Roger Fingas
Apple's December-quarter results call was "dysfunctional," but not from Tim Cook's and Luca Maestri's side because analysts didn't know how to react when they learned that the numbers weren't as bad as feared, according to the host of CNBC's "Mad Money," Jim Cramer.
"The conference call was dysfunctional. They didn't know what to do," he commented. "Analysts had their tails between their legs. They cut and run."
Cramer — whose charitable trust owns Apple shares — argued that "the news simply wasn't horrible enough to sate the bears," referring to analyst predictions in the wake of a Jan. 2 warning that the company would miss Q1 guidance by billions of dollars. CEO Tim Cook blamed this on weak iPhone sales, particularly in China.
In the end Apple reported $84.3 billion in global revenue for the December quarter, with iPhone sales down 15 percent. Mac and iPad sales were up, but not enough to compensate.
The company's Chinese revenues were down 26.7 percent year-over-year to $13.17 billion. The iPhone has taken a beating in that market, mostly because local vendors like Huawei and Xiaomi are selling competitive phones that cost hundreds of dollars less than Apple's. Compounding matters has been a strong U.S. dollar, a weak Chinese economy, and the effects of the U.S.-China trade war.
Cramer called special attention to the Apple Watch, saying it's "going to be a worldwide phenomenon" with "deals made all over the world for health." Apple has already forged deals with a number of U.S. insurers and healthcare providers, most recently Aetna, which is offering people the chance to get an Apple Watch if they meet particular fitness goals.
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6 Comments
And AAPL is up almost 5% now to $162.24 after yesterday’s financial report. The short sellers manipulated it down, made their pile of money and have moved on to their next victim. So goes the stock market.
Apple will never be able to compete profitably against these state backed competitors. China plans to run Apple out of the market, the same way they hinder/ban Microsoft, Google and Facebook. The phones are all loaded with WeChat, so the government conveniently has tracking software within each handset to keep its citizens inline. What a dreadful society.
"Analysts had their tails between their legs. They cut and run."
So have the negative Apple hater forum users. Tails between their legs, heh.
So Jim "Yes I planted rumors to drive stock prices for my own profit" Cramer is criticizing others behavior?
:eyeroll:
Can’t ever take Cramer seriously. Since he got caught on TV admitting he manipulated AAPL, I stopped watching.
That being said, I loaded up on more AAPL during the ruckus now that the short sellers scurried off like rats.