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Apple reports Q3 results

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Re: Apple reports Q3 results

#131

Post by ogre_codes »

tricolon wrote: post #88
OldHand2018 wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When you start a company, you choose a "tax year" by filing a tax return. From then on out, you file your tax return the same month every year. If it's a small business, you probably find it most convenient to have the tax year be the calendar year and match up with your personal filing. Many businesses have some concept of a "selling season" that makes it really convenient to not use January through December. A reta…

Possibly related: new iOS and iPhone versions are released in mid-to-late September.

Apple's calendar year was set in stone about 30 years before the iPhone was invented.

Re: Apple reports Q3 results

#132

Post by adiabatty »

FridgeSeal wrote: post #127
crazygringo wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a good argument to be made that Apple devices are not luxury goods but save you money in the long run. They often last for many more years than competitors' products, receive upgrades for longer, become obsolete less quickly, and Apple will repair them both under warranty and out of warranty. (Many competitors simply do not service their products.) And when you're finally done with your device, you can often…

Oldest phone that gets iOS updates is what, the 6s or the 7? The former having come out in 2015, that is an amazing support lifetime. I’m planning on keeping my iPhone X past the end of the year, which takes it to a 3 year lifetime, which works out as ~$600/year which is amazing value.

Both the 6s(+) and the iPhone SE (the 5s-shaped one that people love for the small size) will be able to get iOS 14 when it comes out later this year.

Re: Apple reports Q3 results

#133

Post by cookiecaper »

pb7 wrote: post #87
kcb wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

$2400 a month is pretty far below entry level for any white color job. Its about what you would earn full time in an Amazon warehouse. Or minimum wage in NYC.

It's $2,400/mo in addition to the regular unemployment amount. The total amount is more than many US workers, like teachers and construction workers, make while employed[0]. [0] https://fivethirtyeight.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/atd-U...

Yes. The reality is that COVID unemployment checks have made it so that a lot of people can finally afford this type of upgrade. Many people are receiving a larger "paycheck" now than they've ever earned in their life.

Re: Apple reports Q3 results

#134

Post by Cookingboy »

modeless wrote: post #130
crazygringo wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So interesting that Apple does this around $400... meanwhile Amazon's over $3,000 and couldn't care less. It's very curious to me how and why different companies decide whether this is important or not.

Seems a lot less relevant now with the rise of fractional shares.

But not if you want to trade certain contracts positions.

For example I'd like to sell some covered calls for my AMZN as a hedge against a correction later, but since I don't own $300k+ of AMZN share, I literally cannot sell a single call contract.

Re: Apple reports Q3 results

#135

Post by ekianjo »

kwijibob wrote: post #123
ajzinsbwbs wrote: post #114

Wow, iPad revenue up 31% YoY after being down ~10% in the last few quarters. Similar numbers to a Q1 (holiday season). I guess it makes sense that the tablet form factor is popular when so many people are indoors. Also, services revenue grew YoY but it’s the first time it didn’t grow QoQ in a long time, so it seems to have stagnated. Services include a lot of recurring revenue so they should be consistently growing Q…

My guess for increased iPad sales: Zoom conferencing during COVID

This is probably the largest driver.

Re: Apple reports Q3 results

#136

Post by casefields »

VikingCoder wrote: post #101
shadowtree wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

An iPhone is the durable personal computer for most people. They don't own a "PC", this is the only way to safely conduct e-commerce. Without it, you're done in the modern world (even government interactions, like scheduling a DMV visit). A necessity, not a luxury. Best security, best long term support, best re-sale value. If you're poor, an iPhone is the smartest choice. You need to AFFORD an Android device.

I'm surprised to see you say "most people," as Android is what, 85% of the market?

Not in the US which is what OP was referring to. Also, that worldwide market share is massive for junky low-end androids.

iPhone alone is ~50% of US market share: https://www.statista.com/topics/2711/us-smartphone-market/

Android splits the rest.

Re: Apple reports Q3 results

#137

Post by 3pt14159 »

anthony_r wrote: post #67
3pt14159 wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, it was getting a bit pricy to buy lots of 100 apple shares at a time and sell covered calls. This is much better. Honestly I think selling covered call on Apple is one of the few good plays left out there. Long term the company's value is going to keep going up, but with so much volatility in the market lately option premiums are bananas and though I expect a pretty dramatic stock market pullback Apple is one o…

Ah yes, selling volatility via covered calls. The institutional investors' second favourite way of collecting "extra income" in the zero rates world, second only to explicit leverage. Some of them sold much more volatility, via variance swaps, with quite disastrous results. https://www.institutionalinvestor.com/article/b1lffwvwdh7xtq...

I mean, my family's investment company is far, far from being an institutional investor, but the math is pretty solid. If our plan is to buy Apple and sell it in the next six months if it rises by 15% then it is pretty easy to justify selling the calls with a strike at 15%, which I know isn't perfect because if something substantial changes at Apple (a new product, say) then in the case where the calls weren't sold you could re-evaluate your target, but that type of event doesn't happen too frequently and if we would have put a sell order at 15% above anyway it's a near-free increase in returns. Because inflation eats the first couple percentage points and taxes don't take that into account the delta in gains does stack up over time.

Selling puts, though, is a fools game unless the market has already really tanked. Black Scholes isn't perfect, yadda, yadda.

Re: Apple reports Q3 results

#138

Post by twblalock »

nostrademons wrote: post #117
Jommi wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What planet are we living on? 600 a week is 2400 a month, which way over any entry level salary in Europe. How inflated are the salaries in US? Or are people used to some really abnormal level of living?

Rent for a low-end 1BR in Silicon Valley is about $2000/month. Low-end 2BR = ~$2600/month, high-end 1BR = ~$4500/month. Houses are ~$10K/month and up. Entry-level tech compensation is ~$180K/year, mid-career = ~$600K/year. If you're not in tech you're screwed here - formerly middle-class professions like teachers/police/firemen live 4 to a 2BR apartment, or they buy houses an hour or more away. Even mid-career financ…

> Houses are ~$10K/month and up.

That's way high. A million-dollar house on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, assuming a 20% down payment, is ~4800/month including property tax. With a 10% down payment it would be about $5800/month.

To get to a $10k/month housing bill you need to buy a place that costs close to $2 million. The median sales price in Santa Clara county is closer to $1.3 or $1.4 million. Most people are paying a lot less than $10k/month for their house.

Re: Apple reports Q3 results

#139

Post by thecupisblue »

crazygringo wrote: post #66
matthewdgreen wrote: post #3

Given the high rates of unemployment in the US and around the world (with possibly worse to come) this kind of consumer spending on luxury goods is pretty remarkable. Wonder how sustainable it is.

There's a good argument to be made that Apple devices are not luxury goods but save you money in the long run. They often last for many more years than competitors' products, receive upgrades for longer, become obsolete less quickly, and Apple will repair them both under warranty and out of warranty. (Many competitors simply do not service their products.) And when you're finally done with your device, you can often…

You reminded me of the last time I spent money on a laptop before mac. Well, it wasn't me, it was my parents. For half the price of new mac air, I got a Toshiba budget notebook. It barely lasted 2 years, which was the amount it's "anything happens" warranty expired - which wasn't really anything happens. The CD ROM just didnt slide back in totally one day and stuck. The shift key got so fucked up I had to disable it preboot or I'd be stuck with caps. Fun times. Never again. Made me appreciate macs way more when I got one.

Re: Apple reports Q3 results

#140

Post by microtherion »

matthewdgreen wrote: post #3

Given the high rates of unemployment in the US and around the world (with possibly worse to come) this kind of consumer spending on luxury goods is pretty remarkable. Wonder how sustainable it is.

I just read today that disposable personal income in the US rose by 10% in Q2, thanks to stimulus: https://mobile.twitter.com/jasonfurman/status/12888166061650...

If congress really does not extend benefits, there's bound to be a sizable negative effect.

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