As was said, I think a lot of it has to do with rumors about the next iPhone. I've noticed that the "normal" person is becoming more and more informed. When I sold my original iPad on eBay before the second generation was announced, it was incredibly easy. Last year, I had to sell my second generation for $100 less because people knew the third generation was coming (and messaged me saying so), even though it had not been announced yet.
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Apple Reports Results for Q3 2012: $8.8 Billion Profit on $35 Billion in Revenue
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What do you expect them to do with the wild piles of profit they pull in each quarter? Maybe they did stop being a growth stock, but they need to grow up and start paying divideds if they want to be the type of company that is actually going to be around in 50 years.
I'm glad Apple is paying a dividend and not doing something crazy like trying to buy Yahoo or Facebook. They can pay the dividend and still devote billions every month to R&D. The two are not mutually exclusive at the cash flow levels Apple is at.
And this is probably their weakest quarter if rumors of product launches in September turn out to be true.
Just looking at the graph of revenue, it appears everything held steady but a slight dip in Mac sales (due to, as others have noted, no new products for the entire first half of 2012) and a shocking dip in iPhone sales from Q2 to Q3. Compare iPhone sales for prior years and you don't see that kind of dip.
It's troubling, and perhaps a reflection that Apple's release cycle for the iPhone now typically has them playing catch up to the competition.
As others have pointed out, even if the iPhone 5 brings a 4 inch screen, LTE, and NFC, those are all features that have been in the leading Android phones for the past year. The wow factor that the iPhone once had has been tarnished somewhat by a surprisingly lack of innovation on Apple's part in recent years.
The iPad mini may well be a reflection of Apple's realization that going it alone with one flagship product on a yearly update cycle isn't going to cut it.
Apple is predicting margins to go from 41% down to 35% due to a fall transition. Thats a lot of money. My guess is Retina Displays on all portables and the fabled Apple TV will bring that margin down.
Get ready for a new TV Sept.-Oct.
Get ready for a new TV Sept.-Oct.
People are making a huge assumption that the iPhone 5 + iPad Mini are going to drive Apple into $13 billion EBITA # again and destroy the competition. Those heady days are over. Between everything that is happening with Samsung & Microsoft, competition is here.
What I'm saying is that stock prices are always driven by speculators/investors, not company performance.
Good luck with that
. I think they just threw out a big round number. The likelihood of it ending anywhere near such a net gain is quite low. Look at what they requested on the basis of trade dress. It's unlikely that you can find any such precedence for such a high percentage per device.I feel like that as well. SJ brought a lot of success to the company with his leadership, vision, and ability to present and protect these. The issue he brought to the company - he became part of company's image. And now it feels like there's something missing.
All this is IMO.
However... Apple has always exceeded analyst expectations by a wide margin in the past. Even with Apple's conservative estimates, Apple exceeded those as well. For this quarter, it was the smallest beat compared to Apple's own estimates. Not a good sign.
So the heady days of Apple having "blowout" quarters compared to analyst estimates are over. Now they are like other companies, except with $118 billion cash in the bank. Alot of investors selling off at $570 making their profit as they believe Apple has plateaued.
Actually, as a consumer, wouldn't you prefer to buy a product from a well-managed, profitable company, rather than a poorly-managed one that doesn't seem to know how make money?
First of all, the profitable company has a better chance of surviving into the future, providing new and improved products down the line.
And what would you think about a company that can't run its business? Does that same management know how to hire the right people to make high-quality, attractive products and services in a timely manner?
RIM? Nokia? Palm?
LOL.
Tim is talking about him reading all the rumors.
Wonder what his username is on MacRumors.
Tim is talking about him reading all the rumors.
Wonder what his username is on MacRumors.
Tim Cook actually mentioned that all of these iPhone 5 rumors are actually slowing down sales of the 4S.
Palm got bought out by HP - not a company anymore. RIM is going out of business, they have little cash left and no BB 10 on the horizon. At least Nokia is releasing Lumia phones that people actually *want* to buy, plus Elop is doing a great job of restructuring the company to become profitable soon.
Just like others will rush to assume Apple is doomed because of all the things you just suggested. Let's wait and see what happens once the new iPhone comes out (and anything else they might release yet this year). If the new iPhone comes out and they release an iPad mini and sales disappoint then you might be right. The new iPad beat estimates.
They will pay a 2-2.5% dividend. Stock down 5% after hours. Dividends are not a good reason to buy stocks.
That's actually pretty typical. Aside from the usual "buy on the rumor, sell on the news" price drop, they usual forecast for the coming quarter panic sets in. I know people who daytrade Apple just because there's a predictability to the price fluctuations.
OH MY GOD, it's the end of the world!!!
It's not. But it might be the end of AAPL as we knew it for the last 10 years.
Apple is responsible to it's stockholders. They made a guidance. They exceeded that guidance. Stockholders should be happy.
Screw the stock market analysts.
Screw the stock market analysts.
L
lukemcurley
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The strengthening dollar against the Euro would have affected profits negatively too. Doesn't seem to have been discussed much by analysts.