Locator: 46754APPLE.
Link here. From Fortune magazine, 2024 rankings.
Tuesday, February 6, 2024
Apple Ships More Smartphones Annually Than Samsung -- First Time -- And Apple Never Succumbed To Calls For "Cheaper" Phones -- February 6, 2024
Locator: 46753APPLE.
I think folks forget how much money there is out. Folks are increasingly able to afford more up-scale phones.
And, oh by the way:
I'm Not Following Politics .... But This Was Hard To Miss -- February 6, 2024
Locator: 46752ISRAEL.
I would have completely missed it -- I'm not following politics at all except what randomly shows up in WSJ headlines or even more randomly on my twitter feed.
But this popped up -- I had to fact check it.
Apple Services -- February 6, 2024
Locator: 46751AAPL.
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Maybe Time To Reassess
February 6, 2024:
- Apple Services;
- Cisco Webex partners with Vision Pro;
- earnings, 1Q24.
- an incredibly mature company with no new products (don't take that out of context); headwinds from all continents; and EPS ... an all-time high -- and not by just a little bit -- EPS up16 percent.
Disclaimer: this is not an investment site. Do not make any investment, financial, job, career, travel, or relationship decisions based on what you read here or think you may have read here.
All my posts are done quickly: there will be content and typographical errors. If anything on any of my posts is important to you, go to the source. If/when I find typographical / content errors, I will correct them.
Again, all my posts are done quickly. There will be typographical and content errors in all my posts. If any of my posts are important to you, go to the source.
Reminder: I am inappropriately exuberant about the US economy and the US market.
And there's more.
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Kyrie Irving
Kyrie Irving, point guard for the Dallas Mavericks is a "citizen of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe." His mother: African Americana and Lakota.
Ford Will Reassess Commitment To Saving The Earth -- February 6, 2024
Locator: 46750EVS.
Ford's earnings, link here.
- beat on bottom and top lines; by quite a wide margin.
- EV unit lost money but ICE did incredibly well.
- should confirm the death knell for EVs. In the US.
- huge labor expense. Changing CAPEX.
- special dividend, 18 cents, in first quarter. In addition to regular quarterly.
- shares up seven to eight percent after hours, now trading above $12.
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YouTube Vs Netflix
Mega Sports Network Announced -- February 6, 2024
Locator: 46749SPORTS.
"Surprise" announcement.
At least it seemed that way on CNBC when the news broke.
Huge amount off exposure once news broke.. Biggest story of the day. Fubo shares fell sharply on the news.
Did Apple, Inc. miss an opportunity?
Can Americans afford yet another streaming network priced to compete with Netflix, HBO, Paramount, Hulu?
Correct me if I'm wrong but I think Prime Video is still free. It was an add-on without a price increase, but I've long forgotten. Doesn't matter. With Hulu, Amazon Prime, and all the "free" streaming services I get, I have way more content than I need. I actually quit Apple TV simply because I "never" watched it. I think Apple TV was $6.99 when I had it; has since been raised to $9.99 (a month).
I see Hulu will likely option to bundle this mega streaming network. Maybe this will replace the Apple TV I gave up. Look at all the "partners." Wow. 24/7 live sports. Note Major League Soccer not specifically mentioned.
If PLUTO would improve it's UI, I would watch PLUTO a whole lot more. It must have a thousand "channels" but it's a challenge for me to find what I want. AI is going to be very, very important to help sort this all out.
If one gives up two sushi dinners a month, one can afford all this streaming.
Hess With One New Permit -- February 6, 2024
Locator: 46748B.
Apparently the one to watch: diesel.
NOG today:
Active rigs: 38.
WTI: $72.73.
One new permit, #40503:
- Operator: Hess
- Field: Dollar Joe (Williams)
- Comments:
- Hess has a permit for a GO-Foss well, SESW 23-156-97,
- to be sited 566 FSL and 2196 FWL
Fourteen permits canceled:
- EOG (11): Liberty LR (5 - Mountrail County); Austin (3 - Mountrail); Mont (2 - Williams); Clarks Creek (McKenzie)
- MRO (3): Smith USA, Reginaa USA, and Archie USA, all in Dunn County
Apple Vision Pro And Cisco Webex -- February 6, 2024
Locator: 46747APPLE.
Before we get to Apple, Ford's earnings.
- beat on bottom and top lines; by quite a wide margin.
- EV unit lost money but ICE did incredibly well.
- should confirm the death knell for EVs. In the US.
- huge labor expense. Changing CAPEX.
- special dividend, 18 cents, in first quarter. In addition to regular quarterly.
- shares up seven to eight percent after hours, now trading above $12.
SNAP:
- EPS beat
- revenues miss
- shares fall 22%
- guidance weight on stock
- earnings guidance looks "messy"
************************
Now Apple
Link here. Link at Computerworld.
A Parisian Cancels Amazon Over A $2.99 Optional Fee -- I Can't Make This Stuff Up -- February 6, 2024
Locator: 46747AMZN.
Updates
Later, 1:19 p.m. CT: coincidentally, the following showed up on my doorstop today -- all from Amazon - and each alone in shipping costs would have cost me my Amazon subscription cost had I personally paid for the UPS or FedEx cost of mailing.
Original Post
Wow, her judgement surprised me.
Bottom line: the writer, a business writer from The WSJ, sees Amazon as nothing more than an on-line retailer from which she can order books. Wow.
And the deal breaker? An optional -- an optional -- $2.99 monthly fee for ad-free Amazon Prime Video. By the time I finish this note the writer will have had another $5.99 latte from Starbucks. Wow.
The straw that broke her back? An optional $2.99 fee for ad-free Amazon Prime Video.
Bundled with my Amazon Prime subscription is my Amazon Prime credit card. At 5% cash-back the card paid me close to 5x the cost of my Prime subscription. That should be enough.
My monthly subscription costs well less than $15 / month but even that much would not bother me. I regularly mail products to my extended family. Two boxes mailed through USPS easily reach $15. Don't even get me started on UPS and FedEx.
FedEx: two-day. LOL. In the DFW area it's two-hour delivery.
Enough of this. We haven't even begun to talk about all the other benefits.
My subscription to The New York costs more than my Amazon subscription fee -- the latter -- when measured by dollars only -- is paid five times over by cashback from the credit card.
But at the end of the day, I'm glad that we get stories like this: it makes it more and more difficult for the owner of The Washington Post -- the WSJ's #1 competitor -- to raise prices.
Later: aha! It makes sense. The writer lives in Paris. That changes everything. I have no idea what the writer's experience with Amazon in Paris is. Having said that, the writer has trouble with a $2.99 optional fee but no problem with buying two multi-thousand-dollar e-bikes from a manufacturer that subsequently went broke. Link here. A VanMoof e-bike starting price, $3,998. And that's a price increase from the pre-order price of $2,998. And only $1,998 in 2020. And this writer breaks off a relationship over a $2.99 optional fee. The subscription for an on-line subscription for The Wall Street Journal? We pay more than this but the best deal I can find on-line: $39 / month or almost $500 / year.
The bike:
The WSJ:
Amazon: the $2.98 option fee that led to the writer's break-up. LOL.
**************************
Personal Investing
Bought UNP today. The largest one-time purchase of a single stock in a long, long time. Again, it's in my bucket list and will be held for years, if not decades.
Disclaimer: this is not an investment site. Do not make any investment, financial, job, career, travel, or relationship decisions based on what you read here or think you may have read here.
All my posts are done quickly: there will be content and typographical errors. If anything on any of my posts is important to you, go to the source. If/when I find typographical / content errors, I will correct them.
Again, all my posts are done quickly. There will be typographical and content errors in all my posts. If any of my posts are important to you, go to the source.
Reminder: I am inappropriately exuberant about the US economy and the US market***********************
The Book Page
Today, from the library, the three books -- the three British history books. The others from my library.
Two Wells Coming Off Confidential List Today -- February 6, 2024
Locator: 46746B.
TSMC: to build a second semiconductor fabrication plant at its site in Kumamoto, Japan. To be in operation before the end of 2027. Partners: Sony, Denso, Toyota Motor. Link here.
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Back to the Bakken
WTI: $73.19.
Wednesday, February 7, 2024: 10 for the month; 69 for the quarter, 69 for the year
39536, conf, Hess, EN-Person A-156-94-1522H-4,
39155, conf, Hess, RS-F Armour 156-92-1224H-6,
38992, conf, Whiting, Bigfoot 42-26-26TFHU,
Tuesday, February 6, 2024: 7 for the month; 66 for the quarter, 66 for the year
38325, conf, EOG, Liberty LR 56-2320H,
38324, conf, EOG, Liberty LR 119-2320H,
RBN Energy: exploring the drivers of burgeoning upstream consolidation.
Brutal arctic cold may have chilled broad swaths of the U.S. last month, but the scorching pace of upstream M&A activity continued to be red hot, with nearly $20 billion in deals announced in January after a record-setting 2023. Last year’s transaction value totaled an astounding $192 billion, a mark 79% higher than the previous 10-year high and more than the previous three years combined. Why the surge? A wide range of factors influenced corporate decisions to grow through acquisitions rather than organic investment, including commodity prices, equity values, debt levels, operating costs, and production trends. In today’s RBN blog, we’ll analyze M&A trends through several statistical lenses and provide some insights into 2024 activity.