Bart Yee on Mark Gurman: What no more net-cash-zero means for John Ternus - 'Here’s a crazy thought. With just a reduction of a usual $25B repurchase allocation of one quarter, Apple could 1) bid $7B to takeover rights to MLB National Games, World Series, etc. for 7 or more years. 2) bid $3-5B/year for Fox’s NFL rights 3) bid $1B per year for NHL rights in the US, or more for that and Canada Apple would then leap into a large position for all these major sports. NBA would come next. All to grow Apple TV+ and to provide Vision Pro content.'
on Look at the cool things Nvidia is doing with the Apple Vision Pro (video) - 'Cool stuff. Too bad AVP is DOA (sarcasm) Long live AVP.'
on This week's Apple trading strategies (5/4-5/8/26) - 'I’m not sure I understand the pessimism for Microsoft. If they can get past their marketing blunders, they have a large captive Windows audience where they can provide AI services. And that’s part of a broader, more diversified, revenue stream. p.s. Anyone else think GameStop buying eBay is absurd?'
on This week's Apple trading strategies (5/4-5/8/26) - 'No, it hasn’t…it’s: ASYMCOPED30 https://asymco.com/membership-checkout/?pmpro_level=3&pmpro_discount_code=ASYMCOPED30 Kagi search is your friend.'
on This week's Apple trading strategies (5/4-5/8/26) - 'The Apple 3.0 discount seems to now have expired.'
on Mark Gurman: What no more net-cash-zero means for John Ternus - 'For the foreseeable future Apple is likely to continue increasing its net income total each quarter on a year-over-year basis. Leaving behind the so-called “net cash neutral” objective eliminates the burden of explicitly accounting for the company’s net cash position on the quarterly cash return reports as a stated goal to diminish over time (it’s been eliminated on the most recent report released with the March quarter financials) or any expectation either the share repurchase program and/or the quarterly dividend will necessarily be increased in response to continuing increases in net income. There’s no reason to overthink this issue. Management has simply changed what had been a previously stated corporate goal.'
on Mark Gurman: What no more net-cash-zero means for John Ternus - '”My concern is that China may change that scenario.” Fair enough. China has expressed a desire to bring Taiwan back into the fold often enough. But to accomplish that militarily requires crossing 90 miles of open ocean. To even begin the journey requires concentrating troops at a jumping off point, then navigating the Straits. Launching missiles would be devastating, except that Taiwan has been preparing for a Chinese invasion for over 70 years. Bombing wouldn’t do much better than missiles because of US antimissile defenses. Offensively Taiwan looks like porcupine with medium to long range missiles. And then there’s US fast attack nuclear subs, ballistic and guided missile for a total of 71 nuclear subs with an average of 20 launch tubes, each equipped with 4 warheads. Then there are the anti-shipping torpedos. Four US subs surrounding Taiwan have the capacity to launch about 320 warheads (nuclear and conventional). An untoward act by China would be met with overwhelming force by both Taiwanese and US forces. Then there’s the issue of friendly forces. China has North Korea, Iran and Russia. The US has Australia, Japan, Canada, South Korea and the Philippines in the immediate area. China is expanding its naval forces, but they are way behind the USs strength. I’m not concerned about any Chinese attempt to invade Taiwan. Short of launching a nuclear attack they are a paper tiger. In an exchange of nuclear weapons China is toast.'
on $185 billion later, Warren Buffett asks Tim Cook to take a bow (video) - 'Who was the person on the lower left looking up at Tim?? Please someone tell me!'
on Mark Gurman: What no more net-cash-zero means for John Ternus - 'Likewise Greg. I have long thought that buybacks were an effective way to return value to shareholders but a lazy way to do it. I would rather see Apple build adjacent businesses (say, energy, logistics, finance??) infused with Apple culture then spin them off. Flood the market with businesses that think [different] like Apple but in new areas. Their culture is the real and rare intangible source of competitive advantage that has provided so much economic and social value.'
on Mark Gurman: What no more net-cash-zero means for John Ternus - 'My concern is that China may change that scenario.'
on Mark Gurman: What no more net-cash-zero means for John Ternus - 'I find this exciting. The only reason not to do buybacks is because you have something better to do with the money. That’s the implicit promise Ternus is making: I can deploy the cash to make Apple bigger, better, stronger, to do more for its customers and to earn more for its shareholders. Or to put it another way, let’s make a bigger dent in the universe. Given all that Apple has already accomplished, that stance is bold (or, if it turns out to be wrong, dangerous). Given the track record, I have a lot of faith that this alternative deployment, to grow the business before growing investors’ wallets, will turn out well for everyone. Well, for their competitors maybe not so much.'
on Mark Gurman: What no more net-cash-zero means for John Ternus - 'My suspicion is that Apple plans to build its own semiconductor fabrication plants in the US, and move away from using TSMC.'
on This week's Apple trading strategies (5/4-5/8/26) - 'So Apple’s capex is a fraction of hyperscaler spend cause they aren’t going gangbusters for memory chips that are now more expensive due to hyperscaler demand. And what happens when that hardware depreciates during the next upgrade cycle? Will the hyperscalers have to float more debt? Or will AI run so efficiently that they will soon be regurgitat in profit? We know, however, that Apple’s profit potential will increase over the coming years, in spite of all this. Just thinking out loud.'
on Asymco's Horace Dediu: Services is the foundation - 'I’d love to see a forecast of these sales as Apple customers start utilizing applications that include features provided by the Foundation Models Framework for on-device services that don’t require cloud-based access.'
