Research archive for AAPL

Soccer is the most popular sport on the planet but it has not quite cracked the US yet. Apple thinks that this will change. They signed a $2.5 billion rights deal last year to broadcast Major League Soccer (MLS) in a subscription package on Apple TV+ for 10 years.

It was all about Apple yesterday. The share price reached a record high, leading into the announcement for its new VR headset. This is the first new product category launched under Tim Cook. In the presentation, Cook spoke about how the Mac pioneered computing to the household, the iPhone made things mobile and now the Vision Pro introduces spacial-computing.

Apple shares are up about a third this year, and they rose another 5% on Friday. Apple is already the most valuable company on the planet. Revenues were an eye-popping $94.8 billion for the quarter while net profits were $24.2 billion. Analysts had predicted $93 billion in revenue and $22.6 billion in net profits.

Charlie Bilello pointed out that the combined market capitalisation of Apple and Microsoft ($4.7 trillion) was $2 trillion bigger than the whole Russell 2000 ($2.7 trillion). The Russell 2000 is a small cap index made up of 2000 of the lesser stocks listed in the US.

The revenue mix of Apple changes quarterly. iPhone launches, festive season spending and new product releases all have an impact. One thing that you can count on is constant growth in services revenue.

I like to keep tabs on the sustainability credentials of our recommended stocks. According to a recent survey, Apple ranked top of the list for green revenue. The assessment found that Apple generates $259 billion in sustainable sales and that at least 71% of their revenue comes from sustainable sources.

Apple released their fourth quarter earnings last week Thursday which missed expectations. This was only the third time in 20 years (80 quarterly reports) that Apple missed estimates, according to an analyst that I follow. That's a great track record! The share price actually rallied by 2.5% on Friday, against the tide as the Nasdaq dropped 1.6%.

Apple closed up 7% on Friday, a day after reporting surprisingly good numbers for the September quarter. This has been especially impressive since it came off a very high base which was fuelled by pandemic spending when people were stuck at home buying luxury items instead of experiences.

Apple iPhones have about 16% of the global smartphone market. Probably more significant is that it has 50% of the US smartphone market. As Paul mentioned above, services is becoming a bigger part of Apple's profits. Rich Americans are highly desirable customers.

Apple is by far the most important holding in our client base. The aggregate value of shares in custody in New York is over $57 million, across 809 accounts.

Apple is trying to expand its advertising business which already makes $4 billion a year. Did you know they had an ads business? The Tim Cook-led company makes money by displaying ads in its News and Stocks apps, as well as inside the App Store (including Google-like search ads), across the iPhone, iPad and Mac. Recently the company also put adverts on TV+ for its "Friday Night Baseball" deal with Major League Baseball.

The products that made Apple what it is today are the iPhone, iPad, MacBook, and iMac. However, we sometimes forget about the additional products that helped them become the most valuable company in the world. These include the fast-growing services business, wearables, and other accessories.

Apple reported a robust set of numbers last night, with revenue of $83 billion, a record for a June quarter. Sales of Macs, iPads, and wearables were down, but that was more than made up for by solid growth in the services division. A shortage of computer chips hampered Mac sales.

The first generation iPhone went on sale on the 29th of June 2007. At the time some Steve Jobs haters said it was all just hype, but people lined up outside Apple Stores to get their hands on this new, ground-breaking device.

The MacBook Air was among the first Macs to transition to Apple silicon, the very powerful and efficient M1 chip. Last night Apple launched an even better model of the MacBook Air, which will run on the improved M2 chip.