Apple Inc. is crushing it, but its success is
disrupting the technology sector in ways that could hurt the stocks of many
other players—friend and foe alike. Last week, Apple’s quarterly results
stunned even the optimistic watchers on Wall Street. Eschewing the usual kabuki
dance where a company magically beats the analysts’ consensus estimate with soccer jersey by a
penny or three, Apple reported second-quarter earnings of $7.79 a share, oceans
past the $5.85 estimate. Shares of Apple surged after the report, briefly
clawing above $400 before falling back. Apple now trades around $390. After the
earnings announcement, several gobsmacked analysts rapidly upped their 12-month
price targets above $500 a share.
Often a hot company helps drive its sector. For
instance, Apple’s 1980s success with the Macintosh sparked a personal-computing
revolution that spawned many successful companies. But Apple has become so
dominant that is becoming more a threat—rather than a sentiment booster—to the
rest of the technology sector. That isn’t to say investors with
clothingofferstore should ignore other tech players—they just aren’t as likely
to see the same kind of upside that Apple enjoys. To be sure, plenty of NATIONAL
TEAM Soccer jerseys wholesale companies, pple has become a sort of
Wal-Mart of techland, able to drive tough bargains with suppliers as it builds
dominant positions in key device markets. One of its advantages is delivering
sexy products at price points that don’t break the bank. And gadgets tend to
get cheaper over time, which means Apple will have to squeeze suppliers more if
it wants to retain its profits.
Apple, now
second only to Exxon Mobil in terms of market value, wields its power with
companies big and small. Adobe Systems, a software giant and maker of Flash,
has found it challenging and expensive to penetrate Apple’s world. Apple, of
course, does face challenges. Analysts fret that mobile carriers won’t keep
pace with Mexico
National Soccer Jersey the demand Apple’s devices are
creating. Component shortages could slow manufacturing. And Apple has gotten so
huge that maintaining its torrid growth rate won’t be easy. The s the
BlackBerry maker is now in the mid-$20s. Nokia‘s shares have been halved since
February, and the former handset king has reached out to Microsoft in a bid to
leapfrog into a stronger smartphone position. Apple faces stiff competition in
the phone market, primarily from Google Android phones made inexpensively out of
Asia by companies like Samsung Electronics and HTC. But Apple is countering
with cheaper versions of its iPhone.
Perhaps the most disruptive aspect of Apple’s strategy
is the way it is reshaping the personal computer space. Apple’s various Mac
products are selling decently, but the emergence of the iPad has changed the PC
calculus. Intel, which reported strong earnings on Mexico
home jersey Wednesday, remains upbeat about PCs (which use its
chips). It pointed to 70% sales gains in Turkey and Indonesia during the
quarter. At the same time, it trimmed back its overall forecast for PC sales.
Mobile devices, chiefly the iPad, are rapidly eating into the segment. And that
will likely continue, perhaps faster than expected. The company said after its
earnings release that 86% of Fortune 500 companies are “testing or deploying”
the iPad.