[brokenjago]

MacDailyNews - Apple reports second quarter results

$5.26 Billion Revenue with $770 Million Profit. $.87 a share.

I must say, I wasn't expecting such strong results. They only missed 1st quarter results by about 100,000 Macs! (and, uh, 11 million iPods, lol)

36% growth on Macs, 24% on iPods from the year-ago quarter. Gross margin up to 35.1% from 29.8% in the year-ago Quarter.

Very strong on the Mac side of things, I think, and quite strong on iPods as well, considering seasonality.

AAPL is at about $103 in after-hours trading, so those of you who thought the earnings call would be a time to buy, well, you're outta luck.

[bradoesch]

Under promise and over deliver. I'm very curious to see how the stock opens tomorrow.

[brokenjago]

Me too! Although it'll probably settle down, I imagine it will go farther than $103. Perhaps it'll settle and above $100?

I'm surprised this doesn't interest more people.

Also, the transcript for the conference call is very interesting.

[brokenjago]

I'm surprised that no one seems to care. Did I post in the wrong forum?

[bradoesch]

I'm kinda surprised too. We recently had an AAPL thread that got to 3 pages. Usually this sort of thing gets people excited about the stock.

I'm not even gonna try to time this stock. I wanted to sell AH for $103 but that would mean we'd open at $105 tomorrow!

Do you think Apple will split the stock soon?

[brokenjago]

hmmm.

One would imagine. I've heard rumors to that effect. $50/share would look a lot nicer than $100/share, and I think open the way for faster growth as investors see the stock as undervalued.

[Big Mac]

Congratulations to those in the stock. I apologize to anyone I deterred from buying in. I was very much wrong. If you had been able to get in a week ago at around $91, you would have made a cool ten bucks a share. Very nice.

I could be wrong, but I don't think there will be a split any time soon. $100 was a tough nut to crack this time around, so in my opinion it's a good idea for people to see that level exceeded at least for a while.

[Lateralus]

I jumped in last week at $91.08. My only regret is that I didn't buy more.

Oh well.

[ajprice]

This one is interesting. PDF file link

Yes, the year on year growth on Macs is 36%, BUT, split that into portable and desktop figures - Desktops up 2%, Portables up 79% !! So hardly any of the growth on units is due to their desktop computers, almost all of that 36% figure is from laptop Mac sales. I wonder why that is, hmmm, the high starting price for the Mac Pro? The Mac mini that STILL has a Core Duo processor? The absolute lack of any desktop Mac that uses true desktop computer processors instead of mobile or server chips? or all of that?

The desktops need to get sorted, because figures like that confirms that people are not impressed by iMacs or Mac mini computers in comparison to similar PC specs, and see Mac Pro towers as out of their range. Intel processors were supposed to give Apple a level playing field, but they still want to handicap themselves by putting laptop chips in their consumer desktops!!

Rant over.

Second point, they sold more units of iPods this quarter than last years Q2, but made less money on them (units +24%, revenue -1%).

[Eug]

Lots of gross margin on laptops, I guess.

35% gross margin is damn impressive.

[Chuckit]

Did I not TELL you people to buy when Apple's stock dipped earlier? Geez, you can't give this stuff away.

[ajprice]

Originally Posted by Eug 

Lots of gross margin on laptops, I guess.

35% gross margin is damn impressive.

Those % figures were on the units sold, not revenue.

Portables rise was 83% revenue increase from that 79% units increase.
Desktops rise was 10% revenue increase from the 2% units increase.

If I try to explain what I want to say I'll confuse myself, lol. but basically, a rise in desktops of 10% revenue on 2% units (8% difference) is more per unit that a rise in portables of 83% revenue on 79% units (4% difference). So gross margin is actually better on the desktops compared to last year, I think. I'm going for a lie down now, lol.

[Eug]

Originally Posted by ajprice 

Those % figures were on the units sold, not revenue.

Portables rise was 83% revenue increase from that 79% units increase.
Desktops rise was 10% revenue increase from the 2% units increase.

If I try to explain what I want to say I'll confuse myself, lol. but basically, a rise in desktops of 10% revenue on 2% units (8% difference) is more per unit that a rise in portables of 83% revenue on 79% units (4% difference). So gross margin is actually better on the desktops compared to last year, I think. I'm going for a lie down now, lol.

OK. That makes sense.

Whatever the case, 35% is impressive. I didn't think there could be such a big jump quarter to quarter.

[olePigeon]

Is there such thing as a double-split in stock? (quarter?) Apple could split their stock down to $25 a share or so.

[Eug]

Originally Posted by olePigeon 

Is there such thing as a double-split in stock?

You can pick anything you want for the split.

[OldManMac]

Originally Posted by ajprice 

This one is interesting. PDF file link

Yes, the year on year growth on Macs is 36%, BUT, split that into portable and desktop figures - Desktops up 2%, Portables up 79% !! So hardly any of the growth on units is due to their desktop computers, almost all of that 36% figure is from laptop Mac sales. I wonder why that is, hmmm, the high starting price for the Mac Pro? The Mac mini that STILL has a Core Duo processor? The absolute lack of any desktop Mac that uses true desktop computer processors instead of mobile or server chips? or all of that?

The desktops need to get sorted, because figures like that confirms that people are not impressed by iMacs or Mac mini computers in comparison to similar PC specs, and see Mac Pro towers as out of their range. Intel processors were supposed to give Apple a level playing field, but they still want to handicap themselves by putting laptop chips in their consumer desktops!!

Rant over.

Second point, they sold more units of iPods this quarter than last years Q2, but made less money on them (units +24%, revenue -1%).

It's because the market in general is moving way more laptops. People don't replace their desktops as often, and more people are buying second and third computers because of their portability. MacPros are typically sold to businesses, and they've been holding off until Photoshop went native. It has nothing to do with laptop processors in desktop machines; the average customer wouldn't know the difference, nor would they care. For the years that I sold Macs, including two years working directly for Apple, I rarely brought up processors and speed, unless I was asked. I sold the different models based on their features and what they could do for the customer. The number of times that someone asked about processor technology was minimal at best.

[brokenjago]

It's because the market in general is moving way more laptops. People don't replace their desktops as often, and more people are buying second and third computers because of their portability. MacPros are typically sold to businesses, and they've been holding off until Photoshop went native. It has nothing to do with laptop processors in desktop machines; the average customer wouldn't know the difference, nor would they care. For the years that I sold Macs, including two years working directly for Apple, I rarely brought up processors and speed, unless I was asked. I sold the different models based on their features and what they could do for the customer. The number of times that someone asked about processor technology was minimal at best.

As a (mainly) Mac salesman for Fry's Electronics for over a year, I hereby Quote This For Truth.™