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Posted
Oct 19 2009, 03:44 AM
by
Douglas McIntyre
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
Wall Street believes that Apple (AAPL) will make $1.42 a share for the quarter that just ended on $9.2 billion in revenue. Both figures would be well over 10% higher than a year ago. Apple would have to sell about of 2.9 million Macs, 10.5 million iPods and 6.9 million iPhones to hit those numbers.
Fulfilling those expectations will be a tall order. iPod sales dropped 7% in the June quarter. Mac sales were only up 4% to 2.6 million, and iPhone sales reached 5.2 million.
Wall Street's iPhone sales estimates may be too conservative. The handset has been a hit for AT&T (T), especially after the introduction of the 3GS model, and there is some evidence that sales in Europe are rising quickly due to price cuts in the UK, Germany, and France.
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Posted
Aug 18 2009, 07:05 PM
by
Tobin Smith
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
I remember way back when, during the dot-com boom, computer stocks were the darlings of Wall Street. Along with just about anything Web-related, I recall PC stocks making a lot of people a lot of money. Fast forward about a decade, and in a quiet, yet not too subtle way, PC stocks have once again become a favorite of Wall Street. In fact, over the past six months the “big three” computer makers -- Dell (DELL), Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) and Apple (AAPL) -- all have enjoyed big runs.
Apple shares are up nearly 70% in the last six months, while Dell shares have risen almost 60%. Hewlett-Packard shares are up a very respectable 25%, although that gain is quite a bit less than its competitors.
But the question now is will these stocks continue to do well going forward, and what does the latest earnings data and industry research tell us about the future of PC stocks?
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Posted
Jul 21 2009, 03:52 AM
by
Douglas McIntyre
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
Wall Street analysts expect Apple’s earnings to do better than estimates. This is not surprising. Apple (AAPL) has a history of setting low expectations about its figures and then beating them handily. It has become a game of chess between the company and experts who follow it.
Some analysts tracking the company go so far as to send people to Apple stores and other retailers to count how products are selling. Others check with companies that supply components to Apple for its products like the iPhone and Mac to gauge demand.
Apple’s results should be pulled down by the same gravity that has hurt the consumer electronics and PC markets. The relentless slowing of the economy has made both individual and business purchasers of computers slow to upgrade their hardware. The Apple iPhone is more expensive than most other handsets. A recession is hardly a good time to overpay for a phone.
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Posted
Jun 19 2009, 12:13 PM
by
Minyanville
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
When I use the term “bargain stock,” I'm talking about a stock that's simply being overlooked by the masses, that looks cheap by some measure, and that still has what I believe to be solid future growth potential. Today I want to look at Hewlett Packard (HPQ). The company is one we all know (and if you don’t, hang your head in shame.) HP has bounced back and is way off its lows, but it's really not getting anywhere near as much loving as I think it should. In fact, there are several things that intrigue me about it right now:
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Posted
May 28 2009, 04:42 PM
by
Catherine Holahan
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
When Hewlett-Packard CEO Mark Hurd discussed the sad state of business IT spending last week, he seemed like a buzz kill amidst otherwise upbeat investors. Now, in light of today's earning report from Dell, he seems like an optimist.
Dell reported revenues of $12.34 billion for the quarter ending May 1 -- a 23% decline from the same period last year. The number was about $320 million less than Wall Street consensus estimates. Earnings declined a whopping 63% due, in part, to costs incurred in reorganizing the business
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Posted
Apr 03 2009, 04:03 AM
by
Douglas McIntyre
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
For a company that may have the most well-regarded premium brand in the world, Apple’s (AAPL) stock has certainly been buffeted by unsatisfied investors. The shares have recovered some since the beginning of March, but over the last year they are down more than 25%. When investors are nervous, even the strongest brands get very little consideration.
The concerns about Apple are not different from those regarding any other consumer products company in a recession, but they are more subtle. People stop buying PCs and electronics when the economy is bad, primarily because they can. A 2-year-old computer will still perform 90% of the tasks required by a business or home user. There is nothing wrong with a 2-year-old Nokia (NOK) cell phone.
In the PC market, consumers are willing to go without a new Dell (DELL). Dell does not have much of a brand anymore. Even though Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) is the largest PC company in the world, people do not gush about getting a new HP laptop. It is, more or less, a commodity.
But for millions of people, the Mac is like a Bentley. It is a sign that some things are still worth having because they are designed better, work better and make people feel better than the prosaic Brand X PC alternatives.
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Posted
Apr 01 2009, 10:25 AM
by
Minyanville
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
It started out with flimsy-framed glasses, one lens in blue, the other in red. And just like that, the Creature from the Black Lagoon looked like he was coming right off the screen.
3-D technology, which had its heyday in the 1950s, has intermittently reappeared, with varying degrees of success -- 1983’s "Jaws 3-D" arguably being the nadir. But one of 2009’s biggest weekend openings may have us poised for a 3-D renaissance.
In anticipation of the Dreamworks film "Monsters vs. Aliens," theaters around the country rushed to upgrade projectors to provide 3-D functionality, at a cost of roughly $100,000 per theater. Theaters expected the film’s box-office receipts would help recoup their upgrade costs, and the film didn’t disappoint, generating $59.3 million in box office over its opening weekend.
But the real box-office record of note was the movie's place as the largest digital 3-D opening in history. With more than 2,000 screens outfitted for 3-D, the 3-D theaters accounted for $32.6 million of the $59.3 million opening weekend. Despite the big weekend, the number of screens compatible with 3-D was below initial estimates from Dreamworks Animation (DWA) chief Jeffrey Katzenberg, who has been championing the new format.
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Posted
Feb 20 2009, 03:00 AM
by
Andrew Horowitz
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
 Judging from many of today's corporate financial press releases, it's difficult to imagine that any company is suffering in this economy. Carefully chosen words and phrases such as "record earnings," "best quarter in history," "upbeat outlook" and "better than expected" are all expertly placed to put a positive spin on the news. Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) is the latest example, adding a new way of providing earnings's guidance: simply re-affirm positive earnings per share and revenue guidance and then deal with the potential problems of a weak economy later.
-- Download your FREE copy of Andrew's book, The Disciplined Investor through February 20, 2009 --
Since many corporate communication plans may be designed to confound and confuse, it is important that you understand how to read between the lines.
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Posted
Feb 19 2009, 03:20 AM
by
Bernhard Warner and Matthew Yeomans
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from partner site The Big Money.
Some very wealthy Americans will choke on their coffee this morning as they read that Swiss bank UBS has agreed to hand over the names of about 250 account holders as part of a $780 million settlement with U.S. prosecutors. In what the Wall Street Journal calls a "significant break from Switzerland's tradition of banking secrecy," UBS will give the names of Americans whom the IRS suspects used offshore accounts at the bank to evade taxes.
Federal prosecutors have alleged that, from 2002 to 2007, UBS helped U.S. clients illegally hide $20 billion, allowing them to evade $300 million a year in taxes. The deal could have far-reaching implications for a banking culture that has been based on discretion and secrecy since the Middle Ages. “The Swiss are saying that this is the end of Swiss banking as they knew it,” Jack Blum, an offshore tax specialist told the NYT, adding, “Nobody will trust the security of the Swiss bank account. Sticking with the long arm of the law, it appears that U.S. tycoon Sir Allan Stanford may be on the lam following Securities and Exchange Commission charges that he ran an $8 billion deposit fraud through
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Posted
Jan 20 2009, 03:07 AM
by
Bernhard Warner and Matthew Yeomans
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from partner site The Big Money.
A potential white knight has emerged for the precarious Chrysler: Italy's Fiat, business pages across the U.S. and Europe are proclaiming this morning. According to the Wall Street Journal, the two automakers could announce a no-money-down deal in which Fiat takes control of Chrysler as soon as today. "Fiat, the stronger of the two, wouldn't immediately put cash into Chrysler," the newspaper writes. "Instead it would obtain its stake mainly in exchange for covering the cost of retooling a Chrysler plant to produce one or more Fiat models to be sold in the U.S., these people said." Chrysler gave the New York Times an everybody-is-talking-to-everybody-these-days type "no comment," fueling speculation that a Fiat-Chrysler tie-up is imminent. According to the Financial Times' source, U.S. lawmakers have already been informally briefed on the potential merger.
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