Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

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

To: Eric Yang who wrote (15651)	7/16/1998 12:32:00 AM
From: WebDrone	Respond to of 213177

WSJ spins it negative- what else. Lots of the article you know, here are some snips- < Apple still hasn't shown it can grow again. Sales were $1.4 billion, off 19% from the year-earlier mark of $1.74 billion and flat from the prior quarter. Unit sales of the Macintosh actually fell slightly, to 644,000 units from 650,000 in the period ended in March, because the company all but withdrew from the consumer market during the period. Gross Profit Margin Rises But the PC maker's gross profit margin swelled to 25.7% from 24.8% in March, Apple's best profitability in three years. With the company poised to reignite sales to the home with a new machine called iMac, analysts said the company is well positioned to grow for the rest of the year.> < Apple released its earnings after stock markets closed. Its shares closed at $34.4375, up $1, in Nasdaq Stock Market trading, and rose to $37.875 in after-hours trading, according to Instinet. Indeed, Apple's latest numbers suggest that the company might have a sustained future as a kind of BMW for the PC industry, used by a small, stable audience that poses little threat to the dominant standard based on Microsoft Corp.'s operating systems and Intel Corp. chips. The company's cash and short-term investments, for example, jumped to almost $2 billion in the quarter from $1.46 billion a year earlier. Apple's profits were driven largely by sales of its new line of Macintosh desktop computers, based on a chip called G3 from International Business Machines Corp. and Motorola Inc. The chips are generally faster than comparable Intel Pentium II microprocessors...> < Company Is 'Extremely Pleased' Fred Anderson, Apple's chief financial officer, said the company expects "modest" revenue growth in the current quarter and "meaningful" growth in the fiscal first period ending in December, including "significant" year-over-year growth in Macintosh unit sales. He said the company was "extremely pleased" with the results. Under Steve Jobs, the co-founder who took back control of the company a year ago, Apple has cut costs, changed software and distribution strategies and simplified its product line. In an interview, Mr. Jobs noted that the company has essentially slashed what had been 15 products to four, and it only had two of them available to sell in the latest quarter. "The fact that revenues didn't decline from the prior period [in March] is amazing," Mr. Jobs said. "It shows that market demand for those two products has been very good." But Apple, as in past years, has had trouble gearing up manufacturing, particularly for a new line of G3 laptop computers. With the iMac set to be introduced Aug. 15, the company once again must accelerate manufacturing or risk squandering the positive early press about the distinctly styled product. "We know that there will be strong demand this quarter," Mr. Anderson said. "Our biggest challenge is to ramp up to produce as many as we can." Apple has also improved its operating efficiency in other ways. The company's inventories, for example, fell to $129 million in the latest period from $257 million in March, a level Apple said leaves them with the slimmest stockpile inventory of unsold computers among the major PC makers. Its investment in ARM is another piece of luck. The British company made chips for Apple's now defunct Newton product line, and Apple paid an estimated $3 million for a stake in the company eight years ago. Besides a gain of about $33 million related to shares sold as part of ARM's IPO, Mr. Anderson said the company continues to hold stock valued at about $230 million at their current market price.> Well, at least we are not dead. Now Apple is too little to count, and owning part of ARM is LUCK??? AArg. W'Drone