Archive for the 'Finance' Category

Apple stock split in sight

Published
by
Aaron
on April 26, 2007
in Apple and Finance
. 0 Comments

With Apple now floating around $100 a share (though it closed lower today at $98.84), a stock split seems imminent. A stock split, which involves splitting the shares of a stock (and thus giving shareholders extra shares), and then decreasing the share price appropriately so the market cap of the stock says the same. Basically, this activity doesn’t increase the value of the company, but instead makes the stock seem more accessible to investors due to the lower share price. So, while the stock split itself doesn’t do anything to the actual value of the stock, the price usually rises immediately afterwords, as a stock split is a sign of an increasing stock price (meaning an increase in the company’s value).

So, why would Apple split now? Well, the last split, a 2:1 (meaning the number of shares double and their value is cut in half) in February 2005, was decided upon when the stock hit about $80. Now, with the share price above that, it would make sense for a split to occur again, especially considering great earnings from Macs, iPods, and now even Apple TV sales. Of course, Apple could just be holding out for the iPhone’s release, which could either bring a lot of profits or be a huge failure. So in the end, an Apple stock split probably is going to happen within the next several months.

Apple announces Q2 earnings and stock surges above $100

Published
by
Aaron
on April 25, 2007
in Apple, Finance and In the News
. 0 Comments

appleq2financials.jpgIn contrast to my previous post, here’s a positive post about financial news: Apple Inc., better known to, well, everyone, as Apple, has announced its Q2 earnings this afternoon, and they’re pretty amazing at $0.87 EPS, which is up from $0.47 EPS in the year-ago-quarter, and $5.26 billion and $770 million in quarterly revenue and net profit, respectively. Apple has also sold 36% more Macs and 24% more iPods since last year. Plus, the Q2 earnings beat the $0.64 EPS analyst expectation by $0.23. What this means: Apple’s still growing and thriving, and its stock price has surged, going up $7.10 (7.45%) in after-hours trading at the time of publishing, all the way to an all-time-high (not including previous highs today in after-hours trading) of $102.45. So, whether you’re an Apple fan, shareholder, or both (like me), this’ll be good news to you’re ears.

Note: Apple has also announced that it’s not going to fight with ex-CFO Fred Anderson (who accused Steve Jobs of being responsible for the stock options scandal).

Note 2: From TUAW: “During this afternoon’s financial conference call, Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer announced that a third Big Apple store is being planned. It’s been suggested that this building at 401 West 14th Street will be the third store’s location. At 52,000 square-feet, it would house one heck of a store.” And yes Dave, as you pointed out in your post, New Yorkers do get everything. Except free municipal Wi-Fi. And driving distance from Apple, Google, digg, Macworld and more headquarters. Damn you San Francisco!

Quarterly Portfolio Update

Published
by
Aaron
on April 19, 2007
in Finance, Personal and Portfolio
. 0 Comments

As a stock trader, I’ve decided to post the results of my personal portfolio every quarter. This portfolio, known as the Aaron Index (fake ticker: AFX). The portfolio currently consists of about 45% Apple (AAPL), 33% Valero (VLO), and 13% Cisco (CSCO). Apple has been held since September of 2005, and Valero and Cisco were borth purchased in the beginning of February 2007. Here are the Q1 2007 results of the Aaron Index:

Google Finance

Published
by
Aaron
on March 21, 2006
in Finance and Internet
. 0 Comments

Google has just unveiled their new service, Google Finance. I understand that this means absolutely nothing to a lot of the readers of this blog, being that they or bored by the stock market or just don’t follow it. I, on the other hand, do follow the market and am a very small investor, with 10 shares in Apple Computer and 10 shares in SanDisk Corporation. So, if you don’t really want to know about Google Finance, read no further.

Google Finance has a very nice interface. It is sleek and easy-to-use, just like all of Google’s other products. The actual pages for the stocks are organized beautifully. Each page for a stock features the current price on top, along with the same basic stock info. such as Market Cap. Volume, Highs and Lows, and Change that you would find in the stock charts of a newspaper. Then it has a chart of the stock, which if you move your cursor along, will show you in little text in the upper-right hand corner of the stock its price and volume on that one day. There are also "flags" throughout the chart that are labeled with letters. Each "flag" corresponds to a news story from Google News on the right of the chart that is also labeled with that letter. The flag appears on the chart at the time that the news story was published. When you click on the flag, the news story becomes highlighted. Below the news stories and charts, there is also a summary of the company, basic facts about it including number of employees and HQ location, and the management of the company (who’s CEO, COO, etc.). And below that you have financial figures and ratios about the company. Google also added two other things unique to Google Finances. They show blog posts on the web (from Google Blog Search) and posts in discussions (from Google Groups) that have to do with the company. Now that is cool. Google also now includes a portfolio for your stocks, so you can see how much money you’ve gained or lost in the stock market.

Overall, Google Finance is very, very cool. It’s trying to go head-to-head with companies like Yahoo and Microsoft which also offer very similar stock analyzing and tracking services, but of course, Google outdoes them with its easy-to-use interface and its own search technology built right in. I really think that Google has truly matured in the finance department.

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