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Monday April 13, 2015

// April 13th, 2015 // Comments Off on Monday April 13, 2015 // Daily News

Apple likely to boost watch production quickly: Analysts

Reuters

Apple is likely to quickly ramp production of the Apple Watch after strong pre-orders outstripped limited supply in the first weekend following its launch, some Wall Street analyst
Apple is widely expected to disclose weekend pre-order numbers at around 8:30 a.m. ET on Monday.
According to shopping data firm Slice Intelligence, Apple booked nearly 1 million pre-orders for the Apple Watch in the United States on Friday.
The Apple Watch, which allows users to check email, listen to music and make phone calls when paired with an iPhone, goes on sale officially on April 24.
“Based on our observations and media reports, launch day supply was largely sold out within the first 10 to 30 minutes depending on model,” Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster said in a client note.
Munster, who expects Apple to sell 2.3 million watches in the April-June quarter, expects Apple to ramp production between mid-May and June.
Bank of America/Merrill Lynch expects Apple to ship 4 million smartwatches in the quarter.
The Apple Watch is Chief Executive Tim Cook’s first new major product launch and the company’s first foray into the personal luxury-goods market.
The company will sell the gadgets in Apple stores and online as well as in trendy fashion boutiques in Paris, London and Tokyo as part of a strategy to position the wearable computer as a must-have accessory.
Despite mixed reviews, which praised the watch’s styling but criticized its less-than-spectacular battery life and slow-loading apps, people flocked to Apple’s stores to get a close-up look.
“We think the Apple Watch will be highly disruptive to the traditional fashion watch market,” Pacific Crest analysts said.

Today’s Inspiration

Be Prepared

by Joyce Meyer – posted April 13, 2015

Strength and dignity are her clothing and her position is strong and secure; she rejoices over the future [the latter day or time to come, knowing that she and her family are in readiness for it]! Proverbs 31:25

This woman’s strength and dignity are her clothing, and her position is strong and secure. This certainly must have increased her confidence. She isn’t afraid of losing her position or something bad happening. She boldly faces the future because she knows she and her family are prepared for it.

Proverbs 27:23 tells us: Be diligent to know the state of your flocks, and look well to your herds. Lack of preparation is one of the major causes for low confidence. Being prepared requires working ahead of time instead of putting things off until the last minute. Matthew 25 tells us of the five wise virgins who took extra oil with them as they waited for the bridegroom to come, but the five foolish virgins didn’t do anything to prepare. When the bridegroom was delayed, the foolish lost their opportunity to meet the bridegroom.

This same scenario happens to many people in life. They procrastinate until it is too late to take advantage of an opportunity that could have been a tremendous blessing to them. Knowing you are prepared for whatever comes will increase your confidence in an amazing way.

Lord, help me to be diligent and prepared for the opportunities You will bring my way. I want to walk in the confidence that I am always ready to go. Amen.

Thursday April 9, 2015

// April 9th, 2015 // Comments Off on Thursday April 9, 2015 // Daily News

The stocks expected to see huge earnings moves
Alex Rosenberg | @CNBCAlex

CNBC.com

As earnings season approaches, some big names could be unusually active.

Screening for mega-cap names with high implied earnings moves versus average moves, Goldman Sachs’ options research team found that JPMorgan, 3M and Intel are expected to move much more than history might indicate.
Implied moves on earnings are determined by looking at options prices to see how much traders are willing to pay (or receive) for exposure to potential moves, up and down, around earnings.
Goldman’s team then compared those implied moves to actual historical moves to see where an especially large move is being priced into the options.
Among mega-cap equities, JPMorgan is the standout, with options traders expecting a move 5.9 times greater than its average move over the last eight quarters. But that’s not because traders are expecting the stock to be rocked; it’s just because the median move over the last eight quarters rounds to 0 percent, compared to the implied move this quarter of 3 percent.
It’s a similar story for 3M, which has an implied move of 3 percent, compared with an average move of 1 percent.
The story is a bit more interesting for Intel, which has an implied move of 7 percent, compared with a median move of 2 percent.
It’s been a tough year for Intel, which reports earnings on Tuesday. The stock is down 14 percent in 2015, and was hit hard in March when it cut its revenue guidance for the first quarter. The actual numbers, then, are expected to move the stock big-time.
Of course, it isn’t particularly unusual for an implied move to exceed the average historical move. If a trader simply buys a call option or a put option, their loss is limited to the options premium laid out, but their potential profits are much larger (in this case, because the company could report blowout earnings or several disappointing numbers). Thus, the implied move is a sort of average of all the possible moves—including very large ones.
Still, especially large divergences between the implied move and the historical moves can be telling.
For Andrew Keene, an options trader with Keene on the Market, the divergences that Goldman points may indicate stocks where the options are overpriced.
“I want to take advantage of the fact that the implied movement in these three particular stocks is very high compared to how they historically have moved over the last eight quarters,” Keene said.
In other words, Keene would recommend being a seller, rather than buyer, of options in these names—particularly 3M, which has only seen a post-earnings move as large as the implied 3.3 percent once over the past two years.
On the other side of the spectrum, Amazon is the mega-cap pricing into the lowest implied move compared to its recent history. Over the last eight quarters, a move of 10 percent is the norm, but Amazon options are only pricing in a 9 percent move.

Today’s Inspiration

Positive Belief

by Joyce Meyer – posted April 09, 2015

[For Abraham, human reason for] hope being gone, hoped in faith that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been promised, so [numberless] shall your descendants be. He did not weaken in faith when he considered the [utter] impotence of his own body, which was as good as dead because he was about a hundred years old, or [when he considered] the barrenness of Sarah [deadened] womb. No unbelief or distrust made him waver (doubtingly question) concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong and was empowered by faith as he gave praise and glory to God, fully satisfied and assured that God was able and mighty to keep His word and to do what He had promised. Romans 4:18-21

The story of Abraham amazes me no matter how many times I read it. It’s not just the birth of a son when he was a hundred years old. That’s a miracle. But just as amazing is the information that he waited twenty-five years for the fulfillment of the promise. He was seventy-five when God promised him a son.

I wonder how many of us would believe God and live in expectation for twenty-five years. Most of us probably would have said, “I didn’t really hear from God.” “Oh, I guess maybe God didn’t really mean that.” Or, “I need to go somewhere else to get a fresh word from the Lord.”

Sarah and Abraham did have problems holding on to that promise. As a means of attempting to get what they wanted, they had Sarah’s handmaiden, Hagar, bear him a son, but God let him know that wasn’t the way it was going to be. I believe their actions delayed the arrival of God’s promised child.

In our impatience, we often take matters into our own hands. I say we get “bright ideas” plans of our own, which we hope God will bless. These plans open the door for confusion and chaos. Then their results must be dealt with, which often delays our miracle.