Research archive for AAPL

Most people I know fancy themselves as music aficionados and more specifically their music choices are superior to other folks. They just don't get it, right? And you can mock them and suggest that they are listening to X or Y (Justin Bieber or Taylor Swift) but the truth is that X or Y have sold many albums, so they might be seen as commercial/mainstream/bubblegum, but that is what the people want. People love music, the rhythm is in our core, perhaps to those days that we all danced around the fire each and every evening.

One of the most talked about retail products globally must be handsets, they go everywhere with you and they can help you with all sorts of tasks that you used to look out for elsewhere. From the weather to your friends, to news and updates on your stocks and the markets, there is an application for everything, but of course the beautiful devices in your pocket needs to be exactly that, beautiful. It is difficult to marry the term technology and beautiful, but somehow Apple have managed to do exactly that. And last evening, they reinforced the notion that it does not matter what your background is, we all share communication at our core.

Apple are looking to make a significant purchase, looking to buy a Japanese Chip Maker Renesas. Why? According to article, Renesas SP Drivers is the world's largest producer of the microchips that are used in liquid-crystal displays and has about one-third of the industry's current market share. Very small petite bite sized transactions on Apple's side of the table when compared to Facebook.

OK, this is a little old, five days old to be exact, which in the technology world is longer than in the investment world. It makes sense and I am surprised that nobody has thought of it before, like most inventions actually. There is always an element of hey, why didn't I think of that? Apple Files Transparent Texting Patent To Help People Who Walk And Text. Added to that Apple news is that "sources" say that the New iPhone 6 screens to enter production as early as May. Nice.

Is Apple stuck in a funk in a post Steve Jobs era? First of all, define funk. There are a few ways of using this word, but the context that I normally use it in is a mix of the verb to panic, fail due to panic and noun Foul or unpleasant smell, especially body odour. Stuck in a funk. Feels bad, smelly and close to failure. You will know what I mean of course. I was very interested to come across a rare interview with basically Steve Job's right hand man, a fellow by the name of Jony Ive. Apologies, for those amongst us that think the royal family and that titled hierarchy is relevant in 2014, it is Sir Jonathan Paul Ive. The Time article is titled Jonathan Ive designs tomorrow and it is a remarkable look into the insight of the man that called Steve Jobs his closest friend.

Meanwhile, if you want to look for something else that is outrageous, look no further than the announcement last evening that Apple had bought 14 billion Dollars worth of shares since the results disappointed "investors" (and I use that term very, very lightly). Who is disappointed now? In two weeks, just get this, Apple have bought back 14 billion Dollars worth of shares. And over the last 12 months the company had bought back 40 billion Dollars worth of stock. Which is equal to around 9 percent of their market cap. And at a cheap price no doubt, the stock is up only 13 percent for the last 12 months. And the stock trades on less than a 13 multiple. Ex growth, I think not. They just came off a record quarter. iPads and even more increasingly the Mac is making a solid comeback in a declining PC market. Thanks to the iPad and iPhone, Mac adoption is starting to happen. But yet Microsoft trades on a higher multiple.

Remember the annoying orange? The YouTube channel according to Wiki had a whopping 3 million subscribers at the height - The Annoying Orange? Well, that was 2009. The story was a simple one, an orange being the main character who used to shout at the other fruit in the fruit bowl (yes, really) and one line that stuck with me was the: "Hey Apple". Good for Dan Boe. The annoying orange can also be the army of analysts who cover the company very closely. I would think that it is the most covered company around, both from a professional and blogger point of view. There are whole websites committed to rumours of new products as well as predicting earnings.

Yesterday Wall Street Journal made an announcement about Apple which is probably the biggest Apple announcement since the iPhone 4 was released. If you know much about Apple, that was a huge announcement. The release titled Apple, China Mobile Sign Deal to Offer iPhone explains how the carrier could be selling iPhones as soon as 18th of December. China Mobile has a whopping 759 million subscribers. To put that into perspective, that is 3.8 times the size of MTN. Everything in China is just that much bigger, even bigger than Texas.

Hey Apple. Remember the annoying orange? The little animated fruit that laughed at the demise of the other fruit around it? This is not it. This is a write-up on the fourth quarter of the Apple results, which were released after the closing bell last evening. Here goes, you can read along as we try and explain: iPhone Sales Grow 26% to Establish New September Quarter Record, with the key product sales numbers being as per the release:

Another company with a fabulous last decade, a spotty prior decade, but the original maker of the home computer,

Enough fun, back to business. Did you see that Angela Ahrendts announced that she is quitting Burberry (the business she has run for 7 years so far) to join Apple, as head of their retail division. We have all be thinking over the last few days in the office and the conclusion that we came to was that people can shout from the rooftops suggesting that Apple should be looking to have an offering to the bottom end of the market, but who cares if it is a soft luxury item, right. Should you care as a shareholder that they concentrate on solid margins and superior products? Steve Jobs apparently compared Apple to BMW and Mercedes Benz. No matter how many or few you sell, you still want the luxurious and enduring qualities that attract your customers, old and new. Here is an outstanding piece from the FT (sorry, subscription only): The control freak formula at Apple and Burberry. Ahrendts is a tall individual, six foot three, and has all the qualities that Apple are looking for!

A tale of two companies, part two in a way. We expected that Apple would set a record with the number of phones sold over the weekend, we did not quite expect 9 million units, the consensus was around 7-8. But I guess that is good, no, very good. Just as good is the fact that over 200 million downloads of the new iOS have taken place so far, out of 700 million odd devices. Remember that not all devices can be updated, only from the iPhone 4 and iPad 2 onwards. And, more importantly for the stock holders, in telling the market that they had sold more phones than anticipated, their guidance was raised towards the top end of the range. Prompting broker upgrades. Sigh, how often does one see that. The smartest folks on the street are having to flip and flop, because their time frames when producing these reports are 12 months out. They are expected to be miracle workers with rudimentary instrumentation.

The nerds of NASDAQ managed to only add 6 odd points, but is still the outperforming market in the US year to date, up 23 percent plus. And without the help of Apple inc. which is nearly 13 percent lower on the year. Apple has a market cap of 422 billion Dollars, twice the size of food giant Nestle. Wow, that is sizeable. On the list of global businesses listed in the US, Google is in third place and within a whisker of 300 billion Dollars in market capitalisation.

The big Apple announcement is coming today. Lower priced coloured phones to cater for the needs in emerging market? A deal with China Mobile as a carrier in mainland China? A faster processor and newer high end phone? All of those things? Because it is a huge consumer stock with a huge following, it is probably the most widely covered company that I can think of. There are many, many people who have been working at the rumour mill, trying to eke out more information.

What is going on with the Apple share price? Over the last five trading sessions the stock is up 7.21 percent. Over the last month the stock is up 16.88 percent, but year to date the stock is down 6.33 percent. And last evening the stock went through the 500 Dollar mark for the first time. Marc Ashton, who's day and night job is the editor of Finweek, tweeted an article from the BusinessInsider that he thought we might enjoy. And we sure did, thanks! It is an opinion piece from the founder of the now hugely popular finance website/blog, the Businessinsider's Henry Blodget: Can Someone At Apple Please Tell Tim Cook That He Doesn't Have To Waste Time Talking To Investors?