Diamonds and Dogs

5/2/18

Apple (AAPL) shining brightly. Apple is jumping 4% following better than expected earnings and sales. Each geographical area grew at least 25%. Apple also raised guidance for the current quarter. The cash keeps coming in. Apple has over $260 billion in cash and will add $100 billion to their buyback plan. The company also raised their dividend 16%. Plenty of upgrades with price target of $190, $200, $208, $214, and $225.

Good news Gilead (GILD) is curing everyone. The bad news is the stock is lower. Product sales came in at $5.0 billion, down 21.6% year over year due to accelerated decline in HCV sales. Antiviral product sales, which include Gilead's HIV and liver disease portfolio, came in at $4.4 billion in the quarter, down 24.1% from the year-ago quarter. Not a lot of great news in the short term, but one analyst sees multiple catalysts this year and next, and a robust balance sheet that could allow it to do more M&A to expand its pipeline. Let's hope he's right.