Connect with us

Published

on

Apple CEO Tim Cook poses as Apple holds an event at the Steve Jobs Theater on its campus in Cupertino, California, on Sept. 9, 2024.

Manuel Orbegozo | Reuters

The most anticipated part of Apple’s Thursday earnings won’t be iPhone sales or Mac forecasts – it’ll be CEO Tim Cook’s comments on how the company is dealing with President Donald Trump’s tariffs. 

Apple is one of the most exposed companies to Trump’s tariffs and expected retaliation. It makes about three-quarters of its overall revenue from physical goods — iPhones, Macs and Apple Watches — mostly made in China or elsewhere in Asia. And the U.S. is its largest market.

“It’s how Apple responds to ‘everything else’ that will set the tone for post-earnings sentiment,” wrote Morgan Stanley analyst Erik Woodring in a Monday note.

He has an overweight rating on the stock, and wants to hear what Cook and Apple finance chief Kevan Parekh have to say about how the company is mitigating supply chain and tariffs risks, if Apple will raise prices or eat costs, and the status of Cook’s relationships with Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Apple hasn’t commented on the hefty tariffs Trump announced for every country in the world on April 2, but they represent a deep threat to the iPhone maker’s supply chain and sent the company’s share price down 9%. 

“We are monitoring the situation and don’t have anything more to add than that,” Cook said during Apple’s January earnings call. Those were the company’s most recent comments on Trump’s trade policy.

Apple is perhaps the highest-profile example of a company that’s gotten caught up in Trump’s trade war. 

It’s the most valuable U.S. company, hundreds of millions of Americans own iPhones and Cook built his reputation in Silicon Valley as an operations expert who keeps Apple’s inventory low and its logistics tight.

But Apple and Cook have stayed tight-lipped publicly even as Trump administration officials called for the company to move iPhone production to the U.S., imagining millions of Americans “screwing in little screws” to build the devices.

The White House suggested that Apple was capable of building iPhones in the U.S., something that many analysts said is impossible at worst and would result in a $3,500 iPhone at best

“I speak to Tim Cook. I helped Tim Cook, recently, and that whole business,” Trump said in an oval office briefing earlier this month after he delayed the highest-tariffs on non-China nations for 90 days. It was a move that boosted Apple stock. Cook has maintained a line of communication with the Trump administration, according to Trump, dating back to his first term.

Apple CEO Tim Cook escorts President Donald Trump as he tours Apple’s Mac Pro manufacturing plant with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin looking on in Austin, Texas, November 20, 2019.

Tom Brenner | Reuters

Now it’s time to hear from Apple itself. 

The tariffs are a material issue that will eventually affect the company’s financials. TD Cowen predicts that the current tariffs will cost Apple about 6% of its annual earnings this year. Apple reported about $94 billion in profit in its fiscal 2024.

It’s not just investors that want a peek into Apple’s thinking — Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., questioned Cook about what he discussed with the Trump administration ahead of the president’s decision to pause tariffs on non-China nations.

Apple’s share price remains lower than it was on April 2, even though analysts have said the pause will give Apple some flexibility to avoid the highest tariffs, thanks to its production locations in India and Vietnam.

Several recent reports have said that Apple will try to source as many iPhones as possible from from India, which only faces a 10% tariff, to avoid the highest 145% tariffs on China. But although Apple has been ramping up iPhone production in India since 2017, the company has only recently begun to ship commercially significant quantities in recent years, and Apple hasn’t confirmed the pivot to India or discussed its Indian production capabilities.

“While it’s possible for all 25 million of India capacity to be allocated to the US near-term, we think it could take approximately a year for production to double to 50 million overall,” TD Cowen analyst Krish Sankar wrote Monday, saying that Apple is expected to sell between 65 million and 70 million iPhones in the U.S. this year.

Apple declined to comment on sourcing iPhones to the U.S. from India.

Another closely-watched metric will be Apple’s China revenue, which could indicate if rising nationalism will hurt iPhone sales in the company’s third largest market, which includes Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Some analysts have noted that the smartphone owners in China are more likely to switch phone brands than Western consumers. There’s concern that now those Chinese consumers could take cues from media and government officials and buy Chinese phone brands, such as phones made by Huawei.

Dipanjan Chatterjee, principal analyst at Forrester, said that if Apple were to move a lot of production out of China, it would also have to consider if that could upset the Chinese consumer.

“If Apple is going to pull production out of China, that’s not going to go down well in that market,” Chatterjee said. “They’re going to hedge. You’re going to see a lot more saying and a little bit of tinkering and not a whole lot of doing.”

Analysts polled by FactSet expect Apple to report $1.62 in earnings per share on $94.19 billion in sales, which would be an almost 4% revenue increase on an annual basis.

WATCH: Street’s biggest Apple bear says a production move to India is unrealistic

Street's biggest Apple bear says a production move to India is unrealistic

Continue Reading

Technology

IBM shares drop despite earnings beat

Published

on

By

IBM shares drop despite earnings beat

IBM CEO Arvind Krishna appears at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 16, 2024.

Stefan Wermuth | Bloomberg | Getty Images

IBM shares fell as much as 5% in extended trading on Wednesday after the tech conglomerate issued second-quarter results that topped Wall Street projections.

Here’s how the company did in comparison with LSEG consensus:

  • Earnings per share: $2.80 adjusted vs. $2.64 expected
  • Revenue: $16.98 billion vs. $16.59 billion

IBM’s revenue increased nearly 8% year over year in the quarter, according to a statement. Growth in the first quarter was below 1%. Net income, which includes costs related to acquisitions, rose to $2.19 billion, or $2.31 per share, from $1.83 billion, or $1.96 per share, a year ago.

Software revenue climbed about 10% to $7.39 billion, exceeding the $7.43 billion consensus among analysts surveyed by StreetAccount. Hybrid cloud revenue, including Red Hat, showed 16% growth. The software unit’s gross margin of 83.9% was barely narrower than StreetAccount’s 84.0% consensus.

Revenue from consulting rose almost 3% to $5.31 billion, higher than StreetAccount’s $5.16 billion consensus. Infrastructure revenue went up 14% to $4.14 billion, above the $3.75 billion StreetAccount average estimate.

During the quarter, IBM announced the next-generation z17 mainframe computer and the acquisition of data and artificial intelligence consulting firm Hakkoda.

IBM called for over $13.5 billion in 2025 free cash flow, similar to a projection from April. The company still sees at least 5% revenue growth at constant currency for the year.

As of Wednesday’s close, IBM shares were up 28% so far in 2025, while the S&P 500 index has gained around 8% in the same period.

Executives will discuss the results with analysts on a conference call starting at 5 p.m. ET.

This is breaking news. Please check back for updates.

WATCH: Cramer’s Stop Trading: IBM

Cramer's Stop Trading: IBM

Continue Reading

Technology

ServiceNow lifts guidance on AI growth

Published

on

By

ServiceNow lifts guidance on AI growth

Bill McDermott, Chairman, President & CEO ServiceNow, speaking on CNBC’s Squawk Box at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland on Jan. 17th, 2024.

Adam Galici | CNBC

ServiceNow posted strong second-quarter results and lifted its guidance Wednesday. Shares climbed 7% following the report.

Here’s how the company performed compared to LSEG estimates:

  • Earnings per share: $4.09 adjusted vs. $3.57 expected
  • Revenue: $3.22 billion vs. 3.12 billion expected

Subscription revenues, which account for the majority of the enterprise technology company’s revenues, hit $3.11 billion and topped a $3.03 billion forecast from StreetAccount.

The company boosted its full-year subscription revenue guidance to between $12.775 billion and $12.795 billion as it benefits from artificial intelligence adoption.

“Every business process in every industry is being refactored for agentic AI,” said ServiceNow chairman and CEO Bill McDermott in a release.

Net income grew 47% to $385 million, or $1.84 per share, from $262 million, or $1.26 per share a year ago. Revenues grew nearly 23% to about $3.22 billion.

Read more CNBC tech news

ServiceNow said it anticipates a 2 percentage point hit to current remaining obligations in the third quarter due to seasonality and more customers renewing contracts in the final quarter of the year. The company also said budget changes at U.S. government agencies could impact results.

“While federal business is a bit uncertain today versus a year ago, we’re navigating it well, and we feel confident that our guidance reflects any potential changes that we’re seeing,” finance chief Gina Mastantuono told CNBC.

In its 2024 annual earnings report, ServiceNow said one U.S. federal government customer accounted for 11% of revenues.

During the first quarter, its public sector business grew 30%, McDermott said during the last reporting period.

Subscription revenues are expected to range between $3.26 billion and $3.27 billion, ahead of a $3.21 billion estimate from StreetAccount. Current remaining performance obligations rose nearly 25% to $10.92 billion in the quarter.

Continue Reading

Technology

Texas Instruments stock falls 12% as CEO warns of tariff concerns

Published

on

By

Texas Instruments stock falls 12% as CEO warns of tariff concerns

The Texas Instruments headquarters in Dallas, Texas, US, on Sunday, Jan. 21, 2024.

N. Johnson | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Texas Instruments shares plunged 12% after the automotive and industrial semiconductor supplier warned of ongoing tariff aftershocks.

The company said it expects third-quarter earnings between $1.36 and $1.60 per share, a midpoint of $1.48 per share. That fell short of an LSEG estimate of $1.50.

Texas Instruments anticipates revenues between $4.45 billion and $4.48 billion. The midpoint of $4.63 billion was slightly ahead of the $4.59 billion expected by analysts.

In an earnings call with analysts, CEO Haviv Ilan said the company is experiencing a “shallow” recovery in the automotive sector and said customers may have lingering worries over tariffs and geopolitical uncertainty.

Read more CNBC tech news

Despite the post-earnings slump, Texas Instruments posted a 16% year-over-year jump in revenue. The company reported earnings of $1.41 per share on $4.45 billion in revenue, surpassing the earnings of $1.35 per share on $4.36 billion in revenue expected by LSEG analysts.

Ilan said that some of the second-quarter strength may have come from a pull forward in demand to acquire inventory ahead of tariffs.

Net income for the company rose 15% to $1.3 billion, or $1.41 per share, from $1.13 billion, or $1.22 per share, a year ago.

WATCH: Texas Instruments shares fall more than 7% despite quarterly beat

Texas Instruments shares fall more than 7% despite quarterly beat

CNBC’s Kif Leswing contributed to this story.

Continue Reading

Trending