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Goldman Sachs lists Apple at the top for hedge funds holdings
Apple stock is attractive to a wide variety of investors, including those who put their money in hedge funds. According to a Market Folly report, Goldman Sachs released its Q1 2012 Hedge Fund Trend Monitor report and placed Apple's stock at the top of its list. Apple appears on 106 funds that list the stock among its top 10 holdings. Other tech companies on the list from Goldman Sachs include Google in second place and Microsoft at number four.
Goldman Sachs projects AAPL will hit $750
Goldman Sachs sees a rosy future for Apple despite recent stock dips, expecting stock prices to hit $750 and advising investors to buy ahead of next Tuesday's earnings report. AppleInsider reports that analyst Bill Shope estimates that Apple sold 31.1 million iPhones and 12.5 million iPads in the previous quarter. Mac sales are expected to be "lackluster," he said, but better than Wall Street's expectations. Fortune's Philip Elmer-DeWitt collected the iPhone sales estimates earlier this week and says the six most reliable forecasters have an average target of 35.1 million units, nearly a 90% year-over-year increase. The Q2 earnings call will begin at 2 p.m. PT/5 p.m. ET on April 24.
US Court: Code isn't property, therefore it can't be stolen
New York's Second Circuit Court of Appeals has decided that computer code cannot be stolen after acquitting former Goldman Sachs programmer Sergey Aleynikov. He'd been charged with property theft and economic espionage which carried an eight year prison sentence, but left court a free man after serving just a year of his term. The case hinged upon the definition of both property and economic espionage, and the court found that code, being an intangible, couldn't be property that's capable of being stolen within the definition of the statute -- affirming a state of affairs that's been in place since the British case of Oxford v Moss from 1979. Just as a warning: the Judges advised Congress to amend the relevant legislation in order to prevent thefts of this nature in the future, so we'd hold back on any big data-heists you've got planned.
Tim Cook: Right CEO at the right time
Tim Cook wowed us in his recent presentation at a Goldman Sachs investment conference. Rather than formal and serious, Cook was very casual and lively in this talk. He was also forthcoming about Apple, discussing its immediate concerns with manufacturing conditions and its overall plan for the future. Though Cook talked about 37 million iPhones and 100 million iCloud users, that wasn't the most important part of his talk. Cook and his humble demeanor were the star of the show. You see, Tim Cook, as ZDNet aptly writes, is the right man at the right time for Apple. In this recent presentation, Tim Cook is approachable and likable. These two character traits will be invaluable when Apple has to juggle Congressional inquiries, factory inspections and complaints about privacy concerns. He's exactly what Apple needs as it transitions from a scrappy startup to one of the top companies in the world. At the same time, Cook hasn't lost the vision that brought Apple to this elevated position. He won't forget the important things that Steve Jobs hammered into him all those years. Apple, Cook tells us, will continue to revolve around exceptional user experiences and great products. It won't produce "a cheap version of the best product." Apple will also stay focused on only a few products and not try to conquer every sector within consumer electronics. It will be selective when it enters a new market and will venture out only when it can "make a significant contribution to society, not just sell a lot of products." It was refreshing to hear Tim Cook speak this way about Apple. We, as Apple fans, can rest easy knowing Cook won't change the things that make Apple great. We can also look forward to the new ideas Cook is willing to bring our way. If you haven't listened to the presentation, it's available on Apple's website as a QuickTime stream.
iCloud gains 15 million users in 21 days, now at 100 million users
Apple CEO Tim Cook, speaking at the Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference yesterday, noted that iCloud now has over 100 million users. What's incredible is that just a month ago, Cook mentioned during the first quarter earnings call that the sync service had 85 million users. iCloud, which was introduced last year with iOS 5 and Mac OS X 10.7 Lion, provides synchronization of calendars, address books, browser bookmarks, and other applications. A number of other applications are beginning to support sync through iCloud, and Apple's latest updates to the iOS version of the iWork apps -- Pages, Numbers, and Keynote -- show deeper links into the service as a "storage in the sky" location. The increase of 15 million users in just 21 days is incredible -- a 17.6% increase in three weeks. Cook commented during yesterday's conference that iCloud is the "strategy for the next decade" of Apple's business. The relatively seamless way that iCloud makes the flow of information between devices was the main reason that Apple developed the service, and it appears that it will continue to be a major emphasis for the company going into the future.
Cook: iCloud has 100 million users, 3 million Apple TVs sold last year
Tim Cook spoke at the Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference, and he's shared a few up-to-date numbers about a few of Apple's platforms and services. iCloud is probably where he shared the most fascinating insight: The service now boasts over 100 million users, which is a very sizable user base. I don't know offhand how many Apple accounts are out there, but that seems like a significant amount of growth for a service that's not all that old (although MobileMe customers were obviously migrated). Apple TV is also growing -- we've already heard this year that it was big, but Cook says that Apple sold over 3 million set-top boxes last year, and a million last quarter already. He confirmed that the Apple TV was still just a "hobby" for the company, but noted Apple still wants to see more mainstream acceptance of the streaming media device before really dumping in. We'll leave it up to your imagination as to what the Apple TV would be like if Apple decided it was a real market instead of a hobby. Finally, Cook also pointed out that Apple is growing at a gigantic rate in the developing world, earning twenty times the income from previous years in developing tech nations like Asia, India, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. It certainly sounds like Cook has confidently moved into a leadership role at Apple -- not only are things going great, but he definitely has a plan for the future.
Tim Cook speaks on labor, cash and culture during Goldman Sachs conference (Update)
Tim Cook presented remarks at a Goldman Sachs Technology Conference on February 14, and it turned out to be a quite lively affair. Cook opened up on a diverse array of topics ranging from Apple's commitment to improving working conditions at its suppliers all the way to what sounded to us like choking back comments on the next-gen Apple TV. Mac Rumors has an impressive word-for-word transcript of the entire event, and it's definitely reading through the entire thing. We've reprinted some choice excerpts below. Apple may post a podcast of the event on iTunes later; if it does post it, it's worth listening to not only for the fascinating content but also to hear Tim Cook sounding the liveliest and most animated he's sounded since taking over as Apple's CEO. On Apple's commitment to worker rights: We think the use of underaged labor is abhorrent. It's extremely rare in our supply chain, but our top priority is to eliminate it totally. We've done that with our final assembly and we're now working with vendors farther down in the supply chain. If we find a supplier that intentionally hires underage labor, it's a firing offense. We don't let anyone cut corners on safety. If there is a problem on safety, we seek out the foremost experts and set a new standard and apply that to the entire supply chain. We focus on the details. If there is a fire extinguisher missing from a cafeteria, that facility doesn't pass inspection until that fire extinguisher is in place. We are continuing to focus on problems endemic to our industry like excessive overtime. Our code of conduct has a cap of 60 hours per workweek [...] In January, we collected weekly data on over a half million workers in our supply chain. We had 84% compliance. This is significantly improved from the past, but we can do better. We're taking the unprecedented step of reporting this monthly on our website, so it's transparent to everyone what we're doing. (emphasis added) On the iPad and the PC market: We started using it at Apple well before it was launched. We had our shades pulled so no one could see us, but it quickly became that 80-90% of my consumption and work was done on the iPad. From the first day it shipped, we thought that the tablet market would become larger than the PC market and it was just a matter of the time it took for that to occur. I feel that stronger today than I did then. As I look out and I see all of these incredible usages for it, I see the incredible rate and pace of innovation, and the developers -- If we had a meeting at this hotel, and we invited everyone doing cool stuff on PC, we wouldn't have anyone here. If you invited everyone working on iOS or on that other operating system, you wouldn't be able to fit everyone! That's where the innovation is! On competition and cannibalization: Price is rarely the most important thing. A cheap product might sell some units. Somebody gets it home and they feel great when they pay the money, but then they get it home and use it and the joy is gone. The joy is gone every day that they use it until they aren't using it anymore. You don't keep remembering "I got a good deal!" because you hate it! The customers that we're designing our products for are not satisfied with limited function types of products. I think the real catalyst of the tablet market will be innovation and pushing the next frontier. Honestly, we'll compete with everybody. I love competition. As long as people invent their own stuff, I love competition. (emphasis added) I don't predict the demise of the PC, I don't subscribe to that. Given what we've seen, I believe the iPad is cannibalizing some Macs but more PCs. There are more of them to cannibalize than Macs so thats a plus to us. On Apple's cash pile: I think everyone would want us to be deliberate and really think it through. That's what we're doing. We're not going to go have a toga party and do something outlandish. People don't have to worry that it's burning a hole in our pocket. It's not new that we're discussing [dividends]. We are discussing it more and in greater detail. The balance has risen to the point you've made and I think it's clear to everyone and I'd be the first to admit that we have more cash than we need to run the business on a daily basis. I only ask for a bit of patience so we can do this in a deliberate way and make the best decision for the shareholders. On the Apple TV: It's clearly ramping, but the reality -- the reason we call it a hobby -- we don't want to send a message to our shareholders that we think the market for it is the size of our other businesses. The Mac, the iPad, the iPod, the iPhone. We don't want to send a signal that we think the length of that stool is equal to the others. That's why we call it a hobby. Apple doesn't do hobbies as a general rule. We believe in focus and only working on a few things. So, with Apple TV however, despite the barriers in that market, for those of us who use it, we've always though there was something there. If we kept following our intuition and kept pulling the string, we might find something that was larger. (emphasis added) We need something that could go more main-market for it to be a serious category. Note: It doesn't come across so much in the transcript, but on the call itself Cook was being very cautious and deliberate in his choice of words when discussing the Apple TV. Everyone at TUAW listening in on the call could tell he was holding something back here. On Siri and iCloud: They're not something we run P&L's on, we don't believe that. We run the company from the top and don't worry about the iCloud team or Siri team making money. Both of these things go in the profound category. They're things that you'll talk to your grandkids about that are profound changes. On the "Apple Culture": Apple is this unique culture and unique company. You can't replicate it. I'm not going to witness or permit the slow undoing of it. I believe in it so deeply. We should only go into markets where we can make a significant contribution to society, not just sell a lot of products. These things, along with keeping excellent as an expectation, these are the things that I focus on. I want to look out at an audience and see people using iPhones and see people using iPods at the gym, or going to Starbucks and seeing people use the iPad. These are the things that bring a smile to my face. There is no substitute for that. Update: Apple has posted audio of Tim's presentation.
Nokia reportedly looking to sell Vertu, Russian oligarchs reportedly upset
It looks like Nokia has finally grown weary of the one percent. According to a report from the Financial Times, the Finnish manufacturer is looking to sell off its Vertu line of luxury handsets, as part of the firm's ongoing restructuring process. Citing a source "familiar with the process," the FT went on to explain that Goldman Sachs is overseeing the sale, though it's still in a nascent stage of development. The brand has reportedly attracted the interest of unnamed private equity firms, though the same insider claims that luxury goods vendors may toss their hats in the ring, as well. Neither Nokia nor Goldman have commented on the report, but we'll be sure to let you know when they do.
Goldman Sachs sees iPad demand slowing
Almost two years after the iPad launch, Goldman Sachs reports that demand is slowing down, just as the holiday shopping season begins. "While improving holiday demand into late November could certainly push the momentum in the other direction, we believe it is prudent to assume the iPad is facing some near-term demand challenges," writes Bill Shope. Shope believes price is the reason. Amazon's Kindle Fire tablet is much less expensive at US$199, for example. While many consumers are still willing to pay more for a quality product, there's no question price is a big driver in a market like this. Shope recommends that if Apple wants to keep demand for the iPad as high as it's been in the past, the company will need to get the price down. The iPhone's price dropped off sharply after introduction, but we haven't seen that same drop with the iPad. Shope also says that increasing adoption of iCloud and Siri integration would likely drive iPad demand back up. Shope does call the iPad's growth chart "remarkable by any metric," but his analysis says Apple must act soon to kick the iPad back out into the spotlight as competing tablets threaten to take it away.
Nexon's Japanese IPO aims at raising $1.3 billion
When Nexon is finally added to the Tokyo Stock Exchange in December, the company has to be planning a massive "We're in the money!" song-and-dance to celebrate. TechCrunch reports that this will be the biggest IPO in Japan in 2011, with a corporate goal of raising $1.3 billion (100 billion yen) from the listing. The Korean company recently moved its headquarters from Seoul to Tokyo, and is well-known for its popular MMOs such as MapleStory, Mabinogi, and Vindictus. Nexon has over 3,000 people in its employ across the world, and previously said that it is open to purchasing more companies in Japan after the IPO. The company commented on its post-IPO strategy in a brief statement: "As we pursue our strategic objectives, we regularly review our options for accelerating our growth. We have made no decisions or announcements about any specific financing or other plans and cannot comment on rumors." The IPO will be handled by Nomura Securities, Morgan Stanley, and Goldman Sachs. Nexon is hoping that the move will raise its market cap to $9 billion, which will make it the biggest online gaming company listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. The company is currently worth $7.7 billion.
Hulu Plus cracks one million paying subscribers, but what's next?
It's almost the official end of summer and just as CEO Jason Kilar forecasted back in July, Hulu has signed up more than 1,000,000 paying Plus subscribers. He made the announcement at a Goldman Sachs investor conference while also mentioning plans to invest $375 million in content this year, even as the questions of who will buy Hulu (if its owners actually follow through with a sale) and Kilar's own fate as its head continue to hang in the air. Hitting the projected numbers, rolling out service internationally and popping up at the f8 Facebook event are all signs Hulu is still making plans for its future, even if we don't know yet where that future will be.
Goldman Sachs resumes Apple coverage, targets AAPL at $430
Investing firm Goldman Sachs has decided to start covering Apple's stock profile, and that news sent the AAPL stock price up to $325.06 this morning, a nice boost from the day before. And that's not all -- not only did Goldman Sachs pull AAPL into its reporting fold, but it was about as bullish as you can get on a stock, saying through a spokesman that "we believe significant growth and profit opportunities for this platform still lie ahead." The company had been covering Apple previously, but when that special analyst left the firm, it took them a while to find a replacement. But it looks like they've found someone else they feel is qualified to make a prediction. The company predicts a $430 price target for AAPL, so if any of you happen to fall into some money over this coming holiday, you'll now know just where to put it. (Note: this is not actual financial advice, obviously, and there's no guarantee of success in the stock market.) Apple seems to be the success story that keeps on growing -- AAPL has hit a few all-time highs in 2010, and the forecast is pretty sunny all the way around.
Bloomberg: Palm is up for sale
Uh, whoa. Bloomberg just reported that Palm is putting itself up for sale and that offers will potentially come in this week. That's pretty wild news, considering CEO Jon Rubinstein was adamant just a few days ago that Palm had a plan to get profitable -- even while his company's stock price went on a buyout-rumor fueled rollercoaster. Bloomberg says that Palm's already retained Goldman Sachs and Qatalyst Partners to find a buyer, with HTC (yes!) and Lenovo both expressing interest -- and Dell's apparently already taken a pass. Naturally none of these parties are saying anything on the record -- we just pinged Palm and they declined comment -- but if this is true, things are about to get wild, and fast. We'll keep you updated, stay tuned. [Thanks, Sean]
Report: Codemasters to secure new investor amid financial woes
According to a recent report from the Times Online, UK-based publisher Codemasters is "close to securing" a new investor and will announce the mysterious source "shortly." The news is said to be paired with an upcoming balance sheet restructuring -- a necessity, we imagine, after less than huge releases last year like Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising, Fuel, and Damnation. The report also indicates that current investors Balderton Capital and Goldman Sachs will "inject new funds" into the publisher, seemingly holding steadfast in their efforts to build up Codemasters as a major publisher in the global market. The two investment firms have already sunk £100 million ($163.3 million) into the company, so, um, well, maybe they know something we don't? We sure hope that's the case -- we certainly wouldn't want any of our golf buddies at Goldman Sachs to lose their bonuses.
Apple flush with cash and ready to buy
Got a company you're trying to sell? Apple might have a check with your name on it -- BusinessWorld reports that they're in the mood for picking up some new businesses lately. Even after high profile acquisitions like LaLa and Quattro Wireless, Apple's still got plenty of cash in the bank, and they're looking to buy. BW points to the hire of Adrian Perica, a former Goldman Sachs banker, as the company's "first dedicated M&A specialist," and says that with Perica on board, Apple's looking to get the jump on rivals like Google and pick up some new technology and talent via acquisition. So what kind of companies will they be picking up? Apple is a company that's always on the move. While the Mac market is strong, they seem to have realized that their main strength lies in breaking new ground, from music players to smartphones, and so they'll likely pick up companies slightly different from their current core products. They also have a history of buying smaller companies, so you probably won't see them do gigantic merger deals. Rather, they'll find a company working on a new tech that interests them, and then just swallow the little firm whole (see Cover Flow and any number of their other pickups in the last decade). So if your ten-person company is working on, say, a revolutionary new tablet control scheme, or a new category of personal computing, that knocking on your door might be Apple with a truckload of money. [via MacRumors]
Apple market share drops slightly in the past year
Don't look now, but Apple's slow market share incline may have just turned into a slow decline. Not only does a new report by research and advisory company Gartner, Inc say that Apple's market share in the US slipped just a little bit over the past year (from 7.5% to 7.4%), but that as you can see above, there's a steep little decline from the 8% it was in the last quarter of 2008. The PC market overall is down as well, a 6.5% decline since the beginning of last year.Does that mean it's time to sell the AAPL stock? Probably not -- as you can see from the graph, there's still been a nice steady growth in market share since 2006, and the current economy has all ships falling a little bit with the tide as it goes out. But it does mean that Apple might be having more trouble than they want breaking out into more of the market. If that is their goal anyway -- Gartner's report also notes that Apple's relatively higher ASP (Average Selling Price) "created challenges for it in the tough economy," but when have we ever known them to go cheap?So Apple's not up in the short term, but who is? Well maybe Goldman Sachs is. But we don't entirely trust those guys. And in case you're wondering: none of this is actual financial advice, and none of it should be used to make any decisions that might lose you money. You've been warned.[via TechMeme]
Nintendo's 'profits per employee' are higher than Goldman Sachs
If there was ever any question as to how obscenely rich Nintendo is, the Financial Times has crunched some numbers to show the cash flow, per employee, at the House of Mario. The newspaper estimates that Nintendo produces more than $1.6 million per employee -- that's more than investment bank Goldman Sachs' $1.24 million per employee during its best year in 2007.There are some caveats to the information, most of which revolve around how much outsourcing the Big N does. Nintendo makes so much money for having so few employees (3000 full-time), because many of the company's necessities (external development, manufacturing, public relations, etc.) are handled by outside companies. Also, don't think this means that Nintendo is compensating its full-time employees too generously. Goldman's average (by mean) employee received $660,000 in 2007, while the average salary at Nintendo was $90,900.[Via GameDaily]
Goldman Sachs says second-gen iPhone is in "final design phase," Apple TV to get LCD screen
We're not certain why anyone treats the inevitable arrival of a second-gen iPhone sometime next year as earth-shattering news, but Goldman Sachs released a note to clients yesterday saying that the rumored 3G version is in its "final design phase." The investment firm's David Bailey says he got the info from the usual assortment of moderately-reliable Asian component suppliers, and that he expects the new model to have "similar form factor" with a "different look." Rounding out his list of obvious predictions, Bailey also said the existing model will get a capacity bump sometime next year as well, which makes sense given the proliferation of 32GB flash devices we've seen pop up lately. Somewhat more interestingly, Bailey also said that Apple is planning on retooling the Apple TV next year, and that his sources the new version may pack an LCD screen. Sadly, Bailey didn't have much to say about that rumored subnotebook, only that he's heard of possible "design issues." That doesn't sound too promising -- but we're certain Steve will fill us in next month.
Nintendo shares jump to record high
Wall Street reacted favorably towards the House that Mario Built on Wednesday as Nintendo shares rose to a record high before closing up 2.7 percent at ¥64,800 ($555). The surge in stock price echoed Goldman Sachs' decision to cover Nintendo's stocks; the investment bank offered up a "buy" rating with a target share price of ¥71,000 ($609). In addition, and as if to brag, Nintendo raised its earnings expectations for the second time this business year to ¥370 billion, which amazingly is still well below analyst predictions of ¥415 billion. Nintendo can thank the continuing success of its Wii and Nintendo DS platforms as the drivers behind its most recent success story, while Goldman Sachs lays equal praise at the company's 'talent in creating new markets,' noting that this could bring Nintendo's stock into alignment with that of Apple. Seems reasonable enough to us. Nintendo's product's already look the part, why not go all in?
iPod rumors cause Apple stock to rise
We all know that Apple is gathering the tech press for a Special Event (notice the capital letters) on September 5th, and it is pretty clear it has something to do with iPods. The rumors are swirling, and helping Apple's stock price.Goldman Sachs has told its clients that this event might introduce the much ballyhooed full screen video iPod. Goldman suggests that people might want to buy some Apple stock, which in turn caused Apple's stock to jump $5 upwards on trading.
