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Apple Reports Record First Quarter Results

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Re: Apple Reports Record First Quarter Results

#321

Post by rtpg »

This is about revenue, but every time I see Apple's financial statements, I remember that Apple (as of June 2014) has 160 billion dollars in cash. 2 years of _revenue_ (not operating expenses, mind you, but quite a bit more). I think Bill Gates was all about having enough cash to run the company without a single sale for a year, but apparently they have a 20% profit margin, so we're looking at almost 30 months where they could continue to spend everything, not get a single dime, and be "fine".

If that's not an example of the absolute failure of trickle-down economics, I don't know what is.

Re: Apple Reports Record First Quarter Results

#322

Post by Retric »

dba7dba wrote: post #214
jonknee wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

More than half of those employees are retail workers, the profit per knowledge worker must be immense.

I disagree. Foxconn employees are employees of Foxconn in name only. They are effectively employees of Apple. No Apple hardware would be produced at the price point, in the quantity needed if Foxconn did not exist. So imo, the revenue per employee of Apple as we are talking about is skewed badly.

Foxconn could also just fully automate iPhone assembly without Apple caring.

http://www.extremetech.com/electronics/185960-foxconn-is-att... "Chinese site IT Home is reporting that Apple — the company most associated with Foxconn — will be the first company to use these new robots."

As to being Foxconn workers in name only the Chinese government makes it much simpler to higher Chinese workers though a Chinese owned company than directly employing them.

Re: Apple Reports Record First Quarter Results

#323

Post by john_b »

rtpg wrote: post #321

This is about revenue, but every time I see Apple's financial statements, I remember that Apple (as of June 2014) has 160 billion dollars in cash. 2 years of _revenue_ (not operating expenses, mind you, but quite a bit more). I think Bill Gates was all about having enough cash to run the company without a single sale for a year, but apparently they have a 20% profit margin, so we're looking at almost 30 months where…

If you want to argue general economic principles, then do so [1]. Just don't cherry pick examples to prop up your perspective. I don't think anyone, even Reagan or Thatcher, would have stood behind the assertion that a luxury phone and computer maker with a hoard of cash would benefit the poor. You're attacking a strawman here.

[1] Just keep in mind that "trickle-down economics" is a political philosophy, not an economic one: http://www.tsowell.com/images/Hoover%20Proof.pdf (footnote on page 2)

Re: Apple Reports Record First Quarter Results

#324

Post by AlexandrB »

thrownaway2424 wrote: post #183
adl wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Serious question, what makes Apple laptops beat the rest of the industry? No docking station, can't change batteries, no touch screens, no spill resistant keyboards, no matte screen option,etc. You also need those dongles for ethernet and video and can't upgrade RAM or hard drives on the retina models. Sure, the OS (if you need/like OSX, there is little choice), and the trackpad (if you like that those) are good, the…

I'd rather have a ThinkPad, too, and I'm using one to write this. But I think you have to recognize that the PC market is massively fragmented and if you walk into a retail outlet you're going to see a lot of laptops, and none of them are going to be ThinkPads. Lenovo undermines their own products through the same fragmentation. If I just search on Google for "laptop" there are 8 top-ranked shopping items, one of whi…

Recent Thinkpads are a horror show. The t440p has a touchpad so atrocious it renders the trackpoint unusable (because the L/R buttons are part of the touchpad). Palm rejection is nonexistent. And yes, the screen is awful, with a tiny vertical viewing sweet spot.

Re: Apple Reports Record First Quarter Results

#325

Post by chiph »

mehrdada wrote: post #206
Diederich wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And consider The Monster: http://finance.yahoo.com/q/ks?s=WMT+Key+Statistics Just shy of half a trillion dollars in yearly revenue, which generated 15.4 billion in profit. That's $1.3B revenue per day, or $55M revenue per hour, $920K/minute. A million dollars of revenue, every minute. Compared to nominal GDP, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. is larger than Taiwan, Austria and Thailand. Granted, that's revenue, which is 'easy' c…

> How can we not start looking at some of these organizations less as companies, and more as countries? Because they are not. Similarities start and end right there.

The Walmart sporting goods department is probably better armed than some countries..

Re: Apple Reports Record First Quarter Results

#326

Post by hnnewguy »

john_b wrote: post #323
rtpg wrote: post #321

This is about revenue, but every time I see Apple's financial statements, I remember that Apple (as of June 2014) has 160 billion dollars in cash. 2 years of _revenue_ (not operating expenses, mind you, but quite a bit more). I think Bill Gates was all about having enough cash to run the company without a single sale for a year, but apparently they have a 20% profit margin, so we're looking at almost 30 months where…

If you want to argue general economic principles, then do so [1]. Just don't cherry pick examples to prop up your perspective. I don't think anyone, even Reagan or Thatcher, would have stood behind the assertion that a luxury phone and computer maker with a hoard of cash would benefit the poor. You're attacking a strawman here. [1] Just keep in mind that "trickle-down economics" is a political philosophy, not an econ…

>that a luxury phone and computer maker with a hoard of cash would benefit the poor.

If they were forced to re-patriate and pay taxes on that cash, how could that not "help the poor"?

Re: Apple Reports Record First Quarter Results

#327

Post by snowwrestler »

rtpg wrote: post #321

This is about revenue, but every time I see Apple's financial statements, I remember that Apple (as of June 2014) has 160 billion dollars in cash. 2 years of _revenue_ (not operating expenses, mind you, but quite a bit more). I think Bill Gates was all about having enough cash to run the company without a single sale for a year, but apparently they have a 20% profit margin, so we're looking at almost 30 months where…

I'm not sure what you mean by referencing trickle-down economics. I mean, what's the alternative, that Apple distibute that money to shareholders? I don't think stock buy-backs and dividends are what people mean when they say trickle-down economics.

Anyway, Apple does not have a giant vault filled with $160 billion just sitting there. That "cash" hoard is actually invested somewhere (probably numerous places) where it is doing some kind of work to provide a return, at a minimum to keep up with inflation.

If you'd like to wade into political waters, let's talk about the U.S. corporate tax system, which currently provides incentives for companies to keep international profits offshore. I would bet a significant portion of that $160 billion is outside the U.S.

Re: Apple Reports Record First Quarter Results

#328

Post by netheril96 »

fidotron wrote: post #6

Truly phenomenal. But then when no one else is making decent laptops this is what happens. If anything the gap has grown thanks to Windows 8. I'm not a fan of Yosemite by any stretch, but it is very much the least bad of the available options. And on mobile, iOS is very clearly in for the long haul now. There was a time a couple of years ago when Android looked like it might gain enough momentum to sweep them away, b…

When I decided to to buy a new laptop this year, I decide to go beyond 1366x768. And to my dismay, neither Windows nor Linux can handle even 1920x1080 correctly. All kinds of software, even many system ones, just have small fonts or blurry GUI. Eventually I settled on MacBook. I was not and am not an apple fanboy, but for now, other options are just horrible.

Re: Apple Reports Record First Quarter Results

#329

Post by Simp »

jdhawk wrote: post #316
Simp wrote: post #265

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There was a time a couple of years ago when Android looked like it might gain enough momentum to sweep them away, but it now looks like the iOS market share in developed markets is going to remain fairly solid. What are you talking about? iOS market share is at an all time low. It went from 14.4% (2012) to 11.7% (2014). As of the end of Q3 2014, Android was the most popular operating system, with a 84.4% market sha…

Those are worldwide statistics (which are great), but in the US, its close to 50/50, UK - 60/40, with the rest of the world slipping down into the numbers you stated. Amongst the english speaking world, iOS is still a MAJOR contender.

According to this article (2014), iOS still has a 32.5% market share in the US. I do admit i'm surprised it's still that high in the US. It's not 50/50, but yes, still a contender in the US.

"Android now holds 61.9% of the U.S. market share to Apple’s 32.5%, the lowest percentage iOS has captured since the iPhone 4s launched in 2011."

source: http://bgr.com/2014/07/01/android-market-share-2014/

Re: Apple Reports Record First Quarter Results

#330

Post by goober3 »

akrymski wrote: post #290
threeseed wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pretty dumb move to bet against Apple. Apple can and likely will release an iPhone 6s mini after they've exhausted their component supplies for the iPhone 5. But the very fact you bought the iPhone 6 (with its higher margin) just shows they know what they are doing. As for growth in smartphones they haven't even made a tiny dent in China, India or African countries. As for revenue drivers. The Apple Watch and future…

I'm not saying they will rollover and die tomorrow. I think it's enough for them to start growing at a lower rate than the current 30% for the stock to take a hit. iPhone 6 mini - sure I see that. But it wont be much of an improvement to 5s, so not that many people will buy it. The other product lines are less than 10% of revenue. Asia is the key - and if they can keep the momentum they have in China for a few years…

> The other product lines are less than 10% of revenue.

That's not true, you're thinking of Google the Ad company.

$74.9 billion - $51.18 billion (iPhone revenue) = $23.79 billion.

A bigger number I may add, then all of Google or all of Microsoft.

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