: Why AAPL is on its way to $200

Apple outlook: Why AAPL is on its way to $200 originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 12 Jul 2007 14:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Lost this morning in all the news about Hewlett-Packard's (NYSE: HPQ) PC share growth and Dell's (NASDAQ: DELL) fall from grace was the increase in the sales of Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) Macs reported late yesterday.

Sales of the Mac rose 30% during the first quarter and its market share hit 5% in the U.S., according to Gartner. Hewlett-Packard and Toshiba both grew over 25%, but the Apple number is still impressive. If the Mac continues its current growth, it could pass both Toshiba and Gateway (NYSE: GTW) in the next two years.

Investors forget about the Mac. In the last reported quarter, Mac sales were up 40% to $2.4 billion. That was out of total revenue of $7.1 billion for all of Apple.

iPod sales may falter, and the iPhone may not turn out to be a big hit. But, there is always the Mac, growing at 40% a quarter.

Douglas A. McIntyre is a partner at 24/7 Wall St.

How about them Apples: Mac sales move up originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 19 Apr 2007 14:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Shares of Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) were down as much as $2 during normal and after-hours trading yesterday after the company announced the delay of Leopard, its new Mac operating system. The company explained that Leopard will now be out in October, in time to capture the all-important Christmas sales for the Mac.

The reason given for the delay is Apple's focus on delivering the iPhone in time for a June release. The company took several software engineers off the Leopard project to help finish the software necessary for the iPhone. The iPhone will be the most sophisticated hand-held device on the market and therefore, software intensive. Apple basically made the choice of which product, Mac OS or iPhone, is more important for a "timely release". Obviously, iPhone is the winner.

The financial implications for Apple on the Leopard delay are negligible. According to Goldman Sachs analyst David C. Bailey, the sales of Leopard being delayed could cost Apple about $75-100 million in the September 30th quarter. Those revenues should be recaptured in the December 31st quarter as long as Apple ships Leopard in early October. Overall revenue expectations for the quarter ending September 30th are about $6 billion, so the delay should not affect the earnings for that quarter.

The gossip on the Street will be at a minimum as Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) had a delay "in the years" for Vista as opposed to Apple's "delay in months" for the Leopard. Nonetheless, some will attempt to make this appear as bad news.

Apple shares did begin to bounce back in late trading as the revenue impact is quite minimal.

Georges Yared is the CIO of Yared Investment Research

Apple shares down temporarily on Leopard delay originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 13 Apr 2007 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) -- strange bedfellows or enemies? The iPod and the Zune, the Mac OS and Windows. Is Microsoft really helping Apple selling Macs?

Well, not entirely. According to The Wall Street Journal, the ability of the new Intel Corp.- (NASDAQ:INTC) powered Macs to run Windows is winning fans [subscription required] with consumers, schools and small businesses. As the paper writes, "support for Windows on Apple hardware looks to be playing a key role in persuading some users to switch to Macs."

Apple really doesn't need the help. In the latest reported quarter, Mac sales rose 40% to $2.4 billion. Sales of portable Macs rose 79% to $1.455 billion.

The knock against the Mac at most companies is that its OS does not play nicely with Windows. No longer. Now, Apple computers run the stuff. Apple's marketing strength, however, remains directed at the consumer, due, in part, to the success of the iPod and the upcoming launch of the iPhone.

Perhaps Apple will actually put some sales effort against enterprise sales of the Mac. That could make things interesting for companies like Hewlett-Packard Co.(NYSE:HPQ).

Douglas A. McIntyre is a partner at 24/7 Wall St.

How Microsoft helps Apple sell Macs originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 20 Mar 2007 09:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.