Apple's Mac sales up 50 percent in April
The blistering success of Apple's personal computer business continues to turn heads, with Mac unit sales growing 50 percent year-over-year for the month of April compared to just 17 percent growth by the broader market.
Mac revenues were also up sharply at 46 percent, according to the most recent data from market firm NPD Group, as cited Monday by Lehman Brothers analyst Ben Reitzes in a noted distributed privately to clients.
The rapid growth in April suggests the Cupertino-based company is in good position to report upside to Reitzes' current estimate of 37 percent Mac growth for the three-month period ending June.
Meanwhile, a similar set of data from NPD covering iPods reveals that sales of the media players were up 15 percent in units and 10 percent in dollar sales during April, compared to a rise of 12 percent in units and 4 percent in revenues for the overall market.
"We continue to believe our estimate of a 2 percent year-over-year unit decline in iPods could prove conservative; although year-over-year weekly growth rates have decelerated in May," Reitzes said.
In his note to clients, the Lehman analyst also reiterated his belief that Apple will introduce an updated line of Mac notebooks in time for the back-school season that heats up in the July time frame, which will include redesigned MacBooks, MacBook Pros and more MacBook Airs.
"Checks are indicating that the attractive look of the Air may make its way into other models in terms of slimmer, metallic designs," he said. "We believe these notebooks will be popular for the back-to-school and holiday shopping seasons."
Apple remains the analyst's "top pick" in the IT hardware space. He rates the company's shares as "Overweight," or outperforming those of its similarly situated peers over the next 12 months, with a price target of $202.
Mac revenues were also up sharply at 46 percent, according to the most recent data from market firm NPD Group, as cited Monday by Lehman Brothers analyst Ben Reitzes in a noted distributed privately to clients.
The rapid growth in April suggests the Cupertino-based company is in good position to report upside to Reitzes' current estimate of 37 percent Mac growth for the three-month period ending June.
Meanwhile, a similar set of data from NPD covering iPods reveals that sales of the media players were up 15 percent in units and 10 percent in dollar sales during April, compared to a rise of 12 percent in units and 4 percent in revenues for the overall market.
"We continue to believe our estimate of a 2 percent year-over-year unit decline in iPods could prove conservative; although year-over-year weekly growth rates have decelerated in May," Reitzes said.
In his note to clients, the Lehman analyst also reiterated his belief that Apple will introduce an updated line of Mac notebooks in time for the back-school season that heats up in the July time frame, which will include redesigned MacBooks, MacBook Pros and more MacBook Airs.
"Checks are indicating that the attractive look of the Air may make its way into other models in terms of slimmer, metallic designs," he said. "We believe these notebooks will be popular for the back-to-school and holiday shopping seasons."
Apple remains the analyst's "top pick" in the IT hardware space. He rates the company's shares as "Overweight," or outperforming those of its similarly situated peers over the next 12 months, with a price target of $202.
Comments
Wow! An estimate it will go up 8.5% in the next 12 months.
You can get pretty rich making 9% a year. Eventually Apple will be too big (market cap) to continue growing quickly, and I don't plan on being the last one out of the stock.
You can get pretty rich making 9% a year. Eventually Apple will be too big (market cap) to continue growing quickly, and I don't plan on being the last one out of the stock.
I know, but I expect it to reach 200 before this 3rd fiscal quarter ends in June. Apple's growth on the Mac front and the launch of the 3G iPhone around the world should help it increase several fold over teh next several years. If we were just atalkng about iPods then I have have sold my stock awhile ago.
Personally, I don't invest in any company that i don't expect to double my investment at least every 12 months.
You have to start slow, steady and focused on the end game.
Start with one amazing product and design it with everything you got (iMac) over and over till it is a truly amazing product.
Then when it is a success build upon that with other innovative products.
Don't over extend yourself and don't cave to pressures for thousands more products to milk the market.
Build what you believe is the best products for you companies long term viability.
Stay innovative and creative so remain the industry leader.
Apple died (Before Jobs return it did truly die) because it was easier to follow than lead.
With the return of Jobs he injected the company with this philosophy and look at Apple now.
I know, but I expect it to reach 200 before this 3rd fiscal quarter ends in June. Apple's growth on the Mac front and the launch of the 3G iPhone around the world should help it increase several fold over teh next several years. If we were just atalkng about iPods then I have have sold my stock awhile ago.
Personally, I don't invest in any company that i don't expect to double my investment at least every 12 months.
Ah, do tell! Lets hear 5-6 of those, I'm very curious. Can't be too many $170billion companies in that list!
Personally, I don't invest in any company that i don't expect to double my investment at least every 12 months.
Ah, do tell! Lets hear 5-6 of those, I'm very curious. Can't be too many $170billion companies in that list!
Hey, I could give you twenty. He didn't say that the stock price would double, just that he expects them to double.
May as well aim high!
Personally, I expect the next president to end global warming and solve the worlds hunger problems...
Ah, do tell! Lets hear 5-6 of those, I'm very curious. Can't be too many $170billion companies in that list!
I don't look for the companies that are worth the most, I look for the ones that are most likely to grow. AAPL, AMZN, MA, MON, GOOG, NTDOY, & RIMM are the best gainers that I have or have had.
I also have plenty of slower, more stable stocks, like MCD (even though it doubled in the past 2 years), that I never look at. I jumped into Visa when it became public a fews months back. I expect that one to do 3-4x growth in the next 12 months.
I often consider drug companies but that industry scares the crap out of me. If an FDA doesn't approve a product or some bad side effect s found the stock can plummet over night. But it can also be a faster gainer. I just don't have the patience or skill to research those companies. Tech companies are much easy to understand, IMO.
Personally, I expect the next president to end global warming and solve the worlds hunger problems...
Not with the current lot that's currently running, be it Republican, Democratic, Libertarian, Green, Constitution Party, and let's not forget the other "parties" that may or may not have had their candidate in the presidential race over the past few years, such as the Reform Party, the Centrist Party, Independence Party of America, Moderate Party, Party for Socialism and Liberation, even the Marijuana Party, etc...
In the history of computing, only a handful of companies have proven adept at building platform based businesses that simultaneously win the hearts and minds of developers, enterprises and ordinary consumers so this is no small feat.
Thinking forward, one wonders if the iPhone SDK is a trojan horse to re-shape the software applications business in total by collapsing the logistics of app creation for multiple device form factors, the tools that enable same, distribution, purchasing and marketplace functions into one sandbox. Maybe that is too much to hope for. Maybe not.
I have blogged on topic in a post called:
Holy Sh-t! Apple's Halo Effect
http://thenetworkgarden.com/weblog/2...hit-apple.html
Check it out if interested.
Mark
I know, but I expect it to reach 200 before this 3rd fiscal quarter ends in June. Apple's growth on the Mac front and the launch of the 3G iPhone around the world should help it increase several fold over teh next several years. If we were just atalkng about iPods then I have have sold my stock awhile ago.
Personally, I don't invest in any company that i don't expect to double my investment at least every 12 months.
The overall economy is holding it back. Despite Apple's tremendous Mac growth, investors still seem to be restrained by the overall market.
Remember that Apple's price dropped much more than the overall computers stocks on the way down, and outpeformed on the way up. But right now, there seems to be a ceiling at around 190.
Possibly, an announcement of the new iPhone and expanded markets by Apple in early June will allow it to break through, though I don't think anyone really knows how much of that is already in the stock price right now.
Possibly, an announcement of the new iPhone and expanded markets by Apple in early June will allow it to break through, though I don't think anyone really knows how much of that is already in the stock price right now.
That is what I'm expecting to happen. The stock when up about 20 points over the 3 weeks since the iPhone release, then it dropped, then it went up pretty steadily after that. If a 15 point gain isn't had within the first month of its release I'll be surprised.
Of course, my assumption also needs the stock to stay relatively steady for the next month.
I wonder about Apple's goals with iTunes and complete integration of this form. I find it fascinating. Apple appears to be changing distribution completely, in each market. Music. Movies. Software.
I noticed at Mac World this year that the one thing they missed in the Air was a digital solution to software loading. A Super-Drive, or even Remote Disk, appears a little clunky to me. Its hardware-based, no matter how you get around it, and that doesn't integrate with Apple's "media online, to the iPod, and wireless backup."
Apple hates hardware. Non-Apple hardware looks horrible. Apple wants a solution: keep it all away wirelessly.
Its not rocket-science that iTunes is a digital hub, not just a media hub.
App Store is not, in my mind, only for the iPhone OS. Its the start of complete conversion to online integrated marketplace...
And I don't mind the convenience of that.
AAPL is pinned to GOOG and the rest of the tech industry recently. The usual predictable patterns are not as apparent as pre the credit bust.
I still cant get over RIMM, how this company can justify a value half of AAPL I have no idea.
A one trick pony vs a 10 trick stallion.
I still cant get over RIMM, how this company can justify a value half of AAPL I have no idea.
They have a great enterprise product. Their Enterprise servers and monthly charge for each user is their bread and buter, not the handset sales. I will probably be completely pulling out of RIMM within this calendar year if the iPhone does what I think it will do. My warning sign will not be RiM releasing new products that better compete with the iPhone, but lowering their prices of their enterprise products and services to better compete with Apple. However, I believe they are opening up in China this year so that will weigh in once I see the sales projections.
I still cant get over RIMM, how this company can justify a value half of AAPL I have no idea.
A one trick pony vs a 10 trick stallion.
They have a great enterprise product.
And they also have the keyboard (the KISS factor: Keyboard Is So Sexy [tactile]).
It would appear that if Apple invented the elixir of life, hover boards, and the ever lasting gob stopper, there would be no reflection in AAPL stock price.
AAPL is pinned to GOOG and the rest of the tech industry recently. The usual predictable patterns are not as apparent as pre the credit bust.
I still cant get over RIMM, how this company can justify a value half of AAPL I have no idea.
A one trick pony vs a 10 trick stallion.
The market is looking for RIM to grow faster in its one market than Apple will in all of its markets together. They are also assuming that RIM will tie up the enterprise business for itself.
Stats are showing that 38% of iPhone users have a second phone, and that most always that phone is a—Blackberry!
I don't look for the companies that are worth the most, I look for the ones that are most likely to grow. AAPL, AMZN, MA, MON, GOOG, NTDOY, & RIMM are the best gainers that I have or have had.
I also have plenty of slower, more stable stocks, like MCD (even though it doubled in the past 2 years), that I never look at. I jumped into Visa when it became public a fews months back. I expect that one to do 3-4x growth in the next 12 months.
I often consider drug companies but that industry scares the crap out of me. If an FDA doesn't approve a product or some bad side effect s found the stock can plummet over night. But it can also be a faster gainer. I just don't have the patience or skill to research those companies. Tech companies are much easy to understand, IMO.
Yeah, I didn't mean to imply that you were looking for large companies, I was saying that a company as large as AAPL, or RIMM, or GOOG or AMZN can have a really tough time doubing because of the law of large numbers. At some point they cease to be a growth stock because their size mirrors the size of their market, and stocks don't double unless the market sees their earnings continuing to grow at high rates for eyars to come. Apple is very close to that level now - at some point the old argument becomes - is Apple worth more than MSFT, when MSFT sells X amount more software than Apple does?
So, while I think that that list of stocks is a fine one, I wouldn't count on getting the kind of returns you are hoping for. If it was as easy as looking at last year's returns and buying those stocks that did best, everyone would (and did) do that. I'm definitely not expecting another double out of Apple before 2010 or 2011, and that's if everything continues to go swimmingly. Now, if it drops back to 120, I'll be loading up on it again
And they also have the keyboard (the KISS factor: Keyboard Is So Sexy [tactile]).
Though their newest one, to be introduced in a month or two, doesn't.