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apple inc. (nasdaq: aapl ) just reported another record-breaking quarter. | 2015-01-27 |
apple inc (nasdaq: aapl ) announced financial results tuesday for its fiscal 2015 first quarter ended december 27, 2014. the company posted record quarterly revenue of $74.6 billion, well above estimates of $67.69 billion and the $57.59 billion reported in the year-ago period. net profit was also a record at $18 billion, or $3.06 per diluted share, above estimates of $2.60 per diluted share and the $2.07 reported in the prior year period. gross margin was 39.9 percent compared to 37.9 percent in the year-ago quarter. international sales accounted for 65 percent of the quarter’s revenue. iphone unit sales of 74.5 million in the quarter also set a new record according to the company. “we’d like to thank our customers for an incredible quarter, which saw demand for apple products soar to an all-time high,” said tim cook, apple’s ceo. “our revenue grew 30 percent over last year to $74.6 billion, and the execution by our teams to achieve these results was simply phenomenal.” for its fiscal 2015 second quarter, the company expected revenue between $52 billion and $55 billion, a gross margin between 38.5 percent and 39.5 percent, operating expenses between $5.4 billion and $5.5 billion, other income of $350 million and a tax rate of 26.3 percent. apple inc traded at $114.75 in the after hours session, up 5.14 percent. | 2015-01-27 |
quantum trading strategies cio and tech stock strategist sean udall spoke to benzinga during monday's #premarket prep morning show to discuss apple's (nasdaq: aapl ) upcoming earnings. | 2015-01-27 |
speaking to benzinga, able capital management chief investment officer joshua van dress said that he expects apple inc (nasdaq: aapl ) to take a hit against its earnings due to foreign currency fluctuations, similar to other firms expanding internationally. van dress thought apple would still beat expectations but “not by the usual 8 to 10 cents.” the beat would “be by very, very slim margins” and he expected the company to lower its guidance. apple reports q1 earnings after the close on tuesday and the street expects revenue of $67.69 billion with eps of $2.60. heading into the earnings release the stock was down 1.72 percent to $111.16. kevin riley and brianna valleskey contributed to this report. | 2015-01-27 |
speaking to benzinga, morningstar analyst brian colello said that all expectations are for a terrific quarter for apple inc. (nasdaq: aapl ). “apple should break all sorts of iphone sales records,” he said. “the big question is by how much. expectations are extremely high.” colello also said that more than any other quarter, pricing will be something to watch for, adding that the company sold the iphone 6+ for $100 more than the regular iphone 6. “because of the way they tiered their memory, it seems likely that many customers upgraded to that middle tier of memory and bought the 64 gigabyte version instead of the entry-level 16 gigabytes,” he said. currency headwinds are also a risk that could offset some of the great underlying unit growth, according to colello. he expects currently to be discussed on the conference call. “it’s certainly possible that revenue won’t be as strong as it could have been due to the strong dollar,” he said. “we are more concerned with the underlying demand for the phone, itself.” colello pointed out that the morningstar estimates are a little cautious relative to the street expectations. shares of apple are trading at $111.20. brianna valleskey contributed to this report. | 2015-01-27 |
the apple watch is only a few months away from release. if you're wondering what fresh product ideas apple inc. (nasdaq: aapl ) will bring to the market next, read on. 1. flexible devices apple is known for wanting to build an iphone with a sapphire display, but what about an iphone that can bend freely and avoid the risk of breaking altogether? | 2015-01-27 |
market prophit gathers the social media commentary that's related to investing and the stock market, analyzes it, and develops statistics that can tell users both crowd and experts (also called ‘market prophits’) sentiment. the company’s ceo igor gonta spoke exclusively to benzinga on wednesday afternoon, amidst some of the biggest companies’ earnings calls, and pointed out a few of the tech stocks buzzing on twitter inc. (nyse: twtr ) in the past few trading days. check them out below: apple (bullish) for apple inc. (nasdaq: aapl ) , “after blowout earnings, both crowd and market prophit signals continue to be very bullish,” gonta said. “one of our top market prophiits last week was @tradetexasbig , who nailed the stock.” related link: 3 ways apple is changing retail facebook (bullish) “now, looking ahead into earnings, for facebook, inc. (nasdaq: fb ) today, both crowd and market prophits are very bullish as well.” related link: mega-hedge fund manager: facebook's stock price 'hardly represents any sort of value' alibaba (somewhat bearish) finally, both the crowd and market prophits are bearish on alibaba group holding (nyse: baba ), “but not by very much,” gonta added. | 2015-01-28 |
tech giant apple inc. (nasdaq: aapl ) came with much better than expected fourth-quarter results on tuesday, vindicating billionaire investor and chairman of icahn enterprises lp (nasdaq: iep ) , carl icahn, take on the stock. icahn was on cnbc wednesday to share his opinion on apple’s quarterly results; he also revealed that he will be raising his guidance on the stock. “we are very pleased with this,” icahn said. “of course we recommended this when we had that tweet a year and a half ago. i don’t recommend too many stocks. i don’t like to that unless i think it’s a no-brainer and this one is sort of amazing to me because every decade you get one of these maybe two or three. i remember, way back in the day nabisco sold at $1 when we spun off reynolds that ages me somewhat and when we spun-off it was $1 and we knew it was worth $8 and the street didn’t [pick it up] in that case couple of months.” he continued, “and this one, they haven’t really understood this stock for, i don’t believe they have, for year, year and a half now and i guess we recommended it, it’s a big stock and i like to do that for twitter followers and we are very pleased with the results. if anything, i think we are going to revise that guidance, we just came out with a report on it in october, but a price target on it of about $200 and i think we are going to revise that.” | 2015-01-28 |
speaking exclusively to benzinga, lemelson capital management’s chief investment officer emmanuel lemelson provided some insight on the negative sentiment from facebook, inc.’s (nasdaq: fb ) users and the current stock price, which “hardly represents any sort of value,” he stated. lemelson told benzinga that “it is extremely difficult to justify the current price of facebook (about $215 billion) based on its financial showing -- ttm levered free cash flow of just $3.34 billion and $2.75 billion of net income. further, the assets buttressing the issue offer very little margin of safety to the common equity holder (i.e. ncav value of just $5.05 per share and tangible book of just $6.64 per share).” taking a closer look at valuation, the hedge fund manager points out the price-to-tangible-book ratio of 11.4x, price-to-earnings of 73x, and price to free cash flow of “a whopping 61x.” “i don’t know what the earnings might be, because i don’t really follow the issue. however, i have noticed that overwhelmingly fb users (unlike aapl users) have increasingly negative feelings about using the product. and many ultimately defect, commenting how much better they feel once they do,” he told us. and continued to question: “how could such an emotive phenomenon amongst users ever lead to positive long-term economics?” javier hasse and brianna valleskey contributed to this report. | 2015-01-28 |
apple inc.'s (nasdaq: aapl ) impressive first-quarter results sent a slew of analysts to their pencil sharpeners wednesday to set higher targets. | 2015-01-28 |
a partnership between apple inc. (nasdaq: aapl ) and alibaba group holding ltd (nyse: baba ) could be a match made in heaven . in the meantime, alibaba might need to channel its inner apple if it wants to attract investors. | 2015-01-28 |
following apple inc.’s (nasdaq: aapl ) earnings call tuesday afternoon, jim cramer spoke on cnbc’s squawk on the street and provided some insight on the company, its future and its stock -- particularly, on why investors should own it rather than trade it. regarding this last point, cramer explains: “this [apple’s $18 billion record profit] is why i’ve been saying ‘don’t trade it, own it;’ because this is a mesmerizing quarter.” best takeaway from $aapl call? i think that apple is going to roll retailers like it did record companies.. — jim cramer (@jimcramer) january 28, 2015 he continues: “i think what’s so important is that those who felt that this is only an iphone story, and that maybe one day it’ll be a worldwide story, this was a fabulous china quarter. they seemed to like the phones, different from what steve jobs said they would; they like a big phone.” in fact, china revenue was up 70 percent, with only four stores (they’ll have 40 next year). growth was also “absolutely stunning” in brazil, cramer points out. big surprises on $aapl call: china, i-pay, i-watch tease — jim cramer (@jimcramer) january 28, 2015 cramer also mentions this was an ipay quarter: “tim cook is going to roll every retailer;” and a watch quarter: “because he said ‘i can’t live without it,’ and […] his credibility is the highest of any ceo right now. so, if he says he can’t live without the watch, and there’s 500 million people who have the phone so it sincs,” cramer is getting one. | 2015-01-28 |
according to anil doradla, analyst at william blair, there were a lot of factors including great success in china that contributed to the better than expected results declared by apple inc. (nasdaq: aapl ) on tuesday. doradla was on cnbc wednesday to discuss why investors should continue to hold on to their apple shares. “i like everyone else had high hopes going to the quarter, but clearly apple defied everyone’s expectations,” doradla said. “i think there were three key points here right. on the blowout iphone numbers…there were three factors that played together. one was samsung faltering and apple gaining share, apple finally launching these products in china and there was a pent up demand for a larger screen size phones. on the chinese front, what was spectacular is that the china revenue contributions now are very comparable to that of whole of europe.” he continued, “now, this defies many quarters of investment community who has always said that- look, if you want to sell in china, it has to be cheap phones, unless you sell products which are cheap you won’t succeed in china. i think it clearly debunks that thesis and people would be looking at china as not a low-cost country, but where people can spend money and on finally, i think the capital gains.” no complaints “the company talked about $103 billion returns of their $130 billion that was authorized.tim cook clearly said, in april there’s another announcement coming. so, could they authorize another $100, $130 billion? remember this is a $660 billion market-cap company. so, potentially this company could return anywhere between 10, 15, high teens percent of their market value to investors. so, i think overall it was spectacular. no complains, i think, we are in the stock and we are recommending investors to hold on to it,” doradla added. | 2015-01-28 |
the legalization of medical and recreational marijuana use has opened the door for the emergence of several new startups. from specialized growers to brand-name pot products, the possibilities seemed endless— until cannabis made its way to the tech space. there’s an app for that as the marijuana revolution spread from state to state, developers who wanted in on the fast growing industry began to invest in apps devoted to the drug. everything from marijuana delivery services and dispensary maps to weed-themed social media apps are being developed by startups hoping to piggyback on the growing industry. most expect that as us legislation changes, the culture surrounding marijuana will move to become more mainstream, and they want their apps front and center when that happens. apple resists however, apple inc .’s (nasdaq: aapl ) app store, one of the largest content distribution platforms in the world, won’t allow cannabis related products to be sold on its network. the company’s policies dictate that apps must comply with local laws in all locations where they can be purchased, and since us marijuana laws differ from state to state, that makes pot-themed apps a no-go. tech companies push forward companies like weedmaps, nestdrop and cannabuild have all petitioned apple to amend its user agreement to allow weed-based apps to be sold, but so far the company has been silent. despite apple’s reluctance to get on board, the industry is continuing to press forward, hoping that enough public interest cannabis tech will push apple into action. | 2015-01-28 |
the industries that are driving the market today are: electronic equipment: the industry gained 5.52% by 10:30 am. the top performer in this industry was apple inc. (nasdaq: aapl ), which gained 8%. apple announced stronger-than-expected financial results for its fiscal 2015 first quarter. the company sold 74.5 million iphones in the quarter. photographic equipment & supplies: this industry rose 3.77% by 10:30 am et. the top performer in this industry was gopro, inc. (nasdaq: gpro ), which gained 3.9%. gopro's trailing-twelve-month roe is 26.53%. building materials wholesale: this industry jumped 2.19% by 10:30 am. the top performer in this industry was louisiana-pacific corp. (nyse: lpx ), which rose 2.9%. louisiana-pacific is expected to report its q4 financial results on february 11, 2015. networking & communication devices: this industry moved up 2.14% by 10:30 am. the top performer in this industry was juniper networks, inc. (nyse: jnpr ), which gained 6.3%. juniper networks reported better-than-expected q4 results. | 2015-01-28 |
following apple inc.’s (nasdaq: aapl ) earnings call tuesday, where it reported yet another another record-breaking quarter –- including the sale of 74.5 million iphones , analysts throughout wall street have weighed in on every aspect, from revenue, to stock valuation and even apple’s ‘cool’ factor versus samsung. speaking exclusively with benzinga’s newsdesk wednesday morning, brian sozzi, ceo & chief equities strategist at belus capital advisors, provided some insight on why apple is changing retail . check it out below! apple pay "apple pay is making it easier for people to pay at whole foods and removing physical interaction with cash,” sozzi explains. this “leads to higher amounts spent at retailers,” he adds. apple watch regarding the somewhat controversial apple watch, sozzi believes that it “will force retailers to re-think their marketing plans to reach people in real-time on their wrists.” apple retail stores “newer stores being opened by angela ahrendts will like be infused with real-time experiences (think digital walls, streaming content), causing other retailers in the mall and off mall to re-think their store designs and layouts." $178 billion in cash for apple, umm, sick. $aapl — brian sozzi (@briansozzi) january 27, 2015 | 2015-01-28 |
the irvine, california company, which counts apple inc. (nasdaq: aapl ) among its customers, changed hands in the extended session recently up nearly 2 percent to $42.09 a share. | 2015-01-29 |
to make matters worse, google must also deal with a rising competitor: apple inc. (nasdaq: aapl ). | 2015-01-29 |
google inc (nasdaq: goog ) (nasdaq: googl ) is one of the world’s leading companies when it comes to technological innovation. on the day of google’s quarterly earnings release, now is a good time to take a look at what the company has been up to over the past three months. here’s a list of seven google innovations since the company’s last earnings report. google fiber google fiber internet service is old news to residents of kansas city, austin and provo, utah, but earlier this month google announced the planned launch of fiber in four new cities: atlanta, nashville, charlotte and raleigh-durham, north carolina. the gigabit internet service currently costs customers about $80 per month. android 5.0 lollipop google announced its new operating system, android 5.0 lollipop, in november. lollipop is possibly the most radical redesign of android yet, with key changes to the way that digital elements interact. live channels for android tv app in december, google launched this new app, which will allow users with an android tv device to watch live network television programming. project ara google recently announced the launch of project ara, modular smartphones that users can customize by assembling preferred modules. the initial test launch will be in puerto rico only, but project ara could soon make its way to the u.s. as well. music key in november, google launched music key, youtube’s new streaming music subscription service . since music streaming has become more popular in recent years, google is attempting to compete for market share in the space against the likes of apple inc (nasdaq: aapl ) , amazon.com inc (nasdaq: amzn ) , pandora media inc (nyse: p ) and spotify . google contributor google unveiled google contributor back in november. the new service offers web users a way to avoid google ads on certain websites for a small monthly fee . child-friendly products google revealed in december that it is currently developing child-friendly versions of its search engine, chrome browser and youtube video-sharing service. google vice-president pavni diwanji recently explained that the project is intended to, “change our products to be fun and safe for children.” it’s likely that many of these innovations will end up as flops, but google’s spirit of change and technological advancement has played a huge role in shaping the modern internet experience worldwide. | 2015-01-29 |
on the day of its q4 earnings release, many amazon.com inc (nasdaq: amzn ) shareholders are likely fearful of a repeat of the company’s disastrous third quarter 2014 earnings report back in october that tanked the stock 13 percent. after all, how much could change in only three months? when it comes to amazon, three months is an eternity. here’s a list of seven amazon innovations since the company’s last earnings report. amazon echo in november, amazon announced the launch of echo, a voice-activated personal assistant (and music player). the cylindrical speaker is less than 10 inches tall and connects to wi-fi, smartphones and tablets. echo appears to be amazon’s take on apple inc’s (nasdaq: aapl ) siri. amazon elements in early december, amazon announced the launch of elements, the company’s new line of household items that will be available to prime members only. elements includes items such as diapers ($7.49 per package) and baby wipes ($10.99 for a pack of six). workmail just this week, amazon announced the launch of workmail, an email and scheduling service that will take on the likes of google inc (nasdaq: goog ) (nasdaq: googl ) and microsoft corp (nasdaq: msft ) . the launch is part of amazon’s effort to lure more companies to use the company's cloud computing services. amazon travel in november, amazon announced the planned launch of amazon travel, an independent hotel and resort booking service . the launch will initially cover hotels in only a handful of major cities, but could eventually compete with services offered by priceline group inc (nasdaq: pcln ) and expedia inc (nasdaq: expe ) . amazon services amazon services, a platform to connect customers to trusted, local service providers such as technicians and handymen, made its debut in november. amazon is hoping services could grow to compete with yelp inc (nyse: yelp ) and angie’s list inc (nasdaq: angi ) . prime now amazon debuted it’s highly-publicized prime now one-hour delivery service in manhattan in december. amazon will likely expand the service to other locations if the new york city experiment goes well. fire tv stick amazon launched its fire tv stick, $39 alternative to google’s chromecast, almost immediately following the company’s last earnings report in october. tv viewers have likely seen amazon’s commercials for the fire stick starring the eccentric gary busey. amazon has a long history of innovation, and it’s likely that many of these new products and services will join the fire phone on the long list of technological flops. however, if only one or two of the ideas becomes as successful as innovations such as the kindle or amazon prime, the success will be well worth all the failures. | 2015-01-29 |
apple inc. (nasdaq: aapl ) could emerge from 2015 as the world's largest smartphone maker, according to a market research firm. | 2015-01-29 |
ben reitzes of barclays on thursday commented in a note that apple's (nasdaq: aapl ) quarterly results, guidance and cash flow were “very positive” and that the company can continue its momentum moving forward. | 2015-01-29 |
chairman of icahn enterprises lp (nasdaq: iep ) , carl icahn, was recently on cnbc to talk about performance of tim cook as ceo of apple inc. (nasdaq: aapl ) and how a short squeeze is taking place in stock of apple. supporter of tim cook “we think very, very highly of tim and in fact i was one of his early supporters when there was criticism of him year and a half ago or whenever,” icahn said. “i think, he has done a magnificent job and the only criticism we have if there is, if you call it that is the fact that they don’t do a bigger buyback…this company invests more in research and development than any other company in world’s history and it still has $178 billion. the real issue that i think is overlooked completely is that this company…is going at 9 times earnings. now, this is almost laughable.” mutual funds playing catch up “i think you have an ad hoc short squeeze that will occur and it is occurring now in apple because today you have to just look at what is interesting here is that the index funds are in competition with the regular mutual funds,”icahn said. “so, a mutual fund has to do better than an income fund because you are paying them three times as much, you pay them 1-1.5p . an index fund is 33 basis points, so they have to do better than the indexes.” he continued, “indexes have apple in them and so therefore i think a lot of these funds have to catch up and will have to play catch up with apple because apple is 5p meaningful part of the fund’s performance and when that starts i think this stock can well go and we put a number on it of $200 which will bring it even then into a multiple that is much below the multiples of the s&p.” | 2015-01-29 |
opening: network-1 technologies (ntip) is an under-the-radar microcap company whose strong merits have gone unnoticed in the eyes of institutions and mainstream investors. at $2.30 per share, ntip is a $56m company with no debt, $21.2m in cash and cash equivalents and an ongoing revenue stream from cisco and twelve other companies. ntip has the potential to substantially reward shareholders as it asserts its already proven intellectual property rights. central to network-1 technologies is the fact that the company has been asserting its intellectual property rights against apple (aapl), microsoft (msft) and google (goog) aggressively. these ip holdings are valuable and are even standards in the networking industry. this has been validated by the fact that industry giants such as cisco (csco) have already licensed with ntip. ( 10-q legal proceedings source) quick thesis: with $21m+ in cash, no debt, consistent share repurchases cresting $7.5m, a $23m nol carryforwards and a proven multi-million dollar revenue stream with 16 licensees, ntip is a financially rock solid microcap company. the backbone of the company is their intellectual property holdings. the company’s ip is extremely stable with its key remote power patent overcoming two ustpo re-exams, an ipr , and being licensed (validated) by industry giants such as cisco. ntip is targeting additional companies for infringement of the same technologies cisco infringed and licensed to use. the company has two additional avenues of growth which have the potential to provide hundreds of millions in revenue - its mirror worlds and cox patent portfolios. mirror worlds has already overcome major obstacles (validity, infringement and damages) and was thrown out on a technicality - yet is being asserted against apple again - for a different time period. 25%+ insider ownership by the company’s impressive ceo corey horowitz aligns his interests perfectly with shareholders. along with this insider ownership, a recent up-list to the nyst mkt from the octbb will increase visibility and exposure for shares. ntip’s undiscovered nature can provide alpha for investors. industry giants are in play: ntip is targeting apple for infringement of one of its key patent holdings. apple was already found guilty of infringement of this patent in the tune of $625m+, but the judgement was vacated. now ntip is targeting apple for a different time period, and with validity and infringement being found the first time around, apple could be on the line for potentially hundreds of millions. this is the reason why steve jobs originally stated “it may be something for our future, and we may want to secure a license asap”, with regard to ntip’s technology after it was introduced to him. outside of apple, ntip is also targeting microsoft in one of its lawsuits. microsoft has not even filed any iprs or opposition to the company’s advances. further, ntip is also asserting its intellectual property against google and youtube for youtube’s content id system - owned by google. it is worth noting that industry giants have already licensed with the company, validating its intellectual property, such as cisco. to view our 13 page extensive investment report on network-1 technologies, visit secretcaps now! disclosure: by viewing this report, you agree to secretcaps’ full disclosure, which can be found as the first post on our public blog section. this report is not investment advice and is strictly informational. do not trade or make investment decisions based on the information within this report. always contact a financial professional before trading or investing in any securities. | 2015-01-30 |
monday: advanced micro devices inc. (nasdaq: amd ) buyout rumors: on monday, shares of advanced micro rose more than 5 percent amid rumors that china’s blx ic design corporation is interested in acquiring the company. shares then added another 3 percent on wednesday rising to a high price of $2.84 per share. since the rumors, shares have cooled off, ending the week at $2.57 per share. tuesday: apple inc. (nasdaq: aapl ) financial results: apple announced record first quarter 2015 earnings of $3.06 per share and record revenue of $74.6 billion, beating top and bottom line estimates. highlights from the earnings report include: record revenue from iphone and mac sales, eps growth of 48 percent year over year, and second quarter revenue guidance between $52 and $55 billion versus $53.79 billion consensus. following the announcement shares of apple gained roughly 6 percent. wednesday: facebook inc. (nasdaq: fb ) financial results: facebook announced fourth quarter earnings of $0.54 per share and revenue of $3.85 billion, beating analysts expectations for both metrics. other notable fourth quarter metrics include a 55% increased in average revenue per user (arpu) year over year, and 22 percent sequential advertising revenue growth. shares of facebook fell roughly 3 percent following the report. fomc meeting: federal reserve continues to leaving rates unchanged and repeats it can be patient in starting to raise rates. other notable rhetoric included: timing of rate hikes continues to depend on incoming information; will continue to reinvest maturing qe bonds. thursday: amazon.com inc. (nasdaq: amzn ) financial results: despite missing revenue estimates, the company beat earnings estimates significantly reporting earnings of $0.45 per share versus $0.17 per share estimates, which appeared to be what the street was hoping for as shares of amazon rose roughly 14 percent following the report and continued to hold its gains on friday. google inc. (nasdaq: goog ) financial results: for the third quarter, google reported earnings per share of $6.88 on revenue of $18.17 billion. following the report, shares of google quickly dropped roughly 5 percent to $485 per share. however, shares then began to steadily climb and have gained back the losses, currently trading around $536 per share up roughly 5 percent from thursday’s close. friday: gdp: on friday, the bureau of economic analysis released the first round of preliminary data on the us gross domestic product. on the first survey of 3 total the us gdp annual growth in the fourth quarter was 2.6 percent compared to what analysts were expecting 3.0 percent. | 2015-01-30 |
this week has been an eventful week for investors of big tech names such as amazon.com inc (nasdaq: amzn ) , google inc (nasdaq: goog ) (nasdaq: googl ) , facebook inc. (nasdaq: fb ) , apple inc (nasdaq: aapl ) , and alibaba group holding ltd (nyse: baba ) . after a mixed bag of earnings reports, how to the big names now compare from a fundamental standpoint? earnings one of the most basic fundamental metrics for gauging a stock’s value is the price to earnings ratio (pe). the lower the pe, the higher the value. here’s a breakdown of the updated pe for these five big names. apple is currently the only stock of the five with a pe lower than the s&p 500’s overall pe of 18.9. alibaba and facebook’s pes of over 50 are well out of the normal range for the s&p 500. amazon is the only company that was not profitable in 2014 (and therefore has no pe). the stocks of many companies trade more on forward guidance than on current-quarter earnings. these stocks’ forward pes indicate the stocks' values based on 2015 outlook. apple still leads the group with a forward pe of 13.8, but google’s forward pe of 17.3 puts it well within the historical average range for the s&p 500. facebook’s forward pe of 40.8 is still fairly high, and amazon’s number of 425.93 is extremely high. growth investors in all of these companies will likely tell you that price is not everything when analyzing a stock. growth rate is also critical for companies that are rapidly increasing the bottom line. the price to earnings to growth ratio is a good way to look at how expensive a stock is relative to its growth rate. here’s a comparison of the pegs of these five names. the current peg of the s&p 500 is 1.5, so apple and alibaba are very close to average. google and facebook have relatively high pegs, and amazon’s peg cannot be calculated from negative earnings. cash flow sometimes when companies reinvest a majority of earnings for the porpose of expanding operations and growin gthe company, earnings numbers aren’t the best measure of a stock’s value. instead, investors may choose to focus on cash flow from operations, a measure of how much cash a company brings in from regular business activities. here is the price to cash flow from operations ratio for each of these five companies. once again, apple and google lead the way in the group with their massive cash flows. this time, alibaba and facebook take the bottom two slots. takeaway nobody knows exactly what 2015 holds for these five tech giants. however, now that the dust has settled on this busy earnings week, the market can begin to get a clearer picture of how these companies stack up from a fundamental perspective. disclosure: the author holds a short position in amazon. | 2015-01-30 |
the numbers that apple inc. (nasdaq: aapl ) released for its december quarter blew all the estimates on the street out of water. as a result, the stock of apple is trading near its all time highs and according to gene munster from piper jaffray, it’s on its way to go even higher. munster was on cnbc recently to discuss where apple’s stock is heading. “it seems that investors are starting to understand that this product cycle is bigger and deeper than what they initially thought and just one quick take away is that they had 17p global market shares for smartphones in the december quarter, if they apply that for the rest of 2015 that would imply 20p upside to the street numbers,” munster said. “so, i think that kind of math is starting to resonate with investors and that’s why the stock is moving higher” apple targeting $135 on price target for apple munster said, “we’re at $135” and when asked about how he feels about that price target, he replied, “feel very good. i think that again if you look at for example the march quarter, the street is looking for about 25p iphone growth, they just did 46 in the december quarter, obviously the launch quarter, but if they grow at a kind of a similar rate i think you are going to see this stock move higher in anticipation of that. he continued, “so the big picture is this, they haven’t had a competitive offering to samsung’s larger phones, they do now. so, they are going to reap the benefits of that for the next two years.” | 2015-01-30 |
broadcom's depressed stock price "is a function of past mistakes that are unlikely to recur" like its string of ill-fated acquisitions, as well as increasingly unrealistic fears that a major customer like apple inc. (nasdaq: aapl ) could bolt, moore said. | 2015-01-30 |
biogen idec inc. (nasdaq: biib ) shares gained 11.20% to reach a new 52-week high of $392.82 after the company reported upbeat fourth-quarter profit and issued a strong earnings forecast for 2015. abaxis, inc. (nasdaq: abax ) shares touched a new 52-week high of $63.695 after the company reported better-than-expected q3 results. apple inc. (nasdaq: aapl ) shares reached a new 52-week high of $119.905. on tuesday, apple reported upbeat quarterly results. ingersoll-rand plc (nyse: ir ) shares climbed 2.20% to reach a new 52-week high of $66.04 after the company reported stronger-than-expected quarterly results. | 2015-01-30 |
by sarah roden wall street waited patiently for apple inc. (nasdaq: aapl ) to deliver their first quarter results for the fiscal year 2015 on january 27, but the public was still amazed by the ground-breaking results. earnings from apple’s report easily dwarfed figures from any other company in history. highlights from apple’s q1 report include record quarterly revenue of $74.6 billion, a 30% year-over-year increase, and crushing analyst estimates of $67.3 billion. the tech giant posted earnings per share of $3.06, marking an overwhelming 47% year-over-year increase and easily surpassing estimates of $2.58. these figures make apple’s q1fy15 the most profitable quarter of any company in history. the iphone stole the show as apple sold 74.47 million iphone units in the quarter. in addition, apple saw a huge increase in business from china, citing $16.45 billion in sales from china and taiwan; a 70% year-over-year increase and contributing to 22% of apple’s total sales. apple reached another impressive milestone this quarter: selling its billionth iphone. apple sold its billionth iphone on november 22, which will be kept in the company’s california headquarters as a trophy. looking forward, apple expects to post revenue between $52 billion and $55 billion for the second quarter of 2015. investors are also excited to see what the apple watch will bring. on january 28, analyst michael walkley of canaccord genuity reiterated a buy rating on aapl with a $135 price target. walkley attributed the “record iphone 6 upgrade cycle” to two reasons. first, “the iphone 6 and 6 plus smartphones are generating very strong replacement sales for existing iphone consumers who slowed the pace of iphone upgrade purchases during the relatively disappointing iphone 5 and 5s product cycles.” second, walkley added, “we anticipate f2015 high-end smartphone market share gains for apple due to surveys indicating a greater mix of android smartphone consumers switching to the iphone 6 smartphones than the iphone 5 series launches primarily due to apple entering the larger screen smartphone market segment.” the analyst concluded that the iphone trends “[bode] well for future strong earnings and cash flow generation.” michael walkley has rated apple 70 times since september 2010, earning a 76% success rate recommending the stock and a +27.9% average return per aapl recommendation. overall, walkley has a 72% success rate recommending stocks and a +24.4% average return per recommendation. separately, analyst bill shope of goldman sachs reiterated a buy rating on aapl and raised his price target to $130 from $124. shope notes that apple’s performance from this quarter puts a “dent in the bear case,” which centers on concerns that “product momentum [will] not easily translate to emerging regions due to its premium price points, aggressive local competitors, and limited ios ecosystem value in foreign markets.” additionally, shope notes that “much of [the] upside [from iphone] came from growth in the installed base as opposed to just replacements.” bill shope has rated apple 56 times since april 2009, earning an 88% success rate recommending the stocks and a +33.4% average return per aapl recommendation. overall, shope has a 75% success rate recommending stocks and a +19.3% average return per recommendation. on the other hand, analyst andy hargreaves of pacific crest reiterated a sector perform rating on aapl . hargreaves does not think that the record-breaking figures in the q1 report will be sustainable in the future, noting “we estimate [that the pace of iphone upgrades in q1] accounted for at least 10 million incremental iphone units in the quarter, which was augmented by record share gains from android. we do not believe either of these metrics will repeat themselves in the next iphone cycle, which creates a difficult comparison and the potential for declining iphone units in f2016.” the analyst continued, “absent unexpected success in new products, a decline in iphones would also likely drive down apple’s total revenue, profit and trading multiples.” andy hargreaves has rated apple 39 times since february 2009, earning a 67% success rate recommending the stock and a +28.3% average return per apple recommendation. overall, hargreaves has a 65% success rate recommending stocks and a +34.1% average return per recommendation. on average, the top analyst consensus for apple on tipranks is moderate buy. | 2015-01-30 |
apple inc. (nasdaq: aapl ) is once again on top of the world. | 2015-01-31 |
speaking on cnbc's mad money , jim cramer said that he wouldn't buy mattel, inc. (nasdaq: mat ) because it has a bad management. cramer believes that hasbro, inc. (nasdaq: has ) is a better pick, but he would buy apple inc. (nasdaq: aapl ) because it produces best toys. | 2015-02-01 |
the tech-heavy coatue, with assets of about $9.7 billion listed among its top five holdings as of november apple inc. (nasdaq: aapl ), netflix inc. (nasdaq: nflx ), baidu inc. (nasdaq: bidu ), linkedin corp. (nyse: lnkd ) and avago technologies ltd. (nasdaq: avgo ). | 2015-02-02 |
david albrycht from newfleet asset management was on cnbc monday to provide insights on bond offerings by apple inc. (nasdaq: aapl ) and netflix, inc. (nasdaq: nflx ) and opine on fed’s interest rate policy going forward. apple “rates are very, very low,” albrycht said. “apple being very opportunistic is looking at this, we can bring, we think they are probably going to bring $5 billion to markets to [few tranches], looks about 15 to 20 cheap, discounted to the existing debt. i look at apple, they already have significant cash on their balance sheet.” he continued, “so, they are probably doing this to deal to do special dividend or stock buyback. when i look at pricing, i am not really too excited about it, we’ll do probably some of the higher quality energy companies as opposed to doing apple. i can do apche, i can do williams at much bigger concession.” netflix “as far as netflix, the high yield deal that just came. netflix is going to bring a billion dollar deal, looks like two [points] somewhere in the mid-5s, great fundamentals for that company, we are actually in the deal already,” albrycht said. is fed going to raise rates this summer? “i think if the fed is going to do any time of rate move this year, it’s going to be a token 25 basis points trial balloon to sort of validate quantitative easing, albrycht replied. “but i would have to [err] on the side of why did you do qe2, why did you do qe3, you want to liquefy the bank’s balance sheets, yet you are going to raise rates with the 10-years in the 160 range threaten yield curve and take away that interest margins, it makes no sense to me.” | 2015-02-02 |
http://files.shareholder.com/downloads/aapl/3928117909x0xs1193125-15-28777/320193/filing.pdf | 2015-02-02 |
shares of mobileye nv (nyse: mbly ) spiked upwards tuesday morning following news that apple inc. (nasdaq: aapl ) had received a patent for an advanced auto access and control system. “apple's patent filing reveals that future iphones will be able to open your car door, start your engine, shut off your engine for specific time frames, be able to program complete personalized car settings and much, much more,” according to patently apple. mobileye develops driver assistance systems and its shares appeared to benefit from the news that apple may also enter the market. shares of mobileye nv gave up some gains after spiking to $39.00 per share and recently traded at $38.06, up 0.48 percent. | 2015-02-03 |
according to patently apple, there was an “odd-ball” entry in apple's (nasdaq: aapl ) granted patent list. | 2015-02-03 |
maynard um of wells fargo commented in a note on tuesday that apple's (nasdaq: aapl ) $6.5 billion debt raise announcement compares to prior u.s. debt raises of $12 billion in 2014 and $17 billion in 2013. | 2015-02-03 |
everyone expected apple inc. (nasdaq: aapl ) to add a familiar lowercase "i" to its smartwatch branding, but the company went in another direction. | 2015-02-03 |
steve grasso thinks that apple inc. (nasdaq: aapl ) is a buy. | 2015-02-03 |
apple inc (nasdaq: aapl ) recently delayed the launch of the apple watch until april, but ukrainian company eleks has already developed an app for the device that will allow owners to control systems in tesla motors inc (nasdaq: tsla ) vehicles using only their watches. among other thing, users will be able to use their apple watch to lock and unlock a tesla model s, turn on and off the headlights, and monitor the internal temperature, mileage and battery charge. third-party app toolkit eleks used apple watchkit to develop the tesla app, a toolkit from apple that allows third-party users to develop their own apple watch apps before the watch even goes on the market. although the company was successful in creating the app using watchkit, eleks was dissatisfied with the toolkit’s limitations . for example, watchkit does not provide access to apple watch’s accelerometer, gyroscope, taptic engine, speaker or microphone. limitations of watchkit the eleks team even went as far as to express their frustrations on the project page for the app. “we can now confidently say that creating anything really necessary and fully functional for apple watch with the current sdk version is very, very difficult, and many of the things promised at launch that were perfect for some business ideas are not at all available yet.” keep your iphone handy ironically, apple already has an iphone app that provides the same type of remote control functionality for tesla vehicles . in addition, since the first-generation watch only allows software developers the ability to use the watch as a bridge for a user’s iphone, third-party apps such as elek’s tesla app can only function properly if users keep their iphones on them at all times. | 2015-02-04 |
udall has theorized that apple inc. (nasdaq: aapl ) would enter the space in some capacity for quite some time. at least one other analyst had a similar theory about apple and google inc (nasdaq: goog ). | 2015-02-04 |
after reporting stellar results last week, apple inc. (nasdaq: aapl ) continues to hoard investors’ attention as it managed to raise a better-than-expected $6.5 billion through a corporate bond sale that took place on monday. the idea behind this bond sale is funding share buybacks (about $130 billion by the end of 2015) while keeping the company’s overseas cash reserves intact. related link: are apple, netflix's new bond offerings worth hitting the buy button? over the past couple of years, the company offered its bonds in two other occasions: in april 2013, it had raised $17 billion, and in april 2014, $12 billion. similar to these times, investors are wondering: how come apple’s bonds continue to outperform us treasury bonds? tim anderson, managing director at tjm investments shared his thoughts about this issue with benzinga. here’s what he said: “yesterday i believe aapl sold $3b to $4b of corporate bonds on a day when the $us 10 year hit a 2 year+ low of 1.65%.” he then continued: “i don’t have the specifics in front of me but my recollection is that when aapl did their first bond sale in 2013 they very nearly nailed the top of the bond market then.” | 2015-02-03 |
chairman and ceo of berkshire hathaway inc. (nyse: brk.b), warren buffett, was recently interviewed by fbn’s liz claman. in the interview, buffett opined on his prominent holdings - the coca-cola co (nyse: ko ) and moody's corporation (nyse: mco ), and also discussed what’s stopping him from buying the iwatch from apple inc. (nasdaq: aapl ). why do you still hold moody’s? it’s a fantastic business, so is s&p incidentally. i mean they are paying a big fine, but s&p is a wonderful business. it takes no capital, it has pricing flexibility. if i sell a bond issue, i’ll sell one another month probably or something like that, i need a moody’s rating and i need a standard and poor’s rating and i can’t negotiate with them. when asked if he is planning to sell any of his moody’s stake, buffett replied, “no, we haven’t for a long time. we got about $2 billion worth [of stock].” are you worried that coca-cola has lost its way in recent years? “1.9 billion 8 ounce serving of the coca-cola products are sold in the world today. it’s gone up almost every year since 1886…but i do not worry about coca-cola. i am 84 years old, in my adult lifetime, one quarter of all the calories that i have consumed have come from cola.” will you buy an iwatch? “tim cook sent me a christmas card and he said his goal in 2015 was to have me get rid of that flip phone i have. so, i have got a couple of stages to go through before i get to the iwatch,” buffett replied. | 2015-02-05 |
this already happened to flip video, which was shut down a few years after its rise to fame. will gopro face a similar fate, or will the company become the apple inc. (nasdaq: aapl ) of its sector? | 2015-02-05 |
in a report published thursday, credit suisse analyst kulbinder garcha reiterated an outperform rating on apple (nasdaq: aapl ), and raised the price target from $130.00 to $140.00. | 2015-02-05 |
rod hall of jpmorgan on thursday commented in a note that apple (nasdaq: aapl ) is reportedly set to tap samsung to lead the fabrication of its a9 chip due to samsung's leadership position at the 14nm node. | 2015-02-05 |
apple inc.'s (nasdaq: aapl ) ipad sales decline will accelerate sharply in 2015, according to research cited by appleinsider web site. | 2015-02-06 |
the war for talent at silicon valley is more brutal than ever. a recent report by bloomberg shows that tesla motors inc (nasdaq: tsla ) ‘poaches’ more employees from tech giant apple inc. (nasdaq: aapl ) than any other company, while at the same time elon musk has previously gone on record to say how apple is luring tesla employees with massive signing bonuses. michael andronico, associate editor at tom’ guide, was on cnbc friday to talk about the poaching rivalry brewing between two of silicon’s valley hottest companies. tesla is in need “well, i think on tesla’s ends the company is looking to make their cars even more hi-tech, smart cars, connected cars are becoming more and more common and apple has some of the best experts in software and particularly in auto-tech because they had their own car play software for vehicles,” andronico said. “so, i think on tesla’s end they know the talents there at apple and they are willing to do what it takes to get it.” how these ex-apple employees can help tesla execute its plan for the future? “elon musk is known for staying at the cutting edge of tech and he has already announced plans to update his car’s firmware so that they can do things like go from 0 to 60 even faster,” andronico replied. “so, with resources of these former apple employees, who are experts on software, he’ll be able to make a connected car dashboard that is more intuitive than ever.” with tesla competing for apple’s talent apart from other device makers shouldn’t tim cook be worried? “well, internally i think tim cook will find ways to motivate his staff, but at the same time this is apple, they are at top of their game, they are selling more iphones than ever and i don’t see that enough employees to be jumping ship that would make tim cook worry,” andronico said. | 2015-02-06 |
the social media space, once a sharp pain for investors, is likely seeing a reversal. high beta issues and a massive sell-off the year before had made the space decently valued. then, impressive corporate earnings from many of the companies started brightening the space and the related etf last quarter. this quarter too seems to have sustained the wining trend. on february 5, twitter ( twtr ) and linkedin ( lnkd ), two extremely well-known social media stocks, reported earnings after the bell and both excelled on both lines. stocks of the internet giants soared after hours. their fourth-quarter performances are detailed below (read: 3 internet etfs leading the tech world higher ): twitter's q4 in detail initially, twitter stock was hit by disappointing user growth despite improved top and bottom lines. but the stock shot up as the company threw light on the one-time reason behind sluggish user growth. per twitter, apple's (nasdaq: aapl ) ios 8 software upgrade encountered an "unforeseen bug," causing a loss of 4 million active users. otherwise, twitter would have been able to report 292 million users instead of 288 in the quarter, though the reported figure was up 20% y/y. non-gaap earnings were 12 cents per share (per the company ), easily beating the year-ago earnings of 2 cents per share. revenues of $479 million in the quarter were up 97% year over year and ahead of the zacks consensus estimate of $451 million. shares were up 9.1% after hours. linkedin's q4 in detail linkedin's fourth-quarter revenues increased 44% year over year to $643.4 million, surpassing the zacks consensus estimate of $618 million bolstered by its hiring business. the online job services media site posted non-gaap earnings of 61 cents per share (reported by the company ), up from 39 cents in the year-ago quarter. shares were up 7.7% in the aftermarket session. if this was not enough, facebook ( fb ) also came up with top and bottom line beats for q4 in late january. its adjusted earnings per share came in at 54 cents, ahead of the zacks consensus estimate of 33 cents and up 69% from the year-ago earnings of 32 cents. revenues climbed 49% year over year to $3.85 billion and surpassed our estimate of $3.79 billion (read: etfs in focus on facebook earnings beat & rising cost ). market impact the reaction of such stellar results also drove global x social media index etf (nasdaq: socl ) – a pure play on social media space – higher. the fund, which was up 1.1% on february 5, added about 0.2% after hours, reflecting lnkd and twtr's performances. investors can easily use the recent ascent in the above-mentioned stocks as a buying opportunity of socl. through socl, investors can simultaneously be in touch with the most sought-after social media companies. socl in focus socl focuses on companies across the world engaged in some aspect of the social media industry. the fund tracks solactive social media index and invests $102.5 million of assets in about 30 holdings. the in-focus linkedin takes the second spot in the fund accounting for about 11.85% in the portfolio while facebook takes the third spot with 9.96% weight and twitter occupies the tenth spot with 3.96% exposure (read: 3 ibm proof tech etfs for 2015 ). socl has company-specific concentration risk putting more than 60% of investments in its top 10 holdings. the product charges 65 bps in annual fees. socl has added about 3% year to date (as of february 5, 2015). though volatility is imminent in this high-tech space thanks to valuation and global growth concerns, there are plenty of sound companies in the space, suggesting that an etf approach might now be a better way to play the segment. after all, twitter and linkedin hold a solid industry rank (in the top 38%) at the time of writing as per the zacks industry rank, suggesting upside potential for the stock in the coming days. want the latest recommendations from zacks investment research? today, you can download 7 best stocks for the next 30 days. click to get this free report >> want the latest recommendations from zacks investment research? today, you can download 7 best stocks for the next 30 days. click to get this free report twitter inc (nyse: twtr ): free stock analysis report linkedin corp-a (nyse: lnkd ): free stock analysis report facebook inc-a (nasdaq: fb ): free stock analysis report glbl-x socl mda (nasdaq: socl ): etf research reports to read this article on zacks.com click here. zacks investment research want the latest recommendations from zacks investment research? today, you can download 7 best stocks for the next 30 days. click to get this free report | 2015-02-06 |
although apple inc. (nasdaq: aapl ) is working on creating and delivering content on its own as is evident from its content delivery network (cdn) that went live last year, there has been no word from the company stating the same. however, this time the rumors of apple’s own pay-tv service are stronger than ever with re/code r eporting that the company is in talks with tv programmers for the same. walter issacson, author of bestselling "steve jobs" biography, was on cnbc recently to talk about net neutrality and how apple could disrupt television. “when you talk about net neutrality, you look at what apple is doing and what i think steve jobs wanted to do, which is go direct to the content providers and say – okay you want to [sell], you get it when you want on-demand, just by asking, ‘i want this show now’ , issacson said. “and that’s another reason you need to have experimentation, you can’t sort of have gatekeepers telling you what can go and what all. i think, apple will crack the ability to say tv on-demand, what you want and do them.” will it be in the form of a box or an actual tv? “i don’t think the form factor, people used to ask me because i mentioned in my book on steve jobs that he have been working on tv,” issacson replied. “what does a tv look like, if you go back to the music thing, the ipod was really, really cool, but what was more amazing was him hammering all 7 of the music companies to say you got to put the songs there at $0.99 a pop.” “ it’s getting the content connected to the software, connected to the hardware that was a genius of apple for the past 20 years and that’s what they do [here].” | 2015-02-05 |
twitter inc (nyse: twtr ) is trading sharply higher (+10%) in premarket trade following its q4 earnings report. wedbush is not buying the hype, reiterating its neutral rating and saying that it would like “to see the company actually deliver on user numbers in a consistent manner.” in q4, twitter said that its ability to add users was impacted by apple inc.’s (nasdaq: aapl ) ios 8 roll-out, which made it more challenging for users to seamlessly view tweets. in q1, management does expect monthly active users to grow in the mid-teens. in q4, wedbush said that monetization was “stellar.” wedbush is raising 2015 estimates on twitter’s monetization. the analysts raised 2015 revenue expectations to $2.35 billion from $2.29 billion. in fy16, wedbush sees revenues at $3.82 billion and ebitda at $981.1 million – up from $575 million in fy15. when it comes to valuation, wedbush raised its price target to $50, up from $40 prior. the value is based on a 15x multiple applied to the 2020 ebitda estimate. | 2015-02-06 |
will there ever come a time when apple inc. (nasdaq: aapl ) fails to provide one of the top stories of the week? | 2015-02-07 |
steven milunovich of ubs on monday commented in a note that apple (nasdaq: aapl ) has historically been poor in marketing to enterprise customers, a characteristic the company hopes to reverse with its alliance to bring ibm (nyse: ibm ) analytics to apple products. | 2015-02-09 |
ben reitzes of barclays on monday commented in a note that apple's (nasdaq: aapl ) "extraordinary" level of free cash flow and its potential impact on share prices may not be fully appreciated by invested. | 2015-02-09 |
the buzz around apple inc. ’s (nasdaq: aapl ) smart-watch debut has been on the rise in past weeks as developers scramble to create apps that will be compatible with the device’s operating system. biometric apps are expected to be in high demand upon the device’s release, as consumers look to the watch to bridge the gap between technology and healthcare. fda loosens regulation last week, the food and drug administration announced that it would allow medical device data systems to innovate and change without much regulatory interference, something that will allow developers more space to create. biometric measurement apps promise to make health tracking easier and more streamlined, but strict rules governing how those apps work has made innovation in that space difficult. innovation in data recording the new policy allows apps to be developed without fda regulation if their failure to perform wouldn’t create a serious health risk to the user. in that way, software that diagnoses or treats a disease will still face scrutiny from the fda, but those that simply record, store and display data will be free expand and change as developers see fit. making data easy to understand the decision’s most notable impact is giving developers of fda regulated devices the ability to make that information more accessible without being burdened by regulatory compliance. dexcom inc. (nasdaq: dxcm ), the medical device maker responsible for a comprehensive diabetes glucose monitor, is using the ruling to create a watch-compatable app that monitors a diabetes’ patient’s glucose level and makes it available to the user at a moment’s notice. the app, said to become available on apple’s smart-watch, receives data from the company’s fda approved device and converts it into an easy to understand graphs. | 2015-02-09 |
first solar inc. (nasdaq: fslr ) signed an $848 million, 25-year agreement tuesday to sell power to apple inc. (nasdaq: aapl ). | 2015-02-10 |
want an edge on trading apple? try this . apple inc. (nasdaq: aapl ) presented at the goldman sachs internet & tech conference this afternoon, led by ceo tim cook. below is a live blog of the highlights, delayed by 10 minutes. the live feed is available on benzinga pro . 03:49:23pm : tim cook says uses siri with apple watch 03:49:23pm : tim cook says uses siri with apple watch 03:47:48pm : tim cook discussing apple watch; says wants it to change peoples lives 03:45:04pm : cook mentions partnership with first solar to build solar farm in ca 03:44:26pm : cook says apple has $50b of revenue in emerging markets 03:43:22pm : tim cook says expects partnership with ibm to bear fruit this year 03:35:39pm : apple ceo tim cook's presentation at goldman sachs internet & technology conference begins | 2015-02-10 |
this week, many tesla motors inc (nasdaq: tsla ) shareholders are hopeful that the company will deliver some big earnings numbers when it reports on wednesday. when it comes to tesla, three months is an eternity. here’s a list of seven things tesla has been up to since the company’s last earnings report. battery swap stations in december, tesla announced the launch of its first battery swap station in california between los angeles and san francisco. the company is hoping that battery swap stations will eliminate some of the fears about driving long distances in tesla vehicles, which typically take 20 to 60 minutes to charge at supercharger stations. roadster 3.0 in december, tesla unveiled the new roadster 3.0. the newest model will get up to 400 miles on a single charge and features a new aerodynamic body and improved tires. falcon wing doors although deliveries won’t be happening until 2016, tesla announced some cool new features of the model x suv in december, including "falcon wing" doors. according to tesla, demand for the model x is already extremely high . satellite navigation in china the model s’s navigation system typically works with google inc’s (nasdaq: goog ) (nasdaq: googl ) maps, but google maps is banned by the government in china. in january, tesla announced an agreement with chinese company navinfo to bring satellite navigation to chinese tesla vehicles for the first time. expanded swiss supercharger network in december, tesla announced that it will be expanding its supercharger network in switzerland by adding two new stations . these stations will allow travelers in belgium and germany to access popular vacation destinations in switzerland. tesla down under tesla expanded its reach to australia in january by opening the continent’s first tesla showroom. although the showroom and tesla’s only two charging stations in australia are currently in sydney, tesla is planning major expansion to canberra, melbourne and brisbane by the end of 2016. taking a bite out of apple if you’re going to poach employees from another company, what better target that the most profitable american company, apple inc (nasdaq: aapl ) ? according to a recent bloomberg report , tesla has lured nearly 150 employees away from apple and convinced them to join the tesla team. considering how well apple employees are paid and treated, tesla must be offering quite a deal. | 2015-02-10 |
the analyst also notes that qualcomm's settlement is significant because it legalizes in china the system now being challenged by apple (nasdaq: aapl ) where royalties are charged on average selling price of devices. | 2015-02-10 |
business insider on monday reported that apple (nasdaq: aapl ) may in fact be working on an electric car to rival tesla motors. (nasdaq: tsla ) | 2015-02-10 |
sealed air corporation (nyse: see ) shares surged 9.92% to reach a new 52-week high of $44.99 after the company reported upbeat q4 earnings and issued a strong fy15 outlook. insperity, inc. (nyse: nsp ) shares touched a new 52-week high of $46.35 after the company reported better-than-expected q4 earnings and issued a strong forecast. apple inc. (nasdaq: aapl ) shares gained 1.13% to reach a new 52-week high of $121.07. jetblue airways corporation (nasdaq: jblu ) has become the first airline to accept apple pay at 35,000 feet . ark restaurants corp. (nasdaq: arkr ) shares rose 2.41% to touch a new 52-week high of $25.09 after the company reported q1 earnings of $0.21 per share on sales of $33.4 million. | 2015-02-10 |
jetblue airways corporation (nasdaq: jblu ) has become the first airline to accept apple pay at 35,000 feet, the company announced overnight. beginning next week, passengers will be able to use apple inc.’s (nasdaq: aapl ) apple pay to purchase food, beverages, amenities and upgrades onboard jetblue’s flights. jetblue is starting with transcendental flights from new york’s jfk to airports in san francisco and los angeles, according to the usa today . the airline will add additional flights beginning in march. according to the report, jetblue is also exchanging older payment terminals with ipad minis that also support plastic credit card charges. apple pay continues to gain steam, with the system accounting for two of every three dollars paid on contactless payment systems according to the the company's quarterly earnings . apple is higher by 0.6 percent in premarket trading to above $120 per share. jetblue is lower by 0.6 percent. | 2015-02-10 |
investor carl icahn issued a letter wednesday regarding the valuation of apple inc. (nasdaq: aapl ) after it closed at a record $700 billion market capitalization. based on a careful examination of apple’s tax rates and the accounting rules which it applies to its international earnings, icahn increased his fy 2015 eps forecast from $9.60 to $9.70 and claimed that the stock should trade at $216 per share. the street has estimated 2015 eps at $8.57. icahn argued that it is “irrational” for the s&p 500 to trade at 17x while apple trades at 10x forecasted eps. “it seems to us the market is somehow missing a very basic principle of valuation: when a company’s future earnings are expected to grow at a much faster rate than that of the s&p 500, the market should value that company at a higher p/e multiple,” icahn wrote. icahn believed apple should trade at a p/e of at least 20x, “which together with net cash of $22 per share, would value apple shares today at $216 per share.” the letter emphasized that $216 is not not a future price target but what the stock should trade at “today.” icahn added that “to the extent apple introduces a tv in fy 2016 or fy 2017, we believe this 20x multiple is conservative.” icahn closed the letter by stating that “there will be no stopping apple’s peerless innovation track record” and that he looked forward to the introduction of new products, including the apple watch. apple inc. recently traded at $124.78, up 2.26 percent. | 2015-02-11 |
although apple inc. (nasdaq: aapl ) is spreading its wings into many directions, jim cramer feels that two of the recent initiatives by the company are being underplayed. cramer was on cnbc wednesday discussing apple’s two initiatives that according to him have enormous potential. apple pay “the company is doing great and i think [there are] two initiatives that are being underplayed,” cramer said. “i think ipay as i said to my colleague here, they are rolling all the retailers, they are rolling them and yesterday the jet blue thing. i was asking ben baldanza (ceo at spirit airlines) about spirit, spirit may not have the wi-fi to do it, but it’s obvious that if you are going to have a register, you are going to have to have ipay.” health he continued, “and then the under arm quarter which talked about health. i am telling you that your doctors are waiting for apple to be able to give you that blood pressure read and they are working round the clock to do it.” “so, that you won’t , you literally will have a dashboard in your body, this is apple’s goal i believe…where if your blood pressure spikes, your doctor immediately is on the phone to you and suggests [med] so that you avoid the most common form of death…this is going to be in our lifetime and this is what tim cook wants, according to my guys in the organization.” cramer also noted that, “apple could trade through, it could trade through, it could have negative years, it’s that good a balance sheet.” | 2015-02-11 |
ever since apple inc. (nasdaq: aapl ) came out with its fourth-quarter earnings, the company’s shares are on a roll making lifetime highs. scott nations, chief investment officer & president at nationsshares, was on cnbc to discuss his outlook for the stock and how investors who missed the bus earlier can get into the stock. target $155 “actually my target is $155 based on not only accommodation of free cash-flow, but also the fact that we now expect even more buybacks,” nations said. “we expect the company to return more money to shareholders and largely that’s going to be a functional effect, if the company can essentially borrow money for free by issuing swiss bonds and they are going to do so to return money to shareholders. you might ask - why a company that has about $175 billion in the balance sheet need to borrow money so they can return it to shareholders.” he continued, “unfortunately about 85p of their cash is sequestered offshore that is offshore from the united states. so, they are not able to return it without paying a big tax penalty. their solution is to borrow money in switzerland, where they can do it [at] very low rates. that’s how they are going to return money. that combination, buybacks and cash flow, we see the shares at $155.” will apple shares retreat any time this year for investors to get in the stock? “if you look at the chart, you really have to be brave to step up and buy some shares, but what it takes is not bravery, it just takes a little bit of a different trading strategy. so, if you might want to have a position of 500 shares in the stock, if you are an individual investor instead of waiting for price […] to buy 500 shares at, buy 100 shares today,” nations replied. | 2015-02-11 |
following the recent high profile hack attacks, the obama administration announced today the creation of a new cybersecurity agency to deal with the growing threat. tim cook, ceo at apple inc . (nasdaq: aapl ), has been invited to speak at the white house on the issue. investor kevin o'leary was on cnbc tuesday to discuss apple’s role as a spokesperson on this issue and whether the company’s recent swiss-franc bond issue is worth a buy. apple as the spokesperson for cybersecurity “in far as apple being a spokesperson for it, if you recall about three years ago bringing your own device became popular with large corporations and people really started bringing the iphone into the platforms that were offered corporately,” o’leary said. “it wasn’t that case before then. in my own operations, i look at the companies i invest in; i would say apple has about 75p share, even in financial services." “ so, now i have to worry about how secure or not secure the apple platform is and how much of my company’s data is floating around on apple’s servers. so, i think it’s a great topic, but i never like the government driving the process for private companies in terms of anything.” are you going to buy apple’s swiss-franc bonds? “never,” o’leary replied. “this is very what’s happening here, let’s call it what it is because we don’t alow our companies to repatriate their capital, this is a form of repatriation. you issue these securities state side, you get to write-off the interest, even though it’s ridiculously low and all of these contortions because we can’t get our corporate tax law in order or at least consistent or competitive with everybody else, this is sheer stupidity.” he continued, “as far as this as a instrument for a long-term investment over a decade, you’ll be out of your minds to buy these bonds and yet they are going to sell them out in 2 seconds to institutions, it’s nuts. you are basically lending your balance sheet to apple because they can’t repay […] their cash, how dumb is this?” | 2015-02-11 |
other defendants include texas instruments, amazon.com inc. (nasdaq: amzn ), apple inc. (nasdaq: aapl ), microsoft corp. (nasdaq: msft ) nvidia corp. (nasdaq: nvda ) and lenovo group ltd. (otc: lnvgy ). | 2015-02-11 |
technician gary kwapik says that tesla motors inc (nasdaq: tsla ) is targeting $160 if a head and shoulders pattern comes to fruition after today’s earnings report. he notes that implied volatility is very pricy, indicating a $20 move is expected. tesla is currently trading below $210, down nearly 4 percent on the session. according to his charts, kwapik identified a head and shoulders pattern, with the neck line at $216 to $217. fundamentally, kwapik says that poor china sales and apple inc.’s (nasdaq: aapl ) potential electronic car competition has the stock in a vulnerable position. if traders are bearish on the stock, kwapik recommends looking out to the march or april expirations for lower implied volatility. long-term put spreads could be the most cost-effective way to take advantage of a move lower, he says. | 2015-02-11 |
the apple watch will be a boon for apple inc. (nasdaq: aapl ), says jp morgan analyst rod hall. hall says that apple watch adoption will add 2.4 percent to the fy15 eps forecasts, as well as 10.4 percent to fy16 forecasts. apple is trading at split-adjusted all-time highs following a stellar earnings report . yet, even at $122 per share, hall thinks apple is a screaming buy, hiking jp morgan’s december price target on the stock to $145 from $140 previously. this would represent a nearly 19 percent gain in price. already this year, apple has gained 10.5 percent. in 2015, hall estimates that the apple watch will see 5 percent adoption on the 525 million users with compatible devices (iphone 5 or newer). by year-end 2016, this will grow to 13 percent of a user base of 627 million. in forecasting, jp morgan says multiple times that it is being cautious – indicating that there may be room for apple to even outperform these estimates. the analysts reiterate their overweight rating. | 2015-02-11 |
apple inc. (nasdaq: aapl ) has been rumored to be interested in acquiring a wide array of companies, including automakers , crowdsourced mapping startups and social networking app developers . | 2015-02-11 |
the rumors of rivalry brewing between two of silicon valley’s most successful companies, apple inc. (nasdaq: aapl ) and tesla motors inc (nasdaq: tsla ), are increasing by the day. as we reported in an earlier article, both the companies are almost at war with each other for talent, it seems the war is spreading to other areas as well. dan costa, editor-in-chief of pc magazine, was on cnbc recently to opine on the rivalry and the prospects of the two companies merging. what could apple be developing right now that tesla could want? “so, i think it’s a tantalizing prospect to imagine apple building electronic car to go head to head with tesla, but i don’t think that’s happening right now,” costa said. “there have been a few reports, there have been a few teasers, but the bottom-line is that apple actually has a lot to learn from tesla. apple wants to create an innovative in-car experience and tesla has already done that.” “apple wants to do it of course in partnership with current vehicle manufacturers, but i can bet they are looking at tesla to find, steal ideas for what the next generation car interface is going to look like.” how far fetched is the idea of apple and tesla merging? “i’ll tell you it’s an amazing concept, i love thinking about it,” costa replied. “kind of reminds me of google buying nest […] and getting tony fadell’s talent to head up their connected home and smart home division and it’ll be amazing to think about what these two companies could do together and at the same time, they have very different cultures.” he continued, “i think tim cook and elon musk have very different management styles and very different temperaments. i’ll find it hard to believe that that could actually work out, but definitely in terms of co-operation you could see that they are working on some of the same projects, but they have got their own areas of expertise. so, i think they could probably do some exciting things.” | 2015-02-10 |
although upgrades and raising of targets have now become kind of everyday stuff for apple inc. (nasdaq: aapl ), it’s not that the whole street is bullish on the stock. kim caughey forrest,analyst and portfolio manager at fort pitt capital group was on cnbc thursday to discuss why she is not optimistic about apple. what makes you negative on apple? “i am not necessarily negative, i think i am more neutral and i am generally a cautious person and whenever a stock is hitting all-time highs that just adds to my level of caution,” forrest said. “so, here’s my basic thesis, i think they have been a great stock for people to own, i think that they make a great iphone product although personally i don’t own one and then finally i think that the people are buying the stock right now based on the belief that they are going to be able to keep rolling the dice and keep coming up winners and make new categories.” she continued, “if you are buying this based on that, the iwatch has to work, the apple tv has to come out and there’s some talk now about them doing something with automobiles. now, i don’t think they are going to be the gm of making actual cars, but i think it’s more likely that they would make some sort of information entertainment system that would work with your apple phone. so, the likelihood of them hitting all of those things perfectly is not as great as i think the rest of the world thinks.” can apple have another success with the watch ? “i am saying maybe, maybe they can, they do know a whole lot about making good user interfaces that are easy to use,” forrest replied. “my biggest like question mark here is apple in particular has been the thing that has weaned us off of watches…now they want to change consumer behaviour and make us have a watch. so, i think that’s super interesting and i don’t really understand how they think, they are going to change behaviour other than its cool and that’s about it.” | 2015-02-12 |
for the first time ever, president obama has called on best-in-their class executives from several sectors to convene at stanford university on friday in order to discuss how to move forward with his cybersecurity initiative. the event is designed to help corporate leaders work together with the government and each other to implement the best practices regarding cybersecurity, consumer protection and data privacy. big names in attendance apple inc. (nasdaq: aapl ) will be represented by ceo tim cook, who will speak about the company’s security measures protecting the new apple pay system. other notable companies expected to attend include bank of america corp (nyse: bac ), paypal , google inc. (nasdaq: goog ) and facebook inc. (nasdaq: fb ). government officials rub elbows with wall street elite the president himself will also be in attendance alongside officials from the department of homeland security, the secret service and the federal bureau of investigation. the national security agency and the central intelligence agency is slated to be absent from friday’s event. obama to foster trust on privacy issues obama’s recent creation of a new intelligence agency that will coordinate us efforts to thwart cyber attacks has left the government to depend on private companies to share their massive databases with authorities, but many are reluctant in the wake of last year’s nsa leaks and a public outcry for more privacy. the president is expected to use friday’s event to discuss with big name companies how the two can work together to protect consumer privacy while still sharing vital information in order to protect the us from more security breaches. recent attacks make security pressing in the past months, several high-profile hacking attacks have pushed many corporate leaders to shell out big bucks in order to protect their user data. the attacks, several of which have been linked to foreign governments, have also raised questions about how the us government should respond to such threats. | 2015-02-12 |
one of the innovators in mobile payments, starbucks corporation (nasdaq: sbux ) finally stopped dragging its heels on becoming apple pay-friendly this week when it released the latest update to its ios app. when apple inc (nasdaq: aapl ) launched apple pay back in october, starbucks was listed as one of apple’s supporting partners. it has taken nearly four months, but iphone users can now use apple pay to buy their favorite lattes at starbucks. the catch although the transition does technically allow apple pay users access to their favorite lattes, starbucks customers still cannot use apple pay to pay directly at starbucks stores. apple pay can only be used to load credit onto starbucks cards via the starbucks app. according to the update description , “now you can use apple pay to quickly reload your starbucks card. touch id makes it faster than ever.” mobile payment pioneer starbucks was way ahead of the mobile payment game when it unveiled its starbucks card mobile app back in 2009. the app allowed users to use their iphones as a virtual starbucks card. since that time, starbucks has been improving on the app and building a customer loyalty program around it. with the app’s success, it’s understandable why the company might be hesitant to let apple pay swoop in and take over by allowing direct apple pay payments. mobile expansion about 15 percent of starbucks’ transactions take place via its mobile app , which also includes nutritional information and an enhanced menu. in addition to continuing to improve its current app, starbucks plans a 2015 nationwide launch of the mobile order & pay app that it has recently been testing in portland. | 2015-02-12 |
apple inc (nasdaq: aapl ) was the talk of the day today in the financial world, as the company exceeded a $700 billion market cap for the first time ever. many analysts praise the potential of apple’s new apple pay mobile payment system, which is already gaining significant momentum as a credit card alternative. apple pay is famous for allowing users to pay for purchases by verifying their identity via a fingerprint. however, if google inc (nasdaq: goog ) (nasdaq: googl ) has its way, shoppers soon won’t even have to put down their shopping bags to pay at the register. according to the information , google is working on an apple pay competitor that would allow users to verify payments by simply speaking their initials aloud. the system is called “plaso,” and is currently being tested at papa john’s international inc (nasdaq: pzza ) and panera bread co (nasdaq: pnra ) locations. although details are fuzzy at this point, plaso, which is currently only being tested by google employees, presumably uses some form of biometric voice identification software to verify a speaker’s identity. google has not announced any plans for a wide launch of plaso, but its potential success could be a much-needed shot in the arm for google wallet, which has failed to mirror the early success of apple pay. apple pay’s momentum continued just today when starbucks corp (nasdaq: sbux ) added support for apple pay to its ios app. some are already questioning how comfortable users will be speaking their initials aloud to cashiers, and it remains to be seen just how far plaso will go. according to tim cook, plaso has some major catching up to do, at least when it comes to panera. apple pay is already used for 80 percent of mobile payments at the restaurant. | 2015-02-12 |
jpmorgan chase & co. (nyse: jpm ) analyst rod hall raised his price target on apple inc. (nasdaq: aapl ) to $145 a share from $140, which sent apple shares soaring on wednesday. hall was recently on cnbc to discuss why he is so bullish on the apple watch. is there anything at all you are concerned about apple? “the thing i am most worried about…is whether they can make enough watches or not, that’s the main problem i think they have got,” hall said. why do you think apple watch will be a success when the wearabales industry is still nascent? “the thing you can think about those is smartphones, we had a lot of examples of smartphones that came out early on, nokia in ’95, other kind of devices, they didn’t sell that many units but then all of the sudden the iphone really hit the sweet spot with consumers and took off,” hall replied. “so we believe that could happen again here with the apple watch, you come out with a good product that re-establishes or establishes a new category, it can really take off [in unit] volume terms.” how do you conclude that 5p of people who have iphone 5 or newer versions will buy the apple watch? “we build a pretty detailed base of iphone users,” hall said. “i think a lot of people will be surprised to know that there are 400 million people with an iphone 5 and over about 580 million people that have an iphone.” “so, there is a huge user base out there, we think a 5p penetration level by the end of this year is pretty conservative. you think about the kinds of people and the kind of value that something like an apple watch will bring to those people, we don’t think this is an overly optimistic number.” | 2015-02-12 |
it has almost been 15 years since the nasdaq composite hit its last record high. at the apex of the internet bubble, the tech-heavy gauge topped out at 5,048, with microsoft corporation (nasdaq: msft ), intel corporation (nasdaq: intc ), cisco systems, inc. (nasdaq: csco ), sun micro and oracle corporation (nyse: orcl ) leading the way. that bubble burst on march 10, 2000 and the average plummeted over 70 percent in subsequent years, as tech and telecom went into a depression. related link: itg chief economist: we're still guzzling…just not gas! fifteen years later, the nasdaq is riding fewer horses as large as the big cap names of a bygone era, but still boasts being home to the company with the biggest market value of all-time... apple inc. (nasdaq: aapl ). if the nasdaq can gain as much as it did on thursday by friday's close, that all-time high would be history in about four short sessions. image credit: andrea puglonni , flickr | 2015-02-13 |
motley fool wealth management llc filed its latest form 13-f today, disclosing the company’s largest stock holdings. here’s a rundown of motley fool’s top 20 holdings. 20. american woodmark corp (nasdaq: amwd ) : 238,407 shares valued at $9.64 million 19. aceto corp. (nasdaq: acet ): 180,000 shares valued at $9.95 million 18. apple inc (nasdaq: aapl ): 90,300 shares valued at $9.97 million 17. trimas corp (nasdaq: trs ): 332,127 shares valued at $10.39 million 16. chipotle mexican grill inc (nyse: cmg ): 15,200 shares valued at $10.41 million 15. sba communications corp (nasdaq: sbac ): 107,800 shares valued at $11.94 million 14. loews corp (nyse: l ): 284,190 shares valued at $11.94 million 13. costco wholesale corp (nasdaq: cost ): 92,558 shares valued at $13.12 million 12. baidu inc (nasdaq: bidu ): 58,100 shares valued at $13.14 million 11. williams-sonoma inc (nyse: wsm ): 178,800 shares valued at $13.53 million 10. intel corp (nasdaq: intc ): 375,000 shares valued at $13.61 million 9. anthem inc (nyse: antm ): 109,697 shares valued at $13.79 million 8. under armour inc (nyse: ua ): 207,820 shares valued at $14.11 million 7. banco latinoamericano de comercio exterior sa (nyse: blx ): 473,335 shares valued at $14.20 million 6. hdfc bank ltd (nyse: hdb ): 293,000 shares valued at $15.1 million 5. infinera corp (nasdaq: infn ): 1,040, 600 shares valued at $15.32 million 4. natus medical inc (nasdaq: baby ): 448,741 shares valued at $16.17 million 3. markel corp (nyse: mkl ): 24,700 shares valued at $16.86 million 2. whole foods market inc (nasdaq: wfm ): 369,872 shares valued at $18.65 million 1. berkshire hathaway inc (nyse: brka )(nyse: brkb ): 89 shares valued at $20.11 million the rest of motley fool’s latest holdings can be found by clicking here . | 2015-02-13 |
in the hedge fund’s latest 13-f filing, jim simons’ renaissance technologies disclosed changes to their holdings that occurred during q4 of 2014. here’s a list of some of the moves the fund made to some of its largest positions during the quarter. -increased position in accenture plc ireland class a (nyse: can ) from 667,600 shares to 1,306,200 shares -increased position in actavis plc (nyse: act ) from 128,162 shares to 454,162 shares -increased position in agilent technologies inc (nyse: a ) from 187,500 shares to 1,315,200 shares -reduced position in alaska air group inc (nyse: alk ) from 8,948,200 shares to 7,811,600 shares -reduced position in allegiant travel co (nasdaq: algt ) from 1,381,600 shares to 1,373,500 shares -increased position in allergan inc (nyse: agn ) from 193,595 shares to 297,860 shares -increased position in allison transmission hldgs (nyse: alsn) from 1,071,600 shares to 1,900,300 shares -increased position in amdocs ltd (nasdaq: dox ) from 3,466,600 shares to 3,911,500 shares -increased position in american electric power inc (nyse: aep ) from 202,100 shares to 1,072,400 shares -increased position in american tower corp (nyse: amt ) from 352,939 shares to 710,339 shares -increased position in american water works co (nyse: awk ) from 624,200 shares to 1,000,200 shares -increased position in amerisourcebergen corp (nyse: abc ) from 359,800 shares to 1,545,700 shares -increased position in amgen inc (nasdaq: amgn ) from 268,445 shares to 470,445 shares -acquired position in apple inc (nasdaq: aapl ) totaling 1,754,633 shares -increased position in arris group inc (nasdaq: arrs ) from 2,166,220 shares to 2,192,120 shares -reduced position in applied materials inc (nasdaq: amat ) from 4,995,198 shares to 3,917,348 shares -reduced position in arch capital group ltd (nasdaq: acgl ) from 1,147,100 shares to 804,300 shares -reduced position in aspen technology inc (nasdaq: azpn ) from 2,460,600 shares to 1,890,800 shares -increased position in astrazeneca plc (nyse: azn ) from 1,847,100 shares to 2,287,900 shares -reduced position in at&t inc (nyse: t ) from 1,740,004 shares to 469,800 shares -increased position in autozone inc (nyse: azo ) from 136,900 shares to 159,400 shares -increased position in bank of america corp (nyse: bac ) from 6,855,866 shares to 11,451,166 shares -increased position in cr bard inc (nyse: bcr ) from 542,100 shares to 898,900 shares -increased position in barrick bold corp (nyse: abx ) from 6,408,803 shares to 13,922,603 shares -decreased position in bce inc (nyse: bce ) from 2,900,534 shares to 2,462,600 shares -increased position in becton dickinson & co (nyse: bdx ) from 2,198,100 shares to 2,648,700 shares -decreased position in brinker intl inc (nyse: eat ) from 1,993,900 shares to 1,432,400 shares -decreased position in bt group plc (nyse: bt ) from 1,730,400 shares to 1,677,400 shares -increased position in cboe hldgs inc (nasdaq: cboe ) from 3,618,100 shares to 3,748,400 shares -increased position in chipotle mexican grill (nyse: cmg ) from 213,600 shares to 307,200 shares -increased position in colgate palmolive co (nyse: cl ) from 11,022,700 shares to 12,575,400 shares -increased position in costco wholesale corp (nasdaq: cost ) from 1,554,913 shares to 1,955,213 shares -increased position in domino’s pizza inc (nyse: dpz ) from 3,355,100 shares to 3,607,800 shares -reduced position in exxon mobil corp (nyse: xom ) from 1,858,791 shares to 217,191 shares -liquidated stake in facebook inc (nasdaq: fb ) -reduced position in glaxosmithkline plc (nyse: gsk ) from 6,827,600 shares to 6,006,800 shares -reduced position in hershey co (nyse: hsy ) from 4,913,500 shares to 4,306,600 shares -reduced position in linear technology corp (nasdaq: lltc ) from 11,192,000 shares to 9,985,700 shares -reduced position in mcdonalds corp (nyse: mcd ) from 6,875,100 shares to 3,842,600 shares -reduced position in novo-nordisk a/s (nyse: nvo ) from 16, 106,100 shares to 15,614,600 shares -decreased position in taiwan semiconductor mfg ltd (nyse: tsm ) from 21,506,551 shares to 15,607,071 shares -liquidated position in tw telecom inc (nasdaq: twtc ) these changes to renaissance technologies’ holdings that occurred during q4 are merely some of the many adjustments the fund made to its portfolio. the fund’s full 13-f filing can be found here . | 2015-02-13 |
after a three month battle, marijuana-based social networking site massroots has revamped its offering to fit apple inc ’s (nasdaq: aapl ) terms of use and is now back to being available for download in the apple store. the site, along with several other marijuana-related apps, was banned from the store last november after apple said apps relating to drug use were not in compliance with the company’s user policy. apple cracks down on pot massroots got around apple’s concerns that marijuana is not legal in all states where the app can be downloaded by adding geofencing filters that only allow users in the 23 states where the drug is legal to sign up. while apple has remained quiet on the issue, directing complaints to the its lengthy terms of service, critics say the company is stifling growth in a blossoming industry. pot and tech an appealing match as marijuana is a relatively new, high-growth sector, most entrepreneurs are looking to the tech space as an opportune way to get on board. since app development allows companies to grow and change alongside public preferences, it is seen as the perfect entry point for startups looking to cash in on marijuana’s rising popularity. however, apple’s resistance to incorporate marijuana-based apps has created a significant barrier. massroots opens a door massroots is the first pot company to make its way back to the app store, but speculators believe the floodgates will open soon. some see other apps following the company’s lead and applying geofilters, while others expect apple to eventually loosen its terms as legalization spreads. | 2015-02-13 |
apple inc. (nasdaq: aapl ) chief executive timothy d. cook reportedly attended the conference, but absent were top executives from google inc., (nasdaq: googl ), facebook inc (nasdaq: fb ) and yahoo inc. (nasdaq: yhoo ). | 2015-02-13 |
j.p morgan analyst rod hall commented on several telecom and networking equipment stocks friday in the february "hall monitor" report. hall’s number one ranked stock in a group of 22 tech companies was apple inc. (nasdaq: aapl ). the analyst expected the apple watch introduction to act as a positive catalyst and that momentum from iphone upgrades to continue. hall also noted rumors of a product event coming in late february as another positive for the stock. apple inc. was rated overweight and recently traded at $126.44, down 0.02 percent. ciena corporation (nyse: cien ) was ranked in 2nd place and remained a top pick with an overweight rating. hall believed that “ciena is materially undervalued at current levels” and expected “more supportive news on optical long haul and metro build plans at mwc in barcelona in early march.” ciena corporation recently traded at $19.78, down 0.30 percent. emc corporation (nyse: emc ) was ranked in 15th place and rated neutral. hall was concerned that the weak demand netapp inc. (nasdaq: ntap ) experienced will also adversely impact emc in the first quarter. emc corporation recently traded at $27.83, down 0.14 percent. aruba networks, inc. (nasdaq: arun ) was ranked in 14th place rated neutral. hall expected cisco systems, inc. (nasdaq: csco ) to give more attention to the wireless lan market which could adversely impact aruba networks after cisco forecasted 100 percent growth for its meraki unit in fiscal q2. aruba networks, inc. recently traded at $17.48, down 1.30 percent. f5 networks, inc. (nasdaq: ffiv ) was ranked in 10th place with a neutral rating. while hall thought the company was “executing well,” it remained in the middle of the list following a “slight earnings hiccup.” f5 networks, inc. recently traded at $115.56, up 0.25 percent. | 2015-02-13 |
tesla motors inc (nasdaq: tsla ) is often compared to apple inc. (nasdaq: aapl ), but do the two firms really have anything in common? | 2015-02-13 |
mike khouw spoke on cnbc's options action about a trade in apple inc. (nasdaq: aapl ) that caught his attention. | 2015-02-13 |
circle, an internationally accessible banking operation that recently integrated a bitcoin arm, has launched a new smart smartwatch-compatible app that will allow users to manage their wallets conveniently using their wearable device. another option for mainstream adoption the app marks another attempt by the currency’s supporters to bring it into mainstream use. the company’s app will allow users to make payments, view their wallet and monitor the value of bitcoin on a smartphone compatible app as well as on the android wear devices. circle fosters confidence circle has been working to make the currency more mainstream by marketing itself as a safe place to store your bitcoins. last year’s mt. gox exchange collapse coupled with the more recent mycoin ponzi scheme in hong kong have made the public apprehensive about adopting the cryptocurrency. however, circle touts a reliable experience for all customers as depositors are required to make their identities known and all accounts are insured against theft. apple watch app in the future? the circle app is currently available for smartphones in both the android and apple stores and is compatible with android wear devices. with apple inc.’s (nasdaq: aapl ) smart watch not expected to hit shelves until later this year, most wearables in use at the moment use the android platform. although circle has not made any announcements regarding compatibility with apple’s smartwatch, most expect that the company will release a similar offering for apple users. | 2015-02-13 |
ruled mostly by earnings and minor announcements, the second week of february proved to be less exciting than the last. but there were a few tidbits investors shouldn't miss. starbucks + apple pay = convenient coffee apple pay, the new mobile payment platform from apple inc. (nasdaq: aapl ), now works with the app from starbucks corporation (nasdaq: sbux ). | 2015-02-15 |
in the hedge fund’s latest 13-f filing, the david einhorn-founded greenlight capital disclosed changes to its holdings that occurred during q4 of 2014. here’s a list of some of the moves the fund made to its largest positions during the quarter. buys • acquired position in california resources corp (nyse: crc ) totaling 1,968,722 shares • acquired position in chicago bridge & iron co (nyse: cbi ) totaling 2,940,000 shares • acquired position in green brick partners inc (nasdaq: grbk ) totaling 15,641,805 shares • acquired position in green dot corp (nyse: gdot ) totaling 1,250,000 shares • acquired position in halyard health inc (nyse: hyh ) totaling 2,353,181 shares • acquired position in time warner inc (nyse: twx ) totaling 3,795,700 shares • acquired position in tri pointe homes inc (nyse: tph ) totaling 4,408,647 shares • acquired position in yahoo! inc (nasdaq: yhoo ) totaling 2,025,000 increases • increased position in aecom technology (nyse: acm ) by 3,613,204 shares • increased position in micron technology inc (nasdaq: mu ) by 781,377 shares reductions • reduced position in aetna inc (nyse: aet ) by 1,659,637 shares • reduced position in apple inc (nasdaq: aapl ) by 566,500 shares liquidations • liquidated position in american capital agency corp (nasdaq: agnc ) • liquidated position in anadarko petroleum corp (nyse: apc ) • liquidated position in babcock & wilcox (nyse: bwc ) • liquidated position in biofuel energy corp (nasdaq: biof ) • liquidated position in bp plc (nyse: bp ) • liquidated position in chemtura corp (nyse: chmt ) • liquidated position in cigna corp (nyse: ci ) • liquidated position in colony financial inc (nyse: clny ) • liquidated position in einstein noah restaurant group inc (nasdaq: bagl ) • liquidated position in interpublic group of companies inc (nyse: ipg ) • liquidated position in intrexon corp (nyse: xon ) • liquidated position in national oilwell varco inc (nyse: nov ) • liquidated position in synchrony financial (nyse: syf ) these changes to greenlight capital’s holdings that occurred during q4 are merely some of the many adjustments the fund made to its portfolio. the fund’s full 13-f filing can be found here . | 2015-02-15 |
elon musk isn't known for being modest. the ceo of tesla and spacex likes to dream big, and sometimes he makes some bold predictions about the future. take a look at these four claims musk has made in the last four years, ranging from the intriguing to the outrageous. 1. tesla will be as valuable as apple in 10 years the electric car company's lackluster earnings report wasn't the only thing that put musk in the news thursday. on the company's earnings call, he told analysts that tesla's (nasdaq: tsla ) market capitalization "would be basically the same as apple's (nasdaq: aapl ) is today" by 2025. musk expects the company's stock to go into "insane mode" over the next decade, pushing tesla's current worth of $25 billion over the $700 billion record that apple passed earlier this week. call us conservative, but that seems a tad optimistic, especially since tesla currently has a zacks rank #3 (hold), which isn't exactly "insane." ( read more: tesla (nasdaq: tsla ) misses q4 estimates on delivery shortfall ) 2. he'll put a man on mars by 2021 that's about 10 years before nasa expects to arrive on the red planet. but in a 2011 video interview with the wall street journal, musk said that the 2021 arrival date was spacex's best-case scenario . (15-20 years was his worst-case prediction, which makes you wonder if nasa will ever get there.) 3. ground transportation will be fully electric this is at least plausible. musk believes the future of american ground transportation will be fully electric , inc.com reported, and the fossil fuel era will remembered the way we think of the steam engine today. efficient batteries – in his mind probably the batteries under development by tesla – will turn all fuel obsolete, with the exception of rockets for space travel. it might even be possible, musk added, to create an electric supersonic aircraft, allowing the technology to spread to the skies too. ( related: will gm's chevrolet bolt strike tesla's model 3 in 2017? ) 4. killer robots will rise in 5 years we're hoping this one isn't true. but musk has been adamant about the coming danger of artificial intelligence, saying that we are five years – 10 years at most – away from a dangerous situation developing, according to business insider. the pace of progress for artificial intelligence has been almost exponential, and that worries musk. here's how it could play out: if a robot's function is to eliminate email spam, and it thinks the best way to get rid of spam to get rid of humans … then we might be in musk's apocalypse scenario. want the latest recommendations from zacks investment research? today, you can download 7 best stocks for the next 30 days . click to get this free report >> want the latest recommendations from zacks investment research? today, you can download 7 best stocks for the next 30 days. click to get this free report tesla motors (nasdaq: tsla ): free stock analysis report apple inc (nasdaq: aapl ): free stock analysis report to read this article on zacks.com click here. zacks investment research | 2015-02-16 |
historical chart of td ameritrade investor movement index results vs. spx retail investors dialed back their exposure to equity markets in january. the td ameritrade investor movement index declined to a two year low of 4.85. u.s equity markets headed into january at record levels, but similar to last january, equities started the year by declining approximately 5 percent for the month. global economic concerns seemed to ignite a flight to safety trading as a rally in us treasuries eventually drove the yield on the 10 year note below 1.7 percent, its lowest level since may 2012, and precious metals rallied to multi-month highs. oil prices and oil related companies remained under pressure throughout january. related link: chief strategist on the jobs number the decline in the imx indicates that retail investors have a more cautious portfolio posture. an imx reading of 4.85 puts the index in the middle of its historical range. although the imx declined, that doesn’t necessarily mean that clients were net sellers; clients were actually net buyers in january . the imx measures overall equity market exposure. the month’s decline was driven by the way clients have positioned their core portfolio holdings over multiple periods and how volatile those core holdings were relative to recent equity market movements. the end result of client portfolio allocations was less leverage to equity markets during the recent rise in volatility and a lower imx reading. what were they buying? retail investors continued to be net buyers of oil producers. bp plc (adr) (nyse: bp ), chevron corporation (nyse: cvx ) and conocophillips (nyse: cop ) all saw continued downward pressure on their stock prices, eventually finding some support in the middle of the month, and were net buys. net buying also occurred in familiar names that pay dividends including walt disney co (nyse: dis ), at&t inc. (nyse: t ) and general electric company (nyse: ge ). additional popular names bought included apple inc. (nasdaq: aapl ), berkshire hathaway inc. (nyse: brk-b ), transocean ltd (nyse: rig ) and caterpillar inc. (nyse: cat ). what were they selling? the january imx period saw net selling in retailers j c penney company inc (nyse: jcp ) and rite aid corporation (nyse: rad ), who reported favorable sales figures. both companies saw their stock prices plunge last fall, but prices have risen since then. names making headlines with analyst upgrades in january, like whole foods market, inc. (nasdaq: wfm ) and lululemon athletica inc. (nasdaq: lulu ), were also popular sells. sirius xm (nasdaq: siri ) and alcatel lucent sa (adr) (nyse: alu ), which are both lower priced securities that saw multi-month lows in october, were net buys as they returned to price levels seen before their october declines. additional popular names sold included oracle corporation (nyse: orcl ), american international group inc (nyse: aig ) and cisco systems, inc. (nasdaq: csco ). for more information on the imx including historical results and information on how the index is calculated, see https://imx.tdameritrade.com/imx/p/imx-pub. disclaimers: commentary provided for educational purposes only. inclusion of specific security names in this commentary does not constitute a recommendation from td ameritrade to buy, sell, or hold. the imx is not a tradable index. historical data should not be used alone when making investment decisions investing involves risks, including loss of principal. past performance is no guarantee of future results. © 2015 td ameritrade ip company, inc. all rights reserved. used with permission. td ameritrade, inc., member finra/sipc. image credit: ramy majouji , flickr | 2015-02-17 |
.apple inc (nasdaq: aapl ) -from 1,191,790 shares to 383,790 shares, down 67%. | 2015-02-17 |
the u.s. dollar has been extremely strong recently due to global economic weakness. the u.s. economy’s growth is nothing special compared to the country’s historic economic growth rate, but the weakness and instability in europe and other major economies has boosted the dollar’s strength. what does a strong dollar mean for investors? the strong dollar is bittersweet for equity investors. a strong dollar caps inflation, which means imports are cheaper and prices are cheaper for u.s. consumers. however, with u.s. goods and services becoming more expensive relative to the rest of the world, american companies that rely heavily on foreign profits can suffer during times of a strong dollar. low inflation american consumers and businesses pay less for imports and commodities during times the dollar is strong. for example, the price of oil has plummeted more than 50 percent over the past year, and that has greatly reduced energy expenses for many large american companies. with more money in the pockets of american consumers, a strong dollar usually brings about a rise in discretionary spending. companies that depend on discretionary spending can see rising profits from a strong dollar. stocks to play a strong dollar typically during times of dollar strength, companies that earn a high percentage of revenue from domestic sources will do best and companies that rely on foreign revenue will suffer. for example, apple inc (nasdaq: aapl ) , international business machines corp (nyse: ibm ) , chevron corp (nyse: cvx ) and the proctor & gamble co (nyse: pg ) all derive more than 60 percent of their sales from international sources and will likely see dollar-related headwinds. companies that derive a majority of their income domestically could see a relative boost in business. these companies include american banks such as bank of america (nyse: bac ) and pnc financial services group inc (nyse: pnc ) , retailers such as the tjx companies inc (nyse: tjx ) and ross stores inc (nasdaq: rost ) and companies that rely on discretionary spending such as amc entertainment holdings inc (nyse: amc ) and the cheesecake factory inc (nasdaq: cake ) . disclosure: the author owns shares of bank of america. | 2015-02-17 |
joel elconin is the co-host of benzinga's #premarket prep , a daily trading idea radio show. apple inc. (nasdaq: aapl ) shares are trading higher by $0.56 at $127.64 in tuesday's session. there are a few different catalysts for the rally. first of all, a report surfaced from jp morgan analyst rod hall that speculated apple pay may be available for many government transactions within the federal government as soon as september. in another report, this one by citigroup analyst jim suva, it was speculated that the company may be be assessing the auto industry in a "much greater matter" than apple carplay . related link: social data shows something is definitely wrong at panera finally, the wall street journal reported that apple is attempting to ramp up production of apple watch models during the quarter ahead of the product's release in april. the issue has rallied nearly $20.00 since bottoming at $109.03 on january 27. since making a new all-time high earlier in the session at $128.88, apple has pulled back to the mid $127.00 handle. the stock has posted a new all-time high in its last four trading sessions and would need to close above $127.08 to make it five in a row. | 2015-02-17 |
a lot happened over the long holiday weekend. here is the news that jp morgan analyst rod hall says is fit to move markets in the world of tech and mobile. at&t inc. (nyse: t ) launched its u-verse with at&t gigapower in kansas city, mo., putting the company in direct competition with google inc (nasdaq: goog ) (nasdaq: googl ) . lightreading says it guarantees a “city-by-city gigabit race across the us. sk telecom co ltd (nyse: skm ) , korea’s largest telecommunications company, joined on.lab as a partner to develop an open-source sdn operating system. ( lightreading ) lg display co ltd. (nyse: lpl ) will not release its g4 handset at this year’s spanish mobile show, though the phone will still be released earlier than expected. ( bgr ) 8x8, inc. (nasdaq: eght ) is offering 99.99 percent uptime within its service level agreement for its voip service. the company also guarantees that call quality will meet certain subjective measurements. ( network world ) china mobile ltd. (nyse: chl ) is using nokia corporation (nyse: nok ) to implement its flexi zone td-lte small cell solution for the 2015 xiamen marathon. ( lightreading ) htc has more than one hot android handset in the pipeline. beyond the htc one m9, the company also has a one m8 version planned in the next year. ( bgr ) lg is prepared to battle apple inc. (nasdaq: aapl ) with its first all-metal smartwatch. the lg watch urbane will be a “classic timepiece” that appeals to both sexes in either silver or gold. ( techcrunch ) intel corporation (nasdaq: intc ) will delay the release of its 14nm skylake desktop cpus and corresponding 100-series chipsets to the end of august. ( digitimes ) te connectivity ltd (nyse: tel ) plans a 100g pluggable interconnect. ( lightreading ) virgin media inc (nasdaq: vmed ) announces “project lightning” to connect 4 million homes and businesses to its docsis broadband access network. ( lightreading ) spreadtrum communications, inc (nasdaq: sprd ) will support tizen operating system with its wcdma chipsets. ( digitimes ) | 2015-02-17 |
the wall street journal on tuesday reported that apple inc. (nasdaq: aapl ) has asked its asian suppliers to produce five to six million units of its apple watch models during the quarter ahead of the product's release in april. | 2015-02-17 |
in a report published tuesday, citigroup analyst jim suva wrote that apple inc. (nasdaq: aapl ) is believed to be assessing the auto industry in "much greater matter" than apple carplay. | 2015-02-17 |
in a report published tuesday, jpmorgan analyst rod hall suggested that apple inc.'s (nasdaq: aapl ) chief executive officer tim cook may have said at the white house summit on cybersecurity that apple pay will be available for many transactions within the federal government beginning in september. | 2015-02-17 |
president obama recently gave an interview to re/code’s kara swisher on cnbc , in which he talked about the devices he uses and those that how he will first evaluate the watch from apple inc. (nasdaq: aapl ) before using it frequently. where are you watching things now – tv or smartphone? “i’ll be honest with you, when it comes to ball games; i am still usually watching it on tv and dvr, but when it comes to highlights, i am usually watching it on an ipad," obama said. why do you still use a blackberry? “i use a blackberry mainly because i am so restricted in what i can do that it’s basically just messaging and it’s still easier for me to tap," obama replied. "but basically most of my non work related stuff, i am working off the ipad and the girls all have iphone. so, i can get around with that.” do you use any other devices? “it’s basically the ipad although i don’t have [fit] but ya i work out hard," obama said. word is that these apple watches just might be a good companion for my workout. so, i am going to see, i am going to test it out. i want to give tim cook […] until i have seen the product, but he tells me it’s pretty good." if there was a hash tag for your administration, what it would be? “[#]yeswecan,” obmaanswered. | 2015-02-18 |
stephen mandel’s lone pine capital is also amongst the financial institutions obliged to file a 13f for every quarter. in the latest filing, the firm disclosed its long equity positions as of december 31, 2014, worth approximately $23.85 billion in the market. let’s take a look at some of the most relevant moves: adds visa inc. (nyse: v ) - 1,771,519 shares hca holdings, inc. (nyse: hca ) - 5,836,872 shares davita inc. (nyse: dva ) - 3,940,169 shares cooper companies, inc. (the) (nyse: coo ) - 1,750,283shares w.r. grace & co. (nyse: gra ) - 2,902,557shares vipshop holdings limited (nyse: vips ) - 13,935,727shares walgreens boots alliance inc (nasdaq: wba )- 3,553,779shares netflix, inc. (nasdaq: nflx ) - 779,647shares apple inc. (nasdaq: aapl ) - 2,184,122shares jd.com (nasdaq: jd ) - 8,817,652shares increases priceline.com incorporated (nasdaq: pcln ) – up 91 percent to1,398,233 shares autodesk, inc. (nasdaq: adsk ) - up 228 percent to 14,463,336 shares mastercard incorporated (nyse: ma ) – up 32 percent to 20,030,460sharesfacebook, inc. (nasdaq: fb ) - up 56 percent to 13,502,615 shares dollar general corporation (nyse: dg ) - up 38 percent to12,918,112 shares equinix, inc. (nasdaq: eqix ) - up 46 percent to3,890,489 shares adobe systems incorporated (nasdaq: adbe ) - up 6 percent to12,179,247 shares charter communications, inc. (nasdaq: chtr ) - up 5 percent to3,269,032 shares cheniere energy, inc. (amex: lng) - up 27 percent to 8,818,922 shares decreases microsoft corporation (nasdaq: msft ) – down 75 percent to5,449,944 shares wynn resorts, limited (nasdaq: wynn ) – down 89 percent to285,023 shares michael kors holdings limited (nyse: kors ) - down 30 percent to 11,075,555 shares valeant pharmaceuticals international, inc. (nyse: vrx ) - down 24 percent to 8,250,886shares mcgraw hill financial (nyse: mhfi ) – down 31 percent to7,369,142 shares workday (nyse: wday ) – down 85 percent to527,482 shares under armour, inc. (nyse: ua ) – down 65 percent to1,560,114 shares ulta salon, cosmetics & fragrance, inc. (nasdaq: ulta ) – down 35 percent to3,344,991shares baidu, inc. (nasdaq: bidu ) – down 14 percent to 7,030,580shares exits gap, inc. (the) (nyse: gps ) -19,265,265shares comcast corporation (nasdaq: cmcsa ) -13,772,459shares crown castle international corporation (nyse: cci ) -7,845,871shares actavis (nyse: act ) -2,478,628shares lpl financial holdings inc. (nasdaq: lpla ) -8,518,366shares | 2015-02-18 |
apple inc.'s (nasdaq: aapl ) rumored automobile initiative is spreading fast . reuters and the wall street journal have already published stories on apple's plans. numerous others have chimed in with theories and opinions. | 2015-02-18 |