During the company's third fiscal quarter, Apple prepayments on components grew by $1.15 billion sequentially, notes Wells Fargo analyst Maynard Um. The information is taken from Apple's recent 10Q filing with the US government, made in parallel with the company's
Q3 results announcement. Um comments that the payments are "not necessarily an indicator of demand," but may "reflect Apple's expectation for stronger revenue." Apple has several anticipated products in the pipeline for the rest of 2012, including a
new iPhone, new iPods, and
possibly a 7- to 8-inch "mini" iPad.
Another point of interest in the 10Q filing is that Apple's international cash reserves have continued to grow from $74 billion in Q2 to $81.4 billion in Q3. Apple now has a total cash balance of $117 billion, up from $110 billion, despite a $400 million dip in its US cash to $35.8 billion. The company is one of several in the US that have pressured the federal government to offer a tax break for repatriated money; while it might deprive government departments of badly-needed funds, corporations have complained that under current tax rates they would lose much of their revenue.
Top