Apple to Announce Q2 2011 Financial Results on April 20th

[toddybody]

Very simple: There is growth (or not) in Apple's business, and there is growth (or not) in Apple's share price. Apple's share price is based on Apple's profits today, plus a prediction how Apple's profits will grow over the years. So the AAPL share price is higher than Apple's business today would warrant, because there is a prediction of growth.

Let's say the share price is based on the guess "Apple will grow 25% for the next four years and then stop growing". So Apple is expected to grow for four years. For shareholders, the question is: What will people predict four years from now? If in 2015 every analyst says "we were absolutely right, Apple grew 25% for four years, and now we expect them to stand still" then the share price will be unchanged from today's. If they predict "Apple will grow one more year and then stand still" then the share price would grow by these 25%. If they have the same prediction "Apple will grow another four years" that they have today, then the share price would go up quite wildly.

Ha ha ha! thank you for the great explanation. Im afraid I discredited my knowledge in this regard a little too much What I DO NOT understand, is how market conditions, supply issues, and various nuances affect share prices in general. I feel like the stock market is kinda black magic...great post btw! Thanks friend

 

[Al Coholic]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8C148 Safari/6533.18.5)

Kind of anti climatic at this point.
- We made a lot of money
- We sold a lot of stuff
- We are excited about future products
- End of meeting.

Actually more like, "Thanks Apple for doing all these things yesterday... Now what about tomorrow?

Hope they don't run out of iDevices.

 

[toddybody]

Labor is only one part of a products actual cost and actually not the most important one.

The "Made in USA" argument has been discussed in depth, so what is your point?

You want to pay more for your products?

The world is now and has been for a while no matter where located a global economy and every company produces where it gets the best bang for the buck.
Bang is not only money, it's knowledge and education etc.. (Sorry to say, in education USA is slipping further and further, as all the budgets get cut)

The consumer with their lip service of : I would pay more if it was made here" are full of it.

They are voting daily with their wallets at dollar stores and the Walmarts of this world, buying "cheap labor" products.

Bogus argument!

I have to disagree (respectfully) in part. Yes, we totally perpetuate the foreign made/value product market. But I believe the time in which we can "vote with our wallets" is past. Since the infrastructure (manufacturing/shipping) of these goods are SO established, its almost impossible to go back to the way things were. That said, Im one of the crazies who would rather spend more for an American Made good. If Apple products were made in the US, I think many would perceive the Apple tax as more legitimate; due to higher manufacturing costs, not the current wide profit margins.

 

[anthonylambert]

Big push to get thundebolt macs, iPads, iPhones out?

I hope to hear a big push to get Thunderbolt macs, iPads, iPhones out?

Even if the only use will be syncing my iPad3 and iPhone5 faster.....

hmmmm......

this whole Thunderbolt thing is going to take a while to take off isn't it.

and still no USB 3 which I could use for something?

and no Bluray?

 

[nylonsteel]

I get a kick out of how many more billions aapl adds to its cash pile each quarter - its at what - some 60 billion now
Interesting how aapl has been ranging downwards last 3 months
Could be a sling shot effect after earnings or continued ranging down or gap down
We will see
Anyway aapl - you done me well last year
Trading aapl both ways
Good luck aapl traders

 

[bretm]

On a serious note though...I do wonder how long Apple can keep up their amazing growth. That said, my knowledge of the stock market barely rivals that of a typical 14 year old Justin Bieber fan...so

I have felt that Apple's strength isn't really programming, or computer hardware, but it's design. They're a design company that has chosen, for the most part, to use computers and gadgets as their voice. The beauty is they could continue fixing things for a long time. They've delved into the auto industry interfaces, but why not cars themselves? I think for the more foreseeable future, they'll continue to take profits away from industries a little closer, like television. There's a market trying to work itself out. They could at least sell better designed TVs. Ones that actually tilt. One's that aren't made of cheap plastic. Of course build in Apple TV software and interface and you've got a winner. They could expand into the PC market with their OS if they ever wanted to as well. Kind of a backup plan. Sell iLife, iWork, and OSX to PC users. They have a lot of directions to head in. In any case, as I've learned, a company stock will not increase in value like Apple's unless they expand their market. Look at Adobe. I bought some stock in them 5 years ago and despite all the great stuff they've done, their stock is lower. Why? Because they're just doing their job. They keep making great software, and the same market keeps buying it. There's no expansion, just more competition.

 

[MurphyM]

For the quarter, analysts are predicting net earnings of $5.35 per share on revenue of $23.27 billion, above Apple's guidance of $4.90 profit per share on $22 billion of revenue. Apple's year-ago results for the second fiscal quarter of 2010 included net earnings of $3.33 per share on revenue of $13.50 billion.

Those numbers are staggering. Absolutely incredible for a company of this size to have this kind of growth.

 

[0815]

It'll be another blowout quarter.

Can't be. People here were assuring me that the iPad2 is a major fail since it is only a minor update (more like iPad 1 1/2) and will not sell. They have to recover the cost of this enormous failure

 

[noodlelegs]

i thought aapl was a bargain at $340 recently, and then it dropped. so i sold all of it. then i saw goog drop by 7% in half a day, then i bought it, now i am losing again. i think i will leave the trading up to the big boys. but i am really tempted to buy aapl today and wait until earnings exceed everyone's expectations in a couple days, and watch the stock soar. or will it continue to plummet along with the rest of the market in the looming correction?

 

[jackwm2]

How true

Good profits due to cheap labor.

As much as I respect Apple, they need to bring production back to the USA. Cut the profit margin a bit and they could sell at the same price points. It's all the greedy big corporations that are turning the USA into a 3rd rate economic power. They want us to buy their high price products but are unwilling to pay us a decent wage.

 

[paul4339]

Actually more like, "Thanks Apple for doing all these things yesterday... Now what about tomorrow?

Hope they don't run out of iDevices.

More like lots of good financial info... then SJ jumping in and flaming a few competitors... then all that's reported on is what SJ said.

P.

 

[Eddyisgreat]

As much as I respect Apple, they need to bring production back to the USA. Cut the profit margin a bit and they could sell at the same price points. It's all the greedy big corporations that are turning the USA into a 3rd rate economic power. They want us to buy their high price products but are unwilling to pay us a decent wage.

You assume there are USA based outfits that have the same global manufacturing capabilities as Foxconn?

Who, exactly?

 

[jackwm2]

Un true

Labor is only one part of a products actual cost and actually not the most important one.

The "Made in USA" argument has been discussed in depth, so what is your point?

You want to pay more for your products?

The world is now and has been for a while no matter where located a global economy and every company produces where it gets the best bang for the buck.
Bang is not only money, it's knowledge and education etc.. (Sorry to say, in education USA is slipping further and further, as all the budgets get cut)

The consumer with their lip service of : I would pay more if it was made here" are full of it.

They are voting daily with their wallets at dollar stores and the Walmarts of this world, buying "cheap labor" products.

Bogus argument!

It is a global economy because big corporations have found a new group of people that they can exploit for below minimum wage. It is interesting the huge profits that these companies make at the expense of the worker. And yet they find every way possible to not pay their fair share in taxes. i.e. GE

People buy at Walmart because that is all they can afford with the barely above minimum wage that they make. Also, try to find clothing and basic necessities that are still made in the USA. Try to find something as simple as a bicycle still made in the USA. The USA worker is till equal to any other worker when given the chance.

 

[blackpond]

It is a global economy because big corporations have found a new group of people that they can exploit for below minimum wage. It is interesting the huge profits that these companies make at the expense of the worker.

I'm not so sure. Is there evidence of China complaining about being exploited? Seems to me that they are quickly rising to become the super power of the new world.

Also keep in mind that China likely has a very different "minimum wage" than the U.S.

If anyone is being exploited, it's the U.S. consumer who is funding and becoming increasingly dependent on a communist state.

 

[Steve121178]

I have to disagree (respectfully) in part. Yes, we totally perpetuate the foreign made/value product market. But I believe the time in which we can "vote with our wallets" is past. Since the infrastructure (manufacturing/shipping) of these goods are SO established, its almost impossible to go back to the way things were. That said, Im one of the crazies who would rather spend more for an American Made good. If Apple products were made in the US, I think many would perceive the Apple tax as more legitimate; due to higher manufacturing costs, not the current wide profit margins.

If American made Apple products are anything like the shoddy badly assembled pieces of scrap metal that are American made cars, then Apple are d00m3d!!!!

Stick to what works. Who wants sub standard American assembled products that people are expected to pay a premium for thanks to higher production costs? Plus every time an employee falls over or spills hot coffee down himself, he'll sue the company and add even more $$$'s to the cost of items. No thanks

 

[hobo.hopkins]

It is a global economy because big corporations have found a new group of people that they can exploit for below minimum wage. It is interesting the huge profits that these companies make at the expense of the worker. And yet they find every way possible to not pay their fair share in taxes. i.e. GE

People buy at Walmart because that is all they can afford with the barely above minimum wage that they make. Also, try to find clothing and basic necessities that are still made in the USA. Try to find something as simple as a bicycle still made in the USA. The USA worker is till equal to any other worker when given the chance.

So it's always the "big corporations" fault? Is it not possible that our high corporate tax rate or ridiculous pro-union state play a role? At the end of the day a business' main goal is profit - what else could it be? Why is that such a bad thing?

On a more related note, I can't wait to here more about the amount of iPad 2's sold!

 

[0815]

If American made Apple products are anything like the shoddy badly assembled pieces of scrap metal that are American made cars, then Apple are d00m3d!!!!

Stick to what works. Who wants sub standard American assembled products that people are expected to pay a premium for thanks to higher production costs? Plus every time an employee falls over or spills hot coffee down himself, he'll sue the company and add even more $$$'s to the cost of items. No thanks

Sad but true. And for cars (which you used as example) it is not a 'design' issue that makes them not reliable - look as an example at Toyota cars: The Camry manufactured in the US have bad reliability, the ones manufactured in Japan have way above average ... how can that be for the same car?

So the choice comes down to:
- expensive and unreliable (Made in the USA)
- cheap and reliable (Made in Asia)

As long as this is the choice, the answer is easy. Once the US gets their act together and produces reliable stuff, I am going to buy 'Made in the USA' again - you know, I am willing to pay more if the quality reflects that extra cost, if it is the same quality, I might prefer buying 'local' for a higher price. But I am unwilling to pay more for less quality.

 

[Thunderhawks]

It is a global economy because big corporations have found a new group of people that they can exploit for below minimum wage. It is interesting the huge profits that these companies make at the expense of the worker. And yet they find every way possible to not pay their fair share in taxes. i.e. GE

People buy at Walmart because that is all they can afford with the barely above minimum wage that they make. Also, try to find clothing and basic necessities that are still made in the USA. Try to find something as simple as a bicycle still made in the USA. The USA worker is till equal to any other worker when given the chance.

I am in manufacturing for over 30 years and I can tell you that at least from my limited perspective the USA worker is not equal and there are not enough of them at the level of any type of mass production needed. (Hence immigrants)

Between the tax structures, unions and education USA is not an attractive place to do business in especially when it involves manual labor.

If you are interested, study what happened in Ireland. They were do or die with their economy and put all their money into education.
Besides making business and investments easy, they now (after several years of focusing on education) have a highly skilled labor force and have attracted many businesses. (American too)

Sorry, for the broad strokes, but the US politicians of either side are not doing the right things for the American people.

The Unions are defending status quo and their power instead of adjusting to the global economy.

Many American never even leave the country, so what would they know about global economy?

Making everything in the US is like shutting yourself off from other ideas.
They always thought it's enough to be a big country, but that isn't working anymore.

Like so many other nations US lost many industries due to complacency and missing foresight.
Far East is business hungry , they WANT to work.

A simplified example is what many American companies create:

200 brands of cereals and other sweet junk,
200 brands of shampoo

etc.etc.

really innovative

 

[infidel69]

The way AAPL has been performing lately the 20th can't come soon enough.

 

[infidel69]

i thought aapl was a bargain at $340 recently, and then it dropped. so i sold all of it. then i saw goog drop by 7% in half a day, then i bought it, now i am losing again. i think i will leave the trading up to the big boys. but i am really tempted to buy aapl today and wait until earnings exceed everyone's expectations in a couple days, and watch the stock soar. or will it continue to plummet along with the rest of the market in the looming correction?

It sounds like you don't have the stomach for the stock market. You shouldn't sell your stock just because it had one bad day. You're not going to get rich overnight either.

 

[Al Coholic]

It is interesting the huge profits that these companies make at the expense of the worker. And yet they find every way possible to not pay their fair share in taxes. i.e. GE

Who do you think decides what their "fair share" is? As a shareholder I'd hold it against any company NOT to take advantage of legal loopholes. It's simply bad legislation - get rid of it. (Lots of luck finding politicians with big enough testicles though).

The USA worker is till equal to any other worker when given the chance.

No we aren't. We expect a union rep 1000 miles away to fight for an extra 3 minutes of break time for "everyone" in the industry and picket by the tens of thousands to get Ground Hog day off with pay.

I'm not so sure. Is there evidence of China complaining about being exploited?

That's because the Chinese have their own version of the Federal Wage and Hour Commission. They carry firearms.

Also keep in mind that China likely has a very different "minimum wage" than the U.S.

LOL! Ya think?

If anyone is being exploited, it's the U.S. consumer who is funding and becoming increasingly dependent on a communist state.

U.S. regulatory laws and unions have made it impossible to manufacture most goods here. We brought it on ourselves. End of story.

 

[KingCrimson]

Good profits due to cheap labor.

If that's so, why can't competitors rake it in? All those Android handsets & tablets are making almost NO profits.

 

[KingCrimson]

A simplified example is what many American companies create:

200 brands of cereals and other sweet junk,
200 brands of shampoo

etc.etc.

really innovative

Nucor Steel

 

[MCIowaRulz]

I'll help for the next quarter when the 2011 iMacs are released.

 

[Glideslope]

The Assimilation will Continue. The numbers will be HUGE.