
NASDAQ:AAPL
It beat estimates last night, but offered weaker guidance and declining revenues. And yet it is down less than 1% today. Why? The put-to-call skew was at the 80th percentile, favouring puts. We haven't had this kind of bearish representation for Apple in 5 years. The market needed something really bearish in the Apple report to extend negative sentiment.
Transitioned well from products to services. Once you're in the ecosystem, it's hard to get out and you'll just pay the higher price for services. Services side will continue to grow, even if weak product numbers. Growth may slow down a bit. He'd welcome returning some of their vast amounts of money to shareholders.
He just bought Apple puts. They report next week and he expects their comments to be negative. In China, Huawei is gathering market share from Apple, while Beijing is saying, Don't buy Apple phones. That's why Apple phone production is shifting from China to India. Apple is not showing growth in hardware. Same with services. The stock is overvalued. That said, if share get crushed next week, he would be the first to buy them, because there's an insatiable appetite for them.
He's been trimming it when it gets expensive, and remains neutral. Apple is a great business, but some of their businesses are decelerrating. They have huge cash balances, though. He's long term.
No question that tensions between the US and China effect Apple. Apple shares are down only 1% this morning. Foxxconn, remember, is a top 10 employer in China and Foxxconn builds a lot of iPhones for Apple. The market knows this. So, Apple is struggling in China? No. Apple remains one of the best-run companies in the world, and they have earned their premium valuation.
When this was reported this morning, the Nasdaq features dipped briefly only. There's enough broad strength in the megatechs that tech will be resilient, even if Apple becomes the weak link among tech.