Apple Gets Cored

By Dave Marino-Nachison (TMF Braden)
September 28, 2000

Shares of iMac maker Apple Computer (Nasdaq: AAPL) were quickly slashed by nearly 50% in after-hours trading tonight as the company said it expects fiscal Q4 (ending September 30) earnings to come in "substantially" below Wall Street's expectations as September sales have been slower than anticipated.

"We've clearly hit a speedbump, which will result in our earning, before investment gains, approximately $110 million rather than the expected $165 million for the September quarter," said Apple CEO Steve Jobs. "Though this slowdown is disappointing, we have so many wonderful new products and programs in the pipeline -- including Mac OS X early next year -- and remain positive about our future."

Apple said it expects revenues of between $1.85 billion and $1.90 billion for the quarter. Earnings per share are seen between $0.30 and $0.33, well off First Call's $0.45 consensus estimate. Last year's EPS figure was $0.26.

The news, following on the heels of bad news from chipmaking Rule Maker Intel (Nasdaq: INTC), freed the bears in after-hours tech trading as a broad spate of boxmaker names were down: Dell (Nasdaq: DELL), Compaq (NYSE: CPQ), Gateway (NYSE: GTW) and others all moved back tonight.

"Three factors contributed to our revenues and earnings coming in below expectations," said Apple CFO Fred Anderson "First, we experienced lower than expected September sales due to a business slowdown in all geographies. Second, our education sales, which normally peak during September, were lower than expected. And third, our Power Mac G4 Cube is off to a slower than expected start, resulting in revenues below expectations."

That final point was a sore spot for Motley Fool Stock Research analyst John Del Vecchio, who expected stronger G4 Cube sales during the quarter.

Anderson said the company is "reevaluating our plans going forward," pointing investors toward lower growth targets for fiscal Q1 of 2001 -- and, in fact, the entire upcoming fiscal year -- when final results are announced October 18.

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