Piper: Apple meeting drops hints at strategy
updated 10:10 am EST, Wed March 5, 2008
Piper: Apple drops hints
Yesterday's shareholder meeting for Apple may have produced "nothing material," according to analysts from Piper Jaffray, but it did provide small pieces of information about Apple's products and strategy. It was for example unknown if the company's goal to sell 10 million iPhones in 2008 meant a total since the product's inception, or simply within the calendar year; it is now confirmed that Apple wants to add 10 million to the 3.7 million sold in 2007. Piper is currently projecting sales that exceed Apple estimates, at 12.9 million iPhones during 2008.
It also expected that while the company's plans for an iPhone launch in Asia are vague, particularly in regards to China and India, Apple will make good on its promise to release the iPhone somewhere in the continent during 2008. Japan is considered the most likely candidate, but an obstacle is that leading carrier NTT DoCoMo uses W-CDMA, instead of the GSM/EDGE technology found on current iPhones.
Finally, for investors in particular, Apple has acknowledged that there are no plans for share buybacks in the future, nor any dividend payments, as at many other companies. Piper notes however that this is in keeping with Apple's general shareholder policy, so it should not affect most stakeholders.
at least now...
03/05, 10:45am reply
...we can shut up the people from saying "It's not 10 million this year, it is from the inception!".
And I certainly don't blame them for not doing dividends or buybacks. The moment you give away dividends, people don't see you as a growth company, but an equity company (like Pepsi, GM, etc).
And buybacks do nothing but show all you care about is the stock price. Some have said its a show that you have faith in your company. Bah! Most would see it as an attempt (desparate attempt?) to boost the stock price.
If analysts and large stockholders really wanted to see Apple do something to show they had faith in the stock, they'd call for a split.
testudo
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Joined: Aug 2001
not so fast
03/05, 11:04am reply
I'm not convinced MacNN got it right - I would like to see the whole transcript. What I've seen so far seems to imply something different. This from Dow Jones News Service:
"At Apple's (AAPL) annual shareholder meeting on Tuesday, Chief Executive Steve Jobs said the company remains comfortable with its previously stated iPhone sales goal of 10 million units globally by the end of 2008 -- some 18 months after the product was first launched in North America."
elroth
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Joined: Jul 2006
Stock Split
03/05, 11:05am reply
A stock split would make it easier for the smaller investor to get on board. Some would argue that with more smaller investors the price would fluctuate more, but could it fluctuate any more than it has done recently.
MisterP
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Joined: Jan 2008
sales target
03/05, 11:11am reply
No wonder Steve Jobs is comfortable currently with hitting their targets as he now has historical data to look at, an Xmas sales period to come, other countries coming online, a 3G version in the pipeline, $18.5 billion in the bank to spend on advertising and most importantly he could drop the price - and still keep his margins as I understand memory prices are dropping.
MisterP
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Re: stock split
03/05, 11:51am reply
Some would argue that with more smaller investors the price would fluctuate more, but could it fluctuate any more than it has done recently.
I don't buy that argument. Companies stock price doesn't fluctuate because it is low or high. h***, Google is a master of fluctuation, and its in the $400s. While other companies sell in the $50s and rarely move.
testudo
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stock split
03/05, 12:14pm reply
Oh no, if they split the stock, it would take forever for the price to get to $200.
pt123
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Re: stock split
03/05, 12:59pm reply
Damn, you're right. Maybe that's why the analysts want a buy back, to get the price back to $200 so they can say "See, we were right!"
testudo
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Joined: Aug 2001
Korea obstacle too
03/05, 09:57pm reply
It rarely gets mentioned in connection with "Asia", which to the media seems to largely be China and Japan, but, there is a country in-between that produces lots of cell phones (LG, Samsung, and many more). Korea - uses CDMA technology - another (big) obstacle, unless, there was a CDMA version of the iPhone...
A CDMA iPhone could be offered in Japan, Korea, and the US (Verizon, Sprint).
Might be much easier to hit those numbers, and then some.
Guest
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