Canaccord raises Apple price target to $145, estimates iPhone captured 93% of smartphone profits

Apple's domination in the smartphone market compelled Canaccord Genuity to raise its price target on Apple stock to $145 on Monday, advising investors to buy in on the continued strength of the new iPhone 6, which decimated profits for competitors last quarter.






Analyst Michael Walkley of Canaccord issued a note to investors on Monday, a copy of which was provided to AppleInsider, in which he said the growing iPhone user base should help drive steady long-term sales for the company.

In particular, surveys conducted by Canaccord suggest that the larger displays of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus have attracted more Android smartphone users than the iPhone 5 and iPhone 5s before them.

A larger iPhone installed base bodes well for future sales, Walkley said, as Apple has a history of retaining customers and selling upgrades. Walkley estimates that there is currently an iPhone installed base of 404 million people, of which he believes only 15 percent have upgraded to the latest-generation iPhone 6 lineup.


Source:
http://appleinsider.com/articles/15/02/09/canaccord-raises-apple-price-target-to-145-estimates-iphone-captured-93-of-smartphone-profits

Facebook revenue, profit beat expectations

For the seventh quarter in a row Facebook beat profit and revenue forecasts, continuing to win more mobile advertising revenue as most users shift to using the site on smartphones and other portable devices.
The world’s biggest online social network said Wednesday that advertising revenue jumped 53 percent to $3.59 billion for the fourth quarter — with mobile ad revenue representing 69 percent of the total. That percentage has grown steadily in each quarter of this year.
Facebook’s huge user base also expanded. It had 1.39 billion monthly active users at the end of the year, up 13 percent from a year earlier. Daily users totaled 890 million, up 18 percent. Mobile monthly active users jumped 26 percent to 1.19 billion.
“The bigger Facebook gets, it cements its position as one of the most dominant players in digital media, and it has the size and reach to change the rules of digital advertising and convince others to play by them,” said Debra Aho Williamson, an analyst at research firm eMarketer.





Facebook, which turns 11 years old this year, began offering mobile ads in 2012, the year its stock began publicly trading. More recently, the Menlo Park company expanded into video ads, which are very lucrative, and last year it rereleased Atlas, a tool for marketers to better reach people across devices, platforms and publishers and to measure how well the ads work.
Facebook had a “strong quarter capping off a really great year,” Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg said.
She called 2014 the year Facebook completed the shift to mobile, and said the company will continue to make investments to build its business this year. When it comes to Facebook’s ad business, the focus is squarely mobile. Sandberg said that in the U.S., 25 percent of consumers’ time spent on various media is spent on mobile — while only about 10 percent of advertising budgets goes to mobile.
“What that says to me is that we have opportunity for growth,” she said.


Source:
http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Facebook-revenue-profit-beat-expectations-6046866.php

Apple may have dethroned Samsung as the world's biggest smartphone manufacturer

Apple's stellar earnings report from Wednesday mostly revolved around one fascinating number: the 74.5 million iPhones sold in the December quarter.

It not only propelled Apple's profit to $18 billion — the biggest quarterly profit posted by any company, ever — but also may have dethroned Samsung as the biggest smartphone manufacturer in the world.

SEE ALSO: How big was Apple's first quarter? Pretty damn big






Samsung did not publicly disclose the number of smartphones sold in the quarter, so this statistic hasn't been confirmed. The South Korean company did say on Thursday, however, that it sold 95 million handsets in Q4, 70% of which of which were smartphones (that's 71 to 76 million).

An important distinction: When referring to unit sales, Samsung typically uses the term "shipped," which means the actual number of units sold might be lower. Samsung typically uses the term "shipped," which means the actual number of units sold might be lower. Apple used the term "sold" for its 74.5 million iPhones, but several analysts argued that the company is also referring to units shipped, not actually units sold to customers.

Regardless, the numbers cut it pretty close, and analysts mostly agree that Apple comes out ahead. According to a report from Strategy Analytics on Wednesday, the two companies sold exactly the same number of smartphones: 74.5 million.





Read more:
http://mashable.com/2015/01/29/apple-samsung-smartphone-sales/

LG Electronics says 2014 profit up 46 percent, meets estimates

(Reuters) - South Korea's LG Electronics Inc (066570.KS) on Wednesday said its 2014 operating profit rose 46 percent to 1.8 trillion (1 billion pounds), buoyed by strong demand for television sets as well as a turnaround in its smartphone business.

The result was largely in line with analysts' estimates for a 1.9 trillion won profit. LG said it had made a 1.2 trillion won profit for 2013.






For the October-December quarter alone, LG booked a profit of 257 billion won, according to Thomson Reuters calculations based on the electronic goods maker's prior disclosures.

That was slightly below the average forecast of 299 billion won made in a Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S survey of 35 analysts. Earnings for the previous three quarters are subject to revision, however, meaning that LG Electronics could report a different quarterly profit figure.


Source:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/01/28/us-lg-elec-results-idUSKBN0L10UN20150128

Apple Smashes Forecasts, Selling 74.5 Million iPhones In Q1

- Apple sold 74.5 million iPhones in the last three months of 2015, beating even the most rosy forecasts by analysts
- Net profit grew 38% to $18 billion on sales of $74.6 billion; EPS of $3.06, all beat expectations
- The Apple Watch will ship in April






- Sales in the Greater China region rose 70% to $16.1 billion
- Currency headwinds (strong dollar, FX flux in Russia and Japan) cut revenues by 4%
- Dark spot continues to be iPad: sales fell 22% to $9 billion, mirroring a wider contraction in the tablet market
- Average selling price of the iPhone rose $50, to $687
- Shares of Apple jump 5.4% to $109.14 in after-hours trading.

Source:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/parmyolson/2015/01/27/apple-smashes-forecasts-selling-74-5-million-iphones-in-q1/