Latest news with #AppleAAPL
Yahoo
16 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Buy, Sell or Hold the Apple Stock Post the WWDC25 Announcements?
Apple AAPL, at this year's annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), introduced a plethora of updates in its major platforms — iOS 26, iPadOS 26, macOS Tahoe 26, tvOS 26, visionOS 26 and watchOS 26 — along with a new software design crafted with a new material called Liquid Glass. The translucent material reflects and refracts its surroundings and intelligently adapts between light and dark environments. Liquid Glass makes apps and system experiences more expressive, offering users greater focus on WWDC25, the company announced new Apple Intelligence features like Live Translation, updates to visual intelligence, as well as enhancements to Image Playground and Genmoji. Shortcuts can access Apple Intelligence directly. Developers also get access to the on-device large language model, which is at the core of Apple Intelligence. The latest features are now available for testing and are expected to be generally available this fall with supported devices. Apple is expanding Services with AutoMix and Lyrics Translation features in Apple Music. Sing will allow users to transform their iPhones into a handheld microphone for Apple TV, while preferred routes and visited places in Apple Map make navigation easier for users. Apple Intelligence is now getting added to Apple Wallet, and users can make purchases with Apple Pay. Powered by Apple Intelligence, Apple Wallet can now automatically identify, summarize and display order tracking details from emails sent from merchants or delivery carriers. Meanwhile, Apple Pay expands the ability to pay with rewards and installments to in-store purchases for added flexibility and latest features and the Liquid Glass software design bode well for Apple's prospects, although Apple Intelligence features lacked the 'wow' factor. Apple continues to play catch-up in the AI domain against the likes of Amazon AMZN, Microsoft MSFT and Alphabet GOOGL. Apple shares have declined 19.1% year to date (YTD), underperforming the Zacks Computer & Technology sector's appreciation of 2.5%. While Microsoft shares have returned 11.8% YTD, Amazon and Alphabet dropped 0.9% and 5.6%, respectively. Image Source: Zacks Investment Research So, what should investors do with Apple stock post the WWDC25 announcements? Let's find out. Apple stock has suffered from U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to levy tariffs on trade partners, including China, Mexico and Canada. China is an important market for Apple as the iPhone maker's manufacturing is primarily concentrated in the country. Higher tariffs negatively impact Apple's China supply chain. The Trump administration's decision to exempt electronic devices like smartphones and computers from reciprocal tariffs provided some relief to Apple. Tariffs are currently expected to have a negative impact of roughly $900 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2025. Apple expects gross margin between 45.5% and 46.5% for the current quarter. In the fiscal second quarter, Apple reported a gross margin of 47.1%.Apple has been suffering from sluggish demand for the iPhone in China amid increasing competition from the likes of Huawei and Xiaomi, as well as the lack of Apple Intelligence. Greater China sales decreased 2.3% year over year in the second quarter of fiscal 2025. Although Apple's business primarily revolves around its flagship iPhone, the Services portfolio has emerged as the company's strong growth driver. In the fiscal second quarter, Services revenues grew 11.6% year over year. Apple now has more than 1 billion paid subscribers across its Services portfolio, more than double what it had four years ago. The expanding content portfolio of Apple TV+, Apple Music and Apple Arcade, as well as the growing user base of Apple Pay, has helped drive subscriber is seeing better iPhone 16 sales in regions where Apple Intelligence is available. Apple expanded the availability of Apple Intelligence with iOS 18.4, iPadOS 18.4, and macOS Sequoia 15.4 updates in new languages, including French, German, Italian, Portuguese (Brazil), Spanish, Japanese, Korean, and Chinese (simplified) — as well as localized English for Singapore and India — and are accessible in nearly all regions around the world. At the end of 2025, Apple Intelligence will be available in eight more languages: Danish, Dutch, Norwegian, Portuguese, Swedish, Turkish, Chinese (traditional) and Vietnamese. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Apple's fiscal 2025 earnings has declined by a penny to $7.11 per share over the past 30 days, indicating 5.33% growth from the figure reported in fiscal 2024. Apple Inc. price-consensus-chart | Apple Inc. Quote The AAPL stock is not so cheap, as the Value Score of D suggests a stretched valuation at this is trading at a forward 12-month Price/Sales (P/S) of 7.3X compared with the sector's 6.41X, Amazon's 3.19X and Alphabet's 6.39X. However, Microsoft is trading at 11.24X, a significant premium compared with Apple. Image Source: Zacks Investment Research AAPL shares are now trading below the 50-day and 200-day moving averages, indicating a bearish trend. Image Source: Zacks Investment Research Although the Services business has emerged as AAPL's new cash cow, we believe Apple Intelligence's underwhelming performance is a headwind for its product business (iPhone, iPad and Mac). A stretched valuation is a concern for currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), suggesting that it may be wise to wait for a more favorable entry point in the stock. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Inc. (AMZN) : Free Stock Analysis Report Apple Inc. (AAPL) : Free Stock Analysis Report Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) : Free Stock Analysis Report Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research ( Zacks Investment Research Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Apple is behind in the AI race — and now its researchers say rival technologies ‘collapse' and quit easily, too
Apple is trailing its major rivals in rolling out artificial intelligence-related technologies — but its researchers say the technology may be overhyped anyway. Apple AAPL in a research paper took aim at so-called reasoning models, from the big names in AI — OpenAI, DeepSeek, Anthropic and Alphabet's Google GOOGL. 'It might be another Apple or Microsoft': My wife invested $100K in one stock and it exploded 1,500%. Do we sell? Fund manager who sold Tesla, just in time, says investors are overlooking these tech bargains 'I prepaid our mom's rent for a year': My sister is a millionaire and never helps our mother. How do I cut her out of her will? 'The situation is extreme': I'm 65 and leaving my estate to only one grandchild. Can the others contest my will? I have $1,000 in credit-card debt. Will I be able to hide my inheritance from the bank? With puzzles including the Tower of Hanoi, a classic mathematical puzzle involving stacking disks, Apple tested these models. 'Rather than standard benchmarks (e.g., math problems), we adopt controllable puzzle environments that let us vary complexity systematically — by adjusting puzzle elements while preserving the core logic — and inspect both solutions and internal reasoning,' the paper states. In all of the models, accuracy progressively declines as problem complexity increases, until reaching complete collapse, or zero accuracy. And not only do the reasoning models fail to get the right answer, they have something of a quitters' mentality. 'Near this collapse point, [large reasoning models] begin reducing their reasoning effort (measured by inference-time tokens) as problem complexity increases, despite operating well below generation length limits,' the researchers say. This laziness is most pronounced in the o3-mini variants of OpenAI, and less severe in Anthropic's Claude 3.7 Sonnet. One other finding was even when Apple told the models the correct algorithm for solving the Tower of Hanoi, their performance didn't improve. The paper started circulating on social media over the weekend, though there's no release date on it. An Apple developers conference is due to start on Monday. ChatGPT is used in the Apple Intelligence service that was rolled out, to lackluster reviews, last fall. I bought my mother-in-law a condo — and she took out a $30,000 car loan. Now she refuses to get a roommate. I help my elderly mother every day and drive her to appointments. Can I recoup my costs from her estate? 'He failed in his fiduciary duty': My brother liquidated our mother's 401(k) for her nursing home. He claimed the rest. Third time lucky? Citi changes its S&P target once more after index hits 6,000. Risky stocks and safe-haven gold are both aiming for records. Who will blink first?
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Pre-Markets Drop Hard on New Trump Tariff Talk
Friday, May 23, 2025Pre-market futures are down precipitously this morning as President Trump amps up the rhetoric on his global trade war. While advocates of his plan applaud the hard-line approach, as it promises to bring a new economic reality to the U.S. and its trading partners, investors are back to frowning at the oceans of uncertainty they are once again directly faced Dow is currently down -560 points, roughly -1.3%, while the S&P 500 is -90, -1.5%. The Nasdaq, which has been reinvigorated by recent AI-related growth items, has fallen -400 points, -1.9%, and the small-cap Russell 2000 is -45, -2.1%. It was only earlier this week we were putting in top trading levels for the past month. It may take some major trade deals to turn this back around. Trump is warning Apple AAPL will be facing additional +25% tariffs on iPhones made overseas — whether in China as they are currently or India, as Apple CEO Tim Cook has proposed — unless they are produced here in the U.S. Employing an American workforce to produce iPhones is, stated mildly, not in the cards for the company. Thus, the -3.5% drop in AAPL stock this morning adds to its -19% loss year to content with going on the offensive against one of America's most successful companies, the president also turns his attention to the European Union (EU), on which he now proposes a +50% tariff on imports from Europe. The EU is a bigger trading partner with the U.S., with currently a $160 billion trade surplus. This is now being of this, of course, comes ahead of a three-day holiday weekend in the U.S.: Memorial Day is this Monday, when markets will be closed. A week from today, we'll see a big Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) report — the Fed's preferred gauge on monthly inflation. Also next week will bring us quarterly earnings from NVIDIA NVDA, the most successful chipmaker on the planet. (You can see the full Zacks Earnings Calendar here.)After today's opening bell, New Home Sales for April are expected to wane back below +700K (+724K in March, to be specific) to +695K. A month ago, new home sales were seeing the most business in the South, while the Northeast fell back by -22%. In April, 30-year fixed mortgage rates averaged +6.88%.We wish you all a happy and safe Memorial Day weekend, where we keep in mind those who sacrificed their lives and livelihoods on behalf of defending our nation. See you next or comments about this article and/or author? Click here>> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Apple Inc. (AAPL) : Free Stock Analysis Report NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research ( Zacks Investment Research
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Apple's CarPlay Ultra Gains Adoption: Buy or Hold the AAPL Stock?
Apple AAPL next-generation infotainment system CarPlay Ultra is now available with new Aston Martin models in the U.S. and Canada. The latest system will be available for existing vehicles with a software update. CarPlay Ultra is also expected to be available with new models from Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis. According to Fortune Business Insights, the global infotainment industry is expected to see a CAGR of 7.2% between 2025 and 2032 to hit $58.18 billion by 2032. CarPlay, along with Android Auto, has been the most popular choice of automakers. The latest CarPlay Ultra offers information for all of the driver's screens, including maps and media, along with information that comes from the car, such as advanced driver assistance systems and tire is continuously upgrading features of its service offerings that revolve around the iPhone. The company recently introduced an update to Apple Maps that helps users search and discover top-ranked restaurants, hotels, golf courses and more, with the addition of rankings and insights from expert Apple has been suffering from sluggish demand for the iPhone, particularly in China, due to stiff competition from Huawei and Xiaomi, as well as the lack of Apple Intelligence. China sales decreased 2.3% year over year in the second quarter of fiscal 2025. iPhone sales increased 1.9% year over year to $46.84 billion in the second quarter of fiscal 2025, and Apple saw better iPhone 16 sales in regions where Apple Intelligence was available. Apple shares have dropped 16.6% year to date (YTD), underperforming the broader Zacks Computer & Technology as well as its closest peers, including Dell Technologies DELL, HP HPQ and Alphabet GOOGL. YTD, shares of Dell Technologies, HP and Alphabet dropped 0.8%, 10.8% and 12%, respectively. Image Source: Zacks Investment Research Apple expanded availability of Apple Intelligence with iOS 18.4, iPadOS 18.4, and macOS Sequoia 15.4 updates in new languages, including French, German, Italian, Portuguese (Brazil), Spanish, Japanese, Korean, and Chinese (simplified) — as well as localized English for Singapore and India — and are accessible in nearly all regions around the world. Apple launched the first set of Apple Intelligence features in U.S. English for iPhone, iPad and Mac, and introduced more features while expanding to more countries in December 2024. The availability of Apple Intelligence boosts the capabilities of Mac with features like Writing Tools and Notification Summaries that help users stay focused and be more productive. For iPad, Apple Intelligence offers features like the Clean Up Tool in Photos to remove distractions and the Image Wand in the Notes app to elevate simple sketches into polished illustrations. Apple's vision OS 2.4 unlocks the first set of Apple Intelligence features for Vision Pro users. Although Apple's business primarily revolves around its flagship iPhone, the Services portfolio has emerged as the company's strong growth driver. In the fiscal second quarter, Services revenues grew 11.6% year over year, and Apple expects the March-end quarter's (second-quarter fiscal 2025) revenues to increase by low double digits on a year-over-year basis. Apple now has more than 1 billion paid subscribers across its Services portfolio, more than double what it had four years ago. Both transacting and paid accounts reached new all-time highs, with paid accounts growing double-digit year over year. Paid subscriptions also grew double-digit. The expanding content portfolio of Apple TV+, Apple Music and Apple Arcade, as well as the growing user base of Apple Pay, has helped drive subscriber growth. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Apple's fiscal 2025 earnings has declined 0.8% to $7.12 per share over the past 30 days, indicating 5.48% growth from the figure reported in fiscal 2024. Apple Inc. price-consensus-chart | Apple Inc. Quote Apple's earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in all the trailing four quarters, the average earnings surprise being 4.68%. The AAPL stock is not so cheap, as the Value Score of D suggests a stretched valuation at this is trading at a premium, with a forward 12-month P/E of 27.89X compared with the sector's 25.5X, Alphabet's 17.06X, Dell Technologies' 12.41X and HP's 8.26X, reflecting a stretched valuation. Image Source: Zacks Investment Research AAPL shares are now trading below the 200-day moving average, indicating a bearish trend. Image Source: Zacks Investment Research Apple suffers from stiff competition in China and higher tariffs that are expected to increase costs by $900 million. Hence, we believe that Apple's near-term growth prospects do not justify a premium valuation. However, expanding Apple Intelligence bodes well for the company's currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), suggesting that it may be wise to wait for a more favorable entry point in the stock. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Apple Inc. (AAPL) : Free Stock Analysis Report HP Inc. (HPQ) : Free Stock Analysis Report Dell Technologies Inc. (DELL) : Free Stock Analysis Report Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research ( Zacks Investment Research Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Apple & Nike Bounce on China Tariff News: A Closer Look
In a big de-escalation of recent trade tensions, the US and China have recently agreed to a 90-day truce that significantly lowers tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars in goods. More specifically, the deal reduces US tariffs on Chinese imports from 145% to 30% and cuts Chinese tariffs on US goods from 125% to 10%. Importantly, the agreement provides a nice level of temporary relief while also opening the door for further negotiations. Several companies with notable China exposure, Apple AAPL and Nike NKE, jumped on the news, providing much-needed relief following several months of uncertainty and an overall negative outlook. Let's take a closer look at each. Down 15% year-to-date, Apple shares have struggled, underperforming relative to the S&P 500 in a big way and driven lower partly by initial tariff headlines. Shares faced pressure as a result, but have overall rebounded nicely from their 2025 lows over the past month, with the de-escalation mentioned above bringing positivity back in a strong way. Image Source: Zacks Investment Research Due to its heavy manufacturing exposure in China, the de-escalation of trade tensions is a massive positive for the company. The company previously warned that it may pass the higher costs onto consumers through iPhone price hikes, so the recent news is excellent for the company and the consumer. It's critical to remember that Apple has also been actively shifting its manufacturing operations to other countries (Vietnam, India) as part of a strategic effort to diversify its supply chain and mitigate the risks associated with geopolitical tensions and tariffs. Nike shares have similarly struggled in 2025, down more than 17% and widely underperforming relative to the S&P 500. Weak quarterly results, which have stemmed from weak demand for its offerings, has been a major thorn in the side, with the initial tariff announcements causing a meltdown in shares. Similar to AAPL, shares have rebounded nicely off their 2025 lows, with the recent announcement providing significant relief. Image Source: Zacks Investment Research Most apparel names got hammered on the initial tariff announcements due to their heavy manufacturing exposure, with investors recalculating their profitability outlooks in a big way. EPS estimates for Nike fell considerably as a result, as shown below. Image Source: Zacks Investment Research While the current EPS outlook is undoubtedly one of negativity, we could see these expectations trickle back higher given the recent de-escalation. It'll be interesting to see how the EPS outlook evolves for NKE and other apparel players, particularly if the updated tariff regime becomes even friendlier. Bottom Line We'll have to closely pay attention to see how the tariff regime evolves, but recent de-escalation efforts have provided much-needed relief for several stocks with heavy exposure to China, a list that includes Mag 7 member Apple AAPL and apparel titan Nike NKE. It's reasonable to expect positive revisions to hit the tape for both stocks given the 'cheaper' environment, though it's worth noting that both companies have already been actively reducing their exposure to China, opting for a more diverse supply chain. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Apple Inc. (AAPL) : Free Stock Analysis Report NIKE, Inc. (NKE) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research ( Zacks Investment Research
