Comments on: Apple posts nice Q1, but pessimistic on Q2

Earnings are strong, but the company disappoints financial analysts with its second-quarter guidance amid a nervous stock market.

[lkrupp]

Officially beleaguered yet?

Let's see. Apple has just reported on its most fabulous quarter ever
in the history of the company. Apple has about $18 billion in cash
in the bank. The whole country is panicking about a possible
recession and the stock market is tanking.

Yep, I'd say Apple is officially a beleaguered company once again.
Let's start the death-spiral countdown clock again shall we.

[Lee in San Diego]

Yes, but

Other tech companies were beleaguered first, are cheaper, and
come with an FM tuner. :)

[john55440]

Apple Stock: from $202.96 to $136.70

According to Bloomberg, Apple's stock went from a 52-week high of (12/27/07) $202.96, to $136.70 in today's after hours extended trading.

[drhamad]

Point?

?

[technewsjunkie]

So did everyone else's, nice try

Get a life.

[afterhours]

How about other tech stocks?

Over the same period, Intel went from $27 to $19. I can't imagine anyone who gambles on stock really has a handle on what companies have longevity. The Market is a reactionary force, not a proactive prognosticator. They on Wall Street are betting folks, not people who make stuff. Yawn on your assessment.

[Penguinisto]

...and in other news:

http://www.fool.com/investing/value/2008/01/23/microsoft-bear-argument.aspx

From the article:
"[i]Despite the hubbub over Vista's features, revenue inched just 15% higher in fiscal 2007. The company is guiding investors to expect a 15% to 17% advance this fiscal year. Then that's all she wrote -- make that all she coded -- for Microsoft. Analysts expect the top line to inch just 10% higher next year."[/i]

...and yet MSFT gets rewarded by Wall Street.

Meanwhile, we have Apple kicking arse and playing it safe in their predictions (only roughly twice the percentage rate of growth that MSFT is predicting), but they get punished for it.

Ain't that just a kick in the pants?

Personally, I'll put money on Apple... they have the brighter future of the two corps.

/P

[Nodack]

Geesh

Apple totally kicked butt and had another record quarter so of course the stock is tanking
right? :)

The stock market does look scary right now. Apple is covering their butts with the second
quarter predictions. It's hard to believe so many people are freaking out this bad though. Of
course the quarter after Christmas is going to be slower. That goes without saying, but aapl
at $137 in after hours trading? Down $60 in a month when the company is looking the best it
has ever looked?

I guess it makes sense. I wish I would have sold at $200 so I could pick it up again now at a
bargain.

[sbwinn]

Pessimistic?

In other words . . . gloomy, negative, defeatist, downbeat,
cynical, bleak, fatalistic, dark, despairing, despondent,
depressed, hopeless.

That's not what I got at all. Their numbers are always down
from Quarter 1 to Quarter 2. Note: Q1 = Christmas. In the last
two years their revenue has dropped 73% and 75% between from
Q1 to Q2. This year they are projecting 70%.

Their products set the standard in their categories. They have
entered established markets and eaten everyone else's lunch.
They are poised to do amazing things in mobile computing.
Pessimistic hardly seems like the right word.

[drhamad]

Agreed - that is not pessimistic

I don't quite get the article title either. They're projecting strong
Q2 revenues...

[www.hdgreetings.com]

How can Apple's success continue?

Apple has released a string of products with design, execution, and branding so good it's magical.

The thing is how long can they continue to release products that no one exceeds?

Even the legendary quality advantage of Toyota is getting narrower and narrower compared to American cars, and that was a huge gap at one point.

It's hard to imaging it could last another 20 years.

[Lee in San Diego]

Good points

n/t

[MaLvaDo39]

Patents

Others can catch up on quality, but not on innovation if patents
are in place.

That's how-

[afterhours]

And who has caught Toyota?

Nice analogy. I'm curious what products you would consider have caught Toyota. I'd rather drive a 4runner than a Hummer, a Camry hybrid than a... wait, what GM or Ford or Chrysler product would you suggest I drive compared to that?

The Mac hardware is superior to most. Not necessarily all -- but most PCs I've had the pleasure or displeasure of owning. Alienware -- maybe, but I'm not a gamer or looking for neon accent lighting in my computer.

The Mac OS continues to prove its resiliance. Far less concern about security. Not bulletproof as shown by even Mac morons that download sketchy sw, but there's morons under any rock. And many orders of magnitude less threats overall.

Yes, the WinFanBois will wet themselves thinking a Mac might suck -- but they generally are speaking from a lack of experience. The MacFanBois -- they do have better kit, but it's just a freakin' adding machine. Pity one has to tear down anything good in this culture of cynics. The Mac is overall a better experience - and Apple will just have to live through another 20 years of dire predictions about their fate, eh?

[Nicholas Buenk]

The best way to predict the future is to invent it.

Said by the famous Alan Kay of xerox parc, it is something that
apple tries to follow. This is why they can continue to be
successful.

[RompStar_420]

For as Long as....

Steve Jobs continues to smoke my creation:

Rompstar - Romberry x Peak19 x Trainwreck x SweetTooth

lol

[alfred_bowman]

How can Apple's success continue?

Here's a difference - Toyota cars aren't designed by Microsoft.

[alegr]

Toyota

Looks like Toyota quality is getting worse because they started producing their cars in the US...

[scweezil]

Q@

They are still projecting 37% higher than Q2 of last years...I'd call
that growth.

[hardmanb]

Irrational markets

Apples entire product ecosystem is in place, and growing sales and revenue. 2008 will see much more introduction into other countries, and foreign sales and revenue growth are the best insurance against a recessionary US Market.

If the market thinks (steadily growing, cash-rich and debt-free) Apple should be downgraded, what will they think about the others? Especially those with major problems like Sprint, Motorola, Palm. 2008 looks bloody for Tech stocks.

[slickuser]

I agree...

market is full of morons who react with panic...
technical damage to lot of good stocks like AAPL, INTC is not fair!

[jessiethe3rd]

Sprint... Motorola... Microsoft

Sprint - laying off people
Motorola - bad bad earnings
Microsoft - earnings up - outlook good

[wethackrey]

Half Empty?

You wonder why we're sliding into in a recession? It is, no small measure, due to guys like Tom Krazit who label Apple's Q1 as simply "nice" and their Q2 forecast and guidance as "pessimestic". $6.8 Billion in revenue is hardly "pessimestic", no matter what the "what have you done for me lately" Wall Street types expect.

Let's be sure to also point out that Apple's iPod sales of "only" 22.1 million was "disappointing" and downplay the fact that iPod revenue was actually UP by 17 percent. Somehow this is a bad thing. It would be better, I guess, to have to sell more units to make less money.

As a Mac and iPhone user, I'm plenty happy with Apple. And as an Apple investor who bought at under $30 BEFORE THE SPLIT, I'm plenty happy as well.

[slickuser]

I agree...

News titles like this here in news.com and in reuters scare investors who are stupid to react in panic. They don't see the big picture...

Recession is happening due to media not because of bad economy.

BAN all the news about recession and ban CNBC for 3 months. Economy will be back to normal...

[ralfthedog]

"You wonder why we're sliding into in a recession? "

The reason for the recession is debt. The planned stimulus package might feel good, (From what I understand a shot of heroine feels good for a bit) All it will do is get more Americans buy more cheep garbage from China.

If we want a stimulus package that will work, We need some kind of a federal matching fund for people who pay off debt. If your minimum payment on your credit card is $100 and you pay $600 the government matches your payment by $500. Matching should be even better (x1.2?) for mortgages.

I don't like the idea of adding to the national debt, however this would trade $1 of national debt for reducing $2 or more of American debt.

[wethackrey]

More Half Empty

To reinforce my earlier point, Nick Wingfield, writing in the Wall Street Journal, chimed in with more of this "the glass is half empty" nonsense. He leads with "Apple Inc.'s shares sank after the company issued a tepid outlook, stoking worries that sales of its gadgets may suffer from a weakening economy." This despite Apple specifically stating that they would "leave the economic forecasting to others". A "tepid" outlook. Wingfield should be so lucky as to have a Q2 as "tepid" as Apple's.

[john55440]

Stock: Apple Down 18% today vs MS down 2% today

Apple stock is falling much faster/farther than the market as a whole, or other tech companies

Right now, Apple stock is down 18%, for today alone. In contrast, Microsoft stock is "only" down 2% for the day. (Source: Bloomberg.)

[His SHadow]

Who cares?

Microsoft's stock has done nothing for what, 5 years? It's moribund. Apple is changing the face of personal computing at all levels and Microsoft gives us a projector hidden in a table and an annoying shopping cart, all the while charging a 900% markup on software that hasn't done anything interesting in 10 years. Nobody cares what Microsoft is doing.

[ralfthedog]

excellent!

When a good stock goes down, that is called a buying opportunity. People who make money in the stock market buy for the long term. Most people who play short term would do better putting a $20 into the shredder hoping it will turn into a $100.

The only problem I have with Apple is the P/E ratio (Not that bad) and the fact that it does not pay a dividend.

[sanenazok]

Marketing Expenses versus R&D

What's Apple? By FAR their biggest expense is marketing:
R&D = 246 mil
Marketing = 960 mil
In all honesty, they have some nice ads. Apparently they have nearly a billion dollars worth of ads.

http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/320193/000119312508009715/0001193125-08-009715.txt

[jessiethe3rd]

After todays earning and forecast annoucement...

You'll see what's going up. BTW - you have got to be living under Apple's manufacturing rock to not know that Microsoft has released more applications over the last 2 years then in the history of the company. Microsoft doesn't make computers moron - they make software... yeah it's not flashy... yeah it's not as beautiful - but let's remember - they make software.

When they do make hardware they do a darn good job of it - see Xbox 360 (version 2 xbox) has been clubbing the competition pretty well since its release.

Apple's number one application by a secondary vendor... guess what it is? No - it's not Open Office - it's Microsoft Office. Microsoft is kicking ass and taking names in the corporate sector - stealing away business from the likes of IBM and Oracle as they shuffle out low cost software.

Sorry man - your comments just don't make any sense.

[ralfthedog]

New information about future Apple technology.

I have just found out from an inside source that the next version of the iPhone will incorporate anti positron technology. This is a very reliable source and I am 100% sure that it is true.