7/21/10 Midevening Report: Market "unusually certain" that it should go down

The market was chugging right along today like a Kennedy at a sorority mixer after Apple titillated the market with sales stronger than the breath of either of the world's foremost cunning linguists, the great Vladmir Nabokov and the greater Janine Lindemulder, until Ben Bernanke got up and threw his figurative Baby Ruth into the market's pool causing investors to run for safety.  Bennie B. got his best gangsta lean on and told the Senate Banking Committee, who never met a bubble they couldn't regulate after it had already deflated itself, that the recovery remains "unusually uncertain and shit" before repeatedly rhetorically axing "you know what I mean?"  His befuddling remarks caused the market to fall faster than Andrew Johnson's reputation in the Republican party after suceeding (or more appropriately, failing) Lincoln and thus negated a rare day where earnings were mostly positive.

While it's not entirely clear what "unusually uncertain" means, especially since Money McBags finds all uncertainties a bit unusual, he believes the term is Fed-bonics for "We have less of a fucking clue about what is happening than we usually do."  Bernanke did say the Fed is ready to step in as needed and while he didn't say what those steps may be, one can assume they include keeping rates low (for an extended period like a metrorrhagia sufferer), manipulating the Fed's balance sheet, and the Charleston.

Prior to Bennie B. unleashing his pimp hand and treating the market like his bottom bitch, President Obama signed the financial legislation bill which after two years of debate has been watered down more than a virgin bloody mary without the tomato juice or tobasco (though he signed it "Alan Smithee", so it's not clear if the bill will hold).  The most worrisome part of the bill is that many of the details are more open ended than Alexis Texas right before filming Buttwoman which leaves regulators plenty of wiggle room to fuck more shit up.  As far as Money McBags is concerned the bill didn't go far enough in regulating the use of derivatives, in limiting the size of banks, or in raising reserve requirements and making banks responsible for their greed which led to credit scoring models to be less frequently used than MySpace (does anyone remember that piece of crap?).

In macro news, mortgage applications jumped last week for the first time in five weeks in what surely is a fictitious number, or a typo.  What is more believable is that refi applications were at 14 month highs as record low mortgage rates of 4.59% have led homeowners to lower their interest payments faster than the Stoughton, MA police department lowered the boom on one of their officers who was just doing a little (and Money McBags stresses "little") due diligence. 

The real story of the day (other than Bennie B.'s uncertain uncertainty) was Apple's Q in which they sold what is known in the retail space as "a fuckload of shit" and put up a huge earnings number.  Apple's net income rose by 78% by selling 3.3MM iPads, 8.4MM iPhones despite people waiting until the end of the Q for the iPhone 4 launch in order to be able to make use of the front facing camera while masturbating for strangers on chatroulette from work bathroom stalls everywhere, and a whopping and quarterly high 3.5MM Macintosh computers making everyone loudly say "Apple sells computers?"  Revenue was up 60% to $15.7B, beating analyst guesses by $1B, and putting the company only $4B away from world domination.  Steve Jobs also defended the iPhone antenna problem by simply saying "deal with it.  And if you don't like it, go by one of those Blackberries and make sure it matches your 8-track player and Jams."  That said, Lenovo is set to launch a challenger to the iPad using GOOG's Android system and they are referring to it as "LePad" because apparently "LeThingThatIsn'tGoingToSell" was already taken.

In other strong earnings news, MS put up a ginormous Q, harkening back to the pre-2006 days when investment banks ruled the markets like Jessica Simpson ruled the short bus in her elementary school days.  Revenue grew 53% to $7.95B and beat analyst guesses of $7.93B driven by MS' trading business which earned $4.1B in operating profits after trading their souls for three more months of manipulating the markets and a good night kiss from Rose Huntington Whiteley.  Also, KO put up a good quarter on the heels of PEP's outperformance yesteray once again reinforcing the demand inelasticity of sugar and water.  KO earned $1.06 per share, beating analyst guesses of $1.03 per share, and saw 5% growth worldwide led by international growth ex. Europe of 6%.  Money McBags is a longterm owner of KO because it is a cheap aspirational brand that appeals to emerging markets that will continue to grow as the US slogs its way towards mediocrity (though mediocrity would be a good thing).  Finally, YHOO dropped 8% on a disappointing earnings report as revenue growth remains more challenging than Sudoku for a dyslexia sufferer.

In small cap news, Money McBags mentioned CRUS yesterday but he was in such a time rush that he missed their quarterly earnings release from earlier in the day which turned out to be more positive than Robin Williams' herpes test.  The company earned $.29 per share in the quarter on 118% y/y revenue growth and margins going to 57% from 52% last year and 56% last Q.  Most surprisingly, their energy business jumped up to $28MM from $22MM as a result of the both the power meter business and their energy exploration business.  On the call, they talked about this business but gave fewer useful details as to what is driving it than a republican strategist gives details about their plan to fix the economy.

That said, it's really CRUS' consumer audio business that has investors drooling over this company as if it were Hayley Atwell as they provide an audio chip for the iPhone and that segment absolutely killed it.  Revenue was up 32% sequentially in that segment with Apple moving to 35% of their overall revenues.  Company guidance was also stellar with next Q predicted to have at the midpoints $102MM in revenues, 57% gross margins, and $27MM non-Gaap op ex. and while Money McBags is no maffematecian (he only counts to two when told to turn his head and cough), those number should get them to ~$.44 eps as they still have more NOLs than Money McBags has broken dreams.

The hard part is forecasting this company since they are obviously a play on the iPhone and AAPL could find a new suplier or put more pricing pressure on them at any time.  Now look, Money McBags doesn't think that will happen anytime soon as their chip is supposed to provide the best audio quality and they are continually investing in R&D, but it is something of which investors should be aware.  Money McBags' previous estimate for fiscal year EPS was $1.20 but with CRUS earning $.29 per share  in Q1 and guiding for $.44 per share in Q2, $1.20 seems like it is lower than Andy Rooney's balls.  So Money McBags is going to get a bit conservative here and estimate that the energy business falls to ~$24MM quarterly run rate, the non-AAPL consumer business stays flat, and the AAPL business only grows 10% sequentially.

Doing that (and using 55% margins which may be on the low end and $110MM op ex), Money McBags gets an estimate of $1.47 which is about double what they should earn in the first half of the fiscal year.  Of course, those are very low end estimates as the AAPL business has been growing 30%+ sequentially and gross margins have been above 55%, so at the hgh end we could be looking at closer to $1.70 EPS for the fiscal year.

Either way, the stock is now trading at ~$19 which is ~13x Money McBags' low end estimate and the company has ~$2.50 in cash on the balance sheet and 13x for a company growing this fast is just way too fucking cheap.  If you want, throw a 20x on $1.47 and get to ~$30 for a target price.  As long as Apple doesn't pull the rug out from under these guys, there is plenty of room to move up even though it has already had a better run than a roidal Ben Johnson.

4/21/10 Midday Report: You can not stop AAPL, you can only hope to contain them

The news today is earnings, earnings, earnings, and Sophie Turner.  The markets are inching up after a strong slate of mostly positive earnings reports (not so fast AT&T and GILD).  However, before we get to earnings which featured Apple taking other handset makers out to eat, getting them drunk, and then giving them a cleveland steamer as a reminder of their dominance, Greece is back in the news.  Investors are worried that Greece may take 45B euros in aid before actually agreeing on the terms which is very TARP-esque of them (one wonders if they are going to use Hank Paulson's preferred contractual device of a napkin to agree to country changing policies).  With terms of the aid more open than Joslyn James' anus right before Tiger Woods "sinks a putt," the risk premium on Greek bonds has soared to 512bps which is higher than anything in Greece has gone since Icarus let his ego get the best of him.  Concerns remain that Greece may not be able to pay the 8B euro coming due in a month and in a show of support, Greek workers are about to embark on their 3rd 24 hour strike since the crisis began which would be crippling if that weren't somehow still more hours than they typically work in a day.  Luckily for them, France is gearing up to loan Greece 6B to 8B euros as part of the aid package.  French economy minister Christine Lagard, who in 2009 was named Best Finance Minister in Eurozone by the Financial Times after a stunning rendition of "Mo Money Mo Problems" in the talent portion of the show, tried to calm the fears of a Euro meltdown by opining:  "I won’t say Portugal is next in line..." before adding "but I just saw Prime Minister Jose Socrates listing the Iberian Peninsula on Craigslist for "roses." Boooyah!!!  Can I get a Quelle Quelle?"

As for earnings, AAPL crushed their quarter with iPhone sales up 130% leading to a 90% increase in profit and a 49% increase in sales.  Apple earned $3.33 per share, well above analyst guesses of $2.45 and said they were "shocked" by how well the iPad was selling.  Holy fucking shit is it on.  Apparently Apple's app for taking over the world is a little too good as their products are selling faster than Adam Smith's invisible hand can fondle unwitting young ladies during New York's Fashion Week.  In other earnings news, Morgan Stanley traded the fuck out of some shit (and Money McBags apologizes for getting overly technical there) earning $1.03 per share after one-timers largely because of their sales and trading unit.  Book value is up to ~$28 per share and ROEs are creeping back up hitting 13%.  Like every other investment bank, revenues and profits were driven by fixed income traders who bought and sold shit we'll never know about, who we can't actually track to see what the fuck they are doing, and who are likely ignoring all but one SEC regulation (and that one of course is to not get high off their own supply).  The paper economy lives on, long live made up shit.  Also, MCD beat guesses by earning $1.03 per share after one-timers and Money McBags is an owner of this stock because there is huge brand equity for continued international expansion.  Operating margins were up 2.2% and same store sales were up 4.2% for the quarter and 5.2% in March driven by 4.2% growth in the US, 5.9% growth in Europe, and 7.9% growth on Mars.  MCD is not going to be a high flyer but it offers a nice yield for a franchise that should do well in a world becoming more globalized, even in a down economy.

In other earnings, BA beat numbers, YHOO had a nice bottom line (though not nearly as nice as Jessica Biel's bottom line) yet missed on revenues since they compete with something called GOOG, and AT&T had a good Q but is selling off as new subscribers were the lowest since 2004 during the bizarre and short lived rotary phone trend.  Also, VMWare put up a huge quarter and Money McBags did something he rarely does by buying the quarter of a ridiculously high priced stock.  Honestly, Money McBags hates buying things this overvalued more than he hates long walks on the beach, sentences that end with prepositions, and Jane Austen, but he believes in virtualization.  This not a fucking fad like Wacky Wall Walkers, YoYos, or the way way too short lived rainbow parties.  Revenue was up 35% to $634MM, Non-Gaap earnings were up 45% to $.32 per share, free cash flow was up 68% to $326MM, and overall cash on the balance sheet was a healthy $2.8B.  Guidance was for 30% 2010 revenue growth of $2.6B to $2.7B which means the company is currently trading at around 9x 2010 revenues but closer to 6.5x 2011 revenues ex. cash.  Yeah, it is a total bullshit metric and Money McBags crapped all over metrics like this yesterday when he advised that SFSF was too fucking expensive, but companies like VMWare often get purchased at multiples of revenue between 6x and 10x so we're still at the low end of 2011 potential revenue multiples.  It certainly isn't cheap and on a P/E basis it is trading somewhere between astronomical and Warren Buffet heart attack high, but they are a market leader in a space that is absolutely here to stay.  IT departments are cutting costs quick and deep, like Lexington Steele losing his virginity, and VMWare's virtualization software is at the forefront of this (or, to continue with the Lexington Steele analogy, the foreskin of this).  Money McBags believes in this sector and cloud computing almost as much as Burton Malkiel believes in efficient markets or as much as aspiring Hollywood actors believe in Scientology and it is why Money McBags will soon be buying TMRK (who by the way received a big investment from VMWare last year).  So yes, the stock is pricier than an Ashley Dupre blumpkin, but sometimes you have to pay up for quality.

In small cap news, a Money McBags favorite and his largest small cap holding KITD is bouncing back after a big block trade on them yesterday afternoon which sent them stumbling.  The stock is probably range bound to down until they announce a new acquisition or until their next quarterly call in a couple of months so there is no reason to panic and if you are are not an owner, buying any dip is certainly worthwhile.  Also, CRUS which Money McBags owns and has written about many times is getting some AAPL momentum today as they produce an iPhone audio chip and as said earlier, iPhone sales were ridonkulous.