“No matter what Apple does, it seems that it is never enough,” Jay Somaney writes for Forbes. “Investors (including yours truly admittedly) are always clamoring for better results, better earnings, better guidance, better products, newer products and better and newer everything.”
“Apple is the biggest company in the world in terms of value. It is also the largest contributor to S&P 500 tech sector earnings (FactSet),” Somaney writes. “Tech sector earnings for Q3:15 are expected to grow by 2.1%. Excluding Apple, the sector would see a 3% decline. and would be classified as a tech sector recession.”
“Despite these impressive statistics above, Apple has been a laggard in terms of performance and with Apple’s September quarter numbers due after the closing bell today, it remains to be seen if investors will be pleased or not,” Somaney writes. “It almost seems like as soon as the conference call for one earnings is over, investors are already worrying about the next quarter and what Apple will have to do to make those numbers.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: That’s the trouble with being King of the Mountain.
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Apple to release Q415 earnings, webcast live conference call on October 27th – October 8, 2015
“it remains to be seen if investors will be pleased or not”
*Investors* usually are. *Traders* on the other hand will find any excuse to drop the stock.
Steve Jobs would say F#$@ It, and ignore the market. This is part of the reason, it’s market revenge. However I think it would be better if they hold to Steve’s perspective. The market can’t sink the company. You want to invest in Apple, then invest. If you specific performance metrics, GTH. Apple is what it is. Let them invent/create. Buy or not buy.
So true. SJ always said that Apple should remain focused on developing insanely great products and the money would take care of itself (profits and stock price).
You also nailed the fact that the stock market and the price of AAPL have no direct effect on Apple’s operations. That stock is already issued. The stock price only matters (from a business perspective) when a company wants to use company stock to finance an acquisition, or if the company wants to raise new capital by issuing new stock. Neither of those situations applies to Apple. Apple has enough cash and securities to finance virtually any business action that it might reasonably take in the foreseeable future.
The market and the price of AAPL matters to us because we own the stock and would like it to appreciate over time to finance retirement, college, etc.
Yes. I’ve stated the same on past stories.
Tim just needs to ignore Wall Street, stop with the buy backs and spend that money on more R&D. At least he will have something to point to for the money spent, opposite of what the buy backs have accomplished, “nothing”.
Too many Wall Street heavy weights that still hate Apple from when Steve was there and want to put them out of business just for their ego’s sake. Not saying it makes sense, but coked-up white collar criminals don’t usually make great decisions.
I don’t think Wall Street’s hate is for Steve Jobs. I think it’s strictly for Tim Cook. They don’t like his whole demeanor as a gay and green activist. They probably think it’s bad for business in general. Investors seem to hate trying to save the ecology because it takes away from profits.
As I ever point out: Apple is EXCEPTIONAL as in BETTER THAN THE REST. That’s a very real situation and it seriously pisses off all the status quo, ‘we seriously suck’ companies who vehemently insist upon doing things wrong.
A) The ‘we seriously suck’ companies consider the customer to be an annoyance who must be beaten and rolled in a dark alley for all the money they have. Financial game tokens, aka $MONEY$ is all they want. This is called GREED.
B) In pursuit of financial game tokens, aka $MONEY$, the ‘we seriously suck’ companies will perform as little work as possible, especially regarding R&D, that incredibly annoying process of having to invent things. They’d rather rip off the likes of Apple instead and suck off the work of others. This is call PARASITISM. Yes, I consider it part of the current status quo.
3) Manipulation of the world in order to force it to bend to the will of the ‘we seriously suck’ companies is a major priority. They morons invented what I call ‘Neo-Feudalism’ whereby these deservedly, profoundly insecure companies couch themselves in a false sense of security by manipulating everyone around them into either putting up with their bullshit or convincing them that their bullshit is delicious and nutritious, when it is the opposite. This is called PROPAGANDA.
Of course the ‘we seriously suck’ companies hate Apple because that company manages to (A) Make money while benefitting and respecting their customer, (B) Perform real R&D, and (C) Honestly and realistically garner a beloved by their customers.
Apple = real.
‘We seriously suck’ = fake.
When someone is delusional and has invented a personal stake in remaining delusional, they despise all the sane people.
This is kind of interesting to consider within the context of a lot of human behavior. We could create a long list of human conflicts that fit within this general thought realm.
Thank you Apple for being real, when you’re real. (Which of course isn’t always, but is far more often than the devoted delusionals). 😉
it’s in part that Apple is not a new company so they can’t get caught up in a wave of stupid optimism like with Amazon, and as an old (in tech terms) company they differ from everyone else in that they don’t just make boxes, sell them and make profit, which is easier for analysts to understand. Analysts don’t like Apple because they can’t easily quantify them with lazy stereotypes.
Amazon was founded in 1994 so it’s not exactly a startup company. It hasn’t been making much in the way in profits for years.
We could easily blame Apple for not using their money like Amazon is. Apple had a ton of money to expand the business but refuses to do so but instead threw the money away on useless stock repurchases. It’s going to bite shareholders in the buttocks. Big investors said Apple should buy back shares, but exactly what has it done for the stock? Nothing good that I can see.
Apple’s EPS is way higher than Microsoft’s yet for 52 weeks and YTD Microsoft is savagely kicking Apple’s ass in share gains with a P/E of 36. That clearly shows Wall Street has absolutely no respect for Apple. Tim Cook has become Wall Street’s Court Jester in a tutu.
I understand you sentiment regarding Apple putting a lot of money into stock repurchase versus R&D. But stock repurchase are NOT useless. The long term math is undeniable – it WILL raise the value of the remaining stock over time.
Apple does spend quite a lot on R&D – more on development than basic research but that’s changing slowly. As in sure you know, R&D spending has increased significantly in recent years.
Keep in mind that growth in R&D spending must be matched by long term product planning and acquisition of top talent to manage that spending. Apple can only grow so fast organically. If R&D spending outstrips Apple’s ability to manage it effectively that money will go to waist.
“Hey, everybody, we’re all gonna get laid!”
Long term investors just stay cool and enjoy the nonsense of Wall Street, as they undoubtably set Apple inc. up for a fall after earnings, by trying to put out ridiculous estimates.
Over time the Appl stock price will rise because of Buybacks and the resulting EPS increases, the healthy margins Apple inc. delivers and the ever increasing user base that enjoy the ecosystem of devices, software and services this stellar company offers!!
Because Apple refuses to be manipulated by WS/ANALyst and their cohorts. Thats why. SJ said once that he doesn’t give a F about stock and these guys. All he cares about is making awesome products for us…Period! I’m fine with that. 😀
“I told my psychiatrist that everyone hates me. He said I was being ridiculous – everyone hasn’t met me yet.”
-RD
If you look at Apple’s stock price on any semblance of perspective, it’s a phenomenal success story. Many people have become rich thanks to Apple’s over 2,000% rise in stock value over the last 10 years. So sorry that Apple’s current success is already built in to its current stock price, and that Apple has not recently done anything to surpass the high expectations the market has already priced in. If you are looking for insane growth, you need to invest in smaller companies, which have the room to grow and multiply their value many times over.
Yes, but what has Apple done for me lately… That’s what investors will be saying as Apple stock plummets like a doomed business.
Amazon will continue to tear Apple to shreds in share gains quarter after quarter by turning very little in profits and increasing the size of the company by orders of magnitude. Obviously, that’s how Wall Street likes a company to grow a business. Sell a million products for a $1 each, Not sell one product for a $1,000,000 each.
Let me tell you what Apple has done for me lately, as a longtime Mac user.
1) pulled the X-Serve
2) foisted on users an unreliable iCloud
3) Removed user-configurable options from Macs
4) dumbed down OS X.
5) axed, dumbed down, or uglified every single Apple Mac application — Aperture being especially missed.
6) stopped innovation in standalone displays, Airports, and other very important accessories
7) killed the 17″ MacBook Pro
8) killed matte screens
9) f’ed up iTunes with subscription-based services
10) mismanaged amateur video editing tools Quicktime/iMoveie/iDVD such that one can’t easily produce their home videos.
11) forced Mac Pro users to buy expensive 3rd party hardware in order to have expansion cards, local drives, etc.
12) done nothing (other than a poorly implemented Mac App Store) to bring more quality apps to the Mac platform.
13) failed to offer Mac hardware that has competitive prices and hardware specifications.
In short, Apple has abandoned its longtime power Mac users. With Cook’s entire focus going to fashion iOS gadgets, the Mac OS has stagnated and no longer has a commanding lead over Windows in any objective performance measurement, except perhaps security. Mac pro users are leaving the fold because they can navigate the security issues in Windows better than they can deal with lack of support from Apple on all fronts. It doesn’t have to be this way, Apple. You have enough money to serve your most profitable customers — but you have to listen to their needs instead of devoting all your attention to fickle fashionistas and the hordes of people who do nothing but facebook all day. iOS is a non-starter in most industries, so don’t even go there. Deliver new Mac trucks designed to get stuff done. PLEASE!
“Plummet” relative to what? Apple stock’s price is higher then it has been any point in time prior to 15 months ago. Apple is a good business, a good investment, and the market has been rewarding it accordingly.
If you just bought Apple stock less that a year ago, you’re just going to have wait out market fluctuations a bit longer before you get to be rich like all the other Apple investors. If you can’t handle waiting to make money, then you shouldn’t be investing in the first place.