Finance

As institutional investors side with Apple, Carl Icahn withdraws his buyback proposal

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated June 16, 2016

Controversial activist investor Carl Icahn continues to aggressively purchase shares of Apple while insisting that the company increase the size of its share buyback program. His proposal for a $50 billion buyback has been met with resistance by proxy advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) which now recommends voting against the plan.

ISS argues that the Apple board has already returned the bulk of its U.S.-generated cash to shareholders through the company's aggressive stock buybacks and dividends payouts. As a result of large institutional investors siding with Apple, Icahn has withdrawn his proposal...

Apple to discuss holiday sales in January 27 conference call

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 9, 2016

According to the Apple Investor webpage, the company will hold a conference call on Monday, January 27, to discuss financial results of its first fiscal 2014 quarter. The call is scheduled at 2:00pm Pacific / 5pm Eastern Time.

Apple typically announces quarterly earnings via a press release issued half an hour ahead of these calls and we'll be providing around the clock coverage to make sure you're up to date on all matters concerning the company's business metrics.

The upcoming earnings report should be interesting on many levels as it will cover the all-important holiday season sales data for the iPhone 5s/5c, the iPad Air and iPad mini with Retina display...

The best personal finance apps for iPhone

Lory Gil ∙ Updated April 14, 2018

Keeping track of finances may come easy to some people, but not everyone is great with money. Some of us need a little extra help to keep us from coming up short at the end of the month.

If you want to keep track of your finances and that old ledger book is just not cutting it anymore, check out our list of best personal finance apps for the iPhone.

Yahoo Finance gets push notifications and all-new iOS 7 look

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 24, 2018

Since the iPhone's inception, Yahoo has been Apple's exclusive provider of weather and stock market data in iOS. While I've never been a big fan of Yahoo's Finance app for the iPhone and iPad, I prefer to keep tabs on stocks on the Yahoo Finance website, as opposed to Google Finance.

I'll be changing my mind, however, as the Internet giant has at last given the iOS app a thorough overhaul while adding new features such as notifications for stock price changes, so it now feels right at home in iOS 7...

Shares 2 offers a ridiculously simple way to track your stocks

Lory Gil ∙ Updated February 16, 2018

Keeping track of your stocks can be a burden if you are using Apple’s native Stocks app. You can see increases and decreases from the day’s opening, but figuring out how much you’ve made or lost takes additional time, and usually a calculator.

Shares 2 gives you a simple and elegant view of the companies you’ve invested in, plus gives you an overview of how much money you’ve made or lost overall…

5coins helps you keep track of what you spend on a daily basis

Lory Gil ∙ Updated December 4, 2013

Expense tracker apps are all the rage right now. I guess it is because they look so good on iOS 7, with their flat design and colorful accents. They sure do look better than my boring old checkbook ledger that I used to use.

5coins is a very simplistic expense tracker that helps you take note of your daily spending habits…

Dollarbird review: personal finance meets calendar

Lory Gil ∙ Updated April 13, 2018

Depending on the kind of person you are, keeping track of your finances is either as easy as tying your shoes, or harder than remembering your great aunt’s birthday.

Dollarbird makes it possible for you to plan your monthly budget and keep an eye on your daily spending to help you avoid the dreaded “overdrawn” letter from the bank…

Expense Planner reminds you of future payments

Lory Gil ∙ Updated December 4, 2013

If you have ever found yourself short on cash, or even worse, overdrawn, because you forgot about a recurring automatic payment, then you could use a friendly reminder to help you keep track of upcoming debits to your account.

Expense Planner does just that. You can add an upcoming expense, set a date to be reminded, and forget about it until later…

Apple’s latest major acquisition: Apple

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated April 18, 2016

Philip Elmer-DeWitt, writing for Fortune:

Last quarter, Apple finally made a major acquisition. And what did it buy?

It bought Apple.

By my calculation, the company spent $16 billion last quarter ($4 billion in cash, $12 billion through the so-called accelerated share repurchase program) to purchase 36 million of its own shares at an average price of just over $444.

For that amount, Apple could have bought three Nokias or three BlackBerrys...

Spendee helps you keep track of finances with little effort

Lory Gil ∙ Updated December 4, 2013

Some people like to track their income and expenses in very detailed and comprehensive spreadsheets. They are usually great with money and probably have a stock portfolio. Some people are constantly over budget and can’t figure out why. They have probably overdrawn their account after purchasing a candy bar at least once in their lives.

If you are the type of person who lives paycheck to paycheck and hate the idea of sitting down everyday figuring out where you money is (or should be) going, Spendee is the perfect finance app on to keep you in check without boring you with the details…

Google and Samsung go up every time Apple goes down, but not for long

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 28, 2019

With Apple's market capitalization having fallen below the $400 billion mark, the first such drop since January 2012, many armchair analysts are observing on Twitter and elsewhere a worrying correlation between stock prices of Apple and its chief rivals Google and Samsung. Looking at the period from Apple's September 2012 peak, each time Apple went down, Google and Samsung seemingly rose.

And with this weird correspondence between Apple's lows and Google’s and Samsung's highs, some analysts are calling the Internet giant "the next Apple", estimating that Google is on its way to join the $1,000 a share club. What a difference a few months make: one analyst in April 2012 said Apple would become the world’s first $1 trillion company. While Apple's pain = Google's gain, luck in the stock market changes quickly...

AAPL for a second time passes Exxon, GOOG hits new all-time high

Christian Zibreg ∙ February 1, 2013

Look, these things are not the be-all, end-all for business performance, but obviously market capitalization reflects investors' expectations concerning Apple's future performance. The iPhone maker last Friday hit a 52-week low and as a result ceded its top spot as the world's most-valued publicly traded corporation to the oil giant Exxon.

AAPL shares have slowly been recovering since and today has surpassed the oil conglomerate for a second time in after-hours trading. The Cupertino firm now leads Exxon with a $10 billion market cap difference, but is Apple's valuation sustainable in the long run?