AAPL

Apple’s Market Share Is Great; Its Profits and Cash Flow Are Even Better

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Adding to the wall of worries that has crushed the share price of Apple (click ticker for report: ) during the past several months are fears that the firm doesn’t have incredible market share outside of the US. Recent estimates peg Apple’s US market share at 53.3%, up tremendously from its 35.8% market share registered a year ago. Such a figure reveals that more than half of all smartphone sales are coming from Apple, even though its phones tend to cost more than those of its competitors—even for an out-of-date model like the 4S. No one seems to be denying the firm’s top-notch execution and performance in the US. Android (click ticker for report: ), on the other hand, has … Read more

Are Apple’s Fundamentals Deteriorating?

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Given Apple’s (click ticker report: ) recent share price performance during the past 3 months, we’ve heard whispers questioning the strength of the company’s fundamentals. It first started with the Google Maps (click ticker for report: ) debacle when somehow replacing the default maps program on the iPhone with an inferior product was going to sink the entire company. Then fears of the iPad Mini–either not selling or cannibalizing sales of the full-sized iPad and subsequently crippling margins–became the next fear. Apple’s Fundamentals Remain Sound However, there is no evidence of a product slowdown at Apple. The iPad Mini sold out its first run in a short amount of time, and data over the Black Friday weekend showed that the iPad … Read more

FAQ: How Is Your Best Ideas Portfolio Doing This Year?

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At Valuentum, we task ourselves with a tall order. While most investment newsletters compare themselves to a market benchmark, we go one step further. We want to deliver positive returns to you, our subscriber, year after year, in addition to outperforming the market benchmark. Below, we outline a table that shows the outperformance we provided to our members since the time they joined.  So, for example, if you joined as a member on April 13, 2012 our Best Ideas portfolio has offered 3.8 percentage points of outperformance. Or, if you joined on July 13, 2011, our Best Ideas portfolio has offered 22 percentage points of outperformance. Importantly, did you know that, according to Advisor One, only 13% of hedge funds are beating the S&P … Read more

Special Dividends: A Fantastic Idea…Fiscal Cliff Has Started a Trend

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Throughout 2012, we’ve seen a huge surge in special dividends, with 59 companies in the Russell 3000 declaring special dividends from September to November compared to just 15 during the same period last year. The impetus is obvious: the impending fiscal cliff has left both companies and investors wondering what to do with the mountains of cash sitting on pristine balance sheets and low return prospects. As a result, companies across different sectors are declaring special one-time dividends. Costco (click ticker for report: ) will pay a one-time special dividend of $7 per share (amounting to $3 billion) as a reward to shareholders, while Tyson Foods (click ticker for report: ) declared a special one-time payment of $0.20 per share. … Read more

Solid Cyber Monday

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According to IBM Digital Analytics, Cyber Monday sales surged 26.6% year-over-year and are expected to total $1.5 billion. These results were consistent with our previous belief that the online channel would continue to become a more important retail destination, though we’re a bit surprised that growth was so strong on one day (since we’ve seen retailers run a variety of sales all week long). Two of the big winners yesterday appear to be Amazon (click ticker for report: ) and eBay (click ticker for report: ), where sales volumes increased 52% and 57%, respectively. Sources cite the percentage of retailers participating in Cyber Monday sales at 97%, or almost every company that sells products on the Internet. It’s not easy to … Read more

Apple Reports a Strong Fourth Quarter and Sandbags Guidance

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Best Ideas Newsletter holding Apple (click ticker for report: ) reported another fantastic quarter Thursday afternoon. The tech giant saw revenues surge 27% year-over-year to $35.9 billion, a touch higher than consensus estimates. Earnings increased 23% year-over-year to $8.67 per share, a few cents weaker than consensus expectations, but negatively impacted by a $50 million loss from other income versus a forecasted gain of $150 million. Apple generated $50 billion in operating cash flow during the fiscal year. Guidance, not surprisingly, was lackluster. The firm establishes notoriously low expectations and is assuming earnings of $11.75 per share on $52 billion in revenue during its first quarter in fiscal 2013. Margins are expected to be lower thanks to the introduction of … Read more

Why We Continue to Like Apple and Microsoft

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In yet another negative blow to the PC market, Gartner reports that PC shipments fell 13.8% year-over-year during the third quarter. The big losers, yet again, were the PC giants Dell (click ticker for report: ), HP (click ticker for report: ), and Toshiba. Of course, the shocking loser was Apple (click ticker for report: ), which saw shipments fall 6% (considerably lower than the 25%+ drops of competitors), though market share increased 110 basis points to 13.6%. With the entire industry slumping, who’s to blame? Not surprisingly, we’re labeling Apple as the major disrupter in the PC market. Since the inception of the iPhone and subsequent iPad releases, computing has shifted more and more toward mobile consumption, with the … Read more