“So the story is still playing out. Starting in December, there was an unproven claim that demand for the iPhone 5 had taken a nosedive. Why? Because of one unconfirmed report claiming that Apple had cut back on orders for the latest iPhone’s displays,” Gene Steinberg writes for TechNightOwl. “Apple’s stock price took a dip, but things got real bad in January when no less than the Wall Street Journal published a similar report evidently based on the same unproven claim.”
“Even though Apple reported record sales for the December quarter, which lasted a week less than the December quarter for 2011, Apple couldn’t catch a break. Profits were flat, even though, after introducing so many new products in the previous few months, you’d expect exactly that result. And don’t forget Apple did caution against lower profits for the quarter,” Steinberg writes. “Despite the flat profits, they still totaled over 50% more than Samsung, and many times more than Amazon, which seldom reports much of a profit. The stock market responded by tanking Apple’s stock price, but keeping Amazon relatively high. Does that make sense? Well, I suppose it does if profits aren’t important.”
Steinberg writes, “Consider, also, that Apple managed to sell 47.8 million iPhones, despite the fact that the newest model was in short supply for much of the quarter. And, once again, it was a 13 week quarter, compared to 14 weeks last year. Had there been another week, assuming the same sales rate for that extra seven days, Apple would have sold nearly 3.68 million more iPhones, a total that would have comfortably exceeded analyst estimates. And don’t forget the impact to profit margins.”
Much more in the full article here.
Related articles:
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Apple’s all-time record quarterly earnings disappoint – January 23, 2013
After posting new all-time record revenue, Apple shares collapse in after-hours trading – January 23, 2013
MacDailyNews presents live notes from Apple’s Q113 Conference Call – January 23, 2013
Apple reports record results: $54.5 billion revenue, $13.1 billion profit, $13.81 EPS – January 23, 2013
I’m holding on to my shares.
Do what you like with your shares – but one thing’s for sure, anyone who takes financial advice from Steinberg is a fool. Whether as an Apple advocate or a financial adviser, this self-publicist lost his credibility years ago.
It’s not Steinberg we follow, it’s the facts that Steinberg has laid out that we already know about. As Foghorn Leghorn once said “Somethin’ about this don’t add up!”
Maybe Apple should sell at a loss for a while to undercut and wipe out the competition.
A very illegal proposition Paul! Apple would be hauled in to answer charges of manipulation seeking to become a monopoly and an abuse of its market position.
You haven’t taken note of how Apple inc. carefully sets up consortiums to buy patents in order to avoid being accused of trying to dominate the market by use of its cash hoard.
Apple inc. may or may not wipe out the competition, if they do, it will be because the competition was not good enough to survive anyway.
Apple could wipe out Amazon’s digital media aspirations by simply matching prices on e-books, music, movies, and TV shows.
Apple has actual profit generating divisions to afford this strategy. Amazon does not.
In a nutshell, your observation plausibly explains (1) Amazon studiously avoiding goading Apple, as only a fool would poke a bear with a stick, (2) analyst hate for Apple, as a form of jealous fear for their darling Amazon.
+1000
Isn’t that exactly what Google have done with Android – “sell at a loss” (i.e. give it away) “to undercut and wipe out the competition”?
Guugler don’t give android away, those cheapskate customers of sameslung et al pay with their personal information, and pay dearly, it is the phone suppliers who give away access to their customers personal info to google so they can sell a cheaper phone. Any fool knows this, that is why I am sure that android users are worse than fools!
What’s wrong with competition? Apple has no fear of becoming a small player. They are growing every year.
In the long term, profits will trump everything. Never lose site of this even if in the short term the pundits trashing a company or pumping up.
I sure hope you’re right about this because it seems exactly the opposite of what everything Wall Street is indicating. If you notice, most of the stocks with the most spectacular gains recently are rather low on profits and Wall Street keeps screaming for Apple to make cheaper products while somehow keeping profit margins high. None of it really makes any sense, though.
I’ve yet to understand how the stock market can keep turning low profitability companies into seemingly high value stocks. It’s like they’re turning vapor into money but I wonder how long they can keep doing this before people wise up. Then again, maybe nobody really cares as long as they’re on the receiving end.
I haven’t followed companies like Mercedes-Benz, BMW or Porsche, so I wonder if they have the same stock problems that Apple has where analysts would keep begging them to make cheaper vehicles to gain market share. It just seems so insulting to a company that wants to maintain a quality standard.
It may simply be that the tech sector is, by its nature,
(a) comparatively new and diverse, therefore incompletely understood,
(b) changing too rapidly, therefore overtaxing cognitive wetware and more likely to arouse irrational responses
In any case, it’s clear that the the stock market is a black box whose hidden mechanisms have many conflicting explanations, none of them more convincing than the Flying Spaghetti Monster
I just keep buying more shares. Over forty separate purchases in the last six years.
Gasp!! Proof that idiocy exists!
If there was a lack of demand, common sense should tell you that then every product would be in stock in great numbers.
But Anal-ists don’t have common sense or any sense at all from what I’m reading.
Amazon actually reported a LOSS of $39m (9c per share) for the year ended 31.12.2012
Therefore, their stock took a leap in price.
Yes, Wall Street is currently deranged as hell. Just watch and learn. This is all going down into the history books and Organizational Behavior journals. It’s how capitalism eats itself alive. Those who survive will define the future. Hello Apple!
Great article–finally someone whom speaks up of actual and better yet factual numbers and events leading up to the quarter end, WSJ has become a joke–reporting on rumors like its fact or worse yet a motivated financial gain to see Apple sell off !
To be expected from a Rupert Murdoch owned media outlet…
Apple couldn’t catch a break
Apple doesn’t need a break. Wall Street needs shock therapy to wake them out of their ‘Apple Bear’ depression. Is 50,000 volts enough? 😆