The way investors should treat Apple stock has changed, analyst Gene Munster insists, suggesting the company is now entering a "new paradigm" where Apple needs to be looked at more as a service provider than as the producer of iPhones and other hardware.
The "Oracle of Omaha," who was revealed last week to have made another big investment in Apple, indicated that he's looking at continued investment in Apple in the future.
This week on the AppleInsider podcast, Victor and Mike discuss the life-saving Apple Watch, Apple's resistance to surveillance, and the Q218 earnings call.
Ignoring a chorus of analyst doom and gloom, financial mogul Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway bought 75 million shares of Apple stock in the first quarter of 2018, raising the fund's position to just over 240 million shares.
Apple silently bought up a massive $23.5 billion of its own shares off the open market in the March quarter, taking advantage of the "full panic mode" agitated by analysts and financial news sites who bizarrely wondered aloud for weeks when exactly Apple might "kill" the most advanced, commercially successful smartphone it has produced yet.
Apple spent almost $3.4 billion on research and development over the course of its second fiscal quarter of 2018, a $602 million year-over-year increase that brings the company's six-month spend on future operations to nearly $6.8 billion.
The continued impact of the iPhone X has expectedly reverberated into Apple's second financial quarter of 2017 an interesting one — but not quite how analysts thought they would. The changes over time are best illustrated graphically, showing the magnitude of the quarter, as compared to the same quarter from of years past.
Apple posted $9.19 billion in services revenue over the course of its second fiscal quarter of 2018, a figure up 31 percent year-over-year. The massive uptick doubles services revenue recorded just four years ago.
Apple set a new high for the March quarter on the back of a premium-priced iPhone lineup anchored by iPhone X, as well as continued growth in the services segment. Following the publication of its first fiscal quarter 2018 results, the company provided additional detail on the record-setting performance in an earnings conference call.
Apple's board of directors has approved a $100 billion share buyback, as well as 16 percent jump in its quarterly dividend payments.
Apple on Tuesday revealed its second quarter results of fiscal year 2018, earning $61.1 billion in revenue, and an earnings-per-share of $2.73 again showing year-on-year growth, with the average selling price of the iPhone staying high above $700.
Apple will probably stop bundling a Lightning-to-3.5 millimeter adapter with this fall's new iPhones, according to a Barclays memo obtained by AppleInsider. The multinational bank also cut its price target for Apple stock from $168 to $157, citing worries about a "weaker iPhone franchise."
The boards of directors for carriers Sprint and T-Mobile have approved a $26 billion deal to merge the two companies, with John Legere at the head of the combined company.
Negative comments from two Apple suppliers about the next iPhone generation could hamper investor expectations for the next quarter, suggests Gene Munster of Loup Ventures, but predictable iPhone sales make this only a near-term risk instead of a long-term problem.
Apple could make a major change to the way it names successive iPhone generations this year, Guggenheim analyst Robert Cihra suggests, tipping Apple to take the opportunity to simplify what the iPhones are called when the new models launch this fall.
Apple stock, and the market, are both taking a big hit after a notable analyst predicted in "in-line" quarterly earnings report accompanied with predictions for the June quarter being lower than what Wall Street is currently expecting.
Apple's share price dropped about three percent during pre-market trading going into Thursday on word that TSMC — the manufacturer of A-series processors for iPhones and iPads — is expecting about $1 billion less revenue for the second quarter than Wall Street forecasts.
CEO Tim Cook once envisioned China as Apple's next big market, set to eclipse even the U.S. in revenue. That dream has taken a raincheck in the past two years, with iPhone units down 8 to 11 percent — and Apple is unlikely to bounce back, an analyst suggested in a memo obtained by AppleInsider.
Apple's annual bonus structure paid out for seven top executives last week with the vesting of batches of restricted stock grants worth up to nearly $22 million.
Apple will reveal quarterly earnings for its second fiscal quarter of 2018 on May 1, the company said on Monday, offering further insight on iPhone sales performance after what Wall Street called a lackluster holiday quarter.
{{ summary }}
Malcolm Owen
Stephen Silver
Victor Marks
Mikey Campbell
Daniel Eran Dilger
AppleInsider Staff
Roger Fingas
Mike Wuerthele
