Financial

Apple analysts: Who's getting better, who's getting worse

Two lists by Daniel ("Deagol") Tello, a Venezuelan blogger who keeps track of such things

The first, at right, shows the cumulative record of three-dozen Apple (AAPL) analysts -- both professional and amateur -- over the past four quarters.

The list looks a lot like the one we posted this morning, with the amateurs bunched at top and the pros -- including some of the biggest names on Wall Street -- at MORE

Apple analysts do their mea culpas

Just kidding. We didn't hear anyone say they were sorry for blowing this quarter's estimates

This is bizarre.  Having once again failed to anticipate Apple's (AAPL) quarterly revenue results -- missing the boat, in many cases, by billions of dollars -- Wall Street's analyst raced to issue their morning-after reports.

Some were shocked, shocked by the company's spectacular performance. Some of the worst prognosticators actually patted themselves on the back for the MORE

Apple's blow-out quarter: The bloggers called it, the Street blew it

In the quarterly battle between outsiders and the insiders, it's the amateurs by a mile

This one wasn't even close.

In our ranking of the best and worst Apple (AAPL) analysts for Q1 2011, which lists them based on how accurately they predicted seven key numbers -- revenue, earnings, gross margins and unit sales -- the unaffiliated analysts (blue in the chart at right) took 9 out of the 10 top spots.

The MORE

Steve Jobs: We "firing on all cylinders" says Jobs

Profits up 78%, revenues 71%. 16.2 million iPhones, 7.4 million iPads crushed expectations

Steve Jobs' health problems were all but forgotten as Apple (AAPL) reported all-time record earnings Tuesday afternoon. The stock, which lost $7.83 during the day, quickly jumped more than $11 in after hours trading.

Sales for nearly every Apple product blew past analysts' expectations, but sales of iPads and iPhones were particularly strong.

"We had a phenomenal holiday quarter with MORE

Apple drops $22 in New York, recovers

Reaction is more muted on Wall Street than it was Monday in Europe. Stock closes down $7.83.

The day Apple gave U.S. traders to digest the news of Steve Jobs medical leave seems to have tempered Wall Street's reaction. In early trading Tuesday, Apple (AAPL) shares fell $22.48 (6.5%) from their all time high of $348.48 before starting to recover.

In the Frankfurt exchange, by contrast, shares plummeted 9.7% before they bottomed MORE

Apple Q1 2011 earnings preview

Fortune's final poll of Apple analysts -- professional and amateur

We'll find out whose estimates were closest to the mark when Apple (AAPL) releases its earnings for the first fiscal quarter of 2011 shortly after the markets close. A conference call with analysts is scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. EST (2 p.m. PST). The hour-long session will be webcast here.

We'll compare the estimates to the actual results and publish MORE

Apple jerks our chains

Can we really change the subject from Steve Jobs' health to Apple's holiday sales results?

Even for reporters who regularly cover Apple (AAPL) and are used to getting manipulated by the company's well-oiled PR machine, this is a headsnap.

One day we're supposed process the news that Steve Jobs is too sick to run world's most valuable technology company. The next we're expected to report -- as if nothing had happened -- MORE

Steve Jobs' leave: Analysts weigh in - updated

Apple's CEO, says one, is both the company's biggest asset and its biggest risk

The U.S. financial markets were closed, but a few analysts took a break from their Martin Luther King Day remembrances to say a few words about what Steve Jobs' latest health advisory might mean to Apple (AAPL) shareholders.

Morgan Stanley's Katy Huberty saw it as a "buying oppty ahead of earnings."

Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster treated it as a MORE

Apple falls 9.7% in Frankfurt

Recovers to close 6.1% below Monday's opening. A preview of tomorrow's trading?

The chart at right says it all. Apple was sailing along at around 262.75 Euros ($349.35) when Apple (AAPL) released Steve Jobs' letter to the staff announcing his latest medical leave.

The stock went into freefall. In the space of 17 minutes, it plummeted €23.25 (8.8%). Within an hour, it had bottomed out at €237.25, a drop of 9.7% that MORE

iPhone sales in the AT&T era

Analysts estimate that Apple may have sold as many as 90 million between 2007 and 2010

Next week, when Apple (AAPL) releases its earnings for the quarter that ended Christmas Day, it will be closing the books on the era of AT&T (T) exclusivity in the U.S. -- the company's largest single market for iPhones.

It was an extraordinary run, despite all the jokes about dropped calls and flaky service. Since Apple MORE