In its quarterly fiscal report for the fourth quarter of 2014 released on Monday, Apple sold more than 5.5 million Macs without colorably adding to the lineup aside from yearly product refreshes and the introduction of price cuts on key devices.
Apple officially closed out fiscal 2014 on Monday with the results from another record setting quarter, with the just-concluded September frame resulting in $8.5 billion in net profit on revenue of $42.12 billion, driven largely by the hugely profitable iPhone and including the newly launched iPhone 6 series.
Apple is set to report the results of its September quarter later this afternoon, including the first few weeks of iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus sales, and market watchers generally expect the company will report revenue of around $40 billion for the three-month period.
While billionaire Carl Icahn is unlikely to get his way with Apple, his assessment that the company's stock is massively undervalued should help establish a floor for the stock, preventing it from going below about $95, one analyst believes.
After activist investor Carl Icahn published a letter Thursday asking Apple to increase its share buyback efforts once again, the company responded with a statement indicating it's in no rush to make any changes.
Activist investor Carl Icahn published an open letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook on Thursday, revealing that he thinks shares of the company are "dramatically undervalued," presenting it with an opportunity to buy back even more of its own shares at a tremendous discount via a tender offer.
Investor and activist Carl Icahn, who previously had a public battle with Apple over its cash hoard, has revealed he will be sending another open letter to Chief Executive Tim Cook on Thursday, and indicated he believes the note "will be interesting."
As new information about GT Advanced Technologies' dire financial straits slowly comes to light, a report on Tuesday claims Apple held back a $139 million loan installment from its partner sapphire supplier for unknown reasons, possibly leading to the firm's filing for Chapter 11 protection.
The day before Apple announced the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus with glass screen covers, the CEO of GT Advanced Technologies sold $160,000 worth of his now-struggling company's stock, shares of which subsequently tanked due to the lack of a sapphire cover on the latest iPhones.
Though Apple Pay isn't even available to consumers yet, investment firm Morgan Stanley expects that Apple's mobile wallet service will become the industry standard and help drive wider adoption of NFC-based payment systems.
Increasing volatility in the U.S. stock market is being attributed in part to Apple bears on the options market, who have helped to keep America's largest publicly traded company at around the $100-per-share level.
Investment firm Piper Jaffray thinks the potential market for the upcoming Apple Watch is "huge," but warned investors on Wednesday that it will take time for the wrist-worn smart device to grow into its full potential.
Bigger iPhone 6 screens are likely to result in a bigger upgrade cycle for Apple, in the eyes of Evercore Partners, which increased its price target to $125 on Tuesday and advised investors to buy in.
The European Commission is expected to release a report this week alleging that Ireland provided illegal "state aid" to Apple when it set tax rates for the company in 1991 and 2007, part of a series of investigations it hopes to use to retroactively tax corporations operating from countries with tax incentives.
With high hopes for the newly released iPhone 6, BMO Capital Markets has increased its price target for Apple stock to $110 with a recommendation that investors buy in ahead of a big 2015.
Even without launching in China, Apple's iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus got off to a record start with 10 million units sold in three days, and analysts on Wall Street reacted Monday with enthusiasm, expressing their high hopes for this year's upgrade cycle.
With 4 million iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus units presold in their first 24 hours of availability, investors on Wall Street are increasingly optimistic about the success of Apple's next-generation handsets, with predictions for the upcoming holiday edging higher to 60 million sales in a single quarter.
With the redesigned iPhone 6 expected to set new sales records this holiday season, the impending launch of the Apple Pay mobile wallet service expected to catch on with consumers, and next year's debut of the Apple Watch, analysts on Wall Street were largely satisfied with Apple's announcements this week.
Samsung this week made a slew of announcements, most notably its next-generation big-screen Galaxy Note 4 smartphone, but none of the products were enough to impress analyst Brian White, who doesn't think the South Korean electronics maker is well positioned to compete with Apple's anticipated fall product lineup.
Ahead of Apple's Sept. 9 event, where it is expected to unveil two new iPhones and offer a sneak-peek at a new wearable device, financial firm Cantor Fitzgerald has given a strong endorsement to investors, saying the next few months could prove to be Apple's most exciting period in many years.
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AppleInsider Staff
Neil Hughes
Mikey Campbell
Daniel Eran Dilger
