adplus-dvertising
Connect with us

Tech

Jittery Investors Sell Apple Stock, but Bulls Advise Buying Ahead of Supercycle – Barron's

Published

 on


It was a down quarter for iPhone sales, but Apple had substantial growth in almost every other category.


Mladen Antonov/AFP via Getty Images


Apple

shares are taking it on the chin Friday one day after the company reported a strong September quarter, but one which triggered just enough questions to give investors pause after the stock’s big 2020 run.

300x250x1

For the quarter, Apple (ticker: AAPL) reported revenue of $64.7 billion, up about 1% from a year ago and slightly ahead of the Wall Street consensus of $64.2 billion. Profits were 73 cents a share, two pennies ahead of consensus.

It was a down quarter for iPhone sales, as demand slowed ahead of the iPhone 12 launch, but Apple had substantial growth in almost every other category. Mac sales were $9 billion, up 29%. iPad sales were $6.8 billion, up 46%. Wearables increased 20.8%, to $7.9 billion. Services revenue was $14.5 billion, up 16.3%.

There are multiple factors weighing on the stock. For one, the 21% drop in iPhone sales, while not a big surprise, was a little worse than some analysts had modeled. Two, the 29% drop in Greater China sales was a little shocking and a reflection of the company’s lagging position in 5G phones in a key market. And three, Apple declined to give guidance for the third straight quarter, which really shouldn’t have surprised anyone but seemed to rattle some investors.

On the post-announcement call with investors, the company responded to all of those concerns. Without providing detail, it said iPhone 12 sales are off to a strong start—but it just started shipping the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro, and won’t even start taking orders on the low-end iPhone 12 Mini or high end iPhone 12 Pro Max until next week.

On China, the company said it was hurt more there than other markets by the lack of 5G phones in the quarter, but a rebound is expected in the December quarter, and early demand for the new phones is promising.

As for guidance, Apple didn’t provide detail, but did say that iPhone sales would be up year over year in the holiday quarter despite only a partial quarter of iPhone 12 sales—and it expects double-digit growth in services and in all non-iPhone hardware categories in the quarter.

Citigroup’s Jim Suva adds two other logs onto the worry pile—a modest decline in gross margin and worries about potential regulatory oversight. On the guidance issue, he writes that he was “a bit surprised” that Apple didn’t give an outlook. On China, he writes that “China has a more advanced 5G network compared to many countries and simply put consumers want a 5G phone rather than a 4G phone.” On margins, he says the issue is mostly one of mix, with Macs and iPads carrying lower margins than iPhones and services. (It was a spectacular quarter for both Macs and iPads, remember.) And as for regulation, he sees headline risk, but no risk to fundamentals for at least the next 12 months.

Bottom line: He keeps his Buy rating and $125 target price.

Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi, who keeps a Market Perform rating on Apple shares, writes that the quarter was “solid, but not spectacular.” He finds it noteworthy that Apple didn’t provide explicit guidance. “The upshot is that we doubt that consensus EPS forecasts are likely to change materially, which we view as a likely disappointment given high investor expectations,” he writes.

Sacconaghi agrees that the key from here is iPhone 12 demand. “So how do we interpret Apple’s Q1 guidance/commentary, and what does it say about the iPhone 5 cycle?” he asks. “Unfortunately, it is likely too early to tell—and Apple itself legitimately does not appear to know, given very limited selling days and the unique timing of the iPhone launch. But the punchline is simple: iPhone revenues have to grow double digits year-over-year in fiscal Q1, or March needs to be dramatically stronger than seasonal for this cycle to have a shot of being the super cycle buyside investors appear to be anticipating.”


Morgan Stanley’s

Katy Huberty came away from the call more bullish than ever. “All signs point to a supercycle,” she writes in a research note, repeating her Overweight rating and $136 price target. “We continue to see upside to fiscal 2021 estimates after Apple grew revenue double-digits across all products including iPhone after normalizing for [the iPhone] product cycle. iPhone growth will accelerate further on extended replacement cycles, more new [models] and aggressive subsidies.”

Huberty adds that her “confidence in Apple’s ability to retain existing users, attract new users and accelerate growth and profitability has never been higher as Apple enters fiscal 2021 with its strongest product and services portfolio in years and several tailwinds at its back, including the growing proliferation of 5G technology; work, learn and play from home demand; and rising adoption and monetization of digital services.”

Wedbush analyst Dan Ives likewise is undeterred in his bullish view. “Last night…the Street and the overall market was hoping for blow out results from FAANG tech stalwarts with Apple and

Amazon

leading the way and ultimately came away disappointed with tech stocks selling off this morning on the news,” he writes. “Taking a step back, we believe Apple is on the cusp of its largest iPhone product cycle since iPhone 6 in 2014 and we would be buyers on any weakness.” He keeps his Outperform rating and $150 target.

Apple was off 4.9%, at $109.70, in recent trading. The

S&P 500

was down 1.3%.

Write to Eric J. Savitz at eric.savitz@barrons.com

Let’s block ads! (Why?)

728x90x4

Source link

Continue Reading

Tech

'Kingdom Come: Deliverance II' Revealed In Epic New Trailer And It Looks Incredible – Forbes

Published

 on


“You can save the world, or you can help punish it for its sins.” That’s the crux of Warhorse Studio’s “behemoth” of a sequel to 2018’s Kingdom Come: Deliverance. The sequel, which is slated for release later this year on PC, Xbox Series X|S and PS5 will be bigger, more fun, filled with adventure and more diverse thanks to its setting in the 15th century Bohemian city of Kuttenberg a city that creative director Daniel Vavra says is “really big, it’s even too big in my opinion.”

New weapons like the crossbow and primitive firearms will also make their debut in the continued story of the squire Henry (Tom McKay) and the knight he accompanies, Hans Capon (Luke Dale) as they leave the country behind.

Here’s the trailer, which features gameplay, cinematics and discussion from the actors and developers. Be sure to watch until the end to see the bit about the music. A full choir and orchestra in a beautiful Eastern European cathedral? Just gorgeous.

300x250x1

“What we are making now is what it was supposed to be in the beginning, but we weren’t able to do it because we didn’t have enough resources and experiences and all that stuff,” Vavra says in the video. “We’ve proven the concept works, so now we can take it to another level, which is what we always wanted.”

“This is a behemoth of a game in comparison to the first. In my opinion I think it’s got so much more energy and pace and adventure and action and fun and trial and tribulation and everything you can want,” McKay says in the video.

The game will be “much bigger in scope” with a more in-depth story and a world roughly twice the size of the first. The story has evolved from a small-scale conflict to one about “the problem with kings,” Vavra says.

function loadConnatixScript(document)
if (!window.cnxel)
window.cnxel = ;
window.cnxel.cmd = [];
var iframe = document.createElement(‘iframe’);
iframe.style.display = ‘none’;
iframe.onload = function()
var iframeDoc = iframe.contentWindow.document;
var script = iframeDoc.createElement(‘script’);
script.src = ‘//cd.elements.video/player.js’ + ‘?cid=’ + ’62cec241-7d09-4462-afc2-f72f8d8ef40a’;
script.setAttribute(‘defer’, ‘1’);
script.setAttribute(‘type’, ‘text/javascript’);
iframeDoc.body.appendChild(script);
;
document.head.appendChild(iframe);

loadConnatixScript(document);

(function()
function createUniqueId()
return ‘xxxxxxxx-xxxx-4xxx-yxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx’.replace(/[xy]/g, function(c) 0x8);
return v.toString(16);
);

const randId = createUniqueId();
document.getElementsByClassName(‘fbs-cnx’)[0].setAttribute(‘id’, randId);
document.getElementById(randId).removeAttribute(‘class’);
(new Image()).src = ‘https://capi.elements.video/tr/si?token=’ + ’44f947fb-a5ce-41f1-a4fc-78dcf31c262a’ + ‘&cid=’ + ’62cec241-7d09-4462-afc2-f72f8d8ef40a’;
cnxel.cmd.push(function ()
cnxel(
playerId: ’44f947fb-a5ce-41f1-a4fc-78dcf31c262a’,
playlistId: ‘aff7f449-8e5d-4c43-8dca-16dfb7dc05b9’,
).render(randId);
);
)();

Kingdom Come Deliverance II, like the first game, is not a fantasy RPG like Skyrim or The Witcher, but one that attempts to create a historically accurate world down to the weapons, costumes, locations and people. There are no magicians or dragons or elves here—but there will be plenty of adventure, exploration and knight errantry.

Pretty exciting!

Adblock test (Why?)

728x90x4

Source link

Continue Reading

Tech

Save $700 Off This 4K Projector at Amazon While You Still Can – CNET

Published

 on


While it’s true that high-end TVs seem to be getting ever bigger, they still can’t compete with the best projectors when it comes to image size. If you choose a good 4K projector you’ll even get top-notch image quality as well. Right now you can pick one of those projectors up and save a whopping $700 to boot. That’s possible thanks to an Amazon deal that slashes the Xgimi Horizon Pro projector’s price to just $999, a return to its best price ever there. This deal doesn’t require you to enter any pesky codes or clip any coupons, but these kinds of limited-time deals also don’t have a published end date which means that this discount could end at any minute and without warning — be sure to keep that in mind.

The Xgimi Horizon Pro 4K has a ton of features that make it a great option for anyone looking to upgrade their old projector or make the jump from a big-screen TV. The 4K resolution and support for HDR ensure you’ll get a great picture, while the ultra-bright 1,500 ISO lumens mean you won’t find yourself squinting at a dark image. Other features of note include auto keystone correction and an autofocus capability. And we didn’t even get to the fact that this projector can generate a 200-inch image yet, either.

Looking to enjoy content without the hassle of wires? This projector has Android TV built in so you can enjoy any of the more than 5,000 Google Play apps while Chomecast support is built-in as well.

300x250x1

Alternatively, the Xgimi Halo Plus projector is our top pick for a portable 1080p projector, making it great for camping trips and more — and right now a 23% discount means you can get one for just $650. Finally, the Xgimi MoGo2 is another protector designed to help you want content on the go and now it’s available at almost its best price yet at just $250.

Not sure that a projector is for you but still want to enjoy a great picture? Our list of the best OLED TV deals is just the ticket.



728x90x4

Source link

Continue Reading

Tech

Nothing to integrate Chat-GPT into new earbuds and its phones – MobileSyrup

Published

 on


During its new earbuds announcement event, Nothing shared that it plans to add Chat-GPT support to its earbuds.

The feature will be tied to Nothing Phones, so users with iPhones or other Android handsets will be stuck using Siri or Google Assistant instead.

If you want to take advantage of Open AI’s assistant, you’ll need to wait. A Nothing spokesperson told The Verge that the feature will roll out slowly to the Nothing Phone (2) starting on April 18th, followed by the Phone (1) and Phone (2a) a few weeks later. The company’s blog post also states that this is “coming soon to our other audio products,” so it seems like Ear (1) and Ear (2) owners will get the feature as well.

300x250x1

It will be interesting to see if adding an AI chatbot to these earbud-based digital assistants will make people use them more. I typically use AirPods, and while I appreciate it when Siri reads my messages out loud, I never find myself triggering it through my earbuds to start timers or ask regular questions. That said, as new AI tools like the Humane Pin might fall flat, maybe something more subtle built into our existing tech will be more convenient for people.

Beyond how it works, integrating Chat-GPT is a smart move for Nothing. OpenAI has strong branding in AI, and using Chat-GPT instead of Google’s Gemini helps separate the Nothing phones from the Google Pixel lineup.

Nothing also plans to integrate Chat-GPT into Nothing OS 2.5.5. This includes a new Chat-GPT widget and options to analyze your screenshots and your clipboard with the AI assistant. Other improvements are coming in the update as well, including new Ringer controls and a RAM boost mode. You can see the full update list here.

Source: Nothing Via: The Verge

Adblock test (Why?)

728x90x4

Source link

Continue Reading

Trending