Will Jobs’ leave of absence affect Apple’s earnings?
TEXT OF STORY
STEVE CHIOTAKIS: Today Apple’s gonna tell us how much money it made in its last three months. iPhone 4s and iPads have been flying off the iShelves. But word from Apple headquarters that CEO Steve Jobs is taking a medical leave of absence for — could rain on a the earnings parade.
Mike Abramsky analyzes Apple for RBC Capital Markets. He’s with us this morning from Toronto. Good morning.
MIKE ABRAMSKY: Good morning.
CHIOTAKIS: Markets are opening in about, oh 40 minutes or so here in the States. Apple shares took a big dive yesterday in Europe on this news. Do you think that the same thing’s going to happen here?
ABRAMSKY: I do, but probably not as strongly. I think they were down about 7 percent abroad. They’ll probably be about down 5 percent here. Primarily, because of essentially the uncertainty over whether Steve is going to come back or not.
CHIOTAKIS: And why all this uncertainty now? Why not have a success plan in place?
ABRAMSKY: That certainly would be sensible and conventional, but Apple is of course a company that is far from conventional in everything that it has done, including CEO Steve Jobs who is perhaps one of the most disruptive innovators on the planet. And so part of the strength of Apple is perhaps also its weakness which is it’s a culture of Steve, and this is probably why it has the structure it has.
CHIOTAKIS: Steve Jobs leave of absence versus — what we’re expected to hear — great sales and growth from Apple when they report today. What’s going to win out among investors?
ABRAMSKY: I wouldn’t say shrug off, but I certainly think that investors will focus on the strong performance and fundamentals which really in a sense haven’t changed at all from yesterday. There’s a very significant quarter here coming which I think would probably help refocus folks on the fundamentals, at least for now.
CHIOTAKIS: Mike Abramsky, managing director over at RBC Capital Markets. Thanks.
ABRAMSKY: Thank you.
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