by ReggieMiddleton

Apple reported blowout numbers and a record quarter yesterday. Not one, that's right, not one Wall Street analyst got it right! As a matter of fact, not only did no one get it right, they were all wrong to the downside - every single one! Doesn't that sound fishy after 11 previous quarters of analysts missing the mark to the downside? In a descriptive post yesterday, I detailed how I beat the street on Google's earnings, step-by-step by "thinking more like an entrepeneur and less like a Wall Street analyst". In said missive, not only did I illustrate in relatively fine detail how the Street totally missed the massive value that Google is building, I also outlined in similar detail the voluntary game that the Street is playing with Apple and earnings guidance. Yes, it's a game, and an obvious one at that. Despite being so obvious, retail investors and institutions alike are playing along. Let me excerpt a few choice lines from said post:

Since I started covering mobile technology on BoomBustBlog, things have pretty much occurred precsiely as we anticipated - with Google, Microsoft, and Research and Motion (a 6x to 7x gain on select puts) following their prescribed paths...

• • Blackberries Getting Blacked Out, Imitate Amateur Base Jumpers Sans Parachute!: Google’s Android Market has more than 150,000, compared with more than 25,000 in BlackBerry App World. RIM fell $6.17, or 11 percent, to $50.43 in late trading yesterday, after closing at $56.59 on the ... Friday, 29 April 2011
  • BoomBustBlog Research Performs a RIM Job!: ...is innovating and growing, at the same time compressing marigns. They also fail to understand the business model that Google has innovatively adopted to push Android through vendors and 3rd party distributors ... Friday, 17 June 2011

Next up is Apple, whom we predicted our analysis would reach frutition in the 4 to 6 quarters. Apple reports today, and we fully suspect a blow quarter that (again, just like the last 12 quarters) surprise the unsurprisingly inept analyst estimates that somehow could not get it right for nearly 2 years straight see above). We also expect indications of our margin compression thesis to start peeping their little eyes out of the footnotes, of course to be totally ignored by the cheerleading sell side of Wall Street and pop tech and financial media, as the Apple lovefest marches on.

Hmmm! That was awfully prescient wasn't it? No! It wasn't. It was simply blatantly honest. Here is a further excerpt from a previous post describes in complete detailt the Analyst/Apple earnings game...

Yes, we are more optimistic on Apples' earnings than the sell side (reference page 16 in subscription document Apple - Competition and Cost Structure) Look to my writings from last summer to determine the common sense reasons why: How Google is Looking to Cut Apple’s Margin and How the Sell Side of Wall Street Will Enable This Without Sheeple Investor’s Having a Clue.

Page 16 of the aforementioned document (which was released several months ago) pegged an uncannily accurate estimate of iPhone sales at 77 million for the year. Being that Apple sold ~20.3 million for the most recent quarter and said quarter was a company record, I think it's fair to say that we have a realistic grasp on Apple.

I syndicate my free content to several other sites, the vast majority of which are rife with Apple fanatics. These fanatics are literally incapable of parsing the logic of the preceding statement and the leading paragraph to this post. I have been more optimistic on Apple's nearer term accounting numbers than virtually the entire sell side, and have been proven accurate. As a matter of fact, this is actually a null feat that is absolutely nothing to brag or boast about since you simply have to look at the history of Apple's performance, guidance and analyst forecasts to see a needlessly consistent trend of error on the part of the sell side. Honestly, an elementary school student could have figured it out. I have also been correct on the underperformance and overvaluation of RIMM and the undervaluation and over performance of Google. Again, not a feat of superior intellect, but a much more mundane accomplishment of following the facts without bias and not having ulterior motives in producing analysis. In this case, an elementary school student may not have been able to do it, but I'm damn sure an astute high schooler could piece it together. In closing I will repost (for the 4th time) the earnings guidance snippet and challenge readers to possibility that we may have a very valid point.

In the meantime, sheeple-like investors are being hoodwinked by quarter after quarter of Apple blow out earnings. Don't get me wrong. I feel and fully acknowledge that Apple is executing on all 8 cylinders of a 6 cylinder engine, but it still has its real world limitations. Apple will start to bump up against these limitation over the next 4 quarters, and the signs of this bump are already apparent. Of course, the signs are being handily masked by the games that Apple management and the sell side analysts of Wall Street play, with the "Sheeple" retail and the lazier component of the institutional investors being put out to take the eventual bullet.

Riddle me this - If Apple can consistently beat the estimates of your favorite analysts quarter after quarter, after quarter - for 11 quarters straight, shouldn't you fire said analysts for incompetency in lieu of celebrating Apple's ability to surprise? After all, it is no longer a surprise after the 11th consecutive occurrence, is it? I would be surprised if my readers were surprised by an Apple surprise. Seriously! Apple management consistently lowballs guidance to such an extent that it can easily manage, no - actually create outperformance. This has has a very positive effect on their valuation. Of course, I do not blame Apple management for this, of they are charged with maximizing shareholder return. The analytical community and the (sheeple) investors which they serve is another matter though. Subscribers can download the data that shows the blatant game being played between Apple and the Sell Side here: Apple Earnings Guidance Analysis. Those who need to subscribe can do so here.

Below, I drilled down on the date and used a percentage difference view to illustrate the improvement in P/E stemming from the earnings beats.

In our analysis of Apple, we are using real world assumptions of future performance derived from backing in to the low balling this company is prone to. If you look at its history carefully you can gauge what management is comfortable with, hence what they may be capable of on the margin. Using these more realistic numbers, it is much more likely Apple will deliver a miss in the upcoming quarters in its battle with the Android! The following is the reason why...

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