Apple shares fall as buyback, dividend hike fail to please

(Reuters) - Shares of Apple Inc are set to open down 3 percent on Wednesday as the company's plan to return $100 billion in capital failed to appease shareholders shaken by the iPhone maker's first quarterly drop in profit in a decade.

A soft outlook from Apple for the current quarter prompted at least 17 brokerages to slash their price targets on the iPhone maker's shares by up to $180 per share.

Apple forecast revenue of $33.5 billion to $35.5 billion this quarter, lagging Wall Street's average expectations of $38.2 billion.

Apple shares traded at $393.67 premarket.

Apple could be resetting investor expectations with its soft June quarter outlook, JP Morgan's Mark Moskowitz said. He slashed his target price on the shares to $545 from $725, reflecting the much lower revenue outlook.

Canaccord Genuity said it sees much weaker overall iPhone sales and a higher proportion of sales of lower-priced Phone 4 models.

It cut its target price on Apple shares to $560 from $600 and warned of significant market share loss at the higher end of the smartphone market ahead of the release of a new model, the iPhone 5S, in autumn.

BMO Capital Markets cut its rating on Apple's stock to "market perform" from "outperform," voicing concern that the company would have to trade off revenue growth for margins in the longer term.

Apple's gross margin was 37.5 percent in the second quarter, lagging market expectations for a 38.5 percent margin.

Seven analysts have "neutral" or equivalent ratings on Apple's stock and three have "sell" ratings. The rest of the 56 analysts covering Apple have "buy" ratings on its stock, according to StarMine data.

Apple's growth has slowed as smartphones reach saturation in the developed world and it goes head-to-head with increasingly aggressive rivals in developing countries such as China and India, where customers prefer cheaper models.

"We believe the increased competitiveness of the smartphone market is creating challenges for Apple," BMO's Keith Bachman said.

Facing stiff competition from Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and Google's Android phone system, Apple shares have almost halved from a record high of $705.07 last September.

While the valuation on Apple shares does not appear stretched, there is still a lot of risk and uncertainty around earnings, Nomura analysts said.

Apple stock is now trading at roughly 13 times estimated 2013 earnings per share. By contrast, the average price-earnings ratio for the sector is about 16.5, according to Starmine

Apple also disappointed Wall Street by indicating that consumers would have to wait till the fall and 2014 for any new products.

"We had anticipated a late July to August launch of the iPhone 5S and midrange iPhone," Nomura analysts said in a note. The brokerage cut its target price to $420 from $490.

Apple relies heavily on new product launches to drive revenue growth. It refreshed its offerings in October, unveiling the 7.9-inch iPad mini and an updated full-size iPad.

Investors looking for sales and profit to start accelerating again will need to be patient, analysts at Credit Suisse said as they cut their target price on Apple shares by $75 to $600.

(Reporting by Saqib Iqbal Ahmed and Sruthi Ramakrishnan; Editing by Rodney Joyce)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/apple-shares-fall-buyback-dividend-hike-fail-please-132441367--finance.html

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Provo council approves fiber network sale to Google, but city must front $1.7 million

Provo, Utah's plan to sell its cost-plagued fiber network to Google has been approved by the municipal council, meaning it'll soon become the third Google Fiber city. However, while still not receiving any money upfront as earlier reported, it'll now have to advance $1.7 million in equipment and engineering costs not part of the deal before, according to the Salt Lake Tribune. In exchange, each Provo resident will get a free 5-megabit internet connection for seven years and Google will have to upgrade the network to connect all the city's homes. It's not quite free, however, as the city's 120,000 residents must still pay a $39 million bond for building the network -- meaning they'll shell out $3.3 million for each of the next 12 years.

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Source: Salt Lake Tribune

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/04/25/provo-council-approvals-fiber-network-sale-to-google/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget

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House GOP report: Hillary Clinton lied under oath about additional Benghazi security request (Michellemalkin)

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Datalogix Raises $25M To Pump Juicy Offline Purchase Data Into Google And Facebook

Datalogix's offline purchase data is the not-so-secret weapon giant publishers use to target their ads, and measure if they boost consumer spending. Businesses like Facebook are becoming dependent on this ROI data, allowing Datalogix to raise a $25 million Series B. Since its based in Denver you don't hear a lot about Datalogix, but the 250 employee startup is crucial to the future of advertising.

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Bill would force super PACs to reveal their donors

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Two senators hope to require political groups to name the donors who spend millions of dollars to influence federal campaigns.

Legislation sponsored by Democrat Ron Wyden of Oregon and Republican Lisa Murkowski of Alaska would require so-called super PACs to reveal their sources of money, just as federal candidates must do.

Outside groups spent $1 billion in efforts to help or attack various candidates in the 2012 elections. Some individuals gave $1 million or more.

These independent groups generally do not have to identify their donors. Critics say major influences on elections should be more transparent.

"Where there's significant campaign spending, everyone has to play by the same rules," Wyden said in a statement. Voters "deserve to know where the money is coming from and where it's going," he said.

Murkowski said many Republicans, Democrats and independents "were concerned over the role of big money and secret donors in the last election."

Super PACs can raise and spend unlimited funds to help candidates, but cannot coordinate expenditures or strategy with a campaign.

The emergence of super PACs and other outside groups, emboldened partly by the Citizens United decision by the Supreme Court in 2010, has done more than anything else to reshape the contours of campaign fundraising.

A few federal court cases have broadly eased campaign finance rules, allowing donors to give unlimited sums. That kind of money largely has gone to super PACs.

Many super PACs have affiliated nonprofit "social welfare" organizations that spent hundreds of millions last year on issue ads. Those groups don't have to disclose their donors because they're governed by tax law.

Open-government groups have pushed Congress, to no avail, for a law that would require politically active groups to disclose their finances.

___

Associated Press writer Steve Peoples in Boston contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/bill-force-super-pacs-reveal-133055565.html

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South Korea wants talks with North to reopen joint industrial zone

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea said on Thursday it was proposing formal talks with North Korea to discuss restarting work at a joint factory zone located just north of the rivals' heavily armed border that was suspended in early April amid growing security tensions. The offer is the first formal proposal for direct talks by Seoul aimed at making a breakthrough in a deadlock over the Kaesong factory project, which was the last remaining channel open between the two Koreas until it was forced to close.

U.S. had more tips on Boston suspect; Congress asks questions

WASHINGTON/CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts (Reuters) - U.S. intelligence was alerted when one of the Boston bombing suspects traveled to a volatile region of Russia last year, U.S. officials said on Wednesday, raising new questions about the government's handling of the case and how well law enforcement agencies share information and cooperate with one another. The trip by the suspect, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, to southern Russia has come under scrutiny over whether he became involved with or was influenced by Chechen separatists or Islamic militants there, according to U.S. officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Iraq on edge after raid fuels deadly Sunni unrest

BAGHDAD, Iraq (Reuters) - More than 30 people were killed in gun battles between Iraqi forces and militants on Wednesday, a day after a raid on a Sunni Muslim protest ignited the fiercest clashes since American troops left the country. The second day of fighting threatens to deepen sectarian rifts in Iraq where relations between Shi'ite and Sunni Muslims are still very tense just a few years after inter-communal slaughter pushed the country close to civil war.

Budget cuts back in spotlight as flight delays mount

WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Obama administration on Wednesday backed a plan that would temporarily eliminate spending cuts disrupting U.S. air travel, while lawmakers in Washington scrambled to avoid blame as the impact of the reductions began being felt across the country. Airlines pushed for the government to act as flight delays increased and planes stacked up at airports, with one chief executive saying, "We can't do this for long."

In Myanmar, cheap SIM card draw may herald telecoms revolution

YANGON (Reuters) - Introduced a decade and a half ago under Myanmar's former military rulers, SIM cards sold for as much as $7,000 apiece. Today, they still cost more than $200. From Thursday, lucky winners of a lottery-style sale may get one for as little as $2. This is telecoms deregulation, Myanmar-style.

Train plot suspect rejects Canadian law, cites "holy book"

TORONTO (Reuters) - One of two men accused in an alleged al Qaeda-backed plan to derail a passenger train in Canada appeared in court on Wednesday and disputed the authority of Canadian law to judge him, saying the criminal code was not a holy book. Chiheb Esseghaier, a Tunisian-born doctoral student, faces charges that include conspiracy to murder and working with a terrorist group.

Analysis: Iran's unlikely al Qaeda ties: fluid, murky and deteriorating

LONDON (Reuters) - When al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri spoke in an audio message broadcast to supporters earlier this month, he had harsh words for Iran. Its true face, he said, had been unmasked by its support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad against fighters loyal to al Qaeda. Yet it is symptomatic of the peculiar relationship between Tehran and al Qaeda that in the same month Canadian police would accuse "al Qaeda elements in Iran" of backing a plot to derail a passenger train.

Venezuela's parliament launches probe into Capriles

CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's government-controlled parliament set up an inquiry on Wednesday into violence over a disputed election that authorities blame on opposition leader Henrique Capriles. Nine people died and dozens were injured after opposition protests against Nicolas Maduro's narrow April 14 presidential poll win turned violent around the South American nation.

Egyptian judges accuse Mursi backers of attacking their independence

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian judges accused President Mohamed Mursi's Muslim Brotherhood on Wednesday of trying to clamp down on judicial independence by conducting a campaign ostensibly aimed at rooting out corruption. A rift between Egypt's Islamist rulers and the judiciary is steadily widening amid a broader struggle over the future character of the country following the 2011 uprising that overthrew autocratic President Hosni Mubarak.

Syrian army seizes strategic town near capital

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad seized a strategic town east of Damascus on Wednesday, breaking a critical weapons supply route for the rebels, activists and fighters said. Rebels have held several suburbs ringing the southern and eastern parts Damascus for months, but they have been struggling to maintain their positions against a ground offensive backed by fierce army shelling and air strikes in recent weeks.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ca-news-summary-000009861.html

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