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AAPL in the black for 2013, shares expected to climb
AAPL shareholders were cheering last Friday because of all the foot traffic going through Apple Store doors. But that wasn't their only reason to celebrate. The day also marked the first time AAPL stock was in the black this year, closing at a high of US$556.07. The stock price started the year out at $549.03 on January 2, 2013, before plummeting to a low of $390.53 on April 19. Since the 19th of April, the stock has been on shaky ground, recovering, then retreating, before recovering again. It spent most of this year floating in the sub-$500 range -- a far cry from its $705 high it hit in September 2012. However, with its closing high of $556.07 on Friday, the stock is now in positive territory and many analysts see an upwards swing for the remainder of 2013 and into 2014. Many analysts expect the stock to reach $600 in the next several months, while some maintain a $777 target in the next 12 months.
Apple to pay quarterly dividend today for AAPL shareholders
AAPL investors take note: Today is the company's payday for AAPL shareholders. By the close of market today, Apple will pay shareholders of record its quarterly dividend of US$3.05 per share. Shareholders must have held the stock no later than Wednesday, November 11 to get this quarter's dividend. As AppleInsider notes, at AAPL's current price of around $520 a share, the company is paying a dividend yield of 2.35 percent, which is not at all bad for its investors. What's especially interesting is that since Apple upped its share buyback program by $50 billion earlier this year, the company will actually be paying out $143 million less in dividends this quarter due to fewer shares of AAPL on the market. That buyback isn't enough for some people however, as Carl Icahn is pushing Apple to buy back shares worth $150 billion.
Citigroup fined $30 million for leaking iPhone research
Citigroup is learning the hard way that leaking unpublished research on iPhone production numbers to institutional investors ahead of other investors is wrong. The company has been fined US$30 million for sending that data to SAC Capital, T. Rowe Price, Citadel and GLC Partners ahead of official publication that would have been available to all investors. All of the investment firms except GLC Partners used information gathered by Citigroup analyst Kevin Chang to sell off AAPL shares before the news hit the rest of the market. The day Chang's research was made public on December 14, 2012, Apple's share price fell 5.2 percent so the three institutional investors who acted on his research early saved themselves millions. The fine was levied in a consent order from the Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, William Galvin, who noted, "It seems that the concept that investors are to be presented with a level playing field when it comes to the product of research analysts is a lesson that must be learned over and over again. But it's important that it should be taught as often as necessary." Citigroup was also fined last year when another analyst disclosed confidential information before Facebook's IPO. Chang has been fired from the company.
Carl Icahn reportedly pushed Tim Cook for $150B Apple share buyback
The planned dinner between investor Carl Icahn and Apple CEO Tim Cook took place as scheduled last evening, and Icahn is reporting through Twitter that the dinner was "cordial" and that he pushed for Apple to bump its share buyback program up to US$150 billion. Icahn believes that Apple's share price is "extremely undervalued" and that the company should spend more of its cash to bolster it by purchasing more shares at the current price. The continued discussions between Icahn and Apple will most likely come after the next quarterly earnings call, which should happen sometime in the third week of October.
Daily Update for August 23, 2013
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here. No Flash? Click here to listen. Subscribe via RSS
Carl Icahn meeting with Tim Cook to discuss AAPL share buyback
Activist investor Carl Icahn made news a few weeks back when he announced, via a tweet, that he had bought a large position in Apple, which is now reported to be about US$1.5 billion worth of Apple stock. Immediately, Apple's stock shot up and has been up ever since. But as an activist investor, Icahn never just buys stock hoping it will go up. He buys stock (and a lot of it) hoping to use his shares and knowledge to influence the direction of a company. Along those lines, Icahn has now tweeted that he has set up a dinner with Tim Cook in September: Spoke to Tim. Planning dinner in September. Tim believes in buyback and is doing one. What will be discussed is magnitude. - Carl Icahn (@Carl_C_Icahn) August 22, 2013 The "magnitude" he is referring to is about the scale of Apple's share buyback program, which Icahn wants to see accelerated. Currently, Apple is in the process of buying back $60 billion worth of its shares, but if it would buy back more, the value of one share of AAPL could go up significantly. Icahn has stated several times that he believes shares of AAPL are very undervalued.
Icahn's AAPL buyback advice could benefit Apple quickly, significantly
An analysis by Deutsche Bank's Chris Whitmore shows a potential US$50 billion stock buyback would boost Apple's earnings per share by as much as $4.25 in 2014, AppleInsider reports. This comes in the wake of a meeting last week between Tim Cook and investor Carl Icahn where the possibility of expanding the company's share buyback program was discussed. Icahn made headlines last week when he reportedly invested over $1.5 billion in the Cupertino-based tech giant. This strong vote of confidence had a rather dramatic effect on AAPL, boosting it by over 20 points in less than a day. Of course, the most important factor in further pushing Apple's stock upwards is the continued announcement of innovative products, and with an iPhone event reportedly scheduled for September 10, we won't have to wait long on that front.
Daily Update for August 15, 2013
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here. No Flash? Click here to listen. Subscribe via RSS
AAPL shareholders to receive dividends today
Apple will pay its shareholders another quarterly dividend today. Shareholders of record as of August 12th will receive US$3.05 per share. With over 908 million outstanding shares, that means Apple will spend $2.7 billion today giving money back to its shareholders. However, as AppleInsider points out, Apple is actually spending $110 million less this quarter on dividends because the company spent $16 billion buying 36 million of its own shares last quarter. Apple repurchased some of its own shares because the company saw its share prices as cheap and doing so would allow it to pick them up while depressed and also receive some healthy tax write-offs. AAPL has been on a roll over the past few days with Carl Icahn purchasing $1.5 billion of AAPL on Tuesday and other hedge fund and regular investors getting back into the company on Wednesday.
Daily Update for August 14, 2013
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here. No Flash? Click here to listen. Subscribe via RSS
Apple stock inches past $500
Apple stock broke the US$500 mark today. It's the first time for AAPL in that territory since late January of this year. The higher stock value followed by a day billionaire Carl Icahn's support for Apple with the announcement of a major stock purchase and a tweet saying that the stock was "extremely undervalued." Apple will also be unveiling new iOS products on September 10, which may be further stirring the pot. Close followers of the company expect to see a low-cost iPhone, and perhaps an iPhone 5s model with an updated camera and some enhanced security features. Apple had a good July on the NASDAQ, and the company regained its title of "Worlds Most Valuable Company." But it's probably too early for celebrations: Apple is nowhere near its all-time high share price of $705.07, achieved last year when it launched the iPhone 5. Note: Apple closed today at $498.50 up 1.82 percent.
Apple shares skyrocket by 20 points following investment from Carl Icahn
Shares of Apple shot up by more than 22 points on Tuesday following word that billionaire investor Carl Icahn had taken a large position in Apple. At one point during the trading day, shares of Apple reached $494 after starting the day trading at $471.50. In a tweet sent out by Icahn himself on Tuesday afternoon, the investor said: We currently have a large position in APPLE. We believe the company to be extremely undervalued. Spoke to Tim Cook today. More to come. One hour later, Icahn tweeted the following: Had a nice conversation with Tim Cook today. Discussed my opinion that a larger buyback should be done now. We plan to speak again shortly. Interestingly enough, Apple spokesman Steve Dowling provided a statement confirming Icahn's meeting with Cook. The statement reads, "We appreciate the interest and investment of all our shareholders. Tim had a very positive conversation with Mr. Icahn today." Furthermore, it's being rumored, via Bloomberg's Sarah Frier, that Icahn's stake in Apple checks in at $1 billion. Icahn is, of course, a controversial figure, most recently due to his attempts to take over Dell. Lastly, and in what is likely a reflection of Icahn's business determination, and admittedly somewhat amusing as well, Icahn's Twitter tagline reads in part: "Some people get rich studying artificial intelligence. Me, I make money studying natural stupidity." With an estimated net worth that exceeds $20 billion, he clearly walks the walk.
Talkcast tonight, 10 PM ET: Plastic iPhones, Dev Center woes, Beard
All-new dial-in experience! See below -- do not call into Talkshoe, we won't be there. Be sure to set up Fuze Meeting before the show if you want to join in live. Sheeeesh. Can you believe it's the end of July already? It's like we just went from June to August this year. Anyway, we're going to liven up the evening tonight with the usual TUAW Talkcast, this one with yours truly hosting and with The Loop's Jim Dalrymple (AKA The Beard) as our special guest. Topics will include the continuing rumors about low-cost plastic iPhones, the return of the Dev Centers, and probably some banter about the Apple Q3 financials. All this, and your comments and calls -- what more could you ask? Join us at 10 pm ET/7 pm PT, and we'll have a grand old time. Reminder on new-style talkcasting: With some help from the fine folks at Fuze, we're using a new system to record the show. This should let everyone listen in live -- and, if you want, raise your hand as you would in the Talkshoe room to get unmuted and chime in. You can join the call in progress (meeting # is 20099010) at 10 pm ET from any computer via this link; if you download the Mac or Windows Fuze clients ahead of time, you'll get better audio and a slicker experience, but browser-only will work fine. Just click the phone icon to join the audio once you're in. Using an iPhone or iPad? Grab the native clients from the App Store and get busy. (Even Android users can join the party.) Still feel like using the conventional phone dial-in? Just call 775-996-3562 and enter the meeting number 20099010, then press #. While the Fuze web and native clients have a chat channel, we'd like to reserve that for host participants, requests to talk and other real-time alerts... so the full-on chat for the show will appear in this very post at 10 pm tonight. You'll need Twitter, Facebook or Chatroll credentials to participate in the chat. We'll remind everyone to check back in at that time. Your patience and forbearance with our new tech is appreciated in advance. For the time being, the podcast feed of the show will continue to originate from Talkshoe and should be there within 24-36 hours. See you tonight!
Talkcast tonight, 7pm PT/10 pm ET: iTunes store turns 10, quarterly results
It's a big 1-0 for everyone's "favorite" music store, which has evolved far beyond its humble Rip, Mix, Burn origins to become the digital hub for a new generation of digital devices. Happy birthday, iTunes Music Store, and here's hoping that you make it out of your adolescence wiser and more mature. Also this week: The results of Apple's most recently concluded fiscal quarter are in the books, and while the company continued to make money hand over fist there are some troublesome signs for analysts: eroding margins and the possibility of the high-end smartphone market (where the iPhone owns the roost) starting to squeeze. Apple's response, in part, is to return more cash to its shareholders (via dividends) and repurchase outstanding shares. Apple's even getting into the debt markets to finance these programs, rather than repatriating overseas profits and facing a hefty tax bill. We'll talk iTunes' 10th birthday, the quarterly reports and the rest of the week's news (including a look ahead to this week's TechCrunch Disrupt conference in New York) tonight at 10 pm ET on the Talkcast. Join us! To participate live during the show, you can use the browser-only Talkshoe client, the embedded Facebook app, or download the classic TalkShoe Pro Java client; however, the best way to have your voice heard is to call in. For the web UI, just click the Talkshoe Web button on our profile page at 4 HI/7 PDT/10 pm EDT Sunday. To call in on regular phone or VoIP lines (viva free weekend minutes!): dial (724) 444-7444 and enter our talkcast ID, 45077 -- during the call, you can request to talk by keying in *8. If you've got a headset or microphone handy on your Mac, you can connect via the free X-Lite or other SIP clients (aside from Skype or Google Voice), basic instructions are here. Talk to you tonight!
Tim Cook: We should have waited until 2013 to release new iMacs
During Apple's earnings conference call on Tuesday, CEO Tim Cook fielded an analyst's question regarding Apple's product releases during the Fall 2012 quarter and delivered a surprisingly candid answer. Addressing the shipping delays that plagued Apple's new iMacs, Cook articulated that Apple should had waited to release its new iMac models until this year. "I don't spend a lot of time looking back except to learn from it," Cook explained. "If we could run it over, frankly, I would have announced the iMac after the turn of the year. We felt customers had to wait too long for that specific product." Cook explained that despite supply constraints for the iPad mini, he would not have changed its release date, because they were still able to get the device out to millions of customers. While supply problems for new Apple products are not uncommon -- the company tends to push its contract manufacturers and component suppliers to their limits in pursuit of "insanely great" devices -- the shipment delays associated with Apple's recent iMac refresh were atypically long. Since its release in November, Apple struggled to keep up with demand. For quite some time, shipping delays for the all-in-one desktop computer stretched for as long as three to five weeks. It wasn't until early March that Apple seemed to get a grasp on production issues, resulting in a much more reasonable shipping time of just one to three business days. Apple is always keen on pushing the envelope in terms of manufacturing processes, and it's suspected that Apple's iMac supply issues were rooted in a new lamination process used to keep the new iMac screen as thin as possible.
A history of Apple's share price
Anybody who has been watching Apple's share prices since September 2012 would think that the company is in the midst of a huge crisis. Shares of AAPL have dropped from a high of over US$700 a share to around $400 now, and the financial press is sure that the company is doomed. Abdel Ibrahim, co-founder of The Tech Block and a technical analysis trader for about 10 years, points out that based on a look at historical data, large upswings in AAPL share price followed by swift downturns are actually quite normal for the company. Ibrahim based his analysis on what is called Fibonacci retracements, a method of technical analysis that uses "the idea that markets will retrace a predictable portion of a move, after which they will continue to move in the original direction." In other words, the share price will rise significantly, then fall back to a lower level before starting to rise again. Ibrahim notes: "Most technical traders use the 50 percent and 61.8 percent Fibonacci levels to predict where a market may find support or resistance. For example, if a stock went from $10 to $20, and then started to significantly pull back, many technical traders would expect that stock to have a lot of support somewhere in between $14 - $15 (roughly 50 percent to 61.8 percent of the $10 move). In my personal analysis (emphasis is Ibrahim's) I have found this to be true nearly 70 percent of the time." Ibrahim then follows with AAPL chart examples demonstrating this recurring trend. It happened between late 1997 and late 1999, in 2005 into 2006, then late 2006 through early 2008. Since that time, AAPL has been following the same trend and is currently on the downward path it has followed so many times before. As Ibrahim notes, the charts he's created aren't meant to stir investors to buy AAPL. Instead: "It's to tell you to ignore the bullshit headlines that seem to be flooding the internet and newspapers. They come from analysts. Analysts with agendas to either inflate the price of a stock they own or deflate the price of a stock they want. ... Apple, in my eyes, is still a very good company. Time will tell if I'm right or wrong." If you'd like to hear what some of those analysts with agendas are asking Apple executives, be sure to join us at 4:50 PM ET today for our liveblog of the company's Q2 2013 earnings call. [Via The Loop]
Join us for a TUAW liveblog of the Apple Q2 2013 earnings call
This afternoon, Apple CEO Tim Cook and CFO Peter Oppenheimer will host Apple's Q2 2013 earnings call to discuss the company's financial fortunes for the quarter ending March 31, 2013. As always, TUAW is hosting a liveblog of the event, during which we'll be providing commentary on the actual results, questions from the financial community, and how the results are likely to affect Apple's share price. The call is scheduled at 5 PM ET today and our liveblog will begin at 4:50 PM ET. If you're an IRC user, we'll have a chat room set up on server irc.freenode.net, chat room #tuaw so you can converse with the TUAW team and others. You can listen to a live audio stream of the event here.
Ranking Apple analysts
Philip Elmer-DeWitt at Apple 2.0 keeps track of the how well Wall Street analysts -- and amateur Apple watchers -- predict the fortunes of the company. An overzealous estimate of earnings that isn't met by a correspondingly big figure by Apple always seems to result in a hit on share price, so Elmer-DeWitt has been ranking the analysts by accuracy. In the not-so-distant past, the amateur stock watchers were doing a much better job than the professionals, but that's changed. Now the professionals have taken eight of the top 10 positions on Elmer-DeWitt's list. He points out that this doesn't necessarily mean anything, since professionals also filled nine of the bottom 10 in his "Top 40." Based on the last nine quarters, the most accurate analyst on The Street appears to be Colin Gillis of BCG Partners. Some other familiar names from the Apple earnings calls don't fare as well. Gene "Apple TV" Munster of Piper Jaffray is about halfway down the list in the No. 19 spot, while perennial earnings call questioner Katy Huberty of Morgan Stanley barely made the Top 40 by coming in at No. 39. During the second quarter earnings call sometime in April, we'll be sure to give participants in our live blog Elmer-DeWitt's ranking information for each analyst who asks a question so you know how much credence to give their opinions.
WSJ: Apple will respond to Greenlight Capital lawsuit by Wednesday
The pace is picking up in the lawsuit filed against Apple by Greenlight Capital fund manager David Einhorn. The Wall Street Journal reports that 1 Infinite Loop will issue its response to the suit by this Wednesday, February 13, with Greenlight expected to follow up with its comments by Friday in the US Court for the Southern District of New York. George Riley of O'Melveny & Myers, a longtime Apple attorney and close friend of Steve Jobs, will be arguing the case. Apple is eager to address the suit quickly, before its scheduled shareholder meeting on February 27. The suit is likely to be a top topic during the meeting, as it concerns the belief of Einhorn and other shareholders that Apple should share more of its earnings -- particularly a more than $100 billion cash stockpile -- with investors. We'll have more on the story after Apple files its response in court.
