It's earnings season and Apple is faring very well, the company smashed Wall Street's revenue expectations. Investment research firm Zacks held consensus expectations of $51.2 billion in revenue, but the tech giant reported $52.6 billion, 12 percent higher than a year ago.
According to Gene Munster, a long-time Apple watcher and managing partner at Loup Ventures, this is the company's best quarter in years.
"December of 2014 was the last time that Apple grew every product in every geography," Munster told Cheddar on Friday.
And since that time, the company has amassed a pretty big cash stockpile. For the quarter, Apple CFO Luca Maestri said the company “generated strong operating cash flow of $15.7 billion and returned $11 billion to investors through [its] capital return program.”
At the end of the quarter, the tech giant had nearly $270 billion on its balance sheet. That's bigger than the entire market cap of Wal-Mart...and the GDP of Venezuela!
And Munster has some ideas for what the company can do with that money. If Apple wanted to make an acquisition, for example, he thinks the best move would be American automaker Tesla.
"Netflix is always out there," as a possible target, he said. "It would make a lot of sense because it would play into its service business. [But] the company that I wish it would buy is Tesla." He cautioned though, that he doesn't think it'll happen.
"Elon Musk doesn't want to sell, but as a backstop, as you see the Tesla shares slide here, I think Apple would love to buy them at some point."
Unlike Apple, Tesla posted a big miss in its latest quarter, recording its largest ever loss of $2.92 a share.
Ford is recalling more than 355,000 of its pickup trucks across the U.S. because of an instrument panel display failure that’s resulted in critical information, like warning lights and vehicle speed, not showing up on the dashboard.
Nvidia reported a 56% increase in second-quarter revenue and a 59% rise in net income compared to a year ago.
The Rev. Al Sharpton is set to lead a protest march on Wall Street to urge corporate America to resist the Trump administration’s campaign to roll back diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. The New York civil rights leader will join clergy, labor and community leaders Thursday in a demonstration through Manhattan’s Financial District that’s timed with the anniversary of the Civil Rights-era March on Washington in 1963. Sharpton called DEI the “civil rights fight of our generation." He and other Black leaders have called for boycotting American retailers that scaled backed policies and programs aimed at bolstering diversity and reducing discrimination in their ranks.
President Donald Trump's administration last month awarded a $1.2 billion contract to build and operate what's expected to become the nation’s largest immigration detention complex to a tiny Virginia firm with no experience running correction facilities.
Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos claims audiences don't want to watch Netflix movies in theaters, but that seems not to be the case recently.
Chipmaker Nvidia is poised to release a quarterly report that could provide a better sense of whether the stock market has been riding an overhyped artificial intelligence bubble or is being propelled by a technological boom that’s still gathering momentum.
Cracker Barrel said late Tuesday it’s returning to its old logo after critics — including President Donald Trump — protested the company’s plan to modernize.
Low-value imports are losing their duty-free status in the U.S. this week as part of President Donald Trump's agenda for making the nation less dependent on foreign goods. A widely used customs exemption for international shipments worth $800 or less is set to end starting on Friday. Trump already ended the “de minimis” rule for inexpensive items sent from China and Hong Kong, but having to pay import taxes on small parcels from everywhere else likely will be a big change for some small businesses and online shoppers. Purchases that previously entered the U.S. without needing to clear customs will be subject to the origin country’s tariff rate, which can range from 10% to 50%.
Southwest Airlines will soon require plus-size travelers to pay for an extra seat in advance if they can't fit within the armrests of one seat. This change is part of several updates the airline is making. The new rule starts on Jan. 27, the same day Southwest begins assigning seats. Currently, plus-size passengers can pay for an extra seat in advance and later get a refund, or request a free extra seat at the airport. Under the new policy, refunds are still possible but not guaranteed. Southwest said in a statement it is updating policies to prepare for assigned seating next year.
Cracker Barrel is sticking with its new logo. For now. But the chain is also apologizing to fans who were angered when the change was announced last week.
