Credit: Shutterstock photoNokia ( NOK ) has continued to struggle this week as its stock touched its 52-week low amid negative sentiment surrounding the company. Apple ( AAPL ) gained as rumors emerged that it will expand its distribution partnerships in China. Also recent reports claimed that Apple's Mac gained market share in the U.S. PC market from around 9% in Q2 2010 to 10.7% in Q2 2011. Research in Motion ( RIMM ) conducted an annual meeting to placate increasingly frustrated investors as its stock value has continued to decline this year from $70 at its peak in February to around $27 as of today.
Nokia
Things have not gone well for Nokia since the company announced its updated revenue guidance for the full year 2011 on May 31st. Recently Nokia announced price cuts for its flagship products in Europe, which was considered a desperate attempt by the markets (see Nokia's Price Cuts Seen as Deperate by Mr. Market ). This week an analyst report mentioned that it is skeptical that Nokia will be able to catalyze the Microsoft Windows Phone 7 ecosystem, which some see as a last ditch effort to save its smartphone efforts.
Apple
According to a few reports this week, China Telecom could begin offering iPhone by the end of this year in a deal that could represent a $9 billion opportunity for the tech giant. We did a detailed analysis of these reports to understand the positive impact that it can have on Apple's stock value in our earlier note titled Adding More China to iPhone Sales Gets Apple to $430 .
Apple Mac also continue to gain adoption as suggested by the IDC report. Apple is expected to announce its FY Q3 earnings next week, which we believe could be better than the company's own forecast (see Apple Earnings Preview: Can it Beat its Own Forecasts). These events indicate that the momentum that Apple stock has had over the last few weeks could continue for the next few days.
See our company analysis
RIM
The notable news for RIM this week was the annual meeting conducted by the management, which is facing mounting pressure from analysts and shareholders to restructure the leadership of the company. At the meeting, co-CEOs Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis tried to explain the reasons behind the product delays and announced that seven new BlackBerry phones will soon be launched. Some large investors are giving management 6 months to show improvement.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
