Reuters Insider - Techquity: Praise for Apple with a warning, less PC pain

Camtek

07/07/2014 20:32

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 Source:             Thomson Reuters                                   
                                                                       
 Description:        Pacific Crest raises concerns about Apple's stock 
                     while raising its price target. Plus, PC shipments 
                     not as bad as feared.                             
 
 
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Transcript (May be auto-generated)

 Confidence in the near-term about Apple but with a warning. Pacific Crest 
adjusting its expectations for the stock. The brokerage raising its price target
to $100 from $93 on a belief the upcoming iPhone 6 debut will be strong. It sees
a $199 phone with a 4.7-inch display out in September, and also a $299 one with 
5.5-inch screen which will boost profits. But Pacific Crest says it will likely 
downgrade the stock if an iWatch or other new products or services do not appear
to be massive incremental opportunities. Apple has taken another step that has 
increased a speculation about a watch-like device - hiring an executive with TAG
Heuer. The luxury watch company disclosed the departure of its Vice President of
Sales Friday. 

Apple has already brought on board the former CEOs of Burberry and Yves Saint 
Laurent. Shares now up 1% near $95. They hit a 52-week high earlier of $95.47. 
Google wants to be more competitive with Amazon when it comes to helping 
consumers. It plans to set aside up to $500 million to expand Google Shopping 
Express across the US, according the website Re/code. The service let shoppers 
buy items from local retail stores through Google which then delivers them the 
same day or next day. It's only available in San Francisco, L.A. and New York 
right now. Partners include Target, Costco and Whole Foods. Google takes a cut 
off of each transaction but plans to launch a flat fee membership just like 
Amazon Prime. Google down fractionally, Amazon down about 1%. 

Things finally seem to be getting better for the poor PC but it's not exactly 
great. It's just that the bad news is getting less bad. Gartner says global PC 
shipments will shrink just 2.9% this year to about 308,000 units, a slowdown 
from the 9.5% drop last year. Breaking the decline: Windows users upgrading from
the XP operating system and businesses replacing their aging PCs. Now, you may 
recall that just last month, Intel stocks shut up after it raises revenue 
outlook because of stronger than expected demand for business PCs. PCs may also 
be getting help from the device that kept gobbling away at their share: tablets.
The growth of tablets is slowing partly due to the shift toward "phablets". 
Though Gartner predicts tablet sales will surpass PC sales for the first time 
next year. And as seen with phablets, mobile phones keep growing. Gartner sees 
smartphones sales making up 88% of global mobile phones sales by 2018, up 
sharply from the 66% projected for this year. It predicts Apple's launch of the 
larger screen iPhone 6 will spark growth for the sector. But it still expects 
shipments of Android phones to rise at double the rate of Apple's iOS. 

Soaring is Israel-based Camtek, today's biggest gainer on the NASDAQ. The 
company, which makes semiconductor testing products, announced the launch of its
new Eagle product line and they've already received early orders from major 
semiconductor firms. Shares of the small-cap have been steadily rising, up 50% 
now. Sputtering is GT Advanced Technologies. UBS took the LED equipment maker 
off its list of top stocks to buy, saying the company shipped fewer than 
expected sapphire products in May. Shares down 13%. And that's Techquity this 
Monday. Remember, you can follow us on Twitter: @RtrsTechquity. I'm Fred 
Katayama, and this is Reuters