Apple Thoughts - News & Reviews on all things Apple

"Shares of Apple Inc. (AAPL) closed today at $269.00, putting the company's market value at $244.77 billion."

As you can see above, the stock rose above $270.00 USD in after hours trading, at least as of 8pm Eastern. According to MacDailyNews, this puts the market cap of Apple ($244.77 billion) greater than the combined Microsoft and Dell market cap ($242.42 billion). Let's see what today brings.

"A few years ago, Steve Jobs allegedly sent a company wide email to his employees to brag about the fact that Apple had just surpassed Dell in terms of marketcap, meaning that - according to the stock market, at least - Apple had become a larger computer than its computer selling rival."

That was, of course, in response to comments made by Michael Dell of Dell Computer when he suggested years previous that Apple should shut down because of the low stock price and give the money back to it's shareholders. Times change but apparently Steve Jobs has a long memory. As it stands now, Apple Stock has to hit about the $290.00 USD price, along with the Microsoft share price holding steady, in order to surpass Microsoft's market cap of $262.21 billion versus Apple's $234.97 billion. With Apple dropping almost $8.00 USD as of the posting of this story, that may not happen anytime soon.

"Apple posted yet another record quarter Tuesday for the March quarter, the company's second fiscal quarter. The company posted revenue of US$13.5 billion and a quarterly profit of $3.07 billion, or $3.33 earnings per share (EPS). The company reported higher Mac sales, and iPhone sales grew 131% year-over-year."

Apple sold 2.94 million Macs, up 33% from the same quarter a year ago, and also sold 8.75 million iPhones and 10.89 million iPods. This of course did not include the iPad, which will end up in the next quarter report, but it was the best non-holiday quarter ever since revenues were up 49% and profits were up 90%.

And in after hours trading, Apple posted an increase of 6.71% to close at $261.01 USD per share based on the strong earnings report.

"Shares of Apple Inc. today rose $1.84, or 0.77%, on lighter-than-average volume of 11,619,04 shares to set a new all-time closing high of $241.79."

That was as of closing yesterday, wonder how high (or low) they will go today? The previous high was $240.60 USD and the 52-week low was $115.76.

"Bernstein Research's Toni Sacconaghi issued a 13-page report last week in which he estimated that the iPhone's gross profit margins were an astounding 57.8%. Those margins tower above Apple's competitors with RIM estimated to have 43% profit margins, Nokia 33%, Motorola 32%, and HTC 31.7%."

And while it may decline in the future per The Street, Saconaghi thinks it will increase since prices have increased since Q3 2009 to Q1 2010, from $588.00 USD to $638.00 USD, and demand doesn't seem to be subsiding. He also sets a target stock price of $250.00 USD. Well, let's see what June brings.

"Apple's stock soared after the iPad, a hybrid iPhone and netbook computer, was unveiled Wednesday and then plunged with the rest of the market Thursday morning. That shows the best and worst aspects of investing in Apple, all in less than 24 hours."

Apple stock opened at $206.85 USD on the day of the iPad announcement, fluctuating to a high of $210.58 USD after going as low as $199.53 USD before finally settling in to close at $207.88 USD for the day. But the glow from the event wouldn't last as by Friday, brought down in large part to sell offs in the market as a whole, Apple was down to $192.06 USD as a closing price. Here is hoping today will be a better day!

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"The news that Apple is going to announce something on January 27th has the stock market in a tizzy. At one point this morning, Apple shares were up to $214.16, up $8.23 or about 4.0%."

Currently Apple Stock is down to $210.40 USD, just a little over five dollars shy of their 52-week high of $215.59 USD that they reached on January 5, 2010. I guess we shall see in about a week what happens when all is revealed at the event!

"Apple Inc shares reached their all-time high on Thursday as excitement builds over the expected release of its tablet computer. Although Apple has never acknowledged that a device exists, anticipation is peaking as the company enters the new year."

The previous all-time high was $208.71 USD, which was surpassed on Thursday as the stock hit $209.35 USD before the dust settled and it closed at $209.04 USD. There are lots of quotes about this being anticipation of an Apple Tablet, and since it is expected to be announced in January, I suppose buying based on tablet anticipation isn't too far from the truth.

"Apple's stock price has hit an all-time high today, surging over 4% at the moment to top $207 per share. The peak eclipses Apple's previous high set in late December 2007. Apple's stock subsequently sank to a low of under $80 per share in late 2008 amid uncertain economic times before rebounding strongly over the past eight months."

This was yesterday, and on top of that news the crazy stock guy over at TheStreet.com, Jim Cramer, has predicted Apple will hit $300.00 USD. He is basing it on those "words I love to hear" when Apple Executives said they cannot meet the demand for certain products, one of which is the iPhone.

"Shares of Apple Inc. today rose US$3.99, or 2.14%, to close at $190.01 on volume of 21,556,721 shares to set a new 52-week closing high."

This was news from yesterday, which beat the previous 52-week closing high of $186.15 USD from September 28th this year. In comparison, the 52-week low was on January 20th, 2009 when the stock dropped to $78.20 USD. Market value for Apple is $170.21 billion USD, which tops IBM at $159.08 billion USD but doesn't quite achieve the monster Microsoft at $233.75 billion USD.

"UBS analyst Maynard Um this morning issued a short-term Buy rating on Apple (AAPL), while maintaining his long-term Neutral rating on the shares. He also increased his target price to $170, from $160."

This rating was issued yesterday, and Um believes several factors support his rating, including potential sales figures from the refreshed MacBook line, a possible deal with Verizon on as yet to be named data product, the increased sales of iPhone 3GS and wireless deals in China. Lot of speculating but that is what they do isn't it?

"Does Apple have one more earnings surprise up its sleeve? This week will supply a telling sign of the tech industry's economic health. Intel hinted last week that the worst was over, while Google was more cautious. Now, all eyes will be on reports from a parade of tech bellwethers--including Microsoft, Yahoo, Amazon, and IBM--for signs that the tech economy is indeed on the road to recovery."

Apple has had pretty good news so far this year, so the conjecture is that it will continue. They are expected to report revenue in the $7.8 Billion USD range, and per share earnings of $1.09 USD. The article breaks down the sales in each of the categories of products that Apple sells, based on information from analysts from Piper Jaffray.

If you want to listen in, head on over to Apple's Investor Relations site to eavesdrop.

"The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is probing whether Apple sufficiently informed investors of CEO Steve Jobs' health status, Bloomberg reported Wednesday. An unnamed source told the news organization the review does not mean Apple committed any wrongdoing, according to the report. Last week, Apple announced Jobs was taking a six-month medical leave of absence after being informed his health troubles were "more complex" the previously announced. Prior to the announcement, Jobs had assured the Mac community an ailment that had prompted speculation was due to a "hormonal imbalance" the Apple co-founder described as "easily treatable." However, the latest pronouncement by Apple has failed to quell talk that Jobs' health problems are connected to a 2004 pancreatic cancer."

I'm a bit worried for Apple this time around. When Apple made it's "Steve is fine" proclamation a few months ago, I thought it may be a bad move because they were opening themselves up to problems if Steve ever did get really sick. While this investigation by the SEC shouldn't be taken as immediate wrongdoing, there will undoubtedly be people who use this to claim that Jobs mislead shareholders so as to not harm the price of Apple's stock. Me? I'm not sure what to think, actually.