Hey, if you’ve got the free time why not just sit in front of an Apple store and surf the internet on your iPad and wait. See that women squatting down to talk to the girl in the chair? Yeah, she’s got a notepad and pen and she’s asking the girl what in the hell are you doing. What would be even crazier if this was the line for the iPhone 6….

Hat tip to Jimmy Traina for the image.

Apple Conference Call

WHAT: Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, and Peter Oppenheimer, Apple’s CFO, will host a conference call to announce the outcome of the Company’s discussions concerning its cash balance. Apple® will not be providing an update on the current quarter nor will any topics be discussed other than cash.

WHERE: Via conference call. The dial-in number for press is (877) 616-0063 (toll-free) or (719) 219-0041. Please enter confirmation code 592016.

WHEN: Monday, March 19, 2012 at 6:00 a.m. PDT/9:00 a.m. EDT

Source: Apple.com

Hat tip to Marcelo Ratafia for the screen shot.

But the question now becomes what does new CEO Tim Cook and Apple do with all the cash. And, with most of the cash held overseas, will Apple get a tax break and bring all the cash back to the United States:

With the company’s cash reserves growing as fast as they are, it opens numerous possibilities for acquisitions. For comparison, Google’s recent $12.5 billion acquisition of Motorola would be a relatively small dent in Apple’s enormous cash mound.

During the call, Apple also announced that two-thirds of the company’s cash an investments are held overseas. Apple has recently backed a proposal for a tax holiday, under which companies such as Cisco, Oracly, Pfizer and Apple would get a tax break on earnings generated overseas.

If the proposed plan is accepted, these companies would have to pay a tax rate of 5.25%, as opposed to the 35% tax on profits generated outside of the U.S. The consortium of companies backing the plan claims the tax break would be justified by investing in research and hiring.

With that much cash, you’d have to say the share price is going to rise in a proportional manner. If you add $300 on to the cash per share you get the current price for Apple of near $384 per share. If you add $300 on to Apple with a cash hoard of $140 you’d get a share price of $440, but with that much cash earned, you’d have growth in actually earnings across the board board of Apple products. So, perhaps a share price of $740 is more like it. Towards the end of 2013 this might just be possible. Believe it.

Munster also says that investors are underestimating Apple’s potential for growth in 2013. To me, this seems right, especially when you factor in the potential for growth in China for Apple – more stores will open. And then if Apple can make further inroads into the business or enterprise sector:

Analyst Gene Munster’s estimates are 8 percent ahead of Wall Street’s 2013 expectations for revenue, and 10 percent higher than the Street’s earnings per share forecast. Munster sees Apple’s revenue growing 19 percent in calendar year 2012 and another 17 percent in 2013.

He also sees Apple’s cash hoard continuing to grow over the next few years, reaching $140 per share at the end of 2013, compared to $81 per share in June 2011.

Apple’s growth will continue to be propelled by the iPhone, in Piper Jaffray’s estimates, representing 49 percent of revenue in calendar 2013. Their model has iPhone growth go from 30 percent in calendar 2012 to 29 percent in 2013, while average selling price will drop from $603 in 2012 to $565 in 2013.

“One key topic on which we are different than consensus thinking is our belief that the iPhone unit growth can continue in the 30% range while ASP’s will be more than double the smartphone industry average,” Munster wrote.

“In other words, we do not believe Apple needs an ultra low end offering to grow iPhone units at 30%. If Apple was to announce an unsubsidized, sub-$200 iPhone, our unit estimates would be too low and ASPs would be too hight.”

The thing will Apple is there just isn’t any competition now or on the horizon. Research in Motion is fading. Microsoft is fighting the good fight. Google is perhaps mounting an attempt to battle them. But, for the next few years there’s nobody really with the array of products Apple has. People are going to buy the newest gadget from Apple. If they have the old iPhone they want the new one. If they have the old iPad, they want the newest one. Apple’s only competition is their old products and how much better and faster they can make the new ones.

Source: Apple Insider:

It would almost seem so. There must be some joy in the hearts of Jobs and Apples’ top brass to see all these other companies chasing them and struggling to keep up. Even good old Google, the search engine giant, who are trying to keep up with Apple and the iPhone by buying Motorola. A purchase that one Apple executive called a little expensive. And then there’s Research in Motion, whose stock has too fallen off a cliff in the last year, just like HPQ. What’s next in the computer/mobile space, will someone try to buy RIMM and try to keep up with Apple or will they all just concede?

PCs are HP’s biggest revenue generator, but the business is also HP’s least profitable, a result of falling prices for computers and brutal competition.

HP’s effort to jettison its PC business is another concession to Apple’s increasing dominance of consumer electronics, said Shaw Wu, an analyst with Sterne Agee. The PC division also had become a drag on HP’s stock even though it still accounts for about 15 percent of the company’s earnings, Wu said.

“Apple is such a fierce competitor that HP probably realized it was going to have to cut its losses,” Wu said. “And it makes sense to cut your losses sooner than later.”

Was one of the greatest trades in the past three years to go long Apple (AAPL) and short the rest of their competitors? I’m guessing one savvy investor had those trades on. It all seems so clear with hindsight. If only.

Needham & Co.’s Charlie Wolf recently upgrade Apples stock (AAPL) to $540 a share, not so surprising, as the mean target for analysts is $500 per share and the high is $666. But what was interesting is how he broke down the stock based on products and cash value. This is not perfect but here’s the rough breakdown for the stock.

iPad = $65.62
iTunes and App Store = $27.52
iPod = $3.50
Mac = $63.92
iPhone = $265.86
Cash = $86

This puts you at a total of around $510 per share. Not sure what’s missing to reach the Charlie Wolf’s $540 price target? Could be the cash per share, which will also increase in the coming year.

What jumps out is the value of the iPhone. Coming in at a whopping $265 per share. Wow. Then there’s the Mac computer, which only comes in at $63 per share. You’d think that the Apple computer, both desktop and laptops would have more of an impact. Expect this to rise as Apple makes more inroads into the enterprise or business end of selling computers – imagine companies have all Apple products. When that happens, watch out.

Also, in time, what seems likely is for Apple to come out with another product, like an actual TV.

Charlie Wolf’s report over at Barron’s.

Seriously, Apple is a stock to own, even at $400 a share, yo. There’s no doubt it’s going higher. Why? CAUSE I SAID SO THAT’S WHY, BITCH. No, seriously, Apple’s been blowing things up and have mad business. You’ve got to have it. It’s like the blue stuff.

Apple is taking more share of the enterprise market with the iPhone and the iPad. That’s killing competitors. And once you’ve had a little taste, whether that’s an iPod or an iPhone, there’s no turning back, you’re only going to buy more Apple gear. The Blackberry is getting eaten alive – no more crack berry, yo. Hell, Mr. White and I even started to use the iPad to do calculations for a cook, yo.

Check the lines out when a new iWhatever comes along: they’re insanely long. There will be more long lines for future iWhatevers in whatever color or size or shape. Talk about moving some product. Steve Jobs, sick like my partner Mr. White, deserves mad respect. Mad, mad respect, yo.

They’ve got a little bit of dough in the bank, too. Like $76.2 billion. Yeah, that’s BILLION, bro.

Who needs college, yo, all you got to do is buy Apple’s stock and that’s your money tree. Take a look at this return on investment.

You see what they tried to do in China, with those fake Apple stores, mad respect for those people, yo. They went for it. Why not? Gots to make money somehow.

Here’s the real though. Get with the program and buy AAPL if you want to make cash. This is the only stock to own. The only stock. Look, the world is worried about the debit limit and a U.S. default and AAPL is still going higher, yo. That’s all you need to know. It’s like that. I’m buying more this second, bitch.

What’s more though, if you would have bought shares in Apple just when the financial world was nearly falling apart, say in January of 2009, you would have done pretty well, too. And that’s just two years ago, when Apple was selling at $90 a share, and Apple is now of course selling at closer to $400 a share. Who needs all those school loans! Who needs an education!

While the rest of the market continues to drift lower, what with debit limit worries and the sovereign debt crisis in Europe, it appears iPads, iPods, and iPhones, are still selling. And will still sell no matter if the world falls apart. Also, music and videos are still selling on iTunes and will still sell. Oh yeah, and Apple sells a few computers from time to time, too.

It’s really amazing, this company, this stock, has taken a huge bite out of the rest of the market, and essentially beaten down other companies, Research in Motion specifically. This is why the stock is at an all time high and still has room to run, Apple’s cutting down companies like trees, taking more market share and making other phones or devices obsolete.

The stock’s run is not over either, as many analysts have raised their price targets to over well over $400 a share. With earnings right around the corner, most are still bullish on the stock. Shaw Wu has a price target of $460 for Apple, which might just be the street high.

Sterne Agee’s Shaw Wu also expects a beat on profit, modeling $5.95, though he’s projecting revenue slightly below the Street, at just $24.6 billion. Still, he implies his own number may be too low. “We notice that Street estimates have ratcheted higher in the past week but we are confident in AAPL’s ability to exceed heightened expectations.”

Wu notes his gross margin assumption is above consensus, at 39.8% versus 39%. Remember Apple has told the Street to expect 38%. Component costs should be favorable, he thinks. He’s modeling 17 million iPhones, 6.8 million iPads, and 3.9 million Macs.

Wu thinks the Q4 forecast “could be less conservative than usual” because “our supply chain checks indicating better availability of components and increased production capacity.” He’s modeling $27.7 billion in revenue and $6.57 in EPS. The Street is at $27.75 billion and $6.44.

Wu reiterates a Buy rating and a $460 price target.

I picture Steve Jobs with a very contented smile, stroking his cat and eating rice cakes, while Microsoft, Research in Motion, Hewlett-Packard, Dell, and Nokia fight for just a sliver of the computer and cell phone pie.

Source: Barrons