Apple Q2 FY14: Stock is a Bargain, Pre-Market , After Hours or Normal Trading Hours?
Apple Inc Q2 FY14 is scheduled on April 23, 2014 at 2:00 p.m. PT / 5:00 p.m. ET - after the market closes on Wednesday. Should you be buying the stock during pre-market, after hours or within the normal trading period? Get your hints from various analyses as follows:
Apple Stock Certainly Cheap; A Bargain
An article from NASDAQ suggests it is too early to write-off Apple Inc amidst critics' scepticism on the stock. Apple Inc "will break out of the rut" as analysts saw the stock's earning reaches $10.17 per share up from $10.09 during the same period of 2013.
The report suggested that Apple's stock price is "certainly cheap" as it traded 12 times for calendar year 2014 as compared to Microsoft at 15 and Google at 20.
Quoting David Rolfe, manager of RiverPark/Wedgewood ( RWGFX ) and has 9.1 per cent of assets on Apple Inc, the stock is a bargain.
"There are no longer plenty of bargains out there, but Apple is one of them," Rolfe said. He expected for Apple Inc to produce "double-digit-percentage earnings growth over the next few years." The company, he predicts, will increase its annual dividend from its current price of $12.20 per share.
With Apple sitting on approximately $160 billion in cash, paying shareholders and repurchasing shares are imminent. The company already announced buybacks programme amounting to $100 billion until 2015 - a hint that Josh Spencer, manager of T. Rowe Price Global Technology ( PRGTX , of Apple officials insinuating that the "stock is a bargain."
"Apple has gotten so aggressive on the buybacks that it seems like people at the company know something that we do not. That is a clue you just can't ignore," Spencer said.
iPhone and iPad Sales
Writing for MarketWatch, Rex Crum said that investors should still wait for iPhone and iPad sales data. Will iPhone sales be increasing from 2013's 37.4 million and iPad sales from 19.5 million?
As for Apple's earnings, FactSet predicts for the stock to earn $10.19 per share - an increase from $10.09 per share within the same period of 2013.
For its stock price, it should be noted that Apple shares show impressive reaction in 2013 with 30 per cent increase at $525. However, the stock was down 9 per cent coming from a 52 week high of $575.14 on Dec 5 2013.
Apple Inc, from its own estimate, will acquire revenue amounting to $42 - $44 billion for this quarter.
Q2 Preview
Seeking Alpha provided a preview of what Apple Inc's Q2 might look like.
Analysts at Zacks Institutional Services are estimating that the company's gross margins will reach 37.8 per cent with iPhone shipments reaching 38.1 million and iPad shipments at 19.9 million.
As for the revenue guidance, analysts' consensus is at $38.26 bln (range $34.94 bln to $44.08 bln).
As for the company's share buybacks, it has to be noted that the company's buyback amounted to $40 billion after 12 months following the company's buyback of 14 billion. Apple shares are showing a 1-day average price change with earnings at 5.53 per cent; options pricing was moving at 3.38 per cent.