Analysts

Oracle: Warning of another tech slowdown?

The enterprise giant's stumble may not bode well for the technology sector -- and not just enterprise providers, but all big cap tech companies.

By Kevin Kelleher, contributor

FORTUNE - Oracle missing its earnings guidance is like Mariano Rivera blowing a save opportunity, or Bob Dylan putting out a disappointing record. It happens, but not very often. And when it does, the only real question is: Why?

The answer matters beyond the world MORE

The problem with LinkedIn's stock price

After a spectacular IPO, LinkedIn's stock has lost nearly half its value. Yet it's still trading at 300 times its 2012 earnings. So why are Wall Street analysts recommending you buy it?

By Kevin Kelleher, contributor

FORTUNE -- The fears of another technology-stock bubble that prevailed in the first half of the year have faded away in the second half as a concerns about Europe's financial stability took the speculative wind out MORE

Netflix and Amazon aren't as bad off as it seems

Investors were caught off guard by results at Amazon and Netflix. Truth is, if they'd been paying closer attention, they'd have seen it coming.

By Kevin Kelleher, contributor

FORTUNE – This fall's earnings season is starting to look like hunting season for big-name web companies. First, Netflix drops 35% in one day, Tuesday, after heavy subscriber losses and warning investors that it would lose money for a few quarters next year. Then MORE

The analysts on Apple's iBlip: A 'hiccup,' a 'black swan,' a 'breather at altitude'

Most shrug it off as a transitional aberration. Several raised their price targets.

Apple's (AAPL) fourth quarter results were the first since at least 2004 that failed to beat the analysts' consensus. A sampling of what they had to say about that:

Needham's Charlie Wolf:  Not every quarter is a blowout. "The slowdown in iPhone sales in the second half of the September quarter in advance of the launch of iPhone 4S appeared to take MORE

iPhone 4S: Analysts weigh in

Disappointed there was no iPhone 5, but wowed by Siri and the speed of the rollout

Below: A roundup of what the sell-side analysts told their clients after Apple's (AAPL) iPhone 4S announcement Tuesday. The tone of their notes was generally positive, which may help explain why the stock, which had fallen more than $20 during the course of the event, managed to close at $372.50, down only $2.10 (0.56%) for MORE

Apple to announce fourth quarter results on Oct. 18

Click here at 5 p.m. Eastern (2 p.m. Pacific) for Apple's (AAPL) webcast of the conference call with analysts.

Thanks to setteb.it's Fabio M. Zambelli for the tip.

Apple and Wall Street: Six quarters of lousy estimates

For as long as we have been tracking them, the bloggers have trounced the pros

On Sunday, the day after Apple's (AAPL) fourth quarter of fiscal 2011 ended, we posted preliminary revenue and EPS estimates from both Wall Street's Apple analysts and a group of amateurs we've been tracking for a couple of years.

After we posted the chart, one reader who calls himself jmmxx suggested that it would be more interesting to see how MORE

Apple's Q4 2011: A tale of three wildly different estimates

Between the company, the Street and the amateur analysts, a range of $9.4 billion

Apple's (AAPL) fourth fiscal quarter of 2011 ended Saturday, and depending whose estimates you believe, it was either a ho-hum quarter or a record-smasher.

The chart at right shows the actual revenue and earnings per share for the previous 11 quarters -- Q1 2009 through Q3 2011. In the last three columns we've plotted three pairs of data MORE

Analysts scramble to raise their iPhone and iPad estimates

Hasty revisions three weeks before the end of Apple's last fiscal quarter of the year

It happens every three months. As the end of Apple's (AAPL) fiscal quarter approaches, the small army of analysts that cover the stock dusts off its spreadsheets, finds them overly conservative and starts issuing revisions. If history is any guide, the numbers will be revised again -- upward -- when the company reports its Q4 2011 MORE

Downgrade Apple from 'neutral' to 'unfavorable'? Seriously?

If anyone has access to Channel Trend's latest report on Apple, I would love to see it (Update: Got it!)

On Saturday night, this headline flashed across one of the news feeds I use to follow the analysts who track Apple (AAPL):

"On August 20, 2011 Channel Trend Inc. downgraded APPLE INC.from NEUTRAL to UNFAVORABLE."

My first thought was "seriously?" My second was "tell me more."

I've seen some boneheaded advice issued by Wall MORE