Tech Giant Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT) Gains in After Market

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By Chris Hillman on July 24, 2014 Technology & Software

The shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT) jumped up 2 percent and 1 percent respectively, on the last trading day, July 23, 2014 after the companies posted their financial reports.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) reported its earnings on July 22, 2014. The shares of the company shot up by 2 percent on the next trading day and reached the figures of $96.97. The company’s profit for the third quarter of the fiscal year 2014 was recorded to be at $7.75 billion. Moreover, the company’s revenues were reported to be at $37.43. With such high figures, the earnings per share came to $1.28, beating the FactSet estimate of $1.23. The company’s revenues were $35.32 with profits of $6.9 billion for the same quarter of last year. Last year, the company’s EPS (earnings per share) was recorded to be at $1.07.

As far as the next quarter’s sales are concerned, the company is expecting the revenues to fall between $37 billion to $40 billion, whereas the analysts are expecting revenues of $40.6 billion and above.

Some market researchers are of the view that the company’s investors will be at a disadvantage if the company does not launch the new products that it promised to deliver this year. These products include the much awaited iPhone 6 and iTime. For this quarter, iPhone 5 and Macs have saved the company and given it enough time to launch the new products properly.

Gene Munster, an analyst at Piper Jaffray disclosed that Tim Cook, the chief executive of the company has refused to talk about the upcoming products of the company. According to the analyst, the company is expected to launch its wearable watch, two iPhones with bigger screens and a payment platform by the end of this fiscal year.

The company, on the last trade day, opened its stocks at a price of $95.42 and closed at an increased price of $97.19. The company has a market capitalization of 582.09 billion with a price to earnings ratio of 15.69.

Now, coming to the stocks of Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT), the shares increased by 1 percent and reached the value of $45.31 after the tech giant posted its financial reports for the fourth fiscal quarter. The company’s profits are reported to have reached to the value of $4.6 billion. The total revenues for the quarter are recorded to be at $23.4 billion, with earnings of 55 cent. The company’s numbers have decreased if compared with the figures of the last year: the company reported earnings of 59 cents with profits of $4.97 billion for the same quarter a year back. Analysts at FactSet had estimated total earnings of 60 cents for the fourth fiscal quarter; however, the figures missed the estimates.

Brendan Barnicle, an analyst at Pacific Crest Securities raised Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT)’s ratings from sector perform to outperform. When asked about the ratings, Brendan said that they were based on the company’s performance and progress in the cloud sector offerings and software.

In the last trading session, July 23, 2014, the company opened its stocks at a price of $45.45 and closed at a price of $44.87. The company’s intraday range was $44.62 to $45.45. Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT) has a market capitalization of 369.68 billion with a price to earnings ratio of 17.05.