AAPL - Apple Inc.

[Cigarbutt]

Thanks for posting.

I developed hyperthyroidism a while back and can say, with confidence, that one does not need an intelligent watch to figure out that something is wrong. :)

 

Still, this is very promising.

There may be an adjustment period with an uncomfortable amount of false positives as constantly looking at your watch can initiate a self-reinforcing loop causing your heart rate to increase.

You may need a watch that tells you to stop looking at it. :)

 

[Liberty]

"Revenue Grows 16 Percent and EPS Grows 30 Percent"

 

"New $100 Billion Share Repurchase Authorization Announced, Dividend Raised by 16 Percent"

 

Not bad!

 

https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2018/05/apple-reports-second-quarter-results/

[Viking]

Chug, chug, chug.... shares outstanding keep coming down (4% in the past year I think). Dividend keeps going up. Total earnings continue to grow. Well managed. Solid moats.  Easy to understand why Buffett finally bought a large chunk of shares.

[gfp]

I wonder if we will find out on Saturday how large BRK's position in Apple has become.  I would be surprised if buying did not continue in 2018.  It could be enormous by now

[LongTermView]

I wonder if we will find out on Saturday how large BRK's position in Apple has become.  I would be surprised if buying did not continue in 2018.  It could be enormous by now

I recall an interview where Buffett said they were done buying Apple. Not sure of the timing of the interview though.

[Spekulatius]

BRK just needs to hold on to their shares and AAPL’s share of the company will slowly increase due to buybacks.

[valueinvesting101]

Apple had bought back shares worth $176 billion till Dec 2017 and now reported they have done $200 billion by March 2018. So they have spent about $24 billion in a single quarter.

 

Berkshire bought about 31 million shares in 2017Q4. Avg. Price during that quarter was around $167 so there is good chance buying continued during 2018Q1 when price went below that number.

[Dynamic]

It seems that the analysts downgrading recently got misled by suppliers' numbers due to declining Apple component inventory after the busy holiday quarter, leading to much reduced component sales as Apple adjusted to normal run rate. According to comments on Seeking Alpha analysts usually get all doom and gloom at this time of year. Not sure it's always for this reason, and some suspect nefarious intent.

[DooDiligence]

It seems that the analysts downgrading recently got misled by suppliers' numbers due to declining Apple component inventory after the busy holiday quarter, leading to much reduced component sales as Apple adjusted to normal run rate. According to comments on Seeking Alpha analysts usually get all doom and gloom at this time of year. Not sure it's always for this reason, and some suspect nefarious intent.

 

Who is this SA analyst named Nefarious Intent?

I like the cut of his gibberish.

[Dynamic]

Nice one!

[LongTermView]

CNBC is saying Berkshire bought another 75 million shares in Q1: https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/03/buffetts-berkshire-hathaway-bought-stunning-75-million-apple-shares-in-first-quarter.html

[rkbabang]

It seems that the analysts downgrading recently got misled by suppliers' numbers due to declining Apple component inventory after the busy holiday quarter, leading to much reduced component sales as Apple adjusted to normal run rate. According to comments on Seeking Alpha analysts usually get all doom and gloom at this time of year. Not sure it's always for this reason, and some suspect nefarious intent.

 

I like this way of describing the magnitude of it:

 

"Apple's $23.5 billion stock repurchase--in a single quarter--is nearly 8 times the size of its largest-ever acquisition (Beats) and more than twice the size of Google's acquisition of Motorola Mobility. It's close to the IPO valuation of Spotify or Microsoft's massive acquisition of LinkedIn--albeit was quietly performed without any lengthy regulatory approvals or the layoffs of redundant talent. And unlike Beats, Motorola, Spotify or LinkedIn, Apple's acquisition target is actually profitable."

 

from: https://appleinsider.com/articles/18/05/03/apple-bought-back-a-record-235b-of-aapl-shares-in-q1-as-wall-street-peddled-full-panic-mode

 

 

[Liberty]

Neat:

 

https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2018/05/apple-paves-the-way-for-breakthrough-carbon-free-aluminum-smelting-method/

[Liberty]

https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2018/06/apple-announces-multi-year-partnership-with-oprah-winfrey/

[LC]

So two Homepods to give you an immersive sound stage is the same price as an entry level set of audiophile grade speakers that need an amp, cables etc. 

I wouldn't go that far but they are probably a decent set up for 600 bucks.

 

http://audiokarma.org/ is the best forum for this stuff....they are the COBF of the audiophile world :D :D

[Viking]

At what point will what Trump is doing on trade with China, Europe, Japan, Canada etc (and alienating past allies like Canada and Europe) start to impact overseas sales of large US based multinationals like Apple?

 

Trump is fanning the flames and the US population appears to be eating it up. US based business TV (like CNBC) is also falling into line and are parroting Trump. There is little discussion/education about what the trade facts actually are. Nationalism hits both ways. As Trump moves to stage 2 I think we will get to a point where other countries will get more aggressive; this will likely lead to a windstom of anti-Americanism. Sad.

 

 

[Jurgis]

At what point will what Trump is doing on trade with China, Europe, Japan, Canada etc (and alienating past allies like Canada and Europe) start to impact overseas sales of large US based multinationals like Apple?

 

Trump is fanning the flames and the US population appears to be eating it up. US based business TV (like CNBC) is also falling into line and are parroting Trump. There is little discussion/education about what the trade facts actually are. Nationalism hits both ways. As Trump moves to stage 2 I think we will get to a point where other countries will get more aggressive; this will likely lead to a windstom of anti-Americanism. Sad.

 

I might not be terribly concerned about anti-Americanism, but I wonder about a bit related thing.

 

As everyone knows (parts of) Google and Facebook are not available in China.

Apple says that data on their devices is encrypted with no backdoors even for state level actors.

 

What is to stop China from demanding that either Apple provides them with backdoor or Apple devices are banned in China?

 

What would Tim Cook do?

 

 

There are arguments of why China would never do this. But IMO it's not outside realm of possibility. It would hurt China, but would also accomplish couple goals: supporting local phone manufacturers and getting rid of secure platform for dissidents. If they can ban Google and FB, then why not Apple?

[Spekulatius]

At what point will what Trump is doing on trade with China, Europe, Japan, Canada etc (and alienating past allies like Canada and Europe) start to impact overseas sales of large US based multinationals like Apple?

 

Trump is fanning the flames and the US population appears to be eating it up. US based business TV (like CNBC) is also falling into line and are parroting Trump. There is little discussion/education about what the trade facts actually are. Nationalism hits both ways. As Trump moves to stage 2 I think we will get to a point where other countries will get more aggressive; this will likely lead to a windstom of anti-Americanism. Sad.

 

I might not be terribly concerned about anti-Americanism, but I wonder about a bit related thing.

 

As everyone knows (parts of) Google and Facebook are not available in China.

Apple says that data on their devices is encrypted with no backdoors even for state level actors.

 

What is to stop China from demanding that either Apple provides them with backdoor or Apple devices are banned in China?

 

 

What would Tim Cook do?

 

 

There are arguments of why China would never do this. But IMO it's not outside realm of possibility. It would hurt China, but would also accomplish couple goals: supporting local phone manufacturers and getting rid of secure platform for dissidents. If they can ban Google and FB, then why not Apple?

 

I highly doubt that the security of any consumer device can withstand capable code crackers from a state like China. In case China were to demand a back donor by law, I don’t think that Apple could put themselves above the law. Ok, they could, but then they would be legally barred from selling their phone in a huge market. They would have to add this backdoor to devices sold in China. I don’t think it would be a difficult decision for Apple to comply.

[Jurgis]

At what point will what Trump is doing on trade with China, Europe, Japan, Canada etc (and alienating past allies like Canada and Europe) start to impact overseas sales of large US based multinationals like Apple?

 

Trump is fanning the flames and the US population appears to be eating it up. US based business TV (like CNBC) is also falling into line and are parroting Trump. There is little discussion/education about what the trade facts actually are. Nationalism hits both ways. As Trump moves to stage 2 I think we will get to a point where other countries will get more aggressive; this will likely lead to a windstom of anti-Americanism. Sad.

 

I might not be terribly concerned about anti-Americanism, but I wonder about a bit related thing.

 

As everyone knows (parts of) Google and Facebook are not available in China.

Apple says that data on their devices is encrypted with no backdoors even for state level actors.

 

What is to stop China from demanding that either Apple provides them with backdoor or Apple devices are banned in China?

 

 

What would Tim Cook do?

 

 

There are arguments of why China would never do this. But IMO it's not outside realm of possibility. It would hurt China, but would also accomplish couple goals: supporting local phone manufacturers and getting rid of secure platform for dissidents. If they can ban Google and FB, then why not Apple?

 

I highly doubt that the security of any consumer device can withstand capable code crackers from a state like China.

 

Presumably Apple device withstood (it's more complicated, but I'm simplifying) attempts of FBI.

 

In case China were to demand a back donor by law, I don’t think that Apple could put themselves above the law. Ok, they could, but then they would be legally barred from selling their phone in a huge market. They would have to add this backdoor to devices sold in China. I don’t think it would be a difficult decision for Apple to comply.

 

Next step: Apple complies. CIA/FBI/US congress/etc. want to know why there's no backdoor for them in Apple devices sold in US.

[rb]

I'd say that Spekulatius is probably right. FBI didn't have the tools to break into the iphone but more specialized agencies like NSA and their foreign counterparts probably do. Remember that when the FBI couldn't crack it, the FBI eventually bought a tool from an Israeli company to do it. So that stuff is out there.

 

So from China's perspective... why rock the economic boat when you can just do it covertly.

[Liberty]

https://techcrunch.com/2018/06/29/apple-is-rebuilding-maps-from-the-ground-up/

[rkbabang]

I just recently bought another Apple product, an Apple TV 4K.  I've been a Roku owner since the very first Roku box back over 10 years ago.  But I started having a problem with my Roku Ultra box recently.  Every few minutes I'd hear popping sounds come out of my surround sound speakers and every once in a while the audio would cut off completely for a second or two.  I originally thought it was my receiver, but when I got frustrated and stopped using the receiver, the audio from the TV speakers was cutting out as well (the problem goes away if you set Roku to Stereo mode, it only happens in surround sound modes).  I purchased an Apple TV last week and no more sound problems.  I'm not sure I like the remote as much as Roku's, but the 4K picture and sound are better on Apple I think (or at least just as good and the sound is problem free).  The remote is OK and the remote app on the iPhone is better than the Roku remote app.  I'm also liking Siri on the Apple TV, even though I never use Siri on my iphone.  Siri seems to work well controlling the Apple TV.  Maybe I should start to try using it on my phone again (it's probably been more than a year since I've tried using it).  I probably won't go back to Roku now even if they fix their sound problems.

 

[DCG]

I played around with an iPhone X in a store a few weeks ago and now I want one, but am not looking to spend $1K on a phone. Hopefully they'll drop the price of this thing after new phones come out this fall.

 

 

I miss the days of carriers subsidizing phones so they were only around $199.

[gfp]

Obviously another impressive quarter. 

 

If my calculations are correct, Berkshire will have to file with the SEC to show they own over 5% in the next few days.  I think Berkshire has at least 245.28 million Apple shares.  Possibly closer to 250 million.  With the 6/30 share count of 4.842917 Billion shares, Berkshire should now be above 5%.  The 10Q isn't filed yet, but it should show an even lower share count for a later date than quarter end.  Unless, of course, Berkshire has sold some shares - which I doubt but maybe he has a reason not to go above 5%.

[Dynamic]

Berkshire's previous quarter holding of Apple was about 4.98% or another number suspiciously close to but not over 5%. Once you mentioned the Form 4 filing requirement over in the Berkshire sub-forum, I checked it and I have had it in mind that it might be deliberate and that they intend to stay below 5% by selling, to avoid having to disclose their trades. We'll possibly find out on Friday or later in August when the 13-F comes out.

 

Another great quarter for Apple and having sold my 25-30% AAPL position at about $188 to move money to my new brokerage account, I'm nonetheless happy with my look-through holding via my 90%+ position in Berkshire (Apple representing about 10% of Berkshire's stock price).