Posts for Ticker ‘Steve Jobs’

Apple Earnings Preview (AAPL)

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) reports earnings today after the close and Wall Street is expecting $0.86 EPS and $6.07 Billion in revenues.  The company’s guidance usually comes at or under certain targets and is deemed overly conservative.  The estimates for next quarter are $1.39 EPS and $8.6 Billion in revenues.  If you have been inside an Apple store you’ll know why everyone expects a blowout quarter.

Apple shares were indicated higher by about 0.7% pre-market, despite the sell off seen in overseas markets and in U.S. futures this morning.  After the open, shares are now up almost 1.5% at $172.90.  Apple shares closed down $3.08 on Friday to $170.42, which was better than the overall market fared.  Shares did hit new intraday highs of $174.63 on Friday.

Since shares were hitting new highs on Friday, you can imagine what the chart says.  During the August market malaise Apple shares closed as low as $117.05, so shares are up over 40% from those levels.  Options do not expire until November 16 after Friday’s expiration, but it appears that option traders are expecting a move of up to a $12.00 to $13.50 range in either direction today.  Speculators are obviously using options as a "cheaper" way of trading the stock, because there are over 100,000 contracts listed in the open interest in the closest strike prices for November.

We just noted this morning how Strategy Analytics was predicting that Apple and AT&T would deliver 1.1 million iPhones in Q3, bringing sales to 1.325 million units.  You have to wonder when Steve Jobs is going to split this stock.  As a reminder, we are less than 5-days out from its new Mac OS X Leopard launch as well.

We recently covered how Apple was growing its worldwide computer shipments, and Gartner said that last quarter’s Mac shipments rise 37% to roughly 1.3 million units.  If that is accurate, Apple’s computer market share is now 8.1%.  Apple was also listed as one of our key window dressing stocks and Jim Cramer has it as one of his "New Four Horsemen of Tech," although recently he noted how some of these may see some expected profit taking.

Jon C. Ogg
October 22, 2007

Posted on: October 22, 2007 – 9:25 am in Earnings, , ,

What We Expect From Apple Today (AAPL, MSFT, CREAF)

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is trading up marginally ahead of the technology analyst and press conference in San Francisco, but the stock is currently back within about $4.50 of its all-time highs.  What is being pushed around all over Wall Street and Main Street alike is a new revamped and souped up iPod.

We’ve already gotten the iPhone, we’ve already seen new PC announcements, we’ve already been given the delayed launch date of the Leopard operating system, and we are still viewing the TV initiative as a hobby as Steve Jobs called it himself.  Unless Apple is going to shock the you know what out of everyone with a new unknown and undiscovered product, this iPod revamp makes more than perfect sense.  Consumers want it too.

Back in April, Apple said it had sold its 100-millionth iPod.  This goal is probably to hit 200 million units if it wants to keep driving the stock.  We think this may be more of an iPhone-esque iPod, but without the phone.  So we’d be looking for more touch screen and hopefully some more Wi-Fi features.  We’ll know in a few hours.  Here is what some of our tech friends are saying around the web today:

Business 2.0: wide-screen, touch-sensitive iPod, iPod nano with a larger screen, iPod Shuffle with more memory for the same price….

Engadget: Rick Rubin proclaims "the iPod will be obsolete"
Apple to unleash "The Circle" concept tomorrow?

Newsday.com: What’s coming next from Apple?

CNET: "The iPod is growing up: If Apple really is putting a version of Mac OS X in a new iPod, presumably it has more in mind than showing high-quality reruns of The Hills."

Think Secret: Touch-screen iPod to take center stage

San Francisco Chronicle: What news awaits the Apple faithful?
Speculation centers on redesigned iPods, expanded content offerings on iTunes

After the recent Zune price cuts, you have to wonder if Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) is holding on to this space with looser hands and maybe just as a hobby.  And as far as Creative Tech (NASDAQ:CREAF), everyone now only asks "Who?".

Jon C. Ogg
September 5, 2007

Jon Ogg can be reached at jonogg@247wallst.com; he produces the Special Situation Investing Newsletter and he does not own securities in the companies he covers.

Posted on: September 5, 2007 – 8:49 am in Consumer Electronics, , , , , , , , , ,

Wal-Mart’s DRM-free MP3 Music Not Likely To Hurt Apple or Amazon.com (WMT, AAPL, AMZN, RNWK)

Earlier this morning, Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT) announced the launch of its own "DRM-free" MP3 music downloads.  Those wanting the service can download from Walmart.com at $0.94/song and $9.22/album.  The new MP3 digital format allows the ability for customers to play music on nearly any device, including iPod®, iPhone® and Zune(TM).

Wal-Mart is one of the first major retailers to offer MP3 digital tracks with music content from major record labels such as Universal and EMI Music, and the launch is aimed to get into the space of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Amazon.com (NASSDAQ:AMZN).  Wal-Mart’s new MP3 music catalog includes hundreds of thousands of songs and albums, and will be continually expanded with additional mainstream and independent music content. Also, Wal-Mart is currently offering special MP3 album pricing on hundreds of album classics.

It used to be that once Wal-Mart went after your space that things became instantly worse for you and your other competitors.  But after the Wal-Mart woes of late, they just don’t seem able to wrangle away customers at the same rate.  In fact, many may now chuckle at new initiatives because its online presence is still too small to be a major factor.

Steve Jobs and Jeff Bezos probably didn’t call each other up in a panic this morning, and probably won’t be tomorrow either.  These stocks are even higher on the heels of RealNetworks (NASDAQ:RNWK) launch of a new digital music company with MTV.  We addressed this earlier today.  If these were as threatening as they sound then Amazon.com (AMZN) shares might not be up 3.8% and Apple (AAPL) shares might not be up 4% today.  Getting the huge established tech predators unseated from a dinner table at their favorite restaurants usually takes more than getting a two-top table in the corner.

Jon C. Ogg
August 21, 2007

Jon Ogg can be reached at jonogg@247wallst.com; he does not own securities in the companies he covers.

Posted on: August 21, 2007 – 2:31 pm in Consumer Electronics, Entertainment, Internet, , , , , , , , , ,