stockprice
Latest
Facebook's turmoil has reportedly hit employee morale hard
Facebook has been mired in bad news lately, including numerous data privacy scandals, criticism over its role in Myanmar violence and a tumbling stock price. As such, employee morale has fallen, with just 52 percent of employees saying they're optimistic about Facebook going forward, according to the Wall Street Journal. That's down from 84 percent a year ago, meaning a third of Facebook's employees think the company's future is less than rosy than they did in late 2017.
BT to take £530 million hit over 'improper' Italian accounting
An accounting scandal uncovered at BT's Italian division is worse than previously thought. Far worse. In October last year, the mobile, TV and broadband provider said it had discovered "historical accounting errors" and "inappropriate management behaviour" to the tune of £145 million. A sizeable figure, but one that BT has admitted was a "best estimate" at the time. Now, following an independent review by KPMG, that number has been revised to £530 million. Alongside some dodgy accounting work, investigators found "a complex set of improper sales, purchase, factoring and leasing transactions," conducted over multiple years. Ouch.
Apple stock soars, company worth more than Google, Microsoft combined
Whoa! As of this writing (noon EST) Apple stock has reached a new high of US$493.85, which is a record share price. It also gives the company a market capitalization of $465 billion, which exceeds the combined totals of Google and Microsoft. Apple passed Microsoft in Market Cap back in May of 2010. At the current price, Apple is comfortably ahead of Exxon Mobil, which has a market cap of about $400 million billion. Just yesterday we reported that Apple had gained $100 in share price since Steve Jobs died last October, but those numbers are already outdated.
Foxconn stock climbs on Apple projections
This just in from the "not surprising since a rising tide lifts all boats" department -- stock in Apple's primary manufacturing partner, Foxconn, climbed to a recent high on speculation that Apple might be using metal casings for the next-generation iPhone. The speculation is in line with what Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty noted last month. Huberty believes that Apple is moving away from the glass casing used on the iPhone 4 and 4S and moving to a metal casing instead. Foxconn spokesman Cheng-Kuang Liu, of course, wisely declined to comment about the rumors. The use of metal in the new iPhone benefits companies like Foxconn that not only assemble Apple's products, but produce the metal casings as well. The company's share price surged almost seven percent yesterday on what so far is baseless speculation.
AAPL breaks all-time high ... again
I don't know if anyone else noticed, but shares in Apple, Inc. have reached another all-time high price. Just minutes ago, AAPL was at US$428.40, although as usual the stock price will probably wobble all over the place before the close. Why is AAPL doing so well? There is mucho speculation that the company will announce record earnings ... again ... on Tuesday, there's a lot of interest in tomorrow's education / textbook announcement, and many related companies (suppliers and mobile carriers are the prime examples) are reporting increased earnings based on sales of Apple products. At press time, Apple's market capitalization was at $397.97 billion. Yowza.
Kodak's stock price exploded after restructuring announcement
It's only January 10th and Kodak's already having a terrible year: six days ago the beloved photography company was preparing for Chapter 11, but today its stock price leapt by 45 percent (and counting). The cause? The announcement of a new plan intended to pull the troubled company into the 21st century and, more importantly, into the black. It's planning to simplify its business structure down to two divisions and reduce costs while pushing its successful range of printers. We've got the announcement after the break but hopefully we'll see the century-old company live to see another day.
Pre-event AAPL trading bucks trend
Andy Zaty of the Bullish Cross blog has done some interesting analysis on the AAPL stock price around Apple's keynote events, and he found that for next week's event, the pattern seems to have fallen apart. During the past four iPhone releases, Apple's stock price has risen in the rumor-filled run up to the unveiling, as investors are taken in by the excitement and interest surrounding the possibility of a new iPhone. Then, once the event happens, the stock usually falls off a bit (though obviously in general, it's risen over time). This time, however, the stock price has fallen, almost 17% from where it was at a few weeks ago. Why is that? Hard to say -- it could be that most Apple events are pretty mysterious, but on this one, rumors about the iPhone 4S or the iPhone 5 have been flying around for a while already. It's also true, according to the research, that Apple's events don't have as big an effect on the stock price as they used to. As big as AAPL has gotten, more and more investors are somewhat savvy about the whole process, knowing that Apple's fate doesn't really depend on what it announces at any big event. Still, it'll be interesting to see what happens with the stock price, both over the next week in the lead up and after the event. I don't actually give out financial advice (and this post shouldn't be considered as such, obviously), but I suspect we won't see too big a jump or fall over this keynote -- all indications are that besides a new iPhone announcement, this event will likely be business as usual.
Apple stock performance under Steve Jobs
We can talk about Steve Jobs' legacy as CEO of Apple, look at the products he launched and analyze the earnings statements, but sometimes all you need is a simple picture to summarize it all. As Edible Apple points out, Apple's stock price from when Jobs took the helm in 1997 until now reveals how he has transformed the company from Cupertino.
Needham & Co. raises price target for AAPL
The stock market has been tanking all week, but that's not keeping financial firm Needham & Co. from being bullish on Apple. The company raised its price target for AAPL from US$450 to $540. So why the big jump? Needham's Charlie Wolf notes that the firm adjusted how it values Apple's different businesses and product lines. The iPad, for example, is now estimated to contribute about 12.2 percent to the value of Apple stock. That's up from the previous estimate, based on a new assumption that the iPad will continue to capture a larger share of the tablet market that Needham initially thought. The Mac is also adding to the party, thanks in part to a halo effect from the iPad. As more buyers become entranced with the iPad, they're more likely to purchase Macs in the future. The Mac product line is now valued at about 11.8 percent of AAPL's value. Likewise, iTunes has been bumped in importance as a contributing factor to the stock price (now 5.1 percent) thanks to the growth of the App Store. The biggest contributor? The iPhone, which provides almost 49.2 percent of the value of each share of Apple stock or about $266. That's also seen as a risk factor, since even a small decrease in growth of iPhone sales could have a huge impact on Apple stock price. Last but not least, Apple's cash hoard adds to the stock price value, contributing about 14.8 percent of the value. However you look at Apple, the company's performance in troubled financial times has so far been nothing less than stellar.
HTC sales up nearly 88-percent from last year, analysts still skeptical on stock
Despite having moved into the number five slot on IDC's list of the top handset makers world wide -- beating out RIM and just behind Apple -- HTC has actually seen its share prices drop 19-percent since June 7th. The stock did rebound slightly following news that the company's sales for June were a staggering 87.8-percent higher than the same time last year. Surprisingly, that's actually a drop from May's figures which were 116-percent higher than the same month in 2010. Even though the company continues to break its own sales and profit records, some analysts don't think the company is out of the woods just yet -- a rather confusing outlook to us but, then again, we're not financial analysts.
Nokia shareholders and unions fight back against Microkia
Nokia shareholders are not very happy right now with NOK taking a 25 percent hit since the announcement of the Microsoft marriage. Stephen Elop, Nokia's first foreign-born CEO, is taking heat on multiple fronts even as he prostrates himself to the media in hopes of getting his message out. Already, we've heard numerous conspiracies calling Elop a "trojan horse," sent by Steve Ballmer to sabotage Nokia from within. Conspiraloons are quick to point to records showing Elop holding a significant number of Microsoft shares -- a situation that Elop says is temporary (and outdated) having already sold a majority of his Microsoft position with plans to sell off the rest in favor of Nokia stock just as soon as he's free to do so under regulatory moratoriums meant to prevent insider trading. Nevertheless, Nokia will be facing at least two very real showdowns on its near-term horizon. First, will be a battle with the Finnish trade union Pro which is demanding €100,000 (in addition to severance payments) for every Nokia employee that loses their job under Elop's new strategy -- money the unions says will be used for reeducation. The union estimates that Nokia could cut as many as 25% (5,000 people) of Nokia's 20,000 workers located in Finland. The second major hurdle facing Elop, and the board of directors that appointed him, will come at Nokia's Annual General Meeting for shareholders. Already, a cabal of nine frustrated shareholders have been grabbing attention with its "Nokia Plan B" proposal to oust Stephen Elop and return Nokia to a MeeGo focus giving Symbian a five-year minimum reprieve. The group has since disbanded after its plan was rejected by institutional investors. Nevertheless, we don't expect Symbian / MeeGo fans and developers to give up without a fight, and we expect Helsinki Fair Centre's Amfi Hall to be center-ring when the event kicks off on May 3rd in Helsinki.
Boom! AAPL share price over $300 for the first time today
If the wizards of Cupertino take note of such milestones, there are probably bottles of champagne being uncorked this morning. Apple's stock price has been hovering above $300 per share since the market opened, marking yet another all-time high for the consumer electronics company. While nobody knows for sure if AAPL will close above $300 per share this afternoon, it's nice to see another record being toppled. Apple will report Q4 financial results on Monday, October 18th, and TUAW will be liveblogging the earnings call. Be sure to join us on Monday for what should prove to be another indication of stellar performance for the company. Screenshot from DailyFinance
AAPL hits new 52 week and all-time high
Apple's stock price has been reaching stratospheric heights lately, and today it may have even made it to the mesosphere. A stock alert this morning showed AAPL at 288.04, which is a new 52 week high as well as the highest price the company's stock has ever reached. Although we're getting close to October, the traditional month of stock market crashes, it's good to see that our favorite consumer electronics company is doing this well. As this post was being written, AAPL was up over $289 a share.
Apple shares hit record high on iPad shipping announcement
Note to Microsoft, HP, Dell, and whoever else wants to get in the next-gen tablet game: your concepts are nice -- even spectacular, in the case of Courier -- but Apple's about to actually ship a product, and investors are taking note. AAPL shares hit a record high of $219.36 this afternoon after the news that iPad pre-orders would begin on March 12 with an April 3rd delivery day, and they closed at $218.95, which is up around four percent. That's got us curious: given the choice between actually purchasing the iPad and twiddling your thumbs waiting for unannounced, unpriced, and even possibly un-real devices like the Dell Mini 5, the HP Slate, or the Courier, are you taking the sure thing or holding out for your vaporous dream device? Hit us up in comments -- and be nice to each other, it's the weekend.
AAPL spikes $3 on iPhone battery news
Talk about your irrational exuberance: Apple's stock shot up over $3 this morning on the announcement of better-than-expected battery life for the iPhone. This pogo-stick fluctuation of the stock price on every snippet of iPhone news is a mite stressful even for those of us (like myself) who are long + buy-and-hold on AAPL, and I can only imagine the volume of Maalox that's being consumed by more active traders.I suppose it's too much to ask, when reputable mags like Business Week are picking up the price expectations of $160 a share from slightly rabid analysts, that everyone take a deep breath and try to be patient until the phone actually ends up in the hands of customers. Really, though.Disclosure: I own AAPL stock.
