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AAPL flirts with $600 today
Apple's stock soared on Wednesday and now it is poised to cross the US$600 mark. As noted by CNN Money, the stock hit $600 once and has fallen back down to $598 at the writing of this post. As The Wall Street Journal points out it took Apple 34 trading days to jump from $400 to $500 and a mere 23 days from $500 to $600. With strong iPad sales expected tomorrow, it's highly likely the price will go over $600 and stay there sometime today. This threshold will push Apple's market value even higher. It's currently sitting at the $556 billion mark which, according to a report in Wall Street Pit, is just below the 2011 GDP for Saudi Arabia. [Via CNN Money]
RIM shares hit a five-year low: oh, how the mighty have fallen
There was a time when RIM owned the smartphone space with its revolutionary push email-equipped BlackBerrys. And there are still plenty of folks who can't live without a good physical keyboard and BBM. But, despite the company's $4.9 billion in revenue and $695 million in profits from Q1 2011, RIM's stock has tumbled to its lowest price in five years. What's changed since those heady days when it seemed like there was a Pearl in every pocket? As many of you know, Androids and iPhones have carved out a big chunk of the smartphone market, largely at RIM's expense. Sure, Blackberry 7 OS is coming and the PlayBook is rolling out to help the company gain ground on Android and iOS, but only time will tell if these latest efforts from Waterloo can stem the rising tide of iPhones and little green bots.
HTC's market capitalization reaches $33.8b, overshadows Nokia and RIM
Nokia once said that going with Android was like "peeing in your pants" for temporary warmth. Well, even if that warmth doesn't last forever, it has now helped one of its upstart competitors, HTC, to rise beyond Nokia in terms of market valuation. This is a somewhat beguiling metric to compare companies by -- market cap measures the value of a company's shares available on the market, and not every company has the same proportion of its overall value available in stocks -- but it illustrates well the diametrically opposite directions in which the two mobile phone makers are moving. Bloomberg informs us that HTC's stock has risen by 33 percent this year, while Nokia's has shrunk by 19 percent. Surpassing Nokia now means HTC is the world's third most valuable smartphone maker. Of course, neither Nokia nor RIM is sitting idly by and letting the Taiwanese whippersnapper have things its own way, however both companies' roadmaps for re-conquering the smartphone high-end seem to stretch far off into the 2012 distance. As for HTC, we expect it to launch another Sensation of a device on Tuesday.
Warren Buffett hesitant on Apple, tech companies
Multi-billionaire investor Warren Buffett says he still has no plans to invest in technology companies, including Apple, preferring to stick with companies like Coca-Cola because it is "very easy for me to come to a conclusion as to what it will look like economically in five or 10 years, and it's not easy for me to come to a conclusion about Apple." Buffett's latest comments came at the opening of a new cutting tools factory in Daegu, South Korea, in which his investment company Berkshire Hathaway Inc. has a share. Even though he's a long-time friend of Microsoft founder Bill Gates -- the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation receives around $1.5 billion a year from Buffett -- the 80-year-old investor has never been comfortable with technology companies. He says that, although recent events in Japan mean that technology stocks are depressed and therefore a good buy at the moment, he's sticking with what he knows. In fact, it's only within about the past five years that Apple stocks have out-performed those of Coca-Cola. Hindsight shows that a switch to Apple from Coke five years ago would have made Buffett a much richer man, but with around $50 billion to his name, his foresight seems to work pretty well. While Apple's stock has gone up like a rocket in the past five years, Coca-Cola's has remained fairly stable -- and in the previous five years, Apple's stock was in the doldrums in comparison, and Buffett's choice looked wise. And now, it turns out, even Bill Gates is investing in Coca-Cola via its Mexican bottler Femsa. [Via Electronista]
Apple stock rises to over $342 intra-day
On a day where the Dow Jones Industrial Average is down by US$38.20 and the Nasdaq composite is nearly flat, once again, AAPL is bucking the trend and going straight up. At this writing, Apple stock is at $342.05, (a new intra-day high) and bouncing. So far the stock is up $5.93 or 1.76 percent on moderate volume. I'm sure that this is at least partially due to the anticipated Verizon (VZW) announcement tomorrow. Surprisingly enough, Verizon is about flat for the day, trading at $36.01 or up only $0.08 so far. If the Verizon announcement goes as we all hope, I can see this continuing, but who knows? So if you've got 'em, hold 'em.
Apple's market cap passes $300 billion
After blasting through the $330 per share for Apple's stock today, the company now has a market capitalization valued at around $302 billion dollars. While market cap isn't everything, this is a substantial shift from the way things used to be. Apple used to be the underdog! Remember when Apple was on life support in the '90s after a series of bland and uninspiring CEOs and product lines? Since the return of Steve Jobs and his hand-picked crew of innovators, however, the company has seen a truly remarkable rise in profits and marketshare while expanding into completely new markets for the company. Apple is on the rise in a big way, and if what we saw in 2010 is any indication, 2011 will see even more growth for our favorite mobile device company.
On Apple's $40 billion, and the question of dividends
AAPL has been hitting new highs just about every day. Yesterday the stock price hit an intra-day high of $230.20, a lofty height indeed. We pointed out earlier that Apple now has the fourth largest market cap of any publicly traded domestic company, so maybe it's time to revisit the question of Apple declaring dividends on its stock. Apple has not declared a dividend since December of 1995. After the last shareholder meeting, Steve Jobs stated that the money was best left in the bank so there would be no question of loans if something big was to be bought. "The cash in the bank gives us tremendous flexibility," explained Steve. The Motley Fool makes an interesting case in favor of dividends. Apple has no history of massive acquisitions, and keeping $40 billion around for just that reason sounds less than reasonable. A case is also made for keeping the money as preparation for the next big recession. This doesn't seem to hold much water, however, since analysts predict that Apple will grow by 18% per year for the next five years. That should provide more than enough cash, predicting that Apple will report net income of around $21 billion in 2014. Of course, predictions are often wrong, but Apple has been excellent when it comes to beating expected earnings numbers for some time. 77% of informal Motley Fool poll respondents think that Apple should declare dividends. After all, that cash is really owned by the stockholders and it seems that a good number of them would like to get some of it back. Read on for another view.
No Apple stock split...for now.
Thursday, Briefings.com, CNBC and a passel of other market analysts predicted that a 4 for 1 stock split would be announced at the Apple Shareholder Meeting. This rumor moved the market, but there are conflicting opinions to why. First, for the uninitiated, a stock split is a zero sum game. One interpretation is that a firm considers its stock too highly priced for the average consumer and decides to split. For example, let's say that Apple is trading for $200 and you have one share. If a 4 for 1 stock split takes place, you will wind up 4 shares, instead of 1, but each share will be valued at $50. Did you gain or lose any money? No. It's all on paper. However, to those not familiar with the Buttonwood tree, and that's a lot of us, it sounds like 'quick buy Apple and you'll be getting 4 times as much'. The case for this sort of stupidity is well made by Barrons. Stock splits are nothing new to AAPL. They've split 2 for 1 three time in the past, in June 1987, June 2000 and February 2005. There are two general schools of thought on the reason behind stock splits, and they are total opposites. The first theory is that a company will split a stock if it is in trouble to allow lower dollar investors to buy their shares at half the price and thus incur less risk. The other school of thought is that a good company realizes their stock is just too expensive for the small trader who has some cash on the sidelines. It is meant to give the small guy an easier way to buy some stock without needing to commit the $200 for a share. Both sides have their points and, to an extent, both points are based on smoke and mirrors since they do not effect the worth of the company or the aggregate value of the stock by one penny.
Nokia grows profits and smartphone share in Q4
Pretty good news for Nokia today as it announces its Q4 results. Net income jumped 65% to €948 million (on €12 billion in sales) or 26 eurocents per share, from €576 million euros, or 15 eurocents a share, earned in Q4 2008. That handily beat the consensus forecast of 19 eurocents per share. Importantly, Nokia grew its smartphone (or "converged devices" in Nokia parlance) marketshare to a healthy 40%, up from 35% just last quarter. Looking forward, Nokia cautioned that it expects its adjusted operating margin in Devices & Services in Q1 2010 will be at the low end of its 12% to 14% target. At the time of this posting, Nokia stock has jumped about 9% in recognition of these good times.
Virgin Mobile USA falls into non-compliance on NYSE, plans to get back on track
Virgin Mobile USA was one of the few outfits out there who managed to post a Q3 net profit, but even that couldn't help it avoid the unfortunate delivery of a non-compliance letter from the New York Stock Exchange. Just a few days before it slashed ten percent of its workforce, the company was notified by the NYSE that it was "not in compliance with certain listing criteria." More specifically, it's considered "below the applicable standards because the average market capitalization of its Class A common stock and substantial equivalents, over a period of 30 trading days, is less than $100 million." Now, it has 45 days to respond with a business plan that demonstrates its ability to get back into compliance within 18 months. Virgin Mobile USA has already texted (at least that's what we heard) the bigwigs on Wall Street with a confirmation that it would be working to get back on track, but even the best intentions fall through sometimes. Godspeed, VM.[Via mocoNews]
AAPL shares close up 8 percent
If you bought Apple at its lowest low yesterday, for just over a hundred bucks a share, you'd have made $13 per share back today. That doesn't cover your loss, of course, if you bought at its 52-week highs of just over $200 per share, but if you were a smart shopper yesterday, you got a heck of a deal. Goldman Sachs analyst David Bailey said that the yesterday's price drop was "overdone" and reiterated his "buy" rating and $200 price target. Citi analyst Richard Gardner also recommended buying, but cut his price target to $170 per share. "The recent sell off creates an opportunity as we think Apple will outperform our group through the end of the year, driven by iPhone unit upside and a strong product pipeline," said Bailey. AAPL closed today at 113.71, up 8.45 points, or eight percent from its close yesterday. [Via BusinessWeek.]
Discovery Communications gives you a say by going public
Looking to chime in on what kind of programming gets placed on any of Discovery Communications' many networks? No, we mean are you really looking to make an impact? If so, you can put your money where your mouth is now that the firm is listed on the NASDAQ. Yeah, it chose an odd and arguably terrible time in our history to go public, but it also ushered in a new corporate logo and website to fall more in line with that new Discovery HD logo that was unveiled this summer. It's hard to say if going public will have any immediate (and more importantly, visible) impact on programming, but if you're interested in getting involved, all the ticker details and whatnot are listed in the read link.
EVE Evolved: Money for nothing
In most MMOs, making currency without actually playing usually involves rule-breaking macro-farming which risks getting your account banned. In EVE Online, however, a number of viable options exist for making ISK with absolutely no effort. From hiring research and development agents to public investment schemes and even a player-run bank, there are plenty of ways to make ISK in EVE without even logging in.Investment Schemes:In the market discussion forums, players can sell shares in their company and present a business plan to potential investors. The corporation receives ISK in exchange for its shares and agrees to make regular dividend payments to all shareholders. Buyers have to trust that the company owner won't just run off with their ISK, so only the most trustworthy players have managed to successfully start very large investment schemes.In this article, I look at the different ways you can make ISK with virtually no effort, in some cases even if your account is inactive.
Nintendo stock downgraded on fears of slowing system demand
Despite Gamestop's recent assurances that the Wii will be hard to find for at least six more months, some think that the system's sales figures are about to peak. Exhibit one: KBC Securities Japan, which recently downgraded Nintendo's stock from a "buy" to a "hold" recommendation because of worries that Wii and DS sales will slow after "explosive growth" in the last year.The KBC report, which also includes a 30 percent cut in its 12-month price estimate for Nintendo stock, is also based on worries that the Japanese company will see its revenues continue to suffer as a result of the weakening American dollar. KBC's outlook stands in stark contrast to Nintendo's own bullish profit estimates over the last year of surging sales. Since everyone seems to be making predictions, we're going to go out on a limb and say that Nintendo's stock will plummet when contact with an alien race quickly erases all human want and destroys the international economic system as we know it. Hey, it could happen ...
THQ CEO Brian Farrell exercises stock options, sells shares
We don't claim to be stock market experts (we don't know how anyone can keep up with all those bulls and bears and acronyms) but we're pretty sure that when a company's head honcho exercises options for over 73 thousand shares in his own company, then promptly sells off close to 53 thousand of those shares (netting a cool $10 million profit in the process), that's usually kind of a bad moon rising for said organization. When the honcho in question is Brian Farrell, CEO of the economically tumultuous game designer and publisher THQ, our rarely used financial spider-sense can't help but tingle. Sure, our conjecture could be entirely off base -- Farrell might just want to fill his swimming pool with singles -- but considering the company's recent chain of headline-making damage control maneuvers, we can't help but wonder if THQ is more SOL than anyone could have guessed.
Inventec Appliances execs fail to disclose iPod order cuts, could face prison
Earlier this year, Inventec Appliances (spun off from Inventec Electronics) was raided as prosecutors began looking for evidence to support charges of alleged insider trading, and now it looks like nine of the firm's employees could be headed to the slammer. Taiwan's Banciao District Prosecutors Office "alleged that nine executives and one lower level employee failed to publicly reveal a steep drop in iPod orders until after they had sold off nearly $22.4 million worth of stock," and although the employees knew of the order cuts as early as January 19th, nothing was publicly revealed until mid-March. Purportedly, prosecutors "are seeking the stiffest penalties against the two top executives," and if the evidence sticks, we have all ideas that Inventec will be huntin' a new Chairman (and President, too) in the not-too-distant future.[Via TUAW]
Ambient Devices' Market Maven watches stocks, tether free
It's been a long wait to see Ambient Devices' promise of "thin data" wireless devices finally come to fruition, but that doesn't mean all the charm has gone from idea. Case in point: this here Market Maven, which Ambient Devices is prepping to launch in September, might not do anything you can't already pull off with your Optimus Mini Three or even a simple desktop widget, but there's an undeniable beauty to the thing all the same. Of course, you might quickly forget how great this guy looks when you realize that all it can do is pull the DJIA, NASDAQ and S&P 500 activity every 15 minutes, tell you if the market is open, and let you know the time. That makes it hard to justify the $125 asking price, but the good news is that after you slap a few AAAs in this guy, it'll do its thing configuration free, with no pesky internet connection or subscriptions to deal with -- data comes courtesy of Ambient Devices' own Infocast Network, which reaches about 90% of US households. Oh well, we're still loving the umbrella.
Apple market cap passes HP
Back on July 10th I mentioned the likelihood that Apple's market capitalization might soon surpass that of the original Silicon Valley success story, Hewlett-Packard. (I also implied that both Steves once worked at HP; apparently Woz was full-time, but S. Jobs was more of a summer intern.) Well, as of this morning Apple's total value comes out to about $127 billion, and HP is at about $124 billion. If this holds through the close, it will mark a generational torch passing into the hands of the future... or something like that.Who's next on the market cap hit list? Well, believe it or not, dear readers, that mom & pop semiconductor basement operation Intel has a valuation around $141 billion; not out of the realm of possibility, if some of the more glowing, write-Apple's-name-on-your-trapper-keeper analyst predictions ($200 a share? $250?) become real.
Sprint explores options for WiMAX, ponders Clearwire deal
Looks like Sprint's feverish approach to WiMAX just swallowed a chill pill, as the firm is reportedly "exploring new options for financing its ambitious plan." In a presumed effort to "soothe investor concerns about the cost of the WiMAX plan," the company is actually investigating a partnership or joint venture with Clearwire in order to simultaneously remove a potential competitor and gain access to the critical Clearwire markets in the southeastern US. Of course, Clearwire isn't one to shy away from high stakes partnerships, and the FCC nod for a WiMAX-class laptop card that it garnered just last month could fit in quite well here. Still, Clearwire is refusing to comment just yet on whether this possibility is even feasible, but the mere mention of a spinoff likely means that Sprint isn't feeling all too peachy about future WiMAX profitability. [Warning: Read link requires subscription][Via InformationWeek]
Kabu Trader Shun's minigame and big trailer
Half adventure game, half stock trading battles, Kabu Trader Shun hits Japanese stores later this week. Looking to promote its release, Capcom posted a Flash minigame complementing the Phoenix-Wright-styled title. Players can live out the after-hours-lounge experience of a stock trader, text messaging a needy girlfriend while trying to keep the boss' drink filled at the same time. It's a simple, fast-clicking diversion, but seeing the creative steps companies are taking to advertise their games is always interesting.We happened to also spot a lengthy trailer during our stay at Kabu Trader Shun's official site, though we can't guarantee its freshness. Clocking in at just over two-and-a-half minutes, the video introduces the game's characters, trade battles, and adventuring sequences. Head past the post break for the movie.
