[4:00 PM] Apple Stock Watch: Watch For Beyond The Box Success, Says Banc of America
by Wes George
Tech stocks continued their losing streak on the Nasdaq, but the Dow surged after Fed chairman Alan Greenspan's speech this morning, which gave some indirect evidence that we are near the end of interest rate hike syndrome. A few weak earnings reports shoulder the blame for the Nasdaq's woes. Forthcoming strong earnings from tech leaders should reverse the trend.
Mr. Greenspan's recent speeches are wonderful explanations of the effects of the New Economy. As such they are required reading for all investors. Read his latest speech here.
The big news for Apple today was Banc of America's earnings forecast for the PC sector. Quoted from CBS MarketWatch:
Analyst Kurtis King of Banc of America said in a midday research report that he expects all the PC stocks he covers to at least meet consensus earnings estimates. He noted that was unusual for the sector's toughest quarter. Regarding revenue, King is looking for Dell to beat his estimates, Compaq to meet and Gateway and Apple Computer to come up a bit light. For enterprise hardware companies, Sun Microsystems is thought to be the standout, while IBM may come up short. King also gave insight into the third and fourth quarters. He thinks Dell will benefit most from improved component supplies and Apple should be watched for "beyond-the-box" success. Compaq could be boosted by a ramp-up in Windows 2000.
Tech stocks which miss earnings this season are typically getting their stock price cut in half by investors intolerant of slackers. Earnings really do matter in the aftermath of the Internet bubble burst this spring. Better check up on your portfolio or you could get left holding the bag come earnings announcement day.
Apple gave back 3/16 to close at 56 15/16 on volume of 6.3 million shares. For a humorous round-up of the latest MACWORLD rumors see my column, Authentic MACWORLD Rumors!
The Nasdaq fell 23 points (-0.60%) to closed at 3956 on high volume of 1.7 billion shares trading hands.
The Dow gained 80 points (0.76%) to close at 10727 on volume of 981 million shares. DJIA is up about 250 points in the last 3 days, looks like a summer rally for the old economy, while the new stalls.
The S&P 500 climbed 5.26 points (0.36%) to close at 1480.88.
In Apple related businesses: Akamai lost 7 13/16 to 107 1/16. Adobe traded up 2 7/8 to 138 1/4. Earthlink fell 3/8 to 13 7/16. Motorola climbed 7/8 to 33 5/16. IBM shed 1 1/8 to 102 3/16.
Apple's competitors: Hewlett Packard gained 3 1/4 to close at 126 15/16. Gateway was up 1 5/16 to close at 67 5/16. Compaq fell 7/16 to close at 25 9/16. Shares of Microsoft were lower by 5/16 to 79 1/8. Intel climbed a dollar to close at 138 13/16.
Dell recently announced that their Web PC, a consumer design meant to compete with Apple's iMac, was discontinued in June. iMac rules! Dell climbed a dollar to 50 3/4 on Mr. King's forecast of stronger than expected earnings from the Austin Texas based PC manufacturer.
The Mac Observer Stock Watch Virtual Portfolio was down across the board.
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.
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