02/13, 7:00pm
Milestone puts further value in market cap
Having broken the $500 barrier earlier in the day, shares of AAPL closed today at a new all-time record high of $502.60, though the stock is fluctuating around the closing figure in after-hours trading. The milestone puts Apple even further ahead of ExxonMobile as the world's most valued publicly-traded company with a new market capitalization of $468.61 billion while still maintaining a low price-to-earnings ratio (P/E) of 14.30.
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02/13, 5:45pm
Will discuss company's financial performance
Apple CEO Tim Cook will address the Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference in San Francisco tomorrow, February 14th, with Apple providing an audio webcast of the presentation. While video or audio recordings of Apple executives speaking at industry conferences are not unheard of, it is unusual for Apple itself to be hosting a live broadcast of its CEO speaking to an industry group. Cook is expected to discuss Apple's financial performance.
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02/13, 10:10am
Company still on rise despite loss of Jobs
Apple's stock price on the NASDAQ has cracked the $500 mark for the first time in the company's history. While Monday trading is still ongoing, the company's shares are worth about $500.34 each as of this writing. The figure represents a jump of nearly $7 over the Friday close.
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02/10, 9:25am
EPS could hit $50 in 2012, says analyst
A Mizuho Securities hire, Abhey Lamba, has started Apple coverage at his new firm with a $635 target, says Barron's. The analyst argues that Apple will continue to succeed, and that Wall Street consensus figures are probably too low, despite more intense competition. Android smartphones are mainly taking away share from Nokia and Research in Motion, not the iPhone, he notes.
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02/09, 1:25pm
Apple hits symbolic stock value
An exceptional run on Apple stock over the past few days has made Apple's stock value worth more than either of its two most direct rivals combined. A comparison has shown that, as of mid-day Thursday, Apple's market cap of about $456 billion was greater than both those of Google ($198.9 billion) and Microsoft ($256.7 billion). As noted by AppleInsider, Apple was taking advantage of both Google missing targets and bruising its share as well as Microsoft's historic inability to excite shareholders.
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02/09, 10:20am
New targets reach as high as $665
Two financial analysts have raised their targets for Apple stock. The highest target comes from Canaccord Genuity's Michael Walkley, who has pushed his forecast up to $655. "Our monthly channel checks indicated very strong sales trends for the iPhone 4S at all three U.S. carriers and overall strong iPhone sales in international markets. We are increasing our March quarter iPhone estimates from 30.1 million to 32.6 million units," he elaborates. Walkley's 2012 EPS prediction is being raised from $41.06 to $42.81.
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02/08, 6:25pm
Company expands patent litigation
A Texas court is finally ready to hear arguments in a high-profile patent lawsuit that names tech giants Google, Amazon and Yahoo among a list of defendants. The companies are attempting to defend themselves against a suit filed by a patent holding company, Eolas Technologies, that accuses the group of violating several patents related to "interactive web" technology.
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02/07, 9:30pm
Startup places blame on GPS industry
LightSquared has asked the Federal Communications Commission to consider new regulations for GPS devices to avoid interference with the startup's 4G network. The company has continued to argue that the GPS industry is to blame for the lingering interference issues, as GPS receivers lack sufficient signal filters to avoid being jammed by terrestrial LTE transmitters that use L-band spectrum that LightSquared has licensed.
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02/07, 4:40pm
Industry slipped in Q4 without Apple help
Looking at fourth-quarter results, Apple now represents almost half of cellphone/mobile computing industry revenues, and over 80 percent of its profits, says Morgan Keegan analyst Tavis McCourt. The industry is in fact said to have risen about 34 percent with Apple results included, but actually dropped 0.4 percent without the company. Some businesses might actually crack in the face of Apple competition and leave the market this year, the analyst argues, calling it a "make or break" period.
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02/06, 9:00pm
Over $464 in after-hours trading
Apple stock continues its steady rise in light of its stunning Q1 2012 (calendar Q4 2011) results in all three of its major product categories. AAPL pushed past its previous record closing high of $455.12 on Friday to end Monday at $463.97 and a market capitalization of $432.59 billion, the most highly-valued publicly-traded company in the world. The stock is edging even higher in after-hours trading, currently at $464.55 as of 9pm EST.
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02/05, 3:50pm
Calpers wants Apple board policy change
California's public sector retirement system, Calpers, is hoping to push Apple to give it and other shareholders more control over the company's board of directors. The organization told the FT [reg. required] that it wanted a "governance upgrade" where board members are elected or rejected directly based on majority votes. At present, votes can't actively oppose a member, and only one vote is needed in favor to keep a board member in place if no one is contesting the seat.
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02/04, 7:30pm
HP measure allows shareholders to steer management
HP has taken a potentially major step in its direction by approving a vote on a measure (PDF) that will let shareholders determine some of the board of directors. Any large shareholder holding three percent or more of stock for more than three years will have the option of nominating as much as 20 percent of the board. HP would be required to accept the nominations.
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02/03, 8:50pm
Facebook looks to plug weakness in revenue stream
Facebook may run mobile ads before its IPO takes effect. Its S-1 filing revealed that one of the company’s revenue soft spots was in the level of income generated from mobile devices. With mobile devices rapidly becoming one of the most common ways of connecting to Facebook and the Internet for users, the company looks to be moving quickly to address the perceived weakness.
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02/03, 4:50pm
Part of plan to make US operation more competitive
Sony Electronics, the US operation of the Japanese consumer products giant, quietly has been reducing its payroll. AllThingsD reports that, over the past few weeks, the company has cut approximately 100 workers from its sales force. The move is claimed to be part of both the expected effort to improve a profit and, more uniquely, to realign its structure to bring its employees closer to its customers.
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02/01, 6:05pm
Chairman warns of continued difficulties
Nokia chairman Jorma Ollila has warned that the company's ongoing strategy shift will cut into its 2012 financial results. The executive remains optimistic that the decision to transition to Microsoft's Windows Phone platform will enable the company to better compete with the iPhone and Android smartphones, however he cautions that the process will take more time.
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02/01, 5:20pm
Facebook moves to go public
Facebook on Wednesday uncovered its poorly-guarded secret and filed the S-1 form needed to make an initial public offering of stock, or IPO. The company is hoping to raise a steep $5 billion from the share offering, although Facebook isn't willing to commit to a valuation on how much the company is worth. It did confirm that it had 845 million total users, about 483 million of which sign in to the social network every day and 425 million on mobile.
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01/31, 9:55pm
Leak corroborates earlier reports
Both Panasonic and Samsung are reportedly engaged in talks that may lead to a financial partnership with Olympus. Details posted in the Mainichi newspaper corroborate earlier leaks surrounding a potential deal with Samsung, while also pointing to separate negotiations with Panasonic and another Japanese company.
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01/31, 8:40pm
Tensions between 2 giants continue
A California Superior Court Judge has thrown out a suit over a settlement between HP and Oracle over Oracle's hiring away then HP CEO Mark Hurd. Oracle had claimed that HP has tricked it into the settlement by withholding information about its intentions to bring in a new CEO, Leo Apotheker. Oracle considered Apotheker as "toxic" to any relationship between the two companies.
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01/31, 8:25pm
Valuation remains unclear
Members of Facebook's board have reportedly established a final meeting to work out any remaining details surrounding of the company's initial public offering. Corroborating earlier leaks, unnamed sources have told All Things D that the IPO could be filed as early as Wednesday morning or after the market closes for the day.
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01/31, 2:30am
Strong iPhone 4S sales re-establish dominance
Although Samsung actually sold almost as many smartphones (combined across all models as Apple globally in the holiday quarter of 2011 (33 million compared to 37 million iPhones), the company took a beating in the US market and saw Android lose marketshare for the first time. While Samsung continues to do well in the market with its Apple-inspired designs, Apple's growing success is changing the way its competitors think, reports BusinessWeek.
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01/31, 1:30am
Speculation on metal body for 2012 model
Higher-than-expected sales of the iPhone 4S along with rumors of an all-metal body for the next iPhone has sent shares of Foxconn Technology Company to their highest level in more than five months on the Taipei stock exchange, BusinessWeek reports. Although the company makes nearly 50 percent of all the world's high-tech electronics, its fortunes are closely tied to the status of its best-known customer, Apple. The stock closed the day at NT$101.50 (approximately $3.44 US) a rise of about six percent.
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01/30, 8:30pm
Surpasses Exxon Mobile with $422B market cap
Apple's stocked closed at $453.01 on Monday, a new all-time high for the company still seeing the effects of its record-setting last quarter reverberate on Wall Street. The stock rose $5.73 to beat the previous all-time closing high of $447.28 set last Friday. At its current market value of $422 billion, Apple surpasses Exxon Mobil by nearly $13 billion as the most valuable publicly-traded company in the world, at least temporarily.
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01/30, 7:40am
Analyst reckons strong Kindle Fire shipments in Q4
Stifel Nicolaus analyst Jordan Rohan was willing to risk a late prediction of Amazon's results with a research note late Sunday. He estimated that Amazon shipped six million Kindle Fire tablets in the fall. The online reseller was succeeding as it had "staked out" both the low end of the market and a loyal base that would likely spend a large amount on e-books and videos.
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01/27, 11:00pm
Chinese posts say NYT singling Apple out unfairly
An AppleInsider report by Daniel Dilger provides some illuminating insight on the recent New York Times article criticizing Apple and Foxconn and the labor practices they and the rest of the electronics industry pursue to keep innovation high and prices low. The newspaper recently reprinted its report in China, soliciting comments for use in the US. What it got -- and subsequently buried -- was charges of its own bias from Chinese workers and management.
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01/27, 3:05pm
Facebook public stock offering may come Wednesday
Facebook's long-rumored initial public offering (IPO) of stock could be filed as soon as Wednesday if a new leak proves real. The share plans seen by the Wall Street Journal would most likely be underwritten by Morgan Stanley with help from Goldman Sachs. At $75 billion to $100 billion of expected value, it would be one of the most valuable IPOs to date.
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01/26, 11:50am
Costs previously offloaded to corporate ledger
Apple has changed the way it handles accounting for its flagship retail stores, a new Securities and Exchange Commission filing shows. Prior to its fiscal first quarter, which ended December 31st, the company had 20 "high-profile" retail stores which were treated separately in terms of finances. "Prior to 2012, the Company allocated to corporate expenses certain costs associated with its high-profile retail stores that have been designed and built to promote brand awareness and serve as vehicles for corporate sales and marketing activities," Apple writes.
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01/25, 10:10am
Canaccord pushes stock target up to $650
Several analysts have improved their estimates for Apple in the wake of the company's first-quarter results. Perhaps the biggest adjustments have been made by Canaccord Genuity's Michael Walkley, who for instance has raised his price target for Apple stock from $560 to an unprecedented $650. "Very strong and best-ever iPhone, iPad, and Mac sales contributed to record Apple results," he writes in a new memo. "Apple’s FQ2 guidance for pro forma EPS of $8.50 was also ahead of our $7.97 and consensus $8.02 estimate. We believe Apple is well positioned for very strong C2012/13 sales and earnings growth driven by new product introductions, including the pending refresh of MacBook Air, the iPad 3 launching this spring, an LTE iPhone likely in CQ3/12 and potentially Apple TV exiting C2012."
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01/24, 9:30pm
More users than entire active Mac base combined
One revelation from Apple CEO Tim Cook that has largely escaped investor and analyst notice in today's conference call was the remarkable success of iCloud, which now has 85 million users in just a bit over three months. To put the number in perspective, it is a significantly higher figure than the total number of estimated Mac users worldwide (which is thought to be around 60-65 million currently). The service hit 20 million users in its first week.
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01/24, 8:00pm
Apples stock trade as high as $458
Apple’s stock surged by nine percent on what is the second highest quarterly earnings result in US corporate history - only ExxonMobil has recorded more income for a quarter back in 2008 when oil prices were at record levels. After dipping slightly before its earnings were announced, Apple shares were trading as high as $458 each, or up by around $37.59.
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01/24, 7:05pm
Part costs may rise in coming months
Last year's flooding of hard drive factories in Thailand had no material effect on cost or supply for Apple's first fiscal quarter, according to CEO Tim Cook. Speaking during a post-results Q&A, Cook added that the company expects no supply problems during the current quarter, although it does anticipate paying more for drives. That problem has been factored into guidance, Cook said.
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01/24, 7:05pm
APU sales offest by drop in graphics processors
AMD has reported its financial results for the fourth quarter and for 2011. Annual income was $6.57 billion, up two percent, while quarterly income was a flat $1.69 billion as compared to last year. Net income was $358 billion for the year, while for the quarter, the company reported a loss of $177 million.
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01/24, 6:15pm
Company takes more assertive stance
Apple is "actively discussing" possible uses for its cash reserves, which have swelled to over $97.6 billion following its Q1 2012 results, according to CFO Peter Oppenheimer. Speaking in a post-results Q&A, Oppenheimer suggested that the company isn't "letting it [the cash] burn a hole" in company pockets, although there aren't any specifics to share yet. Some possibilities are said to include acquisitions and investments in the supply chain.
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01/24, 5:30pm
Apple retail rises 59 percent over Q1 2011
Coming alongside the formal announcement, Apple has published a detailed breakdown of its Q1 2012 financial results. The Americas and Japan saw the biggest regional surges in revenue, with the former up 92 percent year-over-year to $17.714 billion, and Japan up 148 percent to $3.55 billion. Europe was up 55 percent to $11.256 billion, while the Asia-Pacific region rose 54 percent to $7.697 billion, helped partly by a 58 percent surge in Mac sales to 814,000. Worldwide retail revenue grew 59 percent to sit at $6.116 billion.
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01/24, 4:55pm
We follow Apple's fall 2011 finances live
Apple has posted blowout results for its fiscal first (calendar fourth) quarter with record iPhone, iPad, and Mac sales. It's holding a conference call to discuss the results and should have both more details as well as possible surprises. Check our live coverage page from 5PM Eastern for details as they arrive.
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01/24, 4:40pm
Company achieves 'record' iPhone, iPad, Mac sales
Apple has announced the results of its first fiscal quarter, which ended December 31st. The company is reporting a massive $46.33 billion in revenue, with a net profit of $13.06 billion, or $13.87 per diluted share. In comparison, Apple achieved revenue of just $26.74 billion in Q1 2011, with a net profit of $6 billion, or $6.43 per diluted share.
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01/24, 4:40pm
Apple retakes lead from Samsung in smartphones
Apple in its fall quarterly results retook the crown as the world's largest smartphone maker. Its 37.04 million iPhones shipped were enough to pass Samsung's 35 million and ran significantly above most estimates. The American company had not just the advantage of the iPhone 4S launch during a holiday season but widened carrier access and its fastest international rollout to date.
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01/24, 9:25am
Official results due later today
Sterne Agee analyst Shaw Wu is raising estimates for Apple's fiscal first-quarter results, due to be announced later today. "Based on our updated checks, we are raising our estimates again and see room for upside, particularly EPS, based on a favorable product mix toward iPhone," he writes in a new memo. "We are now modeling 29.5 million iPhones (from 28 million) and leaving our Mac and iPad assumptions intact at 5.2 million and 13.5 million units, respectively. We are also assuming a higher gross margin of 41.2% (from 40.9%) due to a favorable product mix toward iPhone, as well as fairly benign component pricing."
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01/23, 11:45am
Firm holds out until just before Apple Q1 results
Apple should do better than expected in terms of iPhone and iPad sales for its fiscal first quarter, says Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty. "Our US holiday survey and intra-quarter comments from AT&T and Verizon indicated stronger iPhone demand than we initially expected, and give us conviction that iPhone units will beat our estimate of 30 million," she writes in a recent memo. "We believe Apple also has a good chance of exceeding our estimate of 13 million iPads as our US survey suggests demand remained strong in the quarter despite the Amazon Fire launch.
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01/23, 8:30am
Tracking estimate shows Apple at 350K
Apple may have seen as many as 350,000 iBooks textbooks downloaded since launch. Global Equities Research claims to have a special tracking method that showed the relatively brisk take-up. As many as 90,000 copies of iBooks Author had been downloaded at the same time.
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01/22, 12:05pm
Jobs family to keep stake but not board seat
The Walt Disney Company in its 2012 proxy statement (below) indirectly confirmed that the late Steve Jobs' family or his trust won't be seeking a board position at the Disney shareholder meeting on March 13. Although the family is the largest individual shareholder with a 7.7 percent stake, no mention is made of them in the filing beyond their investment. It also shows that Jobs' option holdings were gone at the end of Disney's fiscal year.
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01/20, 9:55pm
Apple shares hit symbolic 2X boost over Google
The close of the stock market on Friday marked a symbolic difference as Apple stock was now worth more than twice Google's. A comparison showed that Apple's $391.8 billion market cap, or share price multiplied by the volume of shares, was more than double the $189.8 billion of Google. Apple's share price of $420.30 was lower than Google's $585.99, but a much higher share volume gave the iPad creator the edge.
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01/20, 5:15pm
Could pressure LTE provider to sell off assets
Veteran corporate raider/investor Carl Icahn may have grabbed some of LightSquared's debt. Reuters, citing several sources familiar with the matter, reports that Icahn, along with two others, bought up a total of $300 million of the troubled LTE network provider's loan obligations over the course of 2011. Icahn has declined to comment.
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01/20, 12:00pm
No great expectations for Q2
UBS analyst Maynard Um is calling for 30 million iPhones in Apple's fiscal Q1 results -- set to be announced January 24th -- but just 12 million iPads, according to Barron's. The publication notes that Um's figure sits below Wall Street consensus, which is roughly 13 to 14 million units. iPad estimates have been coming down though, Barron's adds.
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01/20, 1:30am
Slow growth not enough to satisfy investors
Google (GOOG) reported solid earnings, record Android numbers and 25 percent year-over-year growth on Thursday but failed to satisfy analysts and investors, who noted that growth was slower than previous quarters and that its average "cost per click" (CPC) price had gone down for the first time in two years. Though the stock initially rose on the increased revenues, later analysis of the results triggered a sharp fall-off that saw the company lose nine percent in after-hours trading.
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01/19, 10:15pm
Rumors point to buyout
Google is rumored to be in the beginning stages of acquisition negotiations with the photo sharing startup Pinterest. Although the companies have yet to publicly comment on the reports, unnamed sources have told TechCrunch the search giant is attempting a buyout worth several hundred million dollars.
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01/19, 6:10pm
PC client group revenue up 17 percent
Intel has posted its full-year financial details, pointing to a record year with $54.2 billion in overall revenue. The chip maker's profits were up nearly six percent in the fourth quarter, as its PC client division posted a 17-percent jump in revenue for both the fourth quarter and the entire year.
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01/18, 9:00pm
Won't back away from 22 percent sales estimate
Barclays Capital analyst Ben Reitzes is not prepared to lowered his estimate of year-end Mac growth down from 22 percent, despite recent data from research firm NPD that showed Macs growing at about half that rate in the US, reports Barron's columnist Tiernan Ray. Reitzes is reiterating a $555 price target for 2012, rating AAPL "Overweight" and says the company will again outgrow the rest of the computer industry in PC sales.
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01/18, 7:00pm
Expectations rise over holiday sales
On the eve of its education-oriented PR event in New York City tomorrow and less than a week before its fiscal first-quarter earnings call with analysts, Apple stock closed at an all-time high of $429.11 at the end of trading on NASDAQ today. The stock's price had gone as high as $429.47 during the day but fell slightly before the closing bell, still a gain of just over one percent. Analysts believe the company will report a record holiday quarter.
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01/18, 11:30am
Number may prove 'conservative'
Apple should ship 48 million or more iPads in the calendar 2012 year, according to estimates from Sterne Agee analyst Shaw Wu. The catalyst will allegedly be the iPad 3, predicted to be a "significant refresh" that should "help further differentiate from arguably the only real competitor in the market, Amazon’s Kindle Fire, and not to mention the myriad of Android offerings out there," according to Wu. He in fact suggests that the 48 million number "could turn out conservative."
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01/18, 9:45am
Analyst credits 'iPhone frenzy'
RBC analyst Mike Abramsky has raised his firm's target for Apple stock from $500 to $525. Apple is forecast to beat Wall Street consensus in its Q1 results, which are scheduled to be announced January 24th. In particular he links the performance to "unprecedented iPhone sell-through," resulting in stockouts in many regions.
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