“Just a week after Credit Suisse cut its earnings estimates on Apple, the investment bank reiterated it is still confident in the long-term outlook of the company,” Chris Ciaccia reports for TheStreet.
“Analyst Kulbinder Garcha hosted a conference call with Apple’s CFO Peter Oppenheimer and came away from the call confident, noting ‘there are several longer term growth drivers that exist for Apple,'” Ciaccia reports. “He reiterated his ‘overweight’ rating and $600 price target.”
Ciaccia reports, “Oppenheimer quoted data from IDC, noting that 45% of smartphones sold are now over $400 and, though the low-end market is growing faster than the high-end, the high-end market is still growing. There is also the ability for Apple to add new carriers as it moves into new markets. Garcha estimates that Apple can add 65 million iPhone units through carrier expansion alone… By addressing additional emerging markets, this could spur an additional $90 billion in revenue and $21 per share in earnings by 2015.”
Read more in the full article here.
How good is good enough?
Where is the ‘Apple is doomed’ sentiment now?
AAPL has gone up two days in a row now, that’s almost like a record since September past.
I’m iCal’ing this! You just jinxed it. I was going to retire after three up days but now I’ll have to wait another six months. Blast, you, silverhawk1!
😉
You and Jersey.
All those pundits and analysts think because Apple is so broadly embraced it’s time for someone else to come up with the Next Big Thing.
Just who do they expect to invent the NBT? It’s not going to be companies who just copy like google, samsung, or microsoft. There’s only one company I know which is organized to invent and has a history of it: Apple.
Innovation and excitement are in Apple’s DNA. Missteps in execution, and failed experiments, don’t change that. Apple invents the future, others follow. Yes, of course there are many brilliant and talented designers, engineers, and visionaries working for other firms. But Apple Inc. itself was Steve Jobs’s greatest innovation: an organization dedicated not to making money, but to making insanely great things. That alone gives it an everlasting edge over other great corporations—a zen koan among marketing platitudes, a healing mantra among advertising jingles, a ray of hope in a dark and vicious world, a wakening slap in the face of entrenched thinking.
If they do fail, it will because of theft, betrayal, miscarriage of justice, hatred and envy radiating from the ratholes of corporate America. It will not be because the vision was false.
mmmmmmm actually they are dedicated to making money. Have you noticed that large pile of money they have over in the corner? Yes, that pile. They are a for-profit corporation. They charge as much as they can for their devices and software and services. It’s because they like to make lots and lots of money. You have noticed some of the large payouts to their executives haven’t you? That’s right, many, many millions of dollars. And as you say, there are many companies out there with fantastic employees and a vision for the future. Apple simply gets a lot of attention. Steve Jobs was known to throw nickels around like sewer lids. Don’t ever get the idea that he wasn’t about making money. Because he was. And that’s okay. It’s why you are in business. If you don’t make a profit you can’t stay in business. If you don’t stay in business you can’t make fantastic things. They go hand-in-hand. If you don’t make a profit you can’t reward the shareholders. Shareholders, the folks that make your business possible. Many people start a business with the idea of creating great things. Most fail in the end because they are not profitable. You have to make that dollar. Apple is hardly the only company out there that strives to make great products. But they are great because they are still able to make those products. That has nothing to do with their vision it has to do solely with the fact that they can pay the bills. So kudos to Apple. They still work hard to make the best and can afford to keep the business going. That’s where they really succeed. If Apple didn’t make the best they would go out of business. Anyone can have a plan but few are able to execute in the business world. Apple has done that perfectly. That’s my two cents on the subject. I’d like to be more poetic and use ten dollar words but it’s really not necessary. I’m just not trying to impress everyone.
I’ll back up hannahjs on this one. The comment was that Apple is dedicated to making great products. Of the pie that represents people and focus at Apple, there certainly is a wedge that is for the people and spreadsheets that ensure profitability, but the majority of the pie is dedicated towards making great products. At other companies I have worked for a product would be ditched because the profit/loss analysis came out on the loss side. At Apple a great product that doesn’t meet gross margin guidelines is reviewed for what else needs to be done to make it profitable… buying up manufacturing capacity to ensure volume, renegotiating with affected industry players, inventing supporting ecosystem, and others. It’s incredibly hard work but its what is so gratifying to folks making great products: Make them great and the company will move mountains in support of the great product.
There was an analyst the other day who noted that the real value of Apple is misunderstood because the financial models don’t take into account the value of the ecosystem Apple has created through the Made for iPhone/Made for Mac program, the music store, the book store, the movies, etc. I think he didn’t go far enough in his realization: Apple can now accept lower gross margin on hardware when they know from experience that such hardware is going to increase the size or use of the ecosystem. So while analysts with simplified spreadsheets take Apple management’s guidance on lower gross margins and predict doom, I think their quarterly predictions on profits will continue to miss the mark because they aren’t taking into account (how could they, really) what the growing ecosystem means to the profits Apple is making.
Of course, you’re right. You’re very good at clarifying these verities. Keep up the good work. At the same time, there are dimensions to human experience that are tucked away, and a universal emotional substrate, that cry out for meanings beyond the big board. A bit of cheer leading on my part shouldn’t detract from the brutal truth of the game, only help build others’ confidence that there is more to it than eternal vassalage.
You are a writer and poet when you said:
“…a zen koan among marketing platitudes, a healing mantra among advertising jingles, a ray of hope in a dark and vicious world, a wakening slap in the face of entrenched thinking.”
Thank you. You made my morning a little better!
Me Too! – The Sun is brighter this morning!
Thank you hannahjs