Research archive for AAPL

Did you see that Apple are basically the most or only really profitable company that manufactures smartphones. Check this BusinessInsider article out: Apple is taking 93% of the profits in the smartphone industry now. As you can see, there is no information for private phone maker Xiaomi. That is amazing, Apple has 93 percent of all the industry profits, their phones are clearly too expensive. Then again, according to a WSJ article that I read the other day, there are only two distinct kinds of phones, expensive ones that are high end and cheaper ones that are lower end. Apple does not want to really make a cheaper phone, for what? You can either afford one, or you cannot, they do not want to be a mass product, the price is part of the allure. Talking of cheaper, Apple are raising money in Switzerland, where the government there enjoys low rates. No, the Swiss government gets people to pay them (negative rates) for their debt. Retail demand should be strong, so says a credit strategist at UBS, when quoted in this WSJ article: Apple Plans Debut Swiss Franc Bond Sale. The mind still boggles how Nestle and the Swiss government are able to raise money at such low rates, Apple has noticed this too.

Apple raised more money yesterday, 6.5 billion Dollars to be exact. Why would the corporate with more money than any other company raise money in the debt markets? Well, remembering that US corporate tax laws are not kind to companies that earn money offshore, bring it "home" and you will be taxed. Even though you have paid tax on it already. President Obama is exploring a once off repatriation of cash at a lower rate once off, and then an ongoing tax rate (at a lower rate) in order to get this un-stuck. The issue of cash repatriation. Businesses like Apple, with strong balance sheets, awesome credit ratings and great cash flows can sell debt in the yield starved markets at rates of around 3.5 percent and less. Use it for what exactly? As the FT article points out, Apple taps bond markets for $6.5bn, via the SEC filing proceeds are to be used for "general corporate purposes, including repurchases of our common stock and payment of dividends under our program to return capital to shareholders, funding for working capital, capital expenditures and acquisitions and repayment of debt." The company can use existing cash flows in the US to service their debt, buy back shares and pay dividends.

How can everyone get their estimates on Apple so wrong? So very, very wrong. In a good way for the company that is, and by extension their shareholders. The company absolutely blew away any expectations that "the street" had for the last quarter, crushing it. Last evening Apple inc. presented their results for the quarter to end 27 December 2014, their first quarter of the current financial year. Check it out: Apple Reports Record First Quarter Results. This was the most successful three months of any company in corporate history.

Sometimes it is what other people do that impacts on your business, a copy of some sorts. Apple is a great finisher of products, not in the raw style of Lance Klusener, rather more like the pure clean hitting of David Miller. That six over the Golf Course end stand on Sunday was the biggest that I have ever seen, it is a pity that we lost that match. Anyhow cricket aside, another chance pending today, Apple Inc. yesterday according to iPhonehacks earned a patent for a GoPro-like camera. GoPro stock sank 12 percent. The stock is down over 40 percent in the northern hemisphere winter, since the beginning of October. With a market cap of just 7.24 billion Dollars, relative to the Apple cash pile 20 times that size, Apple obviously want their users to have the ability to use a similar product. Time will tell, sometimes you have to watch what others do, and not what you do.

Apple, one of the most followed and written about companies that I know. If not the company that is written about the most, I get more Google alerts about Apple than any other company. I saw that someone had noticed that the App store revenue of Apple in 2014 was now worth more than their entire revenue from 2005. From this release App Store Rings in 2015 with New Records. There is a little more below, read that part about job creation and how it all has formed another set of jobs. I think that as investors you must pay attention on two fronts, one, discounting the ability of an innovative company like Apple or Facebook to change the way that we do business (personal business too) and secondly how mainstream jobs now become the jobs of yesterday whilst new jobs are created as a result of innovation.

I read the FT article: Apple plans to push Beats to every iPhone and came away a little puzzled. Notwithstanding the fact that the company spent a huge amount on acquiring the service, it is now going to be paid for by their customers by everyone with an iOS operating system (new) which will be pre installed. This is actually a good example of extending the ecosystem to existing customers to counteract falling iTunes sales, offer your customers something they want, a music streaming service. Taylor Swift has been sceptical, she is one of the best selling artists globally, at least this year. She reckons she is worth more, you could argue without streaming platforms like Spotify (Swift has pulled her work from that platform), she would not have as wide an audience. We will see how Apple customers respond to the streaming music services, it is a very grey area. For us as investors, this represents a shift to more annuity based income, for Apple that is.

Apple. Juicy fruit, not my personal favourite, bananas and berries as well as citrus trump apples for me. As a business, Apple Inc. stands head and shoulders above all the other berry products, at least as far as the consumer is concerned. In South Africa, and this is a recent statistic, Paul showed us stats that suggested that only 2 percent of smartphone users in Mzansi own Apple iPhones. I guess cost has a lot to do with it, the iPhone is certainly NOT a cheap product at all.

You can file this away for the weekend, for further reading, Carl Icahn and his two business partners have written a long and extended open letter in his capacity as a shareholder to Tim Cook and the Apple board: Sale: Apple Shares at Half Price. His price target for Apple is 203.23 Dollars. Oh. That means, in his mind, that the stock is dirt cheap and the board must definitely push for a stronger buyback program.

Man. You have to wonder nowadays. We (we being humans and consumers) jump to conclusions all of the time. Byron spoke of the Apple "Bendgate" saga on Friday, the whole idea that the bigger iPhone was bending, the perception was that this was happening to thousands of users. Apple responded Friday to say that with normal use, the new model should not bend. I often laugh when people have tweets that their phone screen smashed when they dropped it from waist high. Newsflash, drop any device, electronic or even kitchenware and it will break. Don't drop it, ok? A crowd called Consumer Reports put together a piece on a few phones on the market (comparable) and tested them, a link that I found via one of my favourite aggregators, the BusinessInsider.

When you are on top, everyone wants to bring you down as the saying goes. Well in the case of Apple when you have set the standards so high, people are very critical of your product. If you are prominent on social media you would have seen 2 big criticisms of Apple. So much so that the stock was down nearly 4% yesterday.

The numbers hit the screens, Apple sold over ten million iPhones over the weekend. That excluded China, which represents just shy of one sixth of all sales, the reason being that Apple are awaiting a second licence to give them the go ahead. It has to do with networks and access, China is more open to the outside world than ever before, of course not all freedoms are permitted. Paul just visited both Hong Kong and Beijing, his feelings having spoken to some english speakers is that life is definitely improving. Obviously the poor air quality is a serious issue. When the company, Apple, can sell phones in China, I am sure that the sales numbers will be a lot higher.

Sir Jony Ive is a genius. He really is. Well, his team is too, you cannot give credit to one person, although Ives, a close friend of Steve Jobs always seemed to have got the credit for the beautiful phones that Apple designed. Ive is apparently a fellow that keeps a low profile and enjoys family time. The new products unveiled last evening were all pretty much as anticipated, the two new phone models, the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6 Plus were both with bigger screens when compared to the previous generation iPhone, the last being the 5S. Thinner, quicker, better display than before, you would naturally expect all those things. Check out the landing page for the new product from the website: Bigger than bigger. The bigger model naturally has a better battery life.

Apple results for their third quarter hit the screens last evening, post the market close. The Investor relations page has been spruced up since I last visited it, certainly looks better. In the traditional clean and crisp Apple way. How do they do it? The beautiful look, they are so very good at it.

IBM and Apple are joining forces to get more Apple products into the business world, by developing simple business apps for iOS. IBM will offer purpose built apps and support technicians, which will reach IBMs vast customer base.

When it comes to investing patience is an absolute virtue. So is sticking to your guns if you believe in something. Of course if something fundamental changes then you need to reevaluate your position. Sometimes nothing fundamental changes but the share price doesn't go your way. That is when your patience really gets tested and you start questioning whether your convictions are correct. On other occasions there are short term changes or lets rather call them challenges which do have an impact on a shares performance but not enough to switch out of the stock.