• Looking at Apple’s Financial Performance
    Posted by on January 17th, 2009 at 3:51 pm

    I just wanted to add a quick post on Apple (AAPL). A number of you have asked for Apple’s recent financial numbers, so I’ve added this spreadsheet which contains the quarterly figures going back ten years.
    As you can see, Apple’s performance has been staggering. Sales and earnings growth is through the roof. Gross margins are around 35% and operating margins are near 20%. Most impressively, Apple has zero debt and a gigantic cash horde that comes to $27.55 a share.
    Given Apple’s closing price on Friday of $82.33, that means that the “nuts of bolts” of the company are worth $54.78 a share, which is roughly 10 times trailing earnings.
    Obviously the key factor is future earnings, not trailing. I’ll have more this Wednesday when Apple reports its fiscal Q1 earnings. This will almost certainly be Apple’s first report of lower earnings in over five years. Sales will probably be flat. The first quarter is traditionally Apple’s most important quarter when the company records about one-third of its yearly sales and earnings.

  • Offshore Tax Havens
    Posted by on January 17th, 2009 at 12:16 pm

    From the NYT:

    Many of the largest United States corporations, including big banks now receiving federal bailout money, operate scores of subsidiaries in offshore tax havens that may let them evade or defer their tax bills, according to a government study released Friday.
    The study, by the Government Accountability Office, singled out Citigroup as having 427 subsidiaries in offshore havens like the Cayman Islands, British Virgin Islands and Switzerland. Bank of America has 115 subsidiaries in offshore havens, while Morgan Stanley has 273, the report said.
    Bank of America received an additional $20 billion in government aid on Friday, on top of a previous $25 billion, and a federal promise to absorb nearly $98 billion in soured mortgage-related securities. Citigroup is expected to get $50 billion.

  • The Buy List Year to Date
    Posted by on January 16th, 2009 at 5:38 pm

    I’ll probably jinx it but even mentioning this, but our Buy List is off to a great start this year. By that, I mean we’re up a whopping 0.62% (woo!). Still, the S&P 500 is down -5.88%. So we’re already 6.5% ahead of the market and we’ve beaten the S&P for nine of the eleven days so far this year.

  • “Cannot be Underestimated”
    Posted by on January 16th, 2009 at 2:51 pm

    The New York Review of Books notes:

    Moreover, Iranian paranoia about the US cannot be underestimated. Alerting the Iranian government in advance to the timing and objectives of each of the steps described above would avoid a negative reaction. It would also prepare the way for a major new approach to the issues concerning nuclear enrichment, Iraq, and Afghanistan.

    The authors use “cannot be underestimated” to express the exact opposite of the meaning they wish to convey.
    My favorite such mistake is still Rod Stewart’s, “Just let your inhibitions run wild.”

  • Put Gasparino and Kneale on the Air and Guess What Will Happen
    Posted by on January 16th, 2009 at 2:10 pm


    (H/T: MediaBistro)

  • The S&P 500 Banking Index
    Posted by on January 16th, 2009 at 1:08 pm

    Banks are getting smacked around again today. The Bank Index (^BIX) is now below 100. Jeez Louise! Eighteen months ago, the index was around 400.
    image760.png
    Now check out the rise in daily volatility:
    image761.png

  • The End of the Media
    Posted by on January 16th, 2009 at 11:18 am

    The Star Tribune files for Chapter 11 — as reported by The Star Tribune:

    The Star Tribune, saddled with high debt and a sharp decline in print advertising, filed a Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition Thursday night.
    Minnesota’s largest newspaper will try to use bankruptcy to restructure its debt and lower its labor costs.
    Chris Harte, the paper’s publisher, said the filing would have no impact on home delivery, advertising, newsgathering or any other aspects of the paper’s operations.
    “We intend to use the Chapter 11 process to make this great Twin Cities institution stronger, leaner and more efficient so that it is well positioned to benefit when economic conditions begin to improve,” Harte said in a statement.
    The filing, which was made with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the southern district of New York, had been expected for months. It follows several missed payments to the paper’s lenders, and it comes less than two years after a private equity group, New York-based Avista Capital Partners, bought the paper for $530 million.

    These companies are in free fall.

  • Circuit City at Four Cents a Share
    Posted by on January 16th, 2009 at 10:32 am

    big.chart011609.gif
    Thirty-four years ago, Circuit City was going for $1 a share. Adjusted for splits, that was 0.4611 cents a share. Nine years ago the stock reached a split-adjusted level of $40.920606 a share. That’s a return of 887,356%
    The stock is now at four cents a share.

  • The Market Wastes No Time
    Posted by on January 15th, 2009 at 5:30 pm

    How US Airways Group (LCC) traded today:
    yhoo11509.png

  • Amphenol’s Earnings Not Good But Could Have Been Much Worse
    Posted by on January 15th, 2009 at 3:06 pm

    Nice turnaround today which isn’t surprising since the bears have been in control the last few days. The Dow briefly dipped below 8,000 at one point.
    yhoo011509.png
    The Buy List is getting a nice boost from Amphenol‘s (APH) earnings report. The shares are currently up 12%.
    This was an interesting earnings report for APH. The company’s bottom line has been growing pretty nicely over the past few years. In October, when the company reported Q3 earnings, it said to expect Q4 EPS of 58 cents to 60 cents. That wasn’t good news. Personally, I had pegged EPS at 62 cents a share.
    Well, things soon got a lot worse. APH said a few weeks ago to ignore what they said earlier, and EPS will come in between 50 cents and 52 cents. Now we come to today where we learn that Amphenol earned 56 cents a share. I’m not a big fan of analyst forecasts but here the company didn’t even know what to expect.
    The company also said that Q1 will be weak, and they expect EPS of 39 cents and 41 cents. The bottom line is that things are tough for Amphenol just like everyone else. The company is a solid outfit and even in rough patches, it can still deliver pleasant surprises.
    Quarter…………………EPS
    Mar-05…………………$0.26
    Jun-05………………….$0.29
    Sep-05…………………$0.28
    Dec-05…………………$0.31
    Mar-06…………………$0.32
    Jun-06………………….$0.35
    Sep-06…………………$0.37
    Dec-06…………………$0.43
    Mar-07…………………$0.43
    Jun-07………………….$0.46
    Sep-07…………………$0.50
    Dec-07…………………$0.55
    Mar-08…………………$0.54
    Jun-08………………….$0.61
    Sep-08…………………$0.63
    Dec-08…………………$0.56