AAPL - Apple Inc.
| Previous Close | 288.08 |
| Open | 286.53 |
| Bid | 296.99 x 800 |
| Ask | 296.95 x 800 |
| Day's Range | 286.50 - 297.88 |
| 52 Week Range | 169.50 - 327.85 |
| Volume | 23,248,294 |
| Avg. Volume | 31,205,426 |
| Market Cap | 1.295T |
| Beta (5Y Monthly) | 1.28 |
| PE Ratio (TTM) | 23.50 |
| EPS (TTM) | 12.60 |
| Earnings Date | Apr. 27, 2020 - May 03, 2020 |
| Forward Dividend & Yield | 3.08 (1.03%) |
| Ex-Dividend Date | Feb. 06, 2020 |
| 1y Target Est | 333.31 |
- Yahoo Finance
The US-China trade war unintentionally prepared companies for coronavirus
Supply chain alternatives have already been on the minds of many companies due to the trade war.
- Zacks
The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: Apple, NetEase, Quotient Technology and Alteryx
The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: Apple, NetEase, Quotient Technology and Alteryx
- Zacks
The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: Burlington Stores, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Apple, Chevron and Deckers Outdoor
The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: Burlington Stores, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Apple, Chevron and Deckers Outdoor
- Zacks
The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: Apple, Walt Disney and Microsoft
The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: Apple, Walt Disney and Microsoft
- Baystreet
Futures Make Small Climb
Futures for Canadian stocks edged higher on Wednesday, supported by spot gold, as the coronavirus scare ...
- Zacks
Forget Virus Scare, Buy Tech ETFs on the Dip
Wall Street is suffering a bloodbath on rising coronavirus scare, with tech stocks leading the slump. Use the dip in tech ETFs as a buying point.
- Reuters
Apple faces shareholder vote over Chinese app removal policies
The proposal is one of six that will face a vote at the company's annual shareholder meeting at Apple's headquarters in Cupertino, California. Such apps allow users to bypass China’s so-called “Great Firewall” aimed at restricting access to overseas sites.
- Bloomberg
U.S. Stock Market Appears Most Vulnerable to Virus Shock
(Bloomberg Opinion) -- The stock market with the most to lose from a wider coronavirus outbreak is the one in the U.S.Global markets sold off on Monday and Tuesday on reports that authorities are struggling to contain the virus, which has now spread to more than 30 countries and increasingly threatens the global economy. Until this week, the declines in global stocks seemed to be driven by proximity to the virus’s epicenter in China, but it’s becoming increasingly clear that few markets will escape harm if the virus isn’t contained.What’s not clear is which stock markets would suffer the sharpest declines. That obviously depends on how the crisis unfolds — where the virus spreads, how many people are affected, the impact on regional economies and trading routes, and so forth. But it also depends on the extent to which markets have already digested the potential risks, and by that criterion, the U.S. stock market appears particularly vulnerable. To see stock investors at their most carefree, take a look at the NYSE FANG+ Index. It’s a pantheon of the Great Disruptors – 10 companies that many investors believe are poised to dominate their respective industries. In order of market value, they are Apple Inc., Amazon.com Inc., Google parent Alphabet Inc., Facebook Inc., Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., NVIDIA Corp., Netflix Inc., Tesla Inc., Baidu Inc. and Twitter Inc. As a group, they are among the most extravagantly priced stocks in history, even for growth stocks.By any measure of price relative to earnings, the FANG index is nearly as expensive as the Russell 1000 Growth Index was at the peak of the dot-com mania two decades ago — or even more so. The price-to-earnings ratio of the FANG index is 34 based on analysts’ estimates of this year’s earnings per share, which is just 6% cheaper than the comparable P/E ratio for the growth index in March 2000. Other measures are even less flattering. Based on last year’s earnings, the FANG index’s P/E ratio jumps to 55, or an 8% premium over the comparable ratio for the growth index. And using an average of inflation-adjusted earnings over the last 10 years, it jumps again to 73, or a 16% premium over the growth index.Investors value the FANG index’s revenue even more than its profits. The price-to-sales ratio of the FANG index is 5.9, or 41% higher than the growth index’s P/S ratio of 4.2 in March 2000. Suffice it to say, when it comes to the FANGs, the market appears to have little concern for the risks around coronavirus or anything else.The reason that’s a potential problem for the U.S. is that eight of the 10 stocks in the FANG index are American companies. Remember that stocks in broad-market gauges such as the S&P 500 Index or Russell 1000 Index are weighted based on their market value. Therefore, as the market value of the stocks in the FANG index has spiked relative to others, so has their weighting in broad-market indexes. Those eight U.S. stocks represent less than 1% of the Russell 1000 by number, but they now account for more than 13% of its market value. That more than anything else explains the wide gap in the valuation between U.S. and foreign stocks. The P/E ratio of the Russell 1000 is 29, based on an average of inflation-adjusted earnings over the last 10 years, which captures the growth of both earnings and stock prices during the decade. By comparison, the P/E ratio of the MSCI ACWI ex USA Index, a gauge of global stocks excluding the U.S., is 19. That’s a premium of 53% for U.S. over foreign stocks, the largest since the data series begins in 1998. If the virus turns out to be a serious and sustained threat to the global economy, markets are likely to rethink stock prices, including those of companies in the FANG index. And the higher the valuation, the greater the potential for downward revision. That may seem unlikely to investors who view the FANGs as the ultimate blue chips, capable of navigating any environment, but no company is an island. Apple, the largest of the FANGs by market value, has already warned that it will miss sales forecasts because of coronavirus-related disruptions in production and demand for its products.More important, blue chips don’t necessarily provide more safety, particularly when valuations are stretched. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, for example, investors piled into U.S. growth stocks, driving up valuations of companies with fat profits, a key measure of quality. In the ensuing sell-off sparked by the 1973 oil crisis, the most profitable 30% of U.S. stocks, weighted by market value, tumbled 48% from January 1973 to September 1974, including dividends, according to numbers compiled by Dartmouth professor Ken French. Meanwhile, the cheapest 30% of U.S. stocks by price-to-book ratio, which are widely viewed as lower quality, declined 28% during the same period.It happened again during the dot-com boom in the late 1990s. Investors’ renewed obsession with growth stocks drove up the valuations of highly profitable companies. In the ensuing bear market sparked by the collapse of internet companies, the most profitable 30% of U.S. stocks fell 32% from April 2000 to September 2002, while the cheapest 30% of U.S. stocks declined just 10%. So there’s a lot riding on whether the U.S. disruptors can navigate the risks around coronavirus, not just for their own investors but also for those betting on the broad U.S. stock market. It makes sense that overseas markets took the first hit, but if the virus isn’t contained soon, don’t be surprised if the U.S. stock market turns out to be hit the hardest.To contact the author of this story: Nir Kaissar at nkaissar1@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Daniel Niemi at dniemi1@bloomberg.netThis column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Bloomberg LP and its owners.Nir Kaissar is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering the markets. He is the founder of Unison Advisors, an asset management firm. He has worked as a lawyer at Sullivan & Cromwell and a consultant at Ernst & Young. For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinionSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
- Bloomberg
Tesla’s Autopilot, Cell Phone Use Blamed in 2018 Fatal Crash
(Bloomberg) -- U.S. crash investigators faulted Tesla Inc.’s Autopilot system and the driver’s distraction by a mobile device for a fatal accident in 2018 and called on Apple Inc. and other mobile phone makers to do more to keep motorists’ attention on the road.Tesla was heavily criticized for not doing enough to keep drivers from using its driver-assist function inappropriately. American regulators, which have guidelines but no firm rules for the emerging automated driving systems, were also attacked by the safety board.“It’s time to stop enabling drivers in any partially automated vehicle to pretend that they have driverless cars, because they don’t have driverless cars,” National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Robert Sumwalt said.The hearing was a searing critique of how Tesla and other carmakers have introduced new technologies that automate aspects of driving but still require constant human supervision, and of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s light-touch approach to regulating the safety of those systems.Even though the Tesla SUV in the 2018 crash in northern California had previously veered toward a concrete barrier, the driver, an Apple employee, allowed the semi-autonomous system to essentially steer itself as it passed that same location and moved toward a highway barrier, the NTSB concluded. The driver failed to intervene because he was distracted, likely because he was playing a game on a mobile phone provided by his company, which lacked a policy prohibiting employees from using devices while driving, the NTSB found.The NTSB has for years issued warnings about distracted driving and its deadly toll on the roadways. During the hearing, it called on Apple and other mobile phone manufacturers to develop protections to prevent misuse of electronic devices behind the wheel as a default setting.The agency also urged the NHTSA to conduct a fresh evaluation of Autopilot and take enforcement action if necessary if the agency finds defects.“We urge Tesla to continue to work on improving their Autopilot technology and for NHTSA to fulfill its oversight responsibility to ensure that corrective action is taken when necessary,” Sumwalt said.The death of 38-year-old Apple engineer Walter Huang in March 2018 in Silicon Valley prompted the NTSB to issue its strongest findings to date on safety risks posed by automated driving systems and driver distraction by mobile devices.“Limitations within the Autopilot system caused the SUV to veer towards the area with a concrete barrier that it ultimately struck, which the driver didn’t attempt to stop due to distraction,” the board found.NTSB recommended that both mobile device manufacturers such as Apple, Google and Samsung Electronics Co., as well as employers more broadly, do more to combat distracted driving.Mobile phone manufacturers should lock out features on the devices as a default setting, rather than as an optional feature that must be activated manually, the NTSB said. Employers should adopt policies banning non-emergency mobile phone use by employees when behind the wheel.The NTSB posted a document on Monday in its public record on the crash showing Apple didn’t have a policy on distracted driving.“I checked around with various groups and we do not have a policy related to phone use and driving,” wrote an Apple representative in an email response to the NTSB, which was posted to the safety board’s public investigative files on Monday.An Apple spokesman said the company expects its employees to follow the law. Tesla didn’t respond to a request for comment but has said it has updated Autopilot in part to issue more frequent warnings to inattentive drivers and that its research shows drivers are safer using the system than not. Tesla has also repeatedly stressed that drivers must pay attention while using Autopilot.The combination of growing mobile device use in semi-autonomous cars, in which drivers can take their eyes off the road for long periods, is a combustible mix, said NTSB Vice Chairman Bruce Landsberg.“What this crash illustrates is not only do we have the old kind of distraction” Lansberg said. Partly-automated driving systems present “yet another kind, which is the automation complacency of the system almost kind of always works, except when it doesn’t.”NTSB board member Jennifer Homendy criticized the NHTSA for issuing a recent statement saying it was trying to limit regulations to make cars more affordable.“What we should not do is lower the bar on safety,” Homendy said. “That shouldn’t even be considered for an agency that has the word safety in its name.”NHTSA said in a statement it was aware of the NTSB’s report and would review it. It also said distracted driving remains a concern and that drivers of every motor vehicle available currently on sale are required to remain in control at all times.It is also conducting more than a dozen of its own investigations into Tesla crashes linked to its semi-autonomous system known as Autopilot. Tesla is one of the leading developers of automated driving technology.Warnings to DriverHuang’s Tesla struck the concrete highway barrier at about 70 miles (113 kilometers) per hour. His hands weren’t detected on the steering wheel for about one-third of the drive and the car twice issued automated warnings to him.A protective barrier on the highway designed to reduce the crash impact wasn’t in place, the NTSB found.In addition, Tesla and government agencies haven’t bothered to respond to NTSB’s recommendations related to an earlier, similar crash.Smartphone manufacturers and software developers have taken some steps to address distracted driving. Apple’s iPhone, for example, has a feature to block text message and other notifications when driving that a user can activate in the phone’s settings.“The challenge is that they’re all passive systems. They require you as the owner of the phone to take that action, and many won’t or don’t because they don’t have to,” said Kelly Nantel, vice president of roadway safety at the National Safety Council.While the safety board stopped short of concluding that NHTSA’s lack of actions were part of the cause of the crash, it found that the regulator hadn’t done enough to set safety standards and called its approach to semi-automated vehicles “misguided.”Separately, the NTSB is prepared to cite the highway-safety regulator’s actions in another fatal Tesla crash as a contributing factor.In a March 2019 crash in Delray Beach, Florida, a Tesla drove into the side of a truck without braking, killing the driver. The conclusions of the investigation haven’t been published, but were read by Homendy during Tuesday’s meeting.(Updates with details from hearing, beginning in the fourth paragraph)To contact the reporters on this story: Ryan Beene in Washington at rbeene@bloomberg.net;Alan Levin in Washington at alevin24@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Jon Morgan at jmorgan97@bloomberg.net, Elizabeth Wasserman, John HarneyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
ReutersOnce bulletproof, tech stocks now among market's biggest losers
Technology shares -- a key engine of the stock market's climb to records over the last several months -- are now among those leading Wall Street's plunge on growing concerns over the coronavirus outbreak. The S&P 500 information technology sector has fallen 9.3% since Thursday’s close, outpacing a drop of 7.3% for the broader index. Only energy has performed worse, reflecting a sharp decline in oil prices on fears that the coronavirus will slow global economic activity.
- Reuters
Apple, J&J to study if Apple Watch app leads to lower stroke risk
Last year, Apple's Heart Study https://www.reuters.com/article/us-apple-watch-heart/apple-watch-detects-irregular-heartbeats-in-u-s-study-idUSKBN1XN2S2 found that the watch could accurately detect atrial fibrillation, the most common type of irregular heartbeat, according to a study that explored the role of wearable devices in identifying potential heart problems. Atrial fibrillation increases the risk of stroke more than fivefold, according to the American Heart Association. Jeff Williams, Apple's chief operating officer, said the initial study proved the Apple Watch can detect atrial fibrillation with a low rate of false alarms, which helped Apple gain clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for a watch app that takes an electrocardiogram, or EKG, measurement.
- Zacks
Tech Daily: Regulatory & More
The planned digital tax, a new bill that could impact encryption, developments on U.S. Google's antitrust case and Amazon's challenge of the JEDI contract and other news is covered in this article.
- Bloomberg
Dimon Says JPMorgan Is Looking ‘Aggressively’ at Acquisitions
(Bloomberg) -- Jamie Dimon sees competition everywhere he looks, so he’s vowing to be creative with what he can buy to stay ahead.JPMorgan Chase & Co. is looking “aggressively” at acquisitions across its businesses and could buy anything that’s not another U.S. bank, the chief executive officer said at the firm’s investor day in New York Tuesday. The bank has a greater appetite for deals than in previous years, helped by regulators who are more accommodative, he said.Coming off the most profitable year in U.S. banking history, Dimon attempted to push down expectations, saying last year’s bonanza was helped by unusually low credit costs and flagging 2020 as a “tougher year.” The bank’s presentation touted how it’s outperformed rivals in recent years, but also struck a cautious tone on challenges it faces from a series of industry trends that aren’t going away.“You’re going to get some form of competition from Apple, Amazon, Facebook, Google, WeChat, Alipay; you’re going to get it across payments, white label, black label and bank-in-a-box and marketplaces, and that’s the world we’re going to face,” Dimon said. “When it comes to M&A, we should be very, very creative.”One big change is in regulators’ attitudes toward letting big banks get bigger.“Now they’re giving more of a green light,” Dimon said. “The door is open for people to be a little more ambitious and aggressive with how they deploy capital in acquisitions.”In updating its outlook for 2020, the bank maintained its return on tangible equity target at 17%, and said its overhead ratio would be below 55% in the medium term. It expects net interest income to fall slightly to $57 billion this year as lower interest rates squeeze traditional lending businesses.Interest rates holding near multiyear lows will continue taking a bite out of revenue, it said.“Rates are much lower than expected both on the short and long end” than the bank forecast a year ago, Chief Financial Officer Jenn Piepszak said. While the firm expects NII to grow again in 2021, “all of this is market dependent, and yesterday’s volatility is a good reminder of that,” she said, referring to the stock-market tumble.“It’s gonna be a much tougher year in 2020,” Dimon said. While the bank is prepared for an economic downturn, “a lot of our managers haven’t been through one, so I do worry about that.”On other fronts, Dimon and Piepszak said JPMorgan plans to borrow from the Federal Reserve’s discount window from time to time. The facility is meant to provide emergency liquidity to banks that otherwise have healthy balance sheets. In a cash crunch, banks can pledge collateral to the Fed in return for cash. But lenders have been reluctant to use the window, in case investors interpret it as a sign of financial weakness.“We think this is an important step for us to take to break the stigma here,” Piepszak said.For the first quarter, net interest income will likely be $14.2 billion, slightly higher than previous estimates. And trading revenue for the period will probably increase by a percentage in the “mid-teens” compared with the same period last year, according to Daniel Pinto, co-president of the corporate and investment bank. The market is doing “pretty well” so far this year, Pinto said.Cost cuts have been a major focus, including shifting thousands of jobs out of the New York area to cheaper locations domestically and abroad over the past few years. Still, JPMorgan said expenses could jump 2.5% this year to around $67 billion. The bank said it would spend $500 million more on technology investments.Shares of the company fell 2.8% to $128.43 at 1:18 p.m. in New York, compared with a 3.1% decline for the KBW Bank Index.The bank also said it would help finance about $200 billion related to sustainable business practices and other green initiatives, up from $175 billion last year. It expects to use renewable energy for all its global power needs by the end of 2020.“There’s no meeting where this issue isn’t coming up,” Pinto said. “This situation is evolving so fast that whatever target you put for the next 10 years most likely will be obsolete.”Among other major initiatives is a national branch expansion, a push into China, investments in wholesale payments and a deeper effort to advise high-net-worth individuals.On the branch expansion, JPMorgan said it has $1.5 billion in deposits and investments from new markets, including Boston, Philadelphia and Washington D.C. New branches are reaching the break-even point seven months faster than the average six years ago, the company said.To contact the reporter on this story: Michelle F. Davis in New York at mdavis194@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Michael J. Moore at mmoore55@bloomberg.net, Steve Dickson, Dan ReichlFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
- Zacks
Apple's January iPhone Sales Fall in China Due to COVID-19
Apple's (AAPL) iPhone sales are taking a hit in China due to the ongoing corona virus outbreak.
- Zacks
Give Your Child a Head Start in Investing: 3 Big Brand Stocks
Invest in big brand stocks for your children, as these stocks generally boast stable cash flow, and being big brands, consumers have confidence in their products' quality, durability and consistency.
ReutersGLOBAL MARKETS-Global stocks sink further as virus fears weigh
Global stocks sank to their lowest levels in over two months on Tuesday, as relief from a sharp selloff the previous day on fears about the spreading coronavirus proved temporary. European shares recorded their worst one-day loss since June 2016 on Monday as worries about the spread of the new virus far beyond China whacked global markets and risk sentiment. Italy is grappling with the worst outbreak of coronavirus in Europe.
- Zacks
A Nasty Drop of 3%+ Spells Good Times Ahead: 5 Solid Picks
In the past 10 times that the Dow and S&P 500 lost a minimum of 3%, their performances improved considerably in the following week, month and year.
ReutersGLOBAL MARKETS-Global stocks pause after coronavirus shakeout
Global stock markets stabilised on Tuesday after a wave of early selling petered out and Wall Street futures managed a solid bounce after the previous day's sharp selloff on fears about the spreading coronavirus. European shares recorded their worst one-day loss since June 2016 on Monday as worries about the spread of the new virus far beyond China whacked global markets and risk sentiment. "There is no question financial markets are coming round to the realisation that this particular crisis is likely to have a slightly longer shelf life than many thought was the case a couple of weeks ago," said Michael Hewson, chief markets analyst at CMC Markets in London.
- The Guardian
Apple may be forced to disclose censorship requests from China
Apple may be forced to disclose censorship requests from ChinaTwo major shareholder groups backed proposal that would force tech company to make new human rights commitments
- Bloomberg
Apple Reopens More Than Half of Its Retail Stores in China
(Bloomberg) -- Apple Inc. is reopening more than half of its retail stores in China, trying to rebound from a sales hit tied to the coronavirus.As of Monday, 29 of 42 Apple stores in the country are opening, according to a review of the company’s retail websites. Most of these locations are still operating on shortened hours. Some outlets will be open for fewer than 8 hours. That compares with a typical 12-hour day, depending on location.The Cupertino, California-based technology giant hasn’t said when the remaining stores will reopen. However, some Apple websites for specific stores show that operating hours will return to normal as early as the end of this week.Apple’s retail footprint in China is critical to the company’s sales. The store closures were one of two main reasons for Apple saying it wouldn’t meet its revenue target of at least $63 billion in the current quarter ending in March.Read more: Apple Outlook Cut Renews Questions About China Over-RelianceApple Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook told employees last week that retail locations in China were “starting to reopen, but we are experiencing a slower return to normal conditions than we had anticipated.”Earlier on Monday, an analysis of official Chinese data showed that Apple’s China iPhone shipments dropped in January as the coronavirus began to spread.To contact the reporter on this story: Mark Gurman in Los Angeles at mgurman1@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Tom Giles at tgiles5@bloomberg.net, Alistair Barr, Andrew PollackFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
- Bloomberg
Apple’s China iPhone Sales Dropped in January as Virus Emerged
(Bloomberg) -- Apple Inc.’s China iPhone sales dropped in January as the coronavirus began to spread, according to an analysis of government data on Monday.Demand for the product fell 28% compared with the previous month, a bigger decline than usual for that time of year, according to a UBS research note citing official Chinese data.“February numbers are likely to be far worse due to both supply and demand issues related to the virus outbreak,” UBS analyst Timothy Arcuri wrote in the note.Apple recently pulled its revenue forecast for the March quarter, saying the virus had stunted sales and slowed production. The company also closed all of its 42 physical stores in mainland China due to the outbreak. It is beginning to reopen them now.The situation is so fluid that Apple hasn’t given a new revenue forecast, Arcuri said. The pace of recovery in the company’s June quarter “is more dependent on the demand side – which is very hard to predict,” the analyst added.Overall January smartphone shipments in China slumped 37% year over year, according to numbers from the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology. UBS’s Arcuri said iPhone sales climbed 5% in the same period, thanks to its online stores and easier comparisons to the previous holiday period which was marred by trade war tensions.Read more: Apple Outlook Cut Renews Questions About China Over-Reliance\--With assistance from Linly Lin.To contact the reporter on this story: Mark Gurman in Los Angeles at mgurman1@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Tom Giles at tgiles5@bloomberg.net, Alistair Barr, Andrew PollackFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
ReutersUS STOCKS-Wall St plunges on fears of coronavirus pandemic
Wall Street's three major averages plunged on Monday as investors ran for safety after a surge in coronavirus cases outside China fanned worries about the global economic impact of a potential pandemic. Investors sold riskier assets and rushed to traditionally safer bets such as gold and U.S. Treasuries after countries including Iran, Italy and South Korea reported a rise in virus cases over the weekend even as China eased curbs with no new cases reported in Beijing and other cities.
