Wednesday, January 25, 2012

AAPL : Q1/2012 Massive numbers and History of the $400B barrier

Apple does it again: Surprised Wall Street yesterday, when AAPL presented a jump of more than 100% increase in profit and revenue line is equally impressive - as part of its financial fourth quarter of 2011. In light of the results, the company's stock was sent to an 8% rise in late trading on Wall Street - as it reaches a new all-time peak.
"Into 2012, I expect the strengthening of the iPhone, iPod - Touch and the iPad. Apple has more possibilities to exploit opportunities, including opening new retail stores and the expansion of additional channels", refers to Henry Sosnto, an analyst at Gabelli & Co for optimism in the report.  "I'd say AAPL have more opportunities in emerging markets, and is still very far from exhausting all the tasks which it can expand," he added. What to do with the money?
And  what enthusiasm? Apple reported a 73% jump in revenues to -46.33 billion, and net income of 13.1 billion (or 13.87 dollars per share) - a jump of more than 100% over same quarter last year.
The company introduces more cash flow of approximately -97.6 billion, which many on Wall Street wondering whether the company will use a distribution of a dividend or repurchase (buy-back) of some of its shares. Apple's CFO, Peter Oppenheimer, declined to address the issue directly to the conference call with analysts after the release of reports.
"While many believe that Apple will repurchase extensive, we estimate that less thought," notes Michael Ioshikami, CEO of YCMNET. "More likely Apple will pay grant one - time, rather than continuing dividend to shareholders."
As for individual sales of its flagship products, Apple surprised yesterday when he reported a 128% increase in sales of iPhones (about 37 million units total). Despite the strength in sales, many wonder if the company has nowhere to go - after such a successful quarter.
"Beautiful things will happen to Apple later this year too," says Michael Blackie, an analyst at Canaccord Genuity. "The company is still expanding geographically and trying to market the iPhone 4 in China, and only started selling it in January. This means that it will be reflected in its results in March next."
Those are good news, let us check what we can learn from the history of  companies reached $400B barrier:
Microsoft (MSFT) was the largest public corporation in 2000, with market cap of $586B. Today Microsoft is worth $250B.
General Electric (GE) replaced Microsoft as the largest public corporation, with market cap of $477B. Today the company is worth $202B.
Intel (INTC) market cap reached $424B in 2000 compared to $134B today.
APPLE (AAPL) market cap today $420B, the stock increased in value over 300% in the last three years.
Is it sustainable?
I don't know.

P.S: Apple is a Great Company but I expressed some of  my doubts in the past.

Monday, January 16, 2012

2012: Great forecast for Alcatel Lucent (ALU), Cisco (CSCO) , Juniper Networks (JNPR), Siemens (SI) , Ericsson ( ERIC)

Lightwave magazine published today,  Optical industry trends for 2012.
Explosive Bandwidth Growth will continue in 2012 at least on 2011 rate, as both wired and wireless networks were  stretched  as consumers continued to adopt intensive bandwidth consuming  technologies at fast pace.
The Lightwave article is in a good agreement with our article from October 25, 2011 regarding Broadband Equipment Market Grow by 40% till 2015.
                 Optical supply chain for telecommunications becomes more on-demand supply chain model, with widespread adoption of vendor managed inventory (VMI) methods or other demand-pull systems.The main challenge for carriers and network equipment manufacturers (NEMs) has not been the recent growth in bandwidth demand itself, but the fact that the growth has come in fits and spurts – making forecasting unpredictable at best. As a result, many in the optics industry have begun to adopt an on-demand supply chain model, with widespread adoption of vendor managed inventory (VMI) methods or other demand-pull systems. 
                  Carriers become aware of self-aware networks
Many consumers are not willing to pay more for services, even though they use more bandwidth every year. As a result, carriers must operate their networks more efficiently. One of the best ways to accomplish this goal is to more proactively manage bandwidth provisioning in the optical domain. This is why “self-aware” networks gained the attention of most operators in 2011 and why they represent a major evolution in transport network design. In these new networks, optical wavelength connections will be dynamically created, re-routed, or removed according to local network bandwidth needs. Self-aware capabilities will drastically reduce overall network operating costs for the carrier.While self-aware networks were still in development in 2011, first deployments could start in late 2012 or early 2013. Operators now know what a self-aware network looks like, what it can do, and what it will cost. This coming year will see operators deciding how to best integrate the technology into their next-generation networks and selecting their preferred equipment for full commercial deployment in 2013. 
        40G reaches mainstream, with 100G close behind
In 2011, 40G deployments continued at a rapid pace with strong demand from China and EMEA. The main driver in China was the need for greater overall Internet speeds, while EMEA’s demand was driven by rising sales of tablets and smartphones. A lot of NEMs are talking about 100G, but 40G is now being deployed all over the world and will continue to play an important role in networks once 100G is readily available. The short-distance market has been figured out and could see initial deployments in late 2012. But the long-haul market is still unclear. 
              Tunable networks now the norm
The entire industry is seeking components that are smaller in size, consume less power, and provide improved functionality, while simultaneously supporting the continued aggressive price reduction trends in the telecommunications equipment market. With this in mind, it is no wonder that the tunable XFP transceiver saw rapid deployment in 2011. At this point, the tunable XFP has all but replaced the 300-pin transponder, and we will see continued growth for the tunable XFP throughout 2012.

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Ciena Corp. (NASDAQ: CIEN) strengthens its positions in UK Telecom Market.

Ciena Corp. (NASDAQ: CIEN) says that Ethernet aggregator Vaioni has selected equipment from its Carrier Ethernet portfolio to bring enhanced Ethernet service offerings to enterprises, carriers, and cloud providers. Vaioni is an independent provider of next-generation Ethernet services, VPLS, and private WAN services across the UK
Ciena’s Carrier Ethernet Service Delivery (CESD) portfolio has been rolled out across Vaioni’s UK network infrastructure, enabling the operator to extend the reach of its core network connectivity in its home market, deliver a full suite of next-generation Ethernet services, and maximize service availability while reducing the cost and complexity of turning up new services
After a detailed analysis and evaluation, Vaioni has chosen to standardize on Ciena’s Carrier Ethernet Service Delivery portfolio for all network infrastructure equipment across its UK network, Ciena asserts. The deployment of Ciena CESD equipment is now complete - including a 100% swap of old equipment.
Vaioni selected Ciena’s 3916, 3920, and 3930 Service Delivery Switches, as well as its 5150 Service Aggregation Switch, to build a next-generation Ethernet access and aggregation architecture capable of delivering a full suite of Ethernet services (E-Line, E-LAN, E-Tree) to the wholesale carrier and enterprise markets.
The 3916 and 3920 platforms serve as customer demarcation devices, ensuring quality of service (QoS) required to correctly handle multiple customer applications.
Ciena’s 3930 and 5150 platforms are being used to deploy 10-Gbps fiber-optic rings in key metro areas across the UK. The platforms use G.8032 Ethernet Ring Protection Switching to maximize service availability on the network
Ciena compliance to G.8032 is a big advantage over competitors.