Apple Stock News: Apple and Amazon Join Forces in Lucrative New Partnership

November 25, 2018

Apple and Amazon’s New Partnership and What this Collaboration Means for the Stock

Based on Apple’s latest earnings report, iPhone unit sales are flat. The iPhone is reportedly not selling as well as expected, though the nearing holiday season will surely bring an expected spike. Global sales of tablets are also shrinking. It is therefore a great relief to learn that Apple successfully persuaded Amazon (AMZN) to sell iPhones and iPads in America and other countries. Amazon is the third-ranked vendor of tablets with its Fire Android products. It therefore came as somewhat of a surprise that Amazon agreed to be a direct reseller of iPads.

(Source: Statista)

Why Apple Needs Amazon

I previously harped about it many times – AAPL’s price movement is largely dictated by how many units of iPhones it sold. AAPL dipped post-earnings last November 2nd because investors are scared that iPhone sales have peaked. The management’s decision to no longer report unit sales of iPhones going forward is worrisome for some investors. It was perceived as tacit admission that iPhone unit sales have really peaked. The mood now is that Apple can no longer rely on the iPhone for growth.

(Source: Statista)

The dip in Apple’s valuation to below $1 trillion confirmed that investors care more for iPhone unit sales than any other metrics. It did not matter that Apple finished its fiscal year 2018 with record revenue and profit. In spite of the flat lining unit sales of the iPhone, Apple’s $265.59 billion in FY 2018 revenue was still a 15.86% year over year increase. The annual net income of $59.53 billion saw an increase of 23.12% Y/Y. The pessimism over AAPL has gave it a lower EV/EBITDA valuation than MSFT and GOOG. This undervaluation is in spite of AAPL’s superior balance sheet and revenue/net income performance. Apple is clearly the better value play than its peers.

(Source: Seeking Alpha)

How Amazon Will Help

Going forward, Apple’s stock could rise again because of Amazon helping it sell more units of the iPhone and the iPad. Apple may no longer divulge specific quarterly unit sales for its products, but growth could still be surmised through improved revenue over the next succeeding years. Apple already has more than 500 retail stores around the world. However, Amazon touts more than 100 million Prime subscribers. They are all potential customers of Apple’s pricey products. There is also the strong possibility of Amazon offering subsidised price tags for the Apple Watch, iPhone, and iPad to select Prime subscribers. Going forward, this potential Amazon subsidy could increase Apple’s hardware sales.

This partnership is also perfect timing for this upcoming Christmas shopping season. People around the world will be receiving their 13^th-month pay and Christmas bonuses. Millions of Amazon shoppers will be capable of buying the most ‘affordable’ $750 iPhone XR.

A survey last July 2017 revealed that 59% of American respondents with income of $75K to $99K are Amazon Prime subscribers. Amazon’s Prime subscriber base definitely has wealthy individuals who can easily afford the most expensive Apple product. Statista’s chart below clearly illustrates that many Amazon Prime members are perfect targets for the new pricey iPhones and iPad Pros.

(Source: Statista)

Conclusion

It is a long-term tailwind for Apple that Amazon has agreed to become an authorised reseller of Apple watches, phones, and tablets. Amazon will also delist non-official resellers of Apple products on its marketplace by January 4, 2019. By eliminating unauthorised resellers on Amazon’s websites, Apple is assured of price uniformity for all of its products sold. Eliminating price-cutting third-party sellers can improve Apple’s topline and bottom-line. It is an open secret that many unscrupulous individuals and organisations resell deeply-discounted stolen iPhones/iPads on online stores like Amazon.

Amazon is now also a massive sales channel for refurbished iPhones and iPads that Apple needs to unload. These refurbished products are from Apple’s own trade-in program. Apple practices device trade-ins so it could sell newer, more expensive models. The exchanged phones, tablets, and computers that Apple has stockpiled can be quickly monetised through Amazon.

I rate AAPL as a buy. This stock also has a bullish one-year forecast from I Know First. The high 0.81 predictability score means I Know First has a long track record of correctly predicting the 12-month price trend of Apple’s stock.

The vibe from monthly technical indicators and moving averages trends are in favor of going long on AAPL right now.

(Source: Investing.com)

Past I Know First Success with Apple Stock Prediction

I Know First has been consistent and accurate with AAPL stock predictions in the past.

This bullish 1 Month/3 Month/1 Year Forecast that was sent to our subscribers on August 22, 2017.

To subscribe today click here.

How to read the I Know First Heatmap

The article discussed possible acceleration of Apple’s research on Augmented Reality and self-driving car technologies as those are considered to be future diversification areas for Apple. Some key financial aspects were analyzed, including posting of a new record high of $162.51 at the end of August 2017. Finally, we expected that Apple coming up with a real major upgrade to the iPhone 7 could propel the stock to a new 52-week high. Since the forecast’s release, where the bullish signal of 131.7 was identified by the algorithm with predictability rate of 0.61, Apple Inc. stock price surged that high that on August 2, 2018 the company’s market capitalization became more than $1T and ended up on August 22, 2018 with stock price increase by 38.86%.

Summary:

- This holiday quarter should see a notable increase in Apple’s hardware sales. Apple’s flat lining iPhone unit sales desperately needs a boost.
- Amazon recently agreed to sell Apple Watches, iPhones, and iPad tablets in its U.S. and international online stores.
- AMZN agreed to become an official Apple reseller. Amazon will delist unauthorized resellers of Apple products using its platform by January 4, 2019.
- Amazon touts more than 100 million Prime subscribers. They are all desirable potential customers for Apple products. Buying online is faster than queuing up at an Apple retail store.
- I still rate AAPL as a buy.

Please note-for trading decisions use the most recent forecast. Get today’s forecast and Top stock picks.

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Apple Unveils Highly Anticipated New Line Up at October Event

November 4, 2018

Apple Unveils Highly Anticipated New Line Up at October Event

(Flickr)

After a long period of anticipation, Apple has held its October event in Brooklyn this past week. The event’s announcements of upcoming products included the Retina MacBook Air, a new Mac mini, and a pair of new iPad Pros. Feedback from those who have been slightly unimpressed with Apple as of late, was very positive. Apple also announced Q4 results in which they surpassed revenue for the previous quarter, and the same quarter of the previous year. Finally, Apple reported its Q4 earnings this week. The company generated $62.9 billion in revenue and $14.12 billion in profit from 46.89m iPhones, 9.69m iPads, and 5.3m Macs sold.

The Lineup: iPad Pro

The most anticipated announcement of the big three was the iPad Pro lineup. As expected, the new iPad Pro is available in 11-inch and 12.9-inch, with no Home button and Face ID support. The display stretches further to the edges this time around, via its liquid retina display. Apple has released a new Smart Keyboard Folio and Apple Pencil to accompany the new iPad Pro. To finally join it’s newest products, the new iPad Pros will also use an USB-C connector, allowing customers to use one cable for several devices. First introduced by Apple CEO Tim Cook several years ago, and said to represent his vision of the future of personal computers, the iPad Pro have always had more computing power than their non-Pro counterparts. Fo this reason, it has become a big favorite of professionals in the realm of creativity, particularly in the music and media industries. Apple says the A12X Bionic chip makes them more powerful and faster than any other tablet on the market. Meanwhile the tablet’s storage capacity can be extended to an massive 1 terabyte. The new 11-inch iPad Pro starts at $799, while the 12.9-inch starts at $999.

Retina MacBook Air

The Retina MacBook Air starts was one of the more stand-out products of the show. It is available in three colors for the first time: silver, space gray, and gold. The new MacBook is powered by an 8th Generation Intel Core i5 processor, with 8GB of RAM. It is equipped with Apple’s T2 security chip, USB-C, and a Butterfly keyboard, as well. The new MacBook Air also features Touch ID, which allows customers to access their laptop way more conveniently. This new feature will also allow people to use Apple Pay with just a quick touch of their finger. Grove also added during the presentation that the new 13.3-inch Retina Display “quadruples” the pixel count of the old MacBook Air, with an impressive 2560×1600 native resolution. The MacBook Air also promises “48% more colour” than the previous iteration’s screen. The product that was lagging behind other updated Apple products is finally receiving some appealing changes and could become a very hot seller.

Mac Mini

The Mac Mini is powered by a quad-core processor. An upgrade to a six-core processor is also an option if you need more power, which would make the computer 5x faster than before. The Mac Mini also holds 64GB of memory. Much like the MacBook Air, you get Apple’s T2 security chip. This would mark the first time since 2014 that the product is being upgraded. The Mac Mini will be starting at $799 with a November 7th release date.

All of these products are being made with 100% recycled aluminum. This gives them yet another edge over competitors. This may acquire some extra sales, because let’s be honest, this is Apple. The company knows how to maximize profit, which should be good news for any investor.

Q4

Apple has released its 2018 fourth quarterly earnings which include initial iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max sales as well as the Series 4 Apple Watch. The iPhone XR launched earlier this month and didn’t make the previous quarter. They reports $62.9 billion in revenue and $14.12 billion profit. Apple us forecasting next quarter’s earnings to be between $89 billion and $93 billion. Fiscal year 2018’s Q4 results compare to the previous quarter’s $53.3 billion in revenue, $11.5 billion in profit. This includes 41.3 million iPhones, 11.55 million iPads, and 3.7 million Macs. In the same quarter one year ago, Apple reported $52.6 billion in revenue. Look for the release of all these heavyweight products, especially right around holiday time, to bring in some serious revenue for Apple.

Apple Stock News

Apple Stock Forecast: AAPL May Be Headed Towards Another Record Quarter

October 7, 2018

Apple Stock Forecast: High Demand For XS Max, XR On The Way

(By Rhaym tech Via Wikimedia Commons)

With the release of the new iPhone XS and the more popular XS Max, Apple may be on the verge of it’s highest grossing iPhone release yet. Not to mention being days away from the release of the highly anticipated, and more affordable iPhone XR. In a recent survey by Piper Jaffray, from 700 domestic Apple iPhone owners, 39% would upgrade to the iPhone XS or XS Max if they were to upgrade this year with just about a split between the two models. The remaining 61% would choose the upcoming iPhone XR or existing iPhone 7 or 8.

Given that “older” apple products seem to not really survive that long. Wether that is by Apple’s own controversial, yet somehow forgivable doing, or people’s desire to have the next best thing, people are buying the newest phones. The in-house built A12 Bionic chip powered phone will cost the customer upwards 1000$, not to mention the increased warranties. People are now willing to pay top dollar for something that is highly utilized on a daily basis, and the reflection of the premium quality cellular phones will be seen in their sales. I believe that Apple’s business strategies are far more complex and exceed that which meet’s the eye. The release of the iPhone XR, which is a more affordable alternative to the only slightly more premium model, at still a fairly large price point, will surely become the most popular among the larger scale of consumer. This could very well be their most profitable model to date.

Don’t Just “Watch” This Stock

The Series 4 Apple Watch has been seeing success across the board as well. It has been receiving notable reviews by consumers. The new Apple Watch Nike+ devices is the next release in the Series 4 family. It includes a larger screen, thinner body, an ECG reader, fall detection, and more. It will also launch worldwide.

Most of the time Apple stock falls after earnings. A lot of people with inflated expectations decide to sell after earnings. Instead, Apple tends to rise during the long periods between earnings reports. In 8 out of the last 10 iPhone releases, AAPL slid immediately after the release and didn’t return to pre-release levels for about 60 days. Currently, they’re hitting all time highs two weeks after the release. Last earnings report, on 07/31/18, sent AAPL into an immediate uptick. The likes of 3% in a single day. Apple is set to release it’s Q4 earnings on November the 1st.

I Know First’s predictive algorithm remains bullish on AAPL stock in the long term.

To learn more about I Know First’s success and accuracy, click here to read our premium article about Warren Buffet’s long investment and how our algorithm successfully predicted and forecasted Apple’s record breaking year, before it happened.

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The Newest Apple iPhone XS Revealed In September Summit

September 20, 2018

Apple’s September Summit Take-Aways

Last week, Apple kicked off their annual September event. Their main unveilings included the new Apple Watch 4 and the iPhone XS/XS Max. The XS saw it’s release on Friday, with the larger XS Max set to release in the coming week. As usual, the iPhone has upgrades to the previous iPhone X, which investors can be happy about because it’s another display of Apple’s way of incrementally and almost minimally upgrading a phone and gathering big sales in the process. Though it’s fair to say they are still delivering a premium product that can be called the best.

(By Mike Deerkoski – Flickr)

The new Apple in-house built A12 bionic chip is giving competitors a run for their money. As expected, multi-core performance isn’t a vast difference over the A11 Bionic from the 2017 iPhone X, but single core performance see’s a noticeable improvement.

Upcoming For Apple

It should also be noted that the more affordable iPhone XR will be released in October. The Apple Watch 4’s release, which will receive more attention in the next article, will surely shake up sales as well. With these three new products, effects on stock should be noticeable in the coming weeks or month (especially during the holiday season and days like mothers/fathers day).

A few other advancements on Apple’s side that may effect sales are the new higher price of insurance/theft protection going up to $299 for a $100 increase. The removal of the headphone jack from the new iPhone may also lead to a boost in sales of Beats, AirPods and other bluetooth audio devices. Lastly, the battery price will increase after it was lowered for the year of 2018. Some people were left a bit disappointed following the summit, but I think this is Apple knows exactly what they are doing. With more to come this year including the highly anticipated new iPad and improved AirPods, the only way to go is up.

No Competition

In comparison to Android’s current flagships, it’s a clean sweep for the A12 all around. In tests run by Geekbench 4, 3D Mark, Slingshot Extreme and GFX Bench, the new chip powering the XS and XS Max destroys all the competition, with second place coming in to none other than their own iPhone X. The Bionic A12 proves to be the real deal. The A12 is generations ahead of others, but soon enough they will be releasing 7 nanometer chips of their own. QualComm claims to have a 7nm release coming soon.

As I mentioned earlier, the $3 trillion company has not reached anything close to a ceiling and is still on the rise. It is worth another mention that Apple has mastered the art of business. They make great product, and at the same time truly know how to implement the right amount of upgrade in bits and pull in big sales throughout the year in the process.

(Pixabay)

I Know First is certainly bullish on AAPL stock, as detailed in this article published on May 1st

APPL stock is with 43% return since this bullish forecast.

Source: Yahoo Finance

Apple Stock News

Apple Surpasses Streaming Giant Spotify

July 8, 2018

“The worlds most famous and popular language is music” – Psy

As of this week, Apple Music has surpassed Spotify’s paid subscriber count in the United States, making it the number one streaming service in the country. According to Digital Music News, Apple music, with a growth rate of 5% and over 20 million U.S. subscribers, is growing faster than Spotify. However, Spotify still holds the reign worldwide with over 70 million subscribers compared to Apples 45 million.

This is a big win for Apple, but it will be hard to get a global win on Spotify. The majority of iPhone users reside in the United States, so it is easier for them to use Apple Music since it is built into iOS. That being said, Spotify has an advantage on Apple due to it’s free streaming feature. Although they have to listen to ads, Spotify has 170 million users with the inclusion of those who stream for free.

(Source: Gear Patrol)

Apple does have an advantage over Spotify in a couple areas. For starters, Apple Music has 10 million more songs than Spotify. Also, being that Apple is such a giant company, it is easier for them to snatch exclusive albums. For example, Dr Dre’s highly anticipated album, Compton, was only available to be streamed on Apple Music upon release. As Apple releases more exclusive content, it will bring more Spotify users over. Also, with Apple’s upcoming video streaming service, there is rumored to be a package that combines both the music and video services, another source of new users.

To better compare the two, rap star Drake released an album on both streaming services. Spotify advertised the album like crazy, placing the rapper into virtually all their playlists. Unfortunately, their efforts did not pay off as Apple Music users streamed his album, Scorpion, 170 million times to Spotify’s 130 million in the first 24 hours of release. So, although Spotify has more subscribers, they seem to be less engaged with the content.

AAPL up past week, beating the DOW by 1%.

AAPL & DOW (Source: Yahoo Finance)

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Apple Stock News: Berkshire Hathaway’s $18b stake in Apple…

March 1, 2017

Apple Stock News

For the latest Apple Stock News, AAPL closed at $136.93 on Monday, February 27, 2017. It had a gain of 0.2% from its previous close of $136.66 per share.

Apple’s stocks are continuing to rise, with large stakeholders in the company not willing to invest anymore due to its price being so high, its becoming an unattractive investment.

Warren Buffett, revealed that he personally purchased more than $8 billion of Apple shares in January. Berkshire Hathaway had $7 billion of there $122 billion equity portfolio invested in Apple.

With a year of incremental purchases Berkshire is now one of Apple’s top five shareholders, with a stake worth over $18 billion.

Apples shares have had a dramatic rise since January 31, with the share increasing by 12.6%. The stock has been climbing during the last 12 months, up by 41.3%.

Berkshire Hathaway is now in the top 5 shareholders in the company, only slightly behind FMR.

Following the major investment in Apple, the expansion of Mr Buffett’s investment team has allowed the company to diversify their portfolio.

Berkshire acquires most of its value in its large operating businesses, which span across a variety of categories and industries.

The news of an investment from Mr Buffett creates waves in the stock market.

Keep checking back for more news regarding AAPL. For Full AAPL forecasts and investment advice by our state of the art algorithm click here.

Apple Stock News

AAPL Predictions Based On Algorithmic Trading: 4.07% Return in 3 Days

May 29, 2016

AAPL Predictions

This Best Technology Stocks forecast is designed for investors and analysts who need predictions of the best performing stocks for the whole Technology Industry (See Industry Package). It includes 20 stocks with bullish and bearish signals and indicates the best tech stocks to buy:

Top 10 tech stocks for the long position
Top 10 tech stocks for the short position

Package Name: Risk-Conscious
Recommended Positions: Long
Forecast Length: 3 Days (5/24/2016 – 5/27/2016)
I Know First Average: 5.32%

The risk-conscious 3 day forecast accurately predicted 10 out of 10 stocks. The Top Performer was CICHF, which returned 13.70% during 3 day time horizon. IDCBF and TCTZF were also strong picks, returning 11.82% and 7.61%, respectively. The Average for this forecast was 5.32%, outperforming the S&P return of 2.49%.

China Construction Bank Corporation is one of the “big four” banks in the People’s Republic of China. In 2015 CCB was the 2nd largest bank in the world by market capitalization and 6th largest company in the world. The bank’s stocks have been on the rise as of late due their recent strategic cooperation agreement with HNA Group under which China Construction Bank is to provide a credit facility amounting to RMB30 billion to HNA Group.

Algorithmic traders utilize these daily forecasts by the I Know First market prediction system as a tool to enhance portfolio performance, verify their own analysis and act on market opportunities faster. This forecast was sent to current I Know First algorithmic traders.

How to interpret this diagram

Please, note-for trading decisions use the most recent forecast. Get today’s forecast and Top stock picks.

Apple Stock News

Apple Stock News: New iOS Update Found to Have Privacy Issues

April 8, 2016

Apple Stock News

On March 21st, Apple held a launch event for the company’s newest products and updates. Included in that presentation was the latest operating system update. Some of the positive changes made to iOS 9.3.1 include fixing of the bug that would cause the iPhone to lock up and drain battery usage, as well as the problems that existed within Apple’s Universal Links.

Just two weeks after the event, on April 4th, Quartz reported that users may want to wait before updating their phones and iPads to the latest iOS, though. An anonymous iOS tinker discovered that there is a relatively easy, though not necessarily straightforward, a way for people to access the contacts and photos on an iPhone with iOS 9.3.1 without inputting the phone’s password.

The method involves promoting Siri to access Twitter and then adding a Twitter user to the phone’s contact list. By doing this, it is possible to access current contacts as well as the phone’s entire photo library. In order for this to work, the phone must be a new version and have the 3D Touch feature.

Though this is not a breach extending to individual apps or directly to personal information necessarily, it is nonetheless concerning. The irony here, of course, is that Apple is such a crusader of personal data privacy for its customers.

At the launch event in March, CEO Tim Cook started the day by speaking about his dedication to maintaining the privacy of his customers as the FBI continued to press for Apple to aid in the investigation against the terrorist involved in the San Bernadino shooting last December. For months, Apple has been engaged in a battle with the FBI over unlocking the shooter’s phone to examine the information within.

Apple did not respond to requests for comment from either Quartz or the Daily Dot where news of the hack was first published.

Apple Stock News

Apple Stock News: Apple Inc. Caught Red-Handed

March 8, 2016

Apple Stock News

On August 9th, 2011, a class-action lawsuit was filed against Apple, Inc. and five of the top book publishers in the United States. The suit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. Hagens Berman, the firm that filed the lawsuit, claimed that Apple knowingly colluded with five top book publishers to illegally fix the price of e-books, causing prices to increase as much as 50%.

It is believed that Apple and the publishers had an agreement that Apple would sell e-books in its app store, allowing publishers to set the price of the book with Apple taking a 30% commission. Since publishers control the book distribution, they would have the power to withhold products from companies like Amazon that set their own prices. The federal antitrust laws that Apple and the publishers allegedly violated included the Sherman Act, the Cartwright Act and the Unfair Competition Act.

In July 2014, it was decided that, pending the Second Circuit Court’s ruling on Apple Inc.’s appeal, the company would be required to pay a settlement of $400 million to consumers. The Second Circuit denied Apple’s appeal in June 2015, and attorneys are now working to bring the settlement to consumers in a speedy and efficient process. They are hopeful that consumers will be compensated for their losses by the fall of 2016.

Apple Stock News

Apple Stock Predictions: 67.93% Return in 1 Year

April 22, 2015

Apple Stock Predictions

Top tech stocks: This Best Tech Stocks forecast is designed for investors and analysts who need predictions of the best performing stocks for the whole Technology Industry. It includes 20 stocks with bullish and bearish signals and indicates the best tech stocks to buy:

Top 10 tech stocks for the long position
Top 10 tech stocks for the short position

Package Name: Tech Stocks
Recommended Positions: Long
Forecast Length: 1 Year (04/18/14 – 04/18/15)
I Know First Average: 29.64%

Get the “Tech-Stocks”-Package

How to interpret this diagram:

Algorithmic Stock Forecast: The table on the left is the stock forecast produced by I Know First’s algorithm. Each day, subscribers receive forecasts for six different time horizons. The top ten stocks in the 1-month forecast may be different than those in the 1-year forecast. In the included table, only the relevant tickers have been included. A green box represents a positive forecast, while a red represents a negative forecast. The boxes are then arranged according to their respective signal and predictability values (see below for detailed definitions).

Forecast Performance:The table on the right compares the actual stock performance with I Know First’s prediction. The column titled “Forecast” shows which direction the algorithm predicted, and the column “% Change” shows the actual stock performance over the indicated time period. The “Accuracy” column shows a “√” if the algorithm correctly predicted the direction of the stock or an “x” if the forecast was incorrect. The I Know First Average is the equal-weights average percent change of the stocks listed below, and the S&P 500 may be included for reference if relevant.

Signal: This indicator represents the predicted movement direction/trend; not a percentage or specific target price. The signal strength indicates how much the current price deviates from what the system considers an equilibrium or “fair” price.

Predictability: This value is obtained by calculating the correlation between the current prediction and the actual asset movement for each discrete time period. The algorithm then averages the results of all the prediction points, while giving more weight to recent performance. As the machine keeps learning, the values of P generally increase.

The Algorithm: The system is a predictive algorithm that is based on Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), and incorporating elements of Artificial Neural Networks and Genetic Algorithms. The system’s predictive analytics are self-updating, and thus live. The algorithm is a powerful resource for any investor conducting black-box trading or algotrading.

Please note-for trading decisions use the most recent forecast.

Get today’s forecast and Top stock picks.

Apple Stock Predictions

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