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Technology Stocks : Apple Tankwatch -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: puborectalis who wrote (23343)	11/5/2012 10:10:52 AM
From: Kurthend	1 Recommendation Respond to of 32692

Oops. Message 28494269

To: puborectalis who wrote (23343)	11/5/2012 3:20:51 PM
From: sylvester80	1 Recommendation Respond to of 32692

BREAKING..Is Apple hiding weak iPad mini sales? By Joe WilcoxPublished 4 hours ago betanews.com This morning, Apple issued a press release touting 3 million iPad 4 and mini WiFi sales over the first three days (cellular models aren't available yet). Both products went on sale November 2. But that's not the data I waited for. Apple didn't break out iPad mini, which is suspicious. Rumors, and enormous buzz, preceded the launch for most of the year. Hell, I posted a buying poll in February. The first tell: No big, pre-order announcement, which is atypical of a company that seizes every opportunity to boast about sales for marketing advantage. If early numbers were really good, Apple would say so. By combining the sales of two products, Apple gets headlines across the InterWebs about a big launch that the company claims is twice iPad 3. Marketing value is still big, while avoiding answering question: What about iPad mini? Considering that the smaller tablet opens new pricing and size segments and, by Apple CFO's admission, is a considerably low-margin product that could impact profits, answering the question is quite important. Revealing: In a statement, CEO Tim Cook says Apple "practically sold out of iPad minis". Of course, Apple wouldn't reveal weak, or smaller-than-analyst-forecast numbers. No company would, and Apple has got these numbers announcements down to a science -- typically releasing them in the half hour before US stock markets open and thus getting any share lift on positive perceptions about sales. Hey, that's what public companies do; Apple just demonstrates more marketing finesse than most other tech companies. But in today's numbers what's missing is more important than what's there. For example, Apple touts first-three-day sales that are twice iPad 3. But following the third-generation's launch in March, Apple boasted about 3 million sales. That's same number. The previous model debuted with cellular models, too, which presumably accounted for half of sales, since Apple today says that doubling is for 1.5 million WiFi models. But even that comparison, and same launch numbers, which represent two models and one hotly anticipated, are disconcerting. Something else: Reach. Third-gen launched in just nine countries (and Puerto Rico and US Virgin Islands), while the two newer models debuted in more than 30. The point: Sales aren't really comparable because they represent so many different things: Two different size iPads; 2.5 times as many launch locales; WiFi models now, but cellular also last time. Then there's the missing iPad mini breakout that could lift Apple out of its recent stock slide if really good. A recent BetaNews poll reveals price to be an obstacle. iPad mini ranges from $329 to $659, which makes it the highest-priced tablet in its size class, by considerable margin. Currently, 79.7 percent of respondents say that won't buy iPad mini. That starkly contrasts with the February poll, when approximate size but not price was known: 55.78 percent of respondents said they would buy the smaller iPad. Is iPad mini a hit or miss? It's up to analysts to guess based on channel checks and other metrics. But one thing is certain: Apple got some early stock lift from the 3 million announcement, which unsurprisingly spread across the InterWebs with little analysis or question from bloggers or reporters. Stock opened at $583.29 and spiked to $587.77 before settling down to $583.17 as I post.

To: puborectalis who wrote (23343)	11/5/2012 3:25:12 PM
From: sylvester80	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 32692

Also, Apple makes misleading comparisons to third-generation iPad first-three-days sales, calling them double (by focusing on WiFi) when they also were 3 million and ignoring iPad 3 launched in 11 locales compared to more than 30 for the others. Why isn't anyone else scrutinizing these numbers?

To: puborectalis who wrote (23343)	11/8/2012 7:49:51 AM
From: sylvester80	Respond to of 32692

Bond Guru Jeffrey Gundlach Slaps $425 Price Target on Apple Posted 11/7/2012 3:54 PM from Benzinga in Investing, Earnings, Investing Ideas community.nasdaq.com Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL ) shares entered bear market territory on Wednesday, falling below $560 -- a more than 20 percent decline from the all-time high shares hit back in September. Bond king Jeffrey Gundlach appeared on CNBC Wednesday . Gundlach said that, even down 20 percent, shares were likely to fall further and might not find support until $425 or so. Gundlach's bearish thesis is nothing new . The fund manager made negative comments on Apple earlier in the year, noting that there was an extreme obsession with the stock, and that the "rainmaker" -- Steve Jobs -- is now gone. Apple bears frequently point to the widespread ownership of Apple as evidence that the stock is exposed to downside risks -- potential future buyers are limited, as everyone already owns the stock, and should the share price fall significantly, there could be a "rush for the exits" wherein shareholders panic and begin to dump their shares. There are other issues facing Apple, too. With the re-election of Obama in the U.S., taxes on capital gains may increase next year. As Apple has rallied significantly, many investors may be sitting on large, unrealized capital gains -- gains that might be better to take now when tax rates are lower, as opposed to waiting to some future date when capital gains taxes are higher. Of course, there is no denying that Apple is an enormously profitable company with billions on its balance sheet. Yet, shares have run up significantly since the start of 2012, appearing to trade on momentum. The announcement, or anticipation of a new product or product refresh has propelled shares. But with the iPad Mini now available, and no significant refreshes seen on the horizon, the expectations that drove the stock higher have all but vanished. Other factors may have lead to a loss of investor confidence in Apple. Apple has always been known for the high quality of its operating systems. But the most recent incarnation of Apple's mobile operating system, iOS 6, has called this assumption into question. The company was widely criticized for its poor maps application, which led to a publicly apology and the departure of iOS head Scott Forstall. Interestingly, Forstall may have suspected that new challenges were on the horizon -- he sold almost all of his shares months ago . Apple also axed John Browett, the head of retail. Apple shares traded near $560 on Wednesday, down over three percent on the session.

To: puborectalis who wrote (23343)	11/8/2012 7:53:23 AM
From: sylvester80	1 Recommendation Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 32692

Barron's - Gundlach Slams iPad mini, Sees AAPL Downside to $425 By Tiernan Ray November 7, 2012, 1:30 P.M. ET blogs.barrons.com Shares of Apple ( AAPL) today are down $18.79, or 3.2%, at $561.41, deeper than the Nasdaq’s 2.2% decline, as worries persist about recent mis-steps and changes at the company. The stock is now down 20% from its all-time high of $705.07. The focus of some market observers today is an article by Dan Crow, a former software engineer at Apple, and also a five-year Google ( GOOG) veteran, in the U.K.’s The Guardian. Some of Crow’s complaints are familiar, such as the contention that Apple’s new Maps program for the iPhone and iPad was a business move at the expense of users’ interests: “Apple’s success had been all about offering users the best possible experience; suddenly it is willing to give users a clearly worse experience to further its corporate interests – in this case its long-running dispute with Google.” But things like maps are just “signs and portents,” contends Crow. The real issue is that Apple was an effective dictatorship under late founder Steve Jobs. With Jobs gone, Apple will struggle to be as effective because it doesn’t have its inspired dictator, and it’s not as flexible as Google, contends Crow: The story of Apple Inc. is far from over. The company is full of brilliant people, who believe in Steve’s vision of Apple. It has almost unimaginable piles of cash and generates insanely great profits. It produces outstanding computers, tablets and phones that people queue up to buy. Apple is not about to go the way of Nokia ( NOK) or Research in Motion ( RIMM). But Apple has serious structural faults. The loss of Steve was devastating – the entire company was built around him and the mistakes we have seen since he left are entirely consistent with a very hierarchical organisation trying to find its way without its leader. I think in hindsight, we will see that Apple’s peak of creativity, innovation and leadership was early 2012. Crow’s concern today occurs at the same time as rather vehement denunciation of Apple byJeff Gundlach, CEO of Doubleline Capital, who was on CNBC this afternoon being interviewed by Michelle Caruso-Cabrera. Gundlach told Caruso-Cabrera that he believes Apple has further to fall, perhaps to $425 or so: I actually started shorting Apple back in April, so sort of been right, sort of been wrong. It just seems to me that Apple is an over-believed stock. It’s one of these things where everywhere you go there’s an obsession with it and it seems like every meeting I have, everybody owns it. And the product innovator, as I’ve said over and over again, isn’t there any more. And I’m really struck by this mini iPad thing. As if that’s any kind of a product innovation. You know, once you start just changing the size of your products, I really think you’re not exactly innovating. I wonder if they’re going to start coming out with the tutti-frutti iPad, where it comes out in different colors. As if that would be some sort of innovation […] I think what’s happening today is with the Obama win a lot of people are starting to realize that capital gains tax increases might take down stocks that have been extremely profitable that have large embedded gains.