“Tonight, Apple reported a disappointing quarter by missing expectations on most metrics. Revenues, EPS, iPhone units, iMac units, Gross Margin and next quarter guidance were lower than anticipated, and the stock traded down roughly 5% in the after market,” Darcy Travlos writes for Forbes. “nalysts had been lowering expectations for the last eight weeks due to new product expectations in the next two quarters, but the reality of lower gross margins, declining sales to Asia Pacific and flat retail traffic may create some concern in analysts’ reports tomorrow. However, investors interested in the long-term upside in Apple can take advantage of the stock dips and buy the stock. Herein I highlight subtle points from Apple’s earnings call worth noting.”
Travlos writes, “First, earnings expectations were $37B in revenues and $10.40 EPS. Apple delivered $35B in revenues and $9.32 EPS. While Apple did miss expectations, it did beat guidance of both $34B in revenues and $8.68 EPS, and it did post the third best quarter in its history. Please note, the two better quarters in Apple’s history were the previous two quarters this year, setting Apple up for its best year ever.”
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Richard Wolfert” for the heads up.]
Gee, it sure sounds like Apple is doomed. I guess we need to add “beleaguered” in front of their name again now. 😉
Yes, it seems the wild ride of Mr. Toad is over.
Apple has always been doomed, and it was just a matter of time before reality set in and cruel, inexorable market forces restored the rightful rule of the aristocracy of mediocrity and crass exploitation.
All well and good; it had begun to be too exciting to bear, watching creative evolution unfolding before our very eyes.
By all means let us return to the days of yore characterized by poor design, planned obsolescence, indistinguishable products, insulting marketing, and insufferable management.
The upstart Apple has stumbled and will soon be supplanted by a myriad of banal, look-alike companies manufacturing much-needed landfill, catering to the fleeting whims of the next generation of Eloi, and restoring the balance of nature to the deadening swamp it once was before the reviled defilers of sameness and decay arrived.
Back to the Nineties!
What a well written piece of satire!
Yes, handsomely and funnily said hannahjs!
+ 1000
Good Show sport Good Show
MDN – Hire this poster. We are in dire need of sophisticated satire. It’s better than the Macalope.
Well, I have high hopes for this upcoming forth quarter. How I would love to buy some juicy stocks right now…unfortunately, I’m kind of tight on money right now and throwing in $500-$600 just seems too risky at the moment.
I’ll have to work on earning some investment money first. I’ll wait for the next dip, lol
Apple didn’t miss their own guidance. This isn’t Apple’s problem. These Wall St. retards need to start listening to Apple’s guidance instead of inflating expectations unreasonably. Free Market, my ass.
Ufortunatly instead of chasing the traders away this opportunity for profiteering will only bring more non-investor owners into the stock. Speculating in stocks doesn’t make one an investor. Holding shares does.
The amount of movement in Apple after hours was intended to stop out positions. I hope hope all you long Apple investors still own your positions tomorrow.
Actually investing is not defined by “buy and hold” parameters. If that works for you that’s fine. Different strokes for different folks. Investing is always speculative. Nothing is guaranteed. And buying and holding shares of any company makes you no money until you sell those shares! Your gains are only on paper. Think about it. You only make or lose money when you sell. So no, holding shares makes you no more an investor than someone who buys and sells in a short period of time. And the action after hours was not orchestrated by anyone. It sounds as though you are pretty desperate if you’re begging people to hold their shares tomorrow. Do your own investing and be responsible for yourself. Don’t depend on others to do your work. Also, don’t try to tell the world what investing is. It’s pretty clear that you don’t know what you’re talking about. How much did you lose today? It’s okay, it’s only on paper.
Does GM stand for “Gambling Maniac”? Because Marty has it right, and you sound like an idiot who spends too much time pushing chips around a casino.
No, he’s absolutely correct. If you want to play the game, you’d better understand it. Otherwise it’s best you stayed out.
I agree.
Investing is joining the company as a part owner. Investing to grow with the company.
Speculating is what these anal…yst guys are doing. Trying to manipulate the market so they can make a quick buck.
Sort of like a cheap used car dealer trying to gain reputation by calling himself a “premier previously adored automobile sales facility”. Yea, and the cars are still crap too. LOL
In case anyone has forgotten Apple also missed Wall Street’s frothy expectations in the fourth quarter of last year (while beating their own guidance) and the stock is up almost 50% since then. It’s all just a game, folks. Focus on the fundamentals: Growth, great earnings and $110 billion plus in cash on the balance sheet.
“Genau” sprach Zarathrustra.
A couple of things to take away from the latest earnings report.
The iPhone is getting long in the tooth and is no longer sexy or hip. But that’s a natural corollary of not changing the design for more than 2 years. People were expecting great things from the iPhone 4S but all Apple did was rehash the external form factor and threw in Siri as a last ditch attempt to appeal to the masses. The Siri effect is wearing down and frankly nobody cares because Siri is still beta and is clunky and clumsy to operate. It’s just not natural. It’s more machinelike than human – not an Apple attribute at all.
Apple sold 26 million iPhones in the last quarter. By contrast Samsung sold 10 million Galaxy S3’s in the first month of launch. It just goes to show that the rehashing an old design isn’t cutting it any more. Apple needs fresh thinking to make itself hip and desirable again.
Mmm.
I think that Apple holds back new designs until they see signs that sales have begun to slow down. Seems that the ipad is still going great, and the iPhone sales were up from the same quarter last year (though down on this previous quarter), so I don’t think they’re going to do too much; they don’t have to.
Actually, no.. Samsung SHIPPED 10 million.. Apple SOLD 26 million. Big difference there..
And Apple will always do two versions of each design so as not to alienate the 2 year contract holders.. It’s a cultivation of the fact that nearly 90% of iPhone users will STAY with an iPhone.
Just the opening Ballmer has been waiting for!
It’s definitely a bit of a downer compared to the previous two quarters. Apple does seem to have lost a bit of their fire and the excitement seems to have worn off somewhat. It seems they’re on cruise control and it’s about milking every ounce of what they released previously as long as they can. It’s not a bad business strategy by any means but the formula is getting stale.
Apple seems to be hitting more and more snags lately: the Proview lawsuit that delayed the release of the new iPad in China, the delay of Intel’s new processors which caused the delays of new Macs, the unending cycle of tit-for-tat legal skirmishes that seems to put Apple in a worse light than the competition, an annual product cycle that virtually everyone knows about that slows the sales of current products, etc.
I’m sure the next iPhone will result in a mind-blowing FY13 Q1 but it seems like Apple needs something more for Q3 and Q4 to balance things out more evenly. Someone mentioned that perhaps Apple needs to two new phone models a year spread 6 months apart. Maybe it will be the iPad mini. Maybe the TV… I think Apple also needs to generate more excitement for the Mac in general. It really does seem like the Mac has been relegated to an afterthought status compared to the iPhone and the iPad.
At the same time, $35 billion in sales with $8.8 billion in net income is nothing to sneeze at. It’s just that Apple has set the bar so high over the past few years that it will become increasingly hard to meet expectations. Is this the so-called “Law of Large Numbers” finally coming into play or is it the sorry state of the global economy or is Apple finally hitting the saturation point or all or none of the above?
Why is the headline not “Apple exceeds its expectations, analysts wrong again” ?
Apple success stories are old hat. Design, innovation, cachet, blah blah blah. We get it.
But “Apple is Doomed” stories continue to lead in popularity, probably because the faithful rally to Apple’s defense, the haters salivate and shriek “bwahahaha”, and everyone else instinctively slows down to ogle the carnage.
Apple didn’t miss the analysts did.
Apple’s year over year numbers showed significant increases and Apple beat it’t guidance.
Does anyone really doubt that the iPone 5 will be a blockbuster item that will be a significant part of next quarter’s numbers. But so will iPad. A new iPod touch, and possibly an iPad mini or other sized iPad would also sell significantly. Not to mention other possible surprises.
To me Apple is like a great Olympic athlete who runs the 100 meter winning gold. But the analysts say we expected a time of 6.5 seconds but it too Apple 7 seconds so it is a diappointing performance.
Of course sports analysts can be just as annoying as stock analysts.
An important difference is that stock analysts, who are not really a part of the executive team at Apple have the ability to move markets based upon their inaccurate analysis. That should be regulated so that the analysts pay a price for doing that.
The sudden drop in after hours trading did present a real buying opportunity.
I am as optimistic about Apple now as I was before the earnings report.
If you realize the things that Apple is intereted in and working on their future is as bright as ever.
@Zmarc @hannahjs your top 2 posts were great. Well done!
We are in the nascent stages of the mobile computing era. If one is investing for the long term — 15-20 years ahead– owning Apple is something akin to owning Microsoft in the early 80’s, when the desktop computing era was in its asendency. Sure, competition is fiercer today, but Apple still brings huge competitive advantages to the table. And those advantages are (and will continue) translating into benefits for consumers and investors alike.
The 1st sentence on this shitty report by Darcy Travalos is proof that this person is an idiot and doesnt deserve to be a journalist . And the editor who authorised this report to go ahead is just as bad. Why cant these journalists just use simple common sense before they write such crap?😡 and how much money do they earn for printing such drivel?
Hey, Snoop. Did you read the article? (Can you?) It seems to me she is painting a positive outlook on the stock over the next few quarters, at least, and points out that Apple did not miss their own guidance. Her seven positive points are clear.