Jobs may spark move in Apple shares on Monday

Most Commented

Unified Communication for your Biz

Improve your contact center performance. See how you can make a difference.

Reach the ICT Community

Engage and build your ICT audience with CIOL online advertising.

Jobs may spark move in Apple shares on Monday

Jobs rescued Apple from mediocrity in the late 1990s, launched the iPod and the iPhone and is seen as its heart and soul

Clare Baldwin

Saturday, June 06, 2009

Email This

Print This

Comments

RSS

SAN FRANCISCO, USA: A surprise appearance by Apple Inc Chief Executive Steve Jobsat the company's annual developer conference could boost its stock on Monday, but his absence might trigger a bigger move in the other direction.

The Wall Street Journal kicked off speculation of an early return by the ailing Jobs, who had said he would be out until the end of June. Blogs and other media jumped on the report that the CEO could appear at Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference in San Francisco on Monday.

Jobs, 54, the quintessential man in black, founded Apple, rescued it from mediocrity in the late 1990s, launched the iPod and the iPhone and is seen as its heart and soul.

Canaccord Adams analyst Peter Misek sees a rally of 1 to 5 per cent in Apple's stock if Jobs makes an appearance, but no downside if he doesn't.

Global Equities Research senior analyst Trip Chowdhry said Apple's stock will likely remain high if Jobs appears, but could sell off as much as 10 per cent if he doesn't, a scenario he finds more likely.

But the company's strong performance while Jobs has been recuperating indicates he is no longer crucial to the company's success, Broadpoint AmTech analyst Brian Marshall said.

Stock in the Cupertino-based company closed at $144.67, about 85 per cent ahead of January's 52-week low of $78.20. But it was up less than 1 per cent on Friday after news that Jobs might return early.

"It's not just about Steve Jobs," Marshall said. Investors are "very comfortable" with Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook as Apple's next CEO, he added.

BMO Capital Markets analyst Keith Bachman said a Jobs cameo would strengthen Apple shares, but less than in the past.

"If he made a cameo appearance on Monday and the wind didn't blow right through him, the stock would go up," he said, but the size of the rally would depend on other factors such as announcements regarding Apple's iPhone.

Apple's stock is historically volatile during the company's June developer conference. It dropped about 7 per cent over the course of the conference in 2008 and about 4 per cent in 2007.

"If this had happened one or two years before, the stock would have (had) huge volatility. But I think investors are conditioned to the fact that Steve's health is a variable that needs to be dealt with on an ongoing basis," Bachman said.

Apple managers are trying to coordinate Jobs' return with a product launch or public event, the Journal reported, but cited sources that Jobs is "one real sick guy."

AllThingsD, a website dedicated to "news, analysis and opinion about the digital revolution," speculated that Jobs, who is known for ending presentations with "one more thing," might himself be the surprise at the Monday keynote.

Wired.com reported that such a Jobs' appearance would be "dramatic" and a "crowd pleaser," but Gawker cautioned that Apple might not want a sickly leader on stage.

"The CEO is notoriously headstrong about these sorts of things. If he wants to show up on Monday, he will," Gawker said

©Reuters

Would you like to on this article?

Be first to comment on this article

Name
Email
Your reply

Intuit Money Manager set to make India debut

Obama visit arouses mistrust among China netizens

I have never used Twitter: Obama

Satyam rejects Rs 1230-cr claims from 37 firms

Is China speaking English to beat Indian IT?

Global PC shipments to grow 2.8 p.c in 2009

China Telecom aims to sell BlackBerry

Investors should look at AT&T again

Ciena trumps NSN to buy Nortel ops: sources

Twitter traffic in US on a decline

	Stop squeezing the data. Use ILM!
	Carry your Dream, Convey your Value with ZTE
	A fault tolerant server to reduce your TCO

	A must attend event for IT Professionals
	How to make your enterprise productive
	Unified Communication can impact business. Know how

	Making Web3.0 a Reality!
	CIOL Enterprise Next :What's NEXT in IT? :
	Decrease Total System Costs With Cyclone IV FPGAs

	Reach your desired Target Audience and realize high ROI
	Effective ways of Customer Acquisition through Demand Generation
	Reach 2,500 potential Enterprise Customers!