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Strategies & Market Trends : Technical analysis for shorts & longs -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Johnny Canuck who wrote (42709)	10/11/2005 6:47:16 PM
From: Johnny Canuck	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 69261

Apple has sales shortfall, shares fall Tuesday October 11, 5:55 pm ET By Duncan Martell SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Apple Computer Inc. on Tuesday reported quarterly profit quadrupled, but the iPod music player maker's revenue fell short of investor expectations and shares tumbled more than 10 percent. ADVERTISEMENT Apple shares have traded at a premium to other computer makers due to the iPod phenomenon, and analysts said any disappointment was likely to lead to a sell-off. "Expectations for Apple's results were pretty high and they needed to beat estimates for us to see a boost in the stock this afternoon," said Jim Fisher, a fund manager at Univest Wealth Management, who owns Apple shares. "Revenue came a bit lower than expected and that's why we are seeing Apple dip a bit lower after the bell." The company sold 6.5 million iPods and unit shipments of its Mac computers rose 48 percent from the year-ago quarter. Goldman Sachs analyst David Bailey had forecast that Apple would sell 7.8 million iPods in the just-completed quarter. Apple (NasdaqNM:AAPL - News) said net income for its fiscal fourth quarter ended September 24 rose to $430 million, or 50 cents a share, from $106 million, or 13 cents a share, a year ago. Earnings included 12 cents per share in tax-related benefits. Analysts had expected a net profit of 36 cents a share, on average. Revenue rose 56 percent to $3.68 billion, shy of analyst expectations for revenue of $3.74 billion, according to Reuters Estimates. Apple has about a 75 percent share of the entire digital music player market, according to market research firm NPD Group. Last month, it unveiled its pencil-thin iPod nano, which replaced the iPod mini, then the best-selling iPod version. For the current, first quarter Apple said it expects net earnings per share of about 46 cents, including the expected cost of expensing options, matching Wall Street's estimate. Excluding items, Apple said it expects to earn about 49 cents per share, the company said, a penny better than the average estimate.. The company said it expects first fiscal quarter sales of $4.7 billion, better than the average estimate $4.49 billion. Apple is expected to make a big product announcement on Wednesday, perhaps a video iPod. "We're certainly excited about what we have in our product pipeline," said Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer in a telephone interview, referring to the upcoming holiday sales-fueled quarter. "We're looking for continued growth for the company." Shares of Apple fell to $45.77 in extended trade on the Inet electronic brokerage. In regular trade, the stock closed up $1.22, or 2.42 percent, at $51.59 on Nasdaq. The stock trades at about 30 times estimated net earnings per share for its fiscal 2006 ending in September and shares of No. 1 PC maker Dell Inc. (NasdaqNM:DELL - News), which is focused on volume sales, trade at about 17 times its estimated net earnings per share for its fiscal 2007 ending in January of that year. (Additional reporting by Vivianne Rodrigues in New York)