Displaying items by tag: suppliers

(Detroit)

Investors looking at the automotive sector need to think carefully about their allocation. In particular, it might be smarter to put money into automakers themselves, like GM and Ford, rather than parts suppliers. This runs counter to the typical investment strategy of buying into suppliers in major industries rather than producers themselves. Parts maker in autos have outperformed makers over the last several years, but there is a big catalyst for a reversal: auto makers are no longer looking to slash prices to increase volume. Instead, they are shifting to a higher priced margin-oriented model, which favors the makers’ stocks versus suppliers’.

FINSUM: We think the concept of a higher margin business favoring makers is logical.. However, we aren’t sure the customer is actually going to buy into this model, in which case neither makers nor suppliers would do well.

(San Francisco)

Want to forecast at where Apple’s stock price is headed? There is a good trick for doing so. The method is to look at the earnings and share price moves of Apple’s suppliers. About a third of suppliers report earnings before Apple does, and many of them derive a high portion of their sales from the company. Therefore, one can fairly well predict Apple’s earnings and likely moves. For instance, Apple has been on a tear since its earnings on Tuesday, and it would have been easy to see from the previously released supplier earnings.

FINSUM: This will not always work and some of the value is probably eaten up by algorithmic traders, but still, it seems a good predictive indicator.

(San Francisco)

The market fell in a big way yesterday. The root cause? Apple. Apple has cut its iPhone sales guidance, and it now seems a recession is coming to the whole Apple universe. The numerous companies that make their living supplying Apple seem set for a severe correction and are paring their estimates back sharply. Investors didn’t seem ready for this slowdown in the iPhone, perhaps misguided by the hype that has recently surrounded new models. The fact is that the iPhone is now a mature product, and maintaining the kind of growth it once had is likely untenable, a fact that even Wall Street analysts are starting to admit.

FINSUM: Apple’s business is changing and it seems to be doing a good job managing that transition, though everyone hopes it will have a new dynamite product. That said, a general recession surrounding the iPhone universe seems likely.