[4:00 PM] Apple Stock Watch: Whew! The Markets Find Footing, Apple Soars On Expectations Of A Blow Out Quarter
by Wes George
The stock markets opened this morning with cautious conviction after last week's precipitous decline, but early trepidation gave way to a stampede of late day buying. AAPL's price soared 10.7% ahead of the company's 2nd Quarter earnings announcement due out Wednesday, April 19th after the markets close.
Apple climbed 12 dollars or 10.73%, to close at 123 7/8 on volume of 3.65 million shares.
The general consensus is that Apple will beat earnings estimates handily and report revenues of about $2 billion in the 3rd quarter on unit sales of 1.2 million, up from 830,000 units sold last year at this time and revenues of $1.5 billion. Earnings per share estimates have been rising steadily all quarter and now are at $0.79 per share with whisper numbers running into the $0.80s.
The Mac Observer Stock Watch Virtual Portfolio bounced nicely today, however it's still down about 2.7%.
The Nasdaq leaped 217 points (6.56%) to closed at 3539 on volume of 2.47 billion shares for its 3rd heaviest trading day on record. After Friday's single biggest point lost in history, the Nasdaq scored its single largest one day point gain, placing the index back above the 200-day moving average.
Market leaders with good earnings outperformed the smaller cap tech stocks, regardless of valuations, while the most speculative of stocks, such as the biotechs continued south.
The Dow soared 276 points (2.69%) to close at 10582 on volume of 1.2 billion shares. Oil stocks and retail stocks were weak while drugs, banks and the blue chip tech stocks were strong.
The S&P 500 gained 44.87 points (3.31%) to close at 1401.44.
In Apple related businesses: Akamai bounced back 5 1/8 to close at 70 dollars. ARM Holdings gained 11 5/8 to close at 146 dollars. Adobe soared 15 1/2 to close at 113 5/16. Earthlink gained 11/16 to close at 12 dollars. Macromedia bounced 5 1/8 to 49 15/16. Motorola restored 7 1/2 dollars to close at 116 1/2. IBM gained 6 7/8 to 111 7/8 dollars.
Apple's competitors: Hewlett Packard climbed 10 3/4 to close at 133 3/4 dollars. Intel gained 12 1/2 to close at 123. Gateway gained 3/4 to close at 52 1/4. Compaq climbed 2 3/16 to close at 26 11/16. Shares of Microsoft were up 1 3/4 to 75 7/8.
In Economic News: There isn't any economic news this week that is likely to move the stock market. Note: US equity markets are closed for Good Friday, April 21st.
The bellwether 30-year US Treasury bond fell like a rock as money moved back into the stock market, down 2 7/32 to 104 11/32. The yield, which moves inversely to the price, climbed to 5.94%.
For full quotes on all the companies mentioned in this article, we have assembled this set of quotes at Yahoo! for your reference. We also have many of these same quotes reported live (20 minute delay) on our home page. For other stories regarding Apple's stock activity, visit our Apple Stock Watch Special Report, as well as The Mac Observer Virtual Stock Watch portfolio.
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