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The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: Apple, China Unicom, Research In Motion Limited, China Mobile and China Telecom

On Wednesday July 20, 2011, 10:00 am EDT

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – July 20, 2011 – Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: Apple(NasdaqGS: AAPL - News), China Unicom(NYSE: CHU - News), Research in Motion Limited(NasdaqGS: RIMM - News), China Mobile(NYSE: CHL - News) and China Telecom Corp.(NYSE: CHA - News).

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Here are highlights from Tuesday’s Analyst Blog:

Apple kills It… Again

Magic-maker and "serial earnings surpriser" Apple (AAPL) blew away everybody -- even the most optimistic investors -- with 35% beat of estimates this afternoon. The company reported EPS of $7.79 when the consensus estimate was for only $5.81.

To give you an idea of how big this beat was, the highest published estimate by any analyst was $6.58. even the "whisper" numbers all day were only as high as $7.34 at the extreme upper end. and this after weeks of dozens of analysts raising their estimates for the quarter and the year.

Apple revenues came in at $28.57 billion when the street was looking for something closer to $25 billion. This sales growth was driven by strong numbers for the iPhone which exceed 20 million units and the iPad which topped 9 million. Word is that they sold every iPad they could make.

The record quarterly revenue was matched by record quarterly net profit of $7.31 billion, versus year ago revenues of $15.70 billion and net quarterly profit of $3.25 billion, or $3.51 per diluted share. This represents a 122% jump in profits.

According to the company's press release, gross margin was 41.7 percent compared to 39.1 percent in the year-ago quarter and international sales accounted for 62 percent of the quarter's revenue. They sold 20.34 million iPhones, representing 142 percent unit growth over the year-ago quarter and 9.25 million iPads was a 183 percent unit increase.

Apple also sold 3.95 million Macs, a 14 percent unit increase over the year-ago quarter and even 7.54 million iPods, a 20 percent unit decline.

"We're thrilled to deliver our best quarter ever, with revenue up 82 percent and profits up 125 percent," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "Right now, we're very focused and excited about bringing iOS 5 and iCloud to our users this fall."

Apple now has $76 billion in cash and must be leaving analysts wondering what their next move is with that kind of war chest.

China Unicom Adds 3G Subscribers

China's second largest mobile operator China Unicom (NYSE: CHU - News) added 2.28 million subscribers in June, up 1.27% from the prior month. This takes the company’s total customer base to 181.62 million.

The company’s GSM subscriber base rose to 157.67 million with the net addition of 0.42 million customers, while its 3G subscriber base increased to 23.95 million with net addition of 1.86 million in June. China Unicom added more 3G subscribers in June compared to 1.74 million 3G subscribers in the last month. With the growth in subscribers, the company appears on track to reach its 25 million target for fiscal 2011.

The company’s 3G business is performing well and the momentum is expected to continue well into the future. 3G remains a compelling opportunity and represents the single biggest driver of the company’s long-term growth. For the full year, capital spending on 3G network is estimated at RMB 73.80 billion.

We believe China Unicom will continue to make significant progress in expanding economies of scale in 3G, broadband and other businesses that will likely improve its overall revenue and profitability. The company is offering 3G services in collaboration with Research in Motion Limited’s (NasdaqGS: RIMM - News) Blackberry phones. Additionally, the company has the exclusive right to distribute Apple Inc.’s (NasdaqGS: AAPL - News) iPhone in China.  China Unicom is also in talks with Apple to sell the iPad by the end of 2011.

China Unicom’s 3G and fixed-line broadband businesses have been ramping up since last year. However, these businesses are expected to remain under pressure due to increasing depreciation and amortization expenses; networks, operations and support expenses; as well as selling expenses for the remainder of this year. We believe these expenses will have an adverse effect on the company’s future profitability, free cash flow and margins.

Further, higher handset subsidies and increased costs related to 3G service deployments will continue to be headwinds for the company. Despite these challenges, we expect China Unicom to benefit from new users this year.

China Unicom is offering handsets at subsidized rates with lower 3G service plans for multi-year contracts to retain existing customers and add new ones. This will weigh on the company’s future overall average revenue per user. Moreover, China Unicom remains significantly challenged by aggressive nationwide 3G service rollouts by its peers China Mobile (NYSE:CHL) and China Telecom Corp. (NYSE: CHA - News).

We currently have a long-term Neutral rating on China Unicom. The stock retains a Zacks # 3 (Hold) Rank for the short term (1–3 months).

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