This week we’re joined by Will Thomson, Portfolio Manager and Founder at Massif Capital. We dive into the recession (or not?), Europe’s woes, the strong U.S. dollar and where it goes from here, and the undersupply of precious metals. Plus, Kim covers why he is watching AMC earnings like a hawk next week for Catalyst Watch.
Shares of Apple (AAPL) climbed 3% to $162 in extended trading on Thursday after posting FQ3 results that were better-than-expected and saying sales should “accelerate” in the current quarter despite U.S. economic uncertainty. Revenue attributed to the iPhone, which accounted for nearly half of all sales, came in at a whopping $40.7B (+3% Y/Y), while the company saw a “record” number of people switch over from Android during the quarter. That helped boost revenue at Apple’s Services division, which rose to $19.6B (+12% Y/Y) and saw the number of people paying recurring subscription fees climb 23% over the past 12 months to 860M.
Quotes: “There is no obvious evidence in our data that there is macroeconomic effect on iPhone sales… and we’re continuing to hire,” CEO Tim Cook said on an earnings call. “The situation on supply is improving,” added CFO Luca Maestri. “The big question mark, as always, are potential COVID restrictions, but in the current environment, if nothing changes, we expect supply constraints to be less than what we saw in June.”
Investors also bid up shares of Amazon (AMZN), betting that strong AWS cloud computing growth will outweigh weakness at its core retail operations. The stock even soared 13.5% to $138 AH despite a $2B net loss, which was skewed heavily due to a massive writedown on its investment in EV maker Rivian (RIVN). A positive revenue forecast helped counter that sentiment, while advertising revenue reached $8.76B (+18% Y/Y), suggesting that Amazon could be taking market share from its mega-cap tech rivals.
Expenses and drivers: “Despite continued inflationary pressures in fuel, energy, and transportation costs, we’re making progress on the more controllable costs we referenced last quarter, particularly improving the productivity of our fulfillment network,” noted CEO Andy Jassy. “We’re also seeing revenue accelerate as we continue to make Prime even better for members, both investing in faster shipping speeds, and adding unique benefits such as free delivery from Grubhub for a year, exclusive access to NFL Thursday Night Football games starting Sept. 15, and releasing the highly anticipated series The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.”
