AAPL Down As Tech Trades Sideways
Support for stocks has moderated this morning, causing major equity averages to give back some of their opening gains, and slide further on Fed's criticism of the central bank's bond-buying program. Shares of AAPL are down as the tech tape moves sideways and is mostly in the negative. Upcoming catalysts for the stock include results of its
second fiscal quarter on Wednesday, April 20 at 5:00 p.m ET; any update regarding
Steve Jobs' healthy return; the WWDC starting June 6; monthly NPD data to gauge Mac /
iPod businesses;
iPad 2 sales updates;
iPhone sales updates, the push in China, as well as the launch of the
iPhone 5 (whenever that may be); new revenue streams such as video, books / publishing and social (
Ping); moving
iTunes into the cloud; and the continued evolution and adoption of
Apple TV. Shares of Apple trade at
13x Enterprise Value / Trailing Twelve Months Free Cash Flow (incl. long-term marketable securities).
Wall Street Starts Issuing Apple Earnings Previews (Cult Of Mac) Here they come:
- Caris & Co. analyst Robert Cihra says that Apple is no longer a product company, but a platform company. Cihra reiterated his Buy recommendation at a $460 price target despite his suspicion Apple will release an "even more conservative than usual" third-quarter financial forecast.
- Morgan Keegan’s Tavis McCourt rebalanced his iPhone sales forecast amid speculation Apple will unveil the iPhone 5 in September, rather than the traditional June period. McCourt cut his June quarter forecast to 14 million units, down 3 million. However, he added that 3 million to his September prediction, now foreseeing 22 million iPhones sold during that three-month span. Read »
It's The "How Many iPhones Did Apple Sell" Game (Fortune) And it will continue until the company reports earnings in two weeks.
Fortune has compiled a list of 43 analysts who can't seem to agree on whether sales of Apple's top moneymaker rose or fell in the fiscal second quarter. The iPhone is the company's biggest money maker. Last quarter it represented nearly 40% of total revenue. Estimates range from a high of 19.8 million from Susquehanna's Jeff Fidacaro to a low of 13.24 million from
Goldman Sachs' Bill Shope.
Where do you think units shake out?
Read » China To Represent 10% Of Apple's Revenue In The Next Five Years (Mercury News) Piper Jaffray analyst
Gene Munster, who regularly visits Asia, believes mainland China alone (excluding Hong Kong and Taiwan) will represent 10% of Apple's revenue within five years, up from about 2% now. While many Western retail giants have failed to import their American success to this booming economy (
Google), Apple is certainly not one of them. The Chinese economy is having some of its best years ever due to the rising world demand for consumer electronics.
Read » Apple Making Aggressive Moves To Secure Hardware Components Overseas (Apple Insider) Analyst Brian White with Ticonderoga Securities says Apple has become more aggressive in securing components from overseas suppliers, making moves such as upfront cash payments to both ensure supply and block out competitors. Following the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, the company immediately sent executives to suppliers to guarantee a steady flow of parts. Contacts in Taiwan claim that the company is trying to secure component production using a "three cover guarantee," meaning capacity, stock and price. Smart move.
Read » Apple Delayed the PlayBook By A Month By Tying Up Components (Digitimes) Echoing those sentiments, the
BlackBerry PlayBook shipment was postponed for about a month from the original schedule due to a delay in software testing as well as shortage of touch panels because Apple already booked up most of the available capacity. Thanks to Apple's abundance of cash reserves, the company can pre-pay for components and get guaranteed priority from manufacturers.
Read more at Business Insider.
Read » Another Major Company Dropping RIM In Favor Of Other Platforms (Electronista) Clorox revealed that the company has almost entirely dropped the
BlackBerry as a company phone for work. The company is letting employees choose between
Android, iPhone, or
Windows Phone 7 devices. Apple was the winner as about 92% of the staff chose an iPhone where 6% selected
Android and 2% opted for the
Windows Phone 7. Among the projects driving demand for alternate platforms has been a
JP Morgan trial along with rapid adoption of
iOS devices by Fortune 100 companies.
Read » 
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