Showing posts with label AAPL. Show all posts
Showing posts with label AAPL. Show all posts

Views +1:Full 360-Degree Preview of Amazon.com Earnings (AMZN, BBY, AAPL, NFLX)

Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) is set to report earnings after the close of trading on Tuesday.  What makes Amazon so different from many peers in technology, internet and virtual companies is that it is only recently off of its highs and not really by that much.  Even after a 2.5% drop so far on Tuesday, the $231.50 area compares to a closing price yesterday of $237.61 and to a 52-week range of $156.77 to $246.71.

Here are the targets.  Amazon.com continues to be a thorn in the side of Best Buy Co. Inc. (NYSE: BBY) for consumer electronics.  The big question is whether or not it can take away iPad sales from Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) with the new souped up Kindle models and whether or not it can suddenly challenge NetFlix, Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) now that Reed Hastings seems to be messing up on every turn.

Thomson Reuters has estimates for its third quarter of $0.24 EPS and $10.93 billion in sales.  For the current fourth quarter we are already in, those estimates are $0.86 EPS and $18.05 billion in revenues. Keep in mind that the fourth quarter is “the money quarter” as it includes Christmas and the holiday season sales and the estimates compare to the readings a year ago of $0.91 EPS and $12.95 billion in sales.

What is amazing is that Amazon.com still trades at more than 100-times expected 2011 earnings.  The company has rapidly been building its cloud efforts and building its infrastructure.  This has all come at the expense of margins, and trying to factor in the new Kindle sales will be no easy task. 

If you just use the weekly options, then it looks as though options traders are braced for a move of up to about $9.50 to $11 in either direction.  If we use the monthly expiration November options, then it seems that options traders are braced for a move of $14.00 or more in either direction.

You can take a look at the chart from stockcharts.com below if you want.  The stock is looking tired, but honestly we would have said the exact same thing a month ago right before we saw a false-breakdown of the chart.  We would point that the 50-day moving average was tested and held for the most part a month ago.  That 50-day moving average is now down at $219.28 and the 200-day moving average is $197.20.

The analyst community has a consensus price target just above $243.50.  At some point, Wall Street is going to demand higher margins.  When that is can be anyone’s guess.  We stopped trying to harp on it because no one seems to care.
JON C. OGG........
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Views +1: Closing Bell (AAPL, WMT, WFM, MS, BAC, INTC, WMB, HGSI, ABT, OXGN, PWAV, AEM) Read more: 24/7 Wall St. Closing Bell (AAPL, WMT, WFM, MS, BAC, INTC, WMB, HGSI, ABT, OXGN, PWAV, AEM)


Stocks opened down this morning following the earnings report Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) after markets closed yesterday. Moody’s downgrade of Spain’s sovereign debt also weighed on the opening.  The Consumer Price Index for urban consumers rose by 0.3%, and just 0.1% excluding energy and food costs. Housing starts rose by an unexpected 15% as condos and apartment construction was prompted by more demand for rental units to push markets to a mid-morning gain, but by noon share prices had given a lot of that back on continuing uncertainty about what’s really happening in Europe.  The Federal Reserve Beige Book was released at 2 p.m. ET, and its uninspiring reports sent markets sharply lower, from about 25 points up on the Dow to more than 70 points below yesterday’s close.
The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA down nearly 72 points to 11,504.70, the NASDAQ fell more than 53 points (2.01%) to2,604.04, and the S&P 500 fell 1.26% or more than 15 points to 1,209.89.
Today’s top analyst upgrade and downgrade calls were numerous and included Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) and Whole Foods Markets Inc. (NASDAQ: WFM), and about a dozen other companies.
Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) reported better than expected earnings for the quarter, following  yesterday’s positive report from Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC).  Morgan Stanley got a big lift from an accounting gain that lowered the value of its debt by $3.4 billion, thus boosting the bank’s revenue to $9.9 billion. Even without the gain, MS posted EPS of $0.02, There has been a turnaround from the indicated loss in Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC) after its earnings showed that book value managed to actually grow and the stock was up almost 10% at $6.63 late in the session.
As far as the other big earnings report reactions today (prices within 20 minutes of the closing bell): Apple is down more than -5.5%, at $398.78; Morgan Stanley up 0.3%, at $16.68; Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) is up about 3.5%, at $24.22; Yahoo is up 2.78%, at $15.90.
Several other standouts from today are as follows…
Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE: WMB) rose again by another 1.7%, to $29.55, after investors are considering it a cheap merger alternative to the El Paso buyout by Kinder Morgan this week.
Human Genome Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: HGSI) had another big day on merger speculation up, up nearly 8%, at $13.83, and here is how it ranks with analysts other price targets for biotechs ahead of the biotech earnings floodgates.
Abbot Laboratories (NYSE: ABT) rose 1.62%, to $53.29, following the announcement of the company’s intention to split its branded drug business from its other product lines.
Oxigene, Inc. (NASDAQ: OXGN)  got a nice boost of about 12.55%, to $1.59, following good data on the survival benefits of its anti-thyroid cancer drug.
Powerwave Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: PWAV) warned of a revenue shortfall of more than 50% for its third quarter. The shares lost nearly -42% of their value, to fall to $0.85, after posting a new 52-week low of $0.68 earlier in the day.
Agnico-Eagle Mines Ltd. (NYSE: AEM) has suspended operations indefinitely at its mine in Val d’Or, Quebec, due to unstable ground and inflows of water. The stock has fallen by -19%, to $46.21.
Stay tuned for Thursday.  We have speeches to watch from Lockhart and Kocherlakota on the docket as well as a 30-year TIPS auction.  Here are some economic releases due in the morning and throughout the day:
  • 8:30 Unemployment Benefits Claims for last week
  • 8:30 Existing Home Sales
  • 10:00 Conference Board’s Index of Leading Economic Indicators
  • 10:30 Natural Gas Report
  • 4:30 PM Federal Reserve Balance Sheet
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Views +1:Apple Sets Sales Record: Blackberry’s Waterloo (AAPL, RIMM, SSNLF) Read more: Apple Sets Sales Record: Blackberry’s Waterloo (AAPL, RIMM, SSNLF)


The iPhone 4S topped 4 million sales in its first weekend of availability, according to maker Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL). On  the other end of the continent, Waterloo, Ontario-based Research in Motion Ltd. (NASDAQ: RIMM) announced that it would give customers up to $100 worth of free apps as “an expression of appreciation for their patience” when RIM’s network service was disrupted last week.
The contrast between the fortunes of the two companies has been obvious for some time now, but it still must be more than demoralizing to RIM to suffer its latest indignity at the same time that the company that is beating it to death in the marketplace scores a massive win. Waterloo indeed.
Apple’s shares are not getting a big boost from its weekend sales, perhaps because the Cupertino company has been hit with litigation by Samsung Electronics (OTC: SSNLF) in both Japan and Australia to stop the sales in those countries of the iPhone 4S. Samsung also wants the Japanese court to enjoin Apple from selling the iPhone 4 and the iPad 2 in Japan. Last week Apple won an action against Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1, enjoining sales in Australia. Samsung also won a ruling in the Netherlands late last week, where Apple was also seeking an injunction against sales of the Galaxy Tab 10.1.
Apple and Samsung will eventually work out an agreement. RIM, however, has seen its market share and share price savaged since 2009, mostly due to the explosion in smartphones kicked off by Apple’s iPhone. There is no agreement that RIM can reach with Apple that will make up for the Canadian company’s misjudgments and missteps.
Analyst firm BGC Partners downgraded Apple shares from ‘Buy’ to ‘Hold’ because the stock is near the firm’s target price of $450/share and the belief that Apple will continue to need to see record-breaking sales performance on both iPhones and iPads in order to meet investors expectations. That’s pretty hard to do, even for Apple.
Apple shares are up marginally at $425.24 in mid-morning trading, after posting a new 52-week high this morning of $426.70. RIM’s shares are down -5.3%, at $22.70, in a 52-week range of $19.29-$70.54........
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