The foundations of something better are being laid. Microsoft reported good results as cloud and corporate helped offset the ongoing weakness in PCs. Fiscal Q3 revenues / EPS were $20.4bn / $0.68 compared to consensus at $20.4bn / $0.63. Streamlining of OPEX and the transfer of a key campaign from Q3 to Q4 was...
Apple and Facebook raise hopes after Google. Apple Apple reported good results as iPhones shipped in much better volumes than expected. The increased dividend and plans to return a further $30bn to investors also boosted optimism. Q2A revenues / EPS were $45.6bn / $11.62 compared to consensus at $43.6bn / $10.16 respectively. The iPhone was...
A beat is on the cards but guidance could be a hiccup. Apple reports Q2E results after the US close today. (Wednesday 23rd April 2014). Consensus is calling for Revenues / EPS of $43.6bn / $10.16 in fiscal Q2E and $38.5bn / $8.57 for fiscal Q3E. The iPhone is likely to be the key determining...
Nike’s hardware exit is ominous for those that remain. The exit of Nike from its FuelBand product shows how difficult hardware can be and that the real value is in the service and the data. . It looks very much as if Nike has laid-off the engineering team responsible for its FuelBand product meaning that...
Mobile pricing is likely to stay low for a while. Google failed to beat expectations as pricing fell by more than expected due to the shift of spend from desktop to mobile. Q1 14 Revenues and adjusted EPS were $12.2bn / $6.00 compared to consensus at $12.3bn / $6.39. Profitability fell short as gross margin...
Opportunity remains but time shortens. Yahoo! reported reasonable results from its core operations while it was Alibaba that drove Net Income to be above expectations. Revenue / Net Income were $1.09bn / $402m beating consensus of $1.08bn / $372m by 1% and 8% respectively. This was almost entirely driven by Alibaba which grew revenues by...
Microsoft continues to hide its light under a bushel. The reviews of Windows Phone 8.1 are starting to come in and they are pretty positive all round. Those that have lived with the new software for several days are finding that the updates have created a significant improvement in the user experience. New features such...
Google is the only winner in the Android ecosystem. June is becoming one of the most important months of the year for the mobile ecosystem with both Apple and Google holding developer events. Hardware is pretty much commoditised meaning that the features which are increasingly going to make the difference for users are being revealed...
Apple is likely to stay away from the black art of cellular radio. News articles and recent hires by Apple suggest that Apple may be moving into developing its own basebands. This could have significant negative implications for Qualcomm for whom Apple makes up a substantial portion of sales. This would imply that Apple wishes...
Richard is founder, owner of research company, Radio Free Mobile. He has 16 years of experience working in sell side equity research. During his 11 year tenure at Nomura Securities, he focused on the equity coverage of the Global Technology sector.
Microsoft / Nokia – Quick Win
Synergies will be pretty easy to achieve. With the Chinese finally signing off on the deal, Microsoft has finally managed to close its purchase of the Nokia handset business. Now that handsets are now part of Microsoft, the focus will now move to profitability and how the $600m of synergies will be achieved before the...