Forbes: Winner of the week: APPLE COMPUTER - 500 Beiträge pro Seite

[dakinky]

Friday May 4, 11:45 am Eastern Time

Forbes.com
Winner Of The Week: Apple Computer
By Arik Hesseldahl


It was only four months ago that Apple Computer was said to be dying yet again.

But just like its recovery from the darkest days of 1997 and 1998, Apple seems to have righted itself one more time.
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On Jan. 17, the computer maker reported its first quarterly loss in three years--$195 million on sales of $1 billion. Now Apple has bounced back once again, reporting on April 18 a $43 million profit on sales of $1.43 billion.

It followed the news by generating a strong buzz surrounding its new all-white iBook laptop computer for consumers, adding to an already strong laptop product line that has bolstered revenues. Its higher-end Titanium Powerbook, released in January, has turned out to be a hit and accounted for $341 million in sales in the second quarter, up from $84 million in the first. Powerbook and iBook sales combined accounted for $411 million, up almost 79% from the previous quarter.

Apple is a company that relies heavily on convincing its already loyal users to upgrade their machines and that means generating hype--something it didn`t do all that well late last year. Its fiscal first-quarter loss came after it had badly misfired with its G4 cube computer which was beautifully designed, but which relatively few people seemed to want. It has shipped only 41,000 cubes compared to 608,000 iMac computers over the last two quarters.

Apple Computer At-A-Glance* As of May 4. EPS = Earning per share.
Apple Computer (nasdaq: AAPL)
Cupertino, Calif.
[phone]
www.apple.com
CEO: Steve Jobs
Sales: $1.43 billion
Earnings: $43 million
Recent Price: $24.96*
Market Cap: $8.65 billion
P/E: 42.96
2001 Estimated EPS: -0.23

The cube was accompanied by a dual-processor PowerMac G4 that offered no real benefit, since the Mac operating system at the time could not take advantage of two processors in one machine. Few people took the bait, and Apple got the message: Stick to what has worked so far--making incremental improvements to its machines over time.

David Bailey, analyst with Gerard Klauer Mattison in New York, credits Steve Jobs with building a strong management team including Chief Financial Officer Fred Anderson and interim head of sales and Vice President Timothy Cook. "They can handle adversity as they did last year," he says.

Since that bad quarter, Apple has written down inventory that had clogged its distribution channel, and started off fresh with new PowerMac G4 machines and new Powerbook laptop machines. It finished the fiscal second quarter with only $10 million in inventory on its books, less than half as much as the previous quarter. Also learning from another mistake, it has added CD-RW drives to its machines, a feature that had been notably absent before.

And Apple machines are finally recovering from some of their megahertz envy with the PC world. While the speed of the central processors in Windows-based machines sped on beyond 1,000 megahertz, Apple machines had languished below the 500-MHz barrier for about a year. While you can debate the importance of that number until doomsday, the situation didn`t help sales.

Apple`s fastest machine is now a 733-MHz PowerMac G4 tower, and all eyes will be on the next upgrade of the Motorola -made G4 processors, with hopes that Apple may have a shot at breaking the gigahertz barrier itself by the end of the year or early in 2002.

Also on the product front, the iMac line is due for a major refresh. If a rumored iMac with a flat-panel screen surfaces this summer, as has been speculated, Apple`s faithful customers will kick up their heels and open their wallets in numbers unseen since the debut of the first iMac. And rumors are beginning to surface about a next-generation G5 chip under development by Motorola that would eventually be used in Apple machines. Of course Apple never comments on rumors nor on products in development, but with a cash position of $4.1 billion, the company will have no trouble developing another winner.

On the software front, Mac OS X is by all accounts living up to its promises of more stability, and will debut in earnest this summer when Apple starts shipping the program pre-installed on all its machines.

Apple also needs to reinvigorate sales in the education market that it once dominated, and looks ready to go back on the offensive in that arena with the new iBook model. "They stumbled there last year, and they need to pay a great deal of attention to turning that around," Bailey says.

And though it`s still trading way off its summertime highs, Apple`s stock price has almost doubled from its 52-week low of $13.625 in December, closing Thursday at $24.80. That leaves plenty of room to grow, as Apple`s shine returns.

Go to www.forbes.com to see all of our latest stories, or Subscribe to Forbes Magazine

[Alpy977]

wo seht Ihlr den Kurs von Apple am 30.05.01??

wären 35 $ realistisch oder eher 30$ würde gerne eure meinungen dazu hören!!

und wie siehts aus wenn apple die 29$ überwindet und sich an das schliesen des gaps macht??

[dakinky]

35$ bis Ende Mai ist sicherlich etwas zuviel verlangt, aber Du hast schon
recht, sollte Apple die 29$ bzw. 30$ (rein psychologisch) knacken, sind
auch wieder 40-50$ drin, aber in einem halben Jahr!
Für nächstes Jahr bin ich dann aber absoluter Optimist für AAPL und
glaube an einen Angriff auf die WindowsComputerBauer!

AppleOptimist

dakinky

[tarex]

Hi

Auf CNBC kam gerade ein bericht ueber apple und die neuen retail stores die apple eroeffnen will.
Dabei ist man sich hier noch nicht sicher ob die geschaefte gut fuer apple sind oder nicht.
Wir werden sehen.
Ich denke das die laeden, wenn sie den alle offen sind, einen ordentlichen anteil am umsatz beisteuern werden.

Der erste laden soll am 19.05. in McLean, Va eroeffnet werden und mit laeden in N.Y.-SOHO und vielleicht in der Mall of America waeren auch weitere sehr gute standorte gefunden.

Als kursziel wurden die 35$ auf sicht von 9 monaten genannt, welche aber auch schon eher erreicht werden koennten.

bye tarex

[tarex]

Hi

Apple-Pressegespräch :

Apple-Deutschland setzt auf Digital Hub
In einem Pressegespräch erläuterte heute der Geschäftsführer der deutschen Apple-Niederlassung, Frank Steinhoff, die Bedeutung und Konsequenzen der neuen Digital-Hub-Strategie des Computer-Herstellers. Im Zentrum der neuen Strategie stehen Apples Software-Produkte iTunes, iDVD und iMovie, mit denen Mac-Anwender ihren Rechner als Schnittstelle (Digital Hub) zwischen unterschiedlichen digitalen Ein- und Ausgabegeräte für Audio und Video einsetzen können. Laut Steinhoff will sich Apple vor allem durch drei Aspekte von der PC-Konkurrenz absetzen: Der Mac als Digital Hub soll mit seiner intuitiven Bentuzerführung, einer Vielfalt von unterstützten Schnittstellenstandards und einem ansprechendem Design zum alltagstauglichen Gebrauchsgegenstand für jedermann werden.
Während die anwesenden Journalisten die Apple-Strategie im Grunde befürworteten, gab es jedoch Zweifel, ob dem Mac als Digital Hub nicht das Image der Inkompatiblität zur PC-Plattform und vor allem zu PC-Standards wie USB im Wege stehen würde. Insbesondere Mac-OS X, so Steinhoff gegenüber den rund 30 Journalisten, soll zeigen, dass das Mac-OS ein offenes System sei und mit neuen Anwendungen, die es etwa bisher nur im Windows-Bereich gab, auch das falsche Image der Inkompatibiltät ablegen könne. Apple müsse jedoch sicherstellen, dass Dritthersteller die nötigen Informationen bekämen, um ihre Produkte auch auf der Mac-Plattform zu testen.
Dem Vorwurf der mangelnden Qualifikation des Verkaufspersonals in Retail-Ketten wie Mediamarkt entgegnete Steinhoff, dass Apple derzeit rund 135 Personen geschult hat, die vor allem an kundenintensiven Verkaufstagen das Verkaufspersonal in den Retail-Ketten unterstützen sollen. Darüber hinaus kümmere sich seit Februar 2001 ein Retail-Manager um den Ausbau und die Verbesserung der Apple-Präsenz im Retail-Bereich.

Gelesen bei macwelt.de

bye tarex

[tarex]

Hi

Hier ein ausschnitt aus einem CBS interview mit einem analysten von morningstar.

Price war woes remain for PC makers.

Q. CBS.MW: How should investors play PC stocks?

BEALIEU: I`m a little bit more nervous about Dell now ... just because of the potential that they are going to cut back a bit too far on the support and R&D side.

(But) I think the price looks nice. At $24, that`s a fairly appealing price to me...(Therefore,) I`m torn on Dell. I like the price but I want to know they`re not undermining business long term.

Gateway is a fairly good value, but they`re in the middle of a larger restructuring effort. They`re closing some of their stores. So that seems still a little bit risky to me.

One interesting play on the PC market might be Apple (AAPL: news, msgs, alerts) . Apple doesn`t compete with the "clone" PCs like Gateway and Compaq and Dell, and they have a very dedicated customer base. They have been written off for dead several times already and they`ve always come back. They`ve shown that they can come up with products that are very compelling to customers.

They`re not as exposed to the price wars. In a lot of consumers` eyes, a Dell PC and a Compaq PC are substitute goods. But a Dell and an Apple aren`t really substitutes for each other.

Q. CBS.MW: How`s Apple`s valuation?

BEAULIEU: It`s fairly attractive. Obviously, it was a lot more attractive when it was down at around $19 or so. But given the company has around $11 to $12 per share in cash (serves as a bottom for the price). They`ve returned to profitability, which is very nice. That means they`re not going to be eating away at their cash supply.


Das ganze interview gibt es hier.
http://www2.marketwatch.com

bye tarex

[studied]

Selbstverständlich wird der Apfel nicht gegessen.

Aber zum Thema. Apple wird vor allem im Laptop-Markt den Konkurrenten gefaehrlich. Die neuen i-books sollten nun auch preislich fuer den Low-End Bereich interessant sein. Die Powerbooks sind bereits jetzt das Mass aller Dinge.
Spannend duerfte die Entwicklung des MAC OS X sein, die Kaeufe durften weiter ansteigen, die Performance des neuen OS haelt einige vom Kauf momentan ab, diese Problem sollte aber in den naechsten Monaten behoben werden.

Kursziel $50 (November 2001)
Market Outperformer

[tarex]

Guten Morgen

Hier der link zu einem interview von macaustria mit dem Apple Chef in Österreich.
http://www.macaustria.at/news/aktuell/interview.htm

Geht auch mal auf die start seite, dort gibt es ein spezial zum neuen iBook.
http://www.macaustria.at

bye tarex