Diamonds and Dogs

5/1/18

Apple (AAPL) is higher ahead of earnings tonight. Apple is up a percent ahead of earnings, but is down 8% in the last two weeks. All the suppliers to Apple are saying iphone sales are slow right now. The super cycle for the iphone X never materialized. In fact many customers are moving back to the iphone 8 phone. So in the short term, sales and earnings may not be spectacular, but there is good news on the horizon. Apple is expected to create three new phones for the fall season and the company does have $260 billion in cash here and overseas they want to use. A number of investors and analysts expected at least a $100B share buyback in the coming years so any pullback would be a good thing for Apple's long term investors.

 Drug stocks taking it on the chin. Merck (MRK) is down 2% following earnings while Pfizer (PFE) is down 4% following earnings as sales missed by a wide margin due to a lower-than-expected sales of blockbuster breast cancer drug, Ibrance and arthritis drug, Xeljanz. Total revenue rose 1 percent to $12.91 billion, while analysts were expecting $13.13 billion. Pfizer, which is exploring options for a consumer healthcare business that some estimates value at $20 billion, said it expected to make a decision in 2018 on any sale of a business which includes Centrum vitamins and Advil painkillers. Total revenue rose 1 percent to $12.91 billion, while analysts were expecting $13.13 billion.