Apple shares6年新高后下跌.doc

Apple shares new cameras Europe market Apple Shares Lose Shine wsj 2012 4 15 By STEVEN RUSSOLILLO and JONATHAN CHENG The meteoric stock price rise that has propelled Apple Inc to become the world s most valuable company is showing signs of faltering threatening to drag much of the market down with it Apple s shares plunged 4 1 on Monday extending their slide to a fifth consecutive day and sparking worries about whether the maker of iPads and iPhones may be headed for a bigger descent Apple is now down 9 9 from its intraday peak of 644 hit on April 10 just shy of the 10 level that market watchers call a correction On Monday Apple fell 25 10 to 580 13 in 4 p m Nasdaq Stock Market composite trading The past five days decline has seen more than 50 billion shaved off Apple s market capitalization That is more than Hewlett Packard Co s entire market cap of about 48 billion They re giving us a preview of what life might be like when companies like Apple stub their toes that s certainly a thought that we need to have at the back of our heads said Phil Orlando chief equity strategist for Federated Investors Inc in New York which manages 370 billion The slump has exposed just how large and influential Apple s stock has become The shares have soared 43 this year driving the company s market value briefly above 600 billion last week After Monday s decline its market value was about 541 billion Moreover Apple is the largest stock in the Nasdaq Composite Index and the Standard others said the stock had risen too steeply as a reason for the recent decline The descent which accelerated on Monday has sparked a broader debate about whether Apple is at the beginning of what could be an even larger decline The losses recently have been particularly notable because most other stocks have been rising On Monday 24 of the 30 Dow component stocks gained A lot of people are starting to ask very legitimate questions about Apple said Michael Farr president of portfolio management firm Farr Miller Washington It s a very fine company but they haven t had many pullbacks Steve Dowling an Apple spokesman declined to comment on the share price move Many investors said Apple was due for a pullback and probably would soon resume its ascent Every living thing including Apple needs to stop and breathe said Rick Bensignor chief market strategist at Merlin Securities Its upward march has been largely unchallenged until now The stock is up nearly sixfold since March 2009 Apple has survived setbacks before The stock traded under a cloud for much of 2011 as investors worried about the company s ability to innovate under new leadership Its co founder Steve Jobs passed away last October But the company has maintained its successful run notching up new sales and profit records and seeing its stock rocket up nearly 70 in the six months after Mr Jobs s death At least two analysts recently predicted Apple would hit 1 000 a share and others have suggested its market capitalization could reach 1 trillion in a few years Much like the cultlike status of Apple s products its shares too have attracted a fervent cadre of shareholders Investors large and small piled into the stock Even some fund managers who wouldn t typically own a large technology company have Apple in their portfolio Last month Apple unveiled its first dividend in more than a decade as the company plans to distribute some of its cash hoard of roughly 100 billion to shareholders That helped attract a whole new class of investors looking for dividend returns The company also plans to buy back as much as 10 billion in stock over the next three years beginning on Sept 30 the start of its 2013 fiscal year Apple began selling the third generation iPad last month as the company aims to widen its lead in the tablet market The device was the first major product launch for Apple since the latest iPhone went on sale in October Some investors dismissed the recent declines as a blip This just seems like a regular correction to me said Susan McNeice an individual investor who owns Apple and trades from her home in northern Virginia If you look around there s been some softness in the market overall and when you ask Has Apple done something colossally stupid The answer is no Has some competitor come along to change Apple s prospects No Some analysts cited many reasons for Apple s selloff over the last week Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster on Monday warned in a research note that Apple s Mac sales for the March quarter may miss analysts expectations which could further weigh on the stock Despite the warning Mr Munster said strong iPhone and iPad sales likely will mask any weakness in the Mac segment Mr Munster who maintains an overweight rating on the stock remains one of the most bullish analysts on Wall Street This month he predicted Apple s shares will reach 1 000 in 2014 and become the first company ever to have a 1 trillion market capitalization Dave Lutz an analyst at Stifel Nicolaus said there were rumors that Apple could roll out an iPad Mini priced at 200 In a research note on Monday he said the new product could cannibalize sales Adding to potential worries Apple and five book publishers were accused by the Justice Department of colluding to raise e book prices Apple has called the allegations simply not true Meantime analysts and traders began warning against predicting a big drop Short Apple at your peril said Michael Shea managing partner at Direct Access Partners referring to betting against the stock This company has continued to find ways to innovate and bring products to the market that nobody else does Apr 16 2012 5 54 PM What to Make of Apple s Plunge By Jack Hough Apple s stock fell for a fifth consecutive day Monday losing 4 to close at 580 and change But shareholders shouldn t lose sleep The tech giant has now dropped nearly 9 since April 9 when it closed at an all time high of over 636 The move far exceeds the 1 decline during the same stretch for the broad Standard Poor s 500 stock index Analysts blame Apple s slide on profit taking and earnings season angst But the numbers say neither is a good reason to sell Consider Apple s second fiscal quarter earnings report on April 24 Wall Street expects it to earn 9 92 per share down from the 13 87 earned during its first quarter but sharply higher than the 6 40 it earned in the second quarter a year ago according to FactSet The iPhone has become Apple s biggest product and we re halfway between the iPhone 4s launch and the iPhone 5 launch says Michael Walkley who covers the stock for Canaccord Genuity Investors may be selling the stock because they think iPhone sales for the quarter will underwhelm The iPhone 4s launched in the United States in October 2011 Although Apple hasn t announced its next model since the original iPhone s launch in summer 2007 the company has tended to offer new models every year or so History doesn t favor investors who bet on an earnings day decline for the stock Over the past five years the shares have jumped an average of 3 8 on second quarter earnings reports according to FactSet data Apple topped earnings estimates by an average of 21 during that period Nor does the stock s valuation seem to call for profit taking Apple s stock price doubled since September 2010 but its earnings per share also more than doubled since then Shares look affordable relative to the company s income and the broader stock market Apple sells for 13 times Wall Street s forecast for its calendar 2012 earnings per share That s on par with the price to earnings ratio for the S P 500 of which Apple is the largest member by stock market value Apple holds cash and investments equal to nearly one fifth of its stock market value In March the company announced it will begin paying a dividend of 2 65 per share per quarter later this year That works out to a 1 8 dividend yield calculated against Monday s closing share price and Apple can afford plenty more see Why Apple Record Dividend Looks Stingy Mr Walkley sees the stock s recent decline as a buying opportunity If there s trouble brewing it s not reflected in earnings estimates Forecasts for Apple have moved higher in recent weeks even though those for the broad market have been falling Not all investors will want to use the stock s decline as a buying opportunity With Apple making up about 4 of the S P 500 index investors who own broadly diversified mutual funds already have plenty of exposure see When Will Apple Hit 1 000 a Share That s especially true of those who own technology funds Over the past five days the S P 500 tech sector is down 2 5 including Apple but just 0 6 without it according to Howard Silverblatt senior index analyst at S P But for those who ve coveted even more exposure to Apple than they already have the past week s sell off might be just the opportunity April 15 2012 7 04 p m ET A New Focus for Camera Makers With Profits Tight in the Point and Shoot Market Manufacturers Carve Out Niche With Higher End Mirrorless Models When shopping for a higher end digital camera photo enthusiasts typically choose between Canon or Nikon But a cadre of electronics companies are posing a threat to that dominance by refashioning bulky professional cameras into sleeker more affordable models Camera makers such as Panasonic Corp Sony Corp and Olympus Corp have struggled to eke out profits from the highly competitive point and shoot segment which because the cameras are relatively easy to manufacture has low barriers to entry To reverse those fortunes they are waging war in the higher end market against Nikon Corp and Canon Inc which sell about 75 of the world s single lens reflex cameras the model of choice for professional and serious amateur photographers The challengers are hoping to gain market share from an emerging type of camera that packs high end features into a compact design Like SLRs these cameras come with large sensors and interchangeable lenses that produce high quality images But they don t have the conventional mirror based viewfinders that reflect the image to the photographer s eye Instead the image is digitized allowing for a more compact body These mirrorless models range in price from about 300 to 1 700 compared with digital SLRs that vary from about 500 to several thousand dollars for professional ones before costly lenses are added In an otherwise stagnant camera market hurt by the growing competition from smartphones the mirrorless models are booming Shipments of compact cameras declined last year but those of the new type nearly doubled from the previous year with projections of a fivefold increase by 2015 according to market research firm International Data Corp SLRs still are doing well with shipments forecast to grow 18 this year to 16 76 million units world wide according to IDC But shipments of mirrorless cameras are projected to increase 60 to 6 43 million units Compact camera shipments are forecast at 130 69 million units It s given the industry a jolt said Chris Chute research manager at IDC s digital imaging practice It resets the bar for what the high end experience will be like The new mirrorless cameras have gained the most traction in Japan where they accounted for nearly half of all shipments of interchangeable lens cameras in second half according to the Camera Imaging Products Association trade group Mirrorless cameras accounted for 16 4 and 18 7 in North America and Europe respectively The product transformation is evident at Pansonic a 94 year old electronics maker that entered the digital camera market in 2001 The Osaka Japan company said sales of digital cameras fell 28 from a year earlier in the quarter ended Dec 31 partly because of sluggish demand for point and shoot models But within the category sales of mirrorless cameras rose 67 The new cameras especially are a hit among Japanese women Budding female photo enthusiasts in the country are known as Camera Girls and manufacturers are targeting them with nontraditional camera colors such as fiery pink and sensual brown The companies also offer accessories such as camera straps and cases meant to appeal to women Panasonic which introduced the market s first mirrorless compact system camera four years ago said it took lessons it learned then to the U S to sell its Lumix cameras Initially the company struggled because it was targeting everybody said Shiro Kitajima the head of Panasonic s consumer marketing in North America Panasonic found in market research that women wanted to take better pictures without having to carry a bulky camera Panasonic targeted women in print and online advertisements on maternity and beauty sites It also focused on selling the mirrorless cameras in stores frequented more often by women rather than the male dominated battleground of camera or electronics shops The strategy was a success Panasonic said typically about 75 of SLR customers are male but nearly 70 of the buyers of its mirrorless cameras are female Nikon and Canon have a long legacy for SLRs We don t want to play on the same ground Mr Kitajima said We tried to play it on our ground Nikon joined the mirrorless fray with its Nikon 1 series in October Canon remains the only major camera manufacturer absent from the segment Many industry watchers expect Canon to release a mirrorless model this year Canon spokesman Hirotomo Fujimori declined to comment on product plans but said the company has the technological capability of releasing a mirrorless camera now He said Canon has been testing a variety of ways to make cameras smaller and that mirrorless technology is an option Historically SLR cameras have been lucrative because price competition has been less intense than in the more crowded compact camera segment SLR cameras also can lead to sales of lenses and other accessories While the quality of mirrorless cameras can be close to that of low end SLR cameras premium model SLRs still offer greater photo quality because they have larger image sensors and have features that are important to professional photographers For most amateurs however mirrorless models are sophisticated enough Wayne Rizal a 32 year old consultant in the Chicago area decided two years ago to upgrade from his point and shoot camera when his first child was on the way He considered buying an advanced SLR model from Nikon but opted for a mirrorless model from Sony He said the Sony offered much of the quality of the big bodied cameras and could swap lenses but was smaller and simpler to use With the mirrorless camera Mr Rizal said I could accomplish a lot of what I wanted out of the box versus having to tinker a lot with an SLR to get some of the basic things done European Stocks Open Slightly Lower 2012 4 17 wsj LONDON European stock markets opened a little lower Tuesday as euro zone stress particularly regarding Spain continued to weigh on market sentiment The FTSE 100 index in London opened down 0 2 the DAX index in Frankfurt was flat and the CAC 40 index in Paris was down 0 1 On Wall Street Monday the Dow Jones Industrial Average bounced from its biggest weekly slide of the year to rise 71 82 points or 0 6 to 12921 41 U S retail and food service sales in March rose 0 8 from a month earlier sharply topping expectations Other data were less encouraging however U S home builders confidence in the housing market fell in April while New York manufacturing activity slowed sharply in April The Standard Poor s 500 stock index eased 0 69 points or less than 0 1 to 1369 57 Offering a degree of support Fitch Ratings overnight stated that Italy s austerity measures were credible and Moody s MCO 0 14 Investors Services noted that there would not be an imminent change in its ratings outlook for France Cr dit Agricole ACA FR 4 81 said this may have helped the euro rise from lows just below 1 30 versus the dollar But in the European morning the euro was still constrained by concerns over the sovereign debt 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