Golden Apple makes another record in revenue and profit

Best Quarterly Revenue & Earnings in Apple History

Mac, iPod & iPhone Sales Break Previous Records

Apple® today announced financial results for its fiscal 2008 first quarter ended December 29, 2007. The Company posted revenue of $9.6 billion and net quarterly profit of $1.58 billion, or $1.76 per diluted share. These results compare to revenue of $7.1 billion and net quarterly profit of $1 billion, or $1.14 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Gross margin was 34.7 percent, up from 31.2 percent in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 45 percent of the quarter’s revenue.

Apple shipped 2,319,000 Macintosh® computers, representing 44 percent unit growth and 47 percent revenue growth over the year-ago quarter. The Company sold 22,121,000 iPods during the quarter, representing five percent unit growth and 17 percent revenue growth over the year-ago quarter. Quarterly iPhone™ sales were 2,315,000.

“We’re thrilled to report our best quarter ever, with the highest revenue and earnings in Apple’s history,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “We have an incredibly strong new product pipeline for 2008, starting with MacBook Air, Mac Pro and iTunes Movie Rentals in the first two weeks.”

“Apple’s revenue grew 35 percent year-over-year to $9.6 billion, an increase of almost $2.5 billion over the previous December quarter’s record-breaking results,” said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple’s CFO. “Our strong results produced cash flow from operations of over $2.7 billion during the quarter, yielding an ending cash balance of over $18.4 billion. Looking ahead to the second quarter of fiscal 2008, we expect revenue of about $6.8 billion and earnings per diluted share of about $.94.”

Cisco invests $1.59 Billion in Dubai

Cisco Announces AED 5.8 Billion Five-Year ICT Investment Plan for the United Arab Emirates

Cisco Networking Academy to expand across the emirates

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - January 22, 2008 - At a meeting held today with Mohammad Al Gergawi, minister of state for Cabinet Affairs, Ahmad Bin Bayat, chairman of Tecom, and Osman Sultan, chief executive officer of du, John Chambers, Cisco® chairman and chief executive officer, announced a plan to invest up to AED 5.8 billion (USD $1.59 billion) on information and communications technology (ICT) in the United Arab Emirates over the next five years. The investment intends to support the 2015 vision of His Highness Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, vice-president and prime minister of the UAE and ruler of Dubai, to fuel the nation’s growth and development plans.

Paul Mountford, president, Emerging Markets, Cisco said: “This investment demonstrates our continued, long-term commitment to the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The vision of the country’s leadership has allowed it to transition quickly to a ‘connected’ world. We look forward to continued collaboration working closely with the government to help support and realize the nation’s ambitious development and growth vision.”

As part of this investment, which is expected to create up to 650 new jobs at Cisco by December 2010, Cisco will open a new regional headquarters office in Dubai in April 2008. The regional office will host one of Cisco’s most advanced customer briefing centers allowing Cisco to showcase the latest innovations in Internet Protocol (IP) networking technology, such as Cisco TelePresence. The company will also open an office in Abu Dhabi in June 2008 to serve the growing customer base in the capital.

The new regional headquarters will continue to deliver Cisco connected real estate solutions serving customers across Emerging Markets. Conceived and developed out of Cisco’s Dubai office, the operations will draw on customer experiences in the region to help support continued solutions developed collaboratively at a global level.

Mountford concluded: “Unburdened by legacy technology, the UAE is able to deploy the most advanced IP solutions, placing the country at the forefront of the Internet economy. This investment plan builds on Cisco’s 15-year history in the region and demonstrates our commitment to the future of the country. It also firmly establishes the UAE as a center for innovation and not just a user of technology.”

Other investments include:

• Expansion of Cisco Networking Academies to further develop an educated local pool of talent that can build and manage sustained networks in the future. Cisco currently operates 39 Academies in the UAE.
• Cisco’s sponsorship of the Dubai School of Government research
• Cisco Systems Capital Corporation intends to fund up to $400 million in the UAE over a five-year period through third-party banking partners and through the potential establishment of a financial services company in Dubai. The funding may include inventory financing for Cisco’s channel partners in the UAE as well as potentially financing the acquisition of Cisco equipment, software and services by Cisco’s end-user customers.

IBM reports 2007 Forth Quater and Full year results of almost 100 billion in revenue

Highlights from the quarter :

• Diluted earnings of $2.80 per share, up 24 percent as reported;

• Total revenues of $28.9 billion, up 10 percent;

• Global Technology Services revenues up 16 percent; pre-tax income up 26 percent;

• Global Business Services revenues up 17 percent; pre-tax income up 9 percent;

• Services signings of $15.4 billion; short-term signings up 8 percent;

• Software revenues up 12 percent; pre-tax income up 21 percent;

• 65 percent of revenues from outside the U.S.; E/ME/A revenues up 16 percent; Asia Pacific up 15 percent.

Highlights from the full year :

• Diluted earnings of $7.18 per share, up 18 percent as reported;

• Total revenues of $98.8 billion, up 8 percent;

• Global Technology Services revenues up 12 percent; pre-tax income up 8 percent;

• Global Business Services revenues up 13 percent; pre-tax income up 21 percent;

• Software revenues up 10 percent; pre-tax income up 9 percent.

Income from continuing operations for the year ended December 31, 2007 was $10.4 billion compared with $9.4 billion in the year-ago period, an increase of 11 percent. Diluted earnings per share from continuing operations were $7.18, including a gain from the sale of the Printing Systems Division in the second quarter, an increase of 18 percent, compared with $6.06 per diluted share in 2006. Revenues from continuing operations for 2007 totaled $98.8 billion, an increase of 8 percent (4 percent, adjusting for currency), compared with $91.4 billion in 2006.

No more love for AMD as accounts turn BloodRed!

AMD (NYSE: AMD) reported fourth quarter 2007 revenue of $1.770 billion, an 8 percent increase compared to the third quarter of 2007 and flat compared to the fourth quarter of 2006.

In the fourth quarter of 2007, AMD reported a net loss of $1.772 billion, or $3.06 per share, and an operating loss of $1.678 billion. Fourth quarter net loss included charges of $1.675 billion, or $2.89 per share, of which $1.669 billion were operating charges. The non-cash portion of the fourth quarter charges was $1.606 billion. In the third quarter of 2007, AMD reported revenue of $1.632 billion, a net loss of $396 million, and an operating loss of $226 million. In the fourth quarter of 2006, AMD reported revenue of $1.773 billion, a net loss $576 million, and an operating loss of $529 million.

Our analysis is that a bear flag is forming and you can get it cheaper in a few days. However we believe the next quarter will be very important for AMD to prove that they can make a comeback after writing off a lot of shallow value for the ATI deal, and we believe the worst is behind them if they can get back on track. They have the technology, they have the backing in the community, however they need to solve things internally.