Apple’s Stock Clears $700 — Tuesday’s IP Market Recap

by Marc Bastow | September 18, 2012 5:10 pm

[1]Up a little, down a little, up a little … you get the idea. It feels like if not for the strength of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL[2]) — OK, and the Fed’s underlying hand in the economy and, thus, investor mind-set of investors — all heck just might break loose to the downside.

Still, the cycle hasn’t broken yet, so stocks wallowed in a fairly tight range for the day before settling in with mixed results. The Dow gained fractionally to finish at 13,564, the S&P fell 0.13% to 1,459 and the Nasdaq ended down marginally at 3,177.

Still cruising on anticipation of this week’s iPhone 5 launch[3], Apple walked the fine share line of $700 before driving it home and finishing at a new all-time high of just less than $701.91.

At this point, Apple has enjoyed more than 2 million pre-orders for the iPhone 5[4], and expectations are they could sell as many as 20 million units this quarter, according to[5] ValueWalk, and potentially 46 million during the holiday season[6].

Apple’s market cap of $655 billion represents 13% of the Nasdaq and 5% of the S&P 500, so a price of over $700 is more than just symbolic. Analysts are already reconsidering valuations, and Bank of America (NYSE:BAC[7]) raised its target price on the stock to $850 per share — a full $100 above its previous targets.

Meanwhile, back on planet Earth, FedEx (NYSE:FDX[8]) released disappointing earnings[9] and once again warned Street analysts and shareholders that a weak economy will hold down future results — this time for the current quarter and full fiscal year. Shares were handed a 3% loss on the day.

Chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE:AMD[10]) was pummeled, losing nearly 10% on the day[11] after company CFO Thomas Seifert announced his departure after three years in the job. A hoped-for turnaround led by Rory Read, who took the reins about a year ago, has not materialized, with AMD shares nearly halved in the past 52 weeks.

The pain in the coal industry[12] continues as Alpha Natural Resources (NYSE:ANR[13]) announced it will close eight mines[14] across West Virginia, Virginia and Pennsylvania to help trim expenses. Nearly 9% of the company’s employees will be affected once the mines are closed and layoffs begin.

Shares of battery manufacturer Energizer (NYSE:ENR[15]) surged as the company announced plans to restructure its operations in an effort to save up to $200 million annually in expenses. ENR also said it will keep its earnings guidance numbers in place, and anticipates higher per-share earnings year-over-year. Shares closed more than 10% higher.

Finally, just a friendly reminder that it’s National Cheeseburger Day[16]. Hopefully, one of those beef ‘n’ cheese beauties is somewhere just down your road.

Earnings reports for Wednesday include AutoZone (NYSE:AZO[17]), General Mills (NYSE:GIS[18]), and Cracker Barrel (NASDAQ:CBRL[19]).

Three Up

• Nii Holdings (NASDAQ:NII[20]): Up 7.8% (52 cents) to $7.15.
• Vera Bradley (NYSE:VRA[21]): Up 3.9% (92 cents) to $24.40.
• Angie’s List (NASDAQ:ANGI[22]): Up 2.7% (31 cents) to $11.66.

Three Down

• Goodrich Petroleum (NYSE:GDP[23]): Down 7.65% ($1.13) to $13.64.
• Blue Nile (NASDAQ:NILE[24]): Down 6.7% ($2.70) to $37.61.
• Yelp (NYSE:YELP[25]): Down 3.7% (95 cents) to $24.75.

Marc Bastow is an Assistant Editor at InvestorPlace.com. As of this writing, he was long AAPL.

Source URL: https://investorplace.com/2012/09/apple-clears-700-tuesdays-ip-market-recap-aapl-fdx-enr-anr/

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