The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: Apple, Sony, Google and Amazon.com

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – December 01, 2014 – 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 the Apple Inc. (AAPL-Free Report), Sony (SNE-Free Report), Google (GOOGL-Free Report), Amazon.com (AMZN-Free Report).

Today, Zacks is promoting its ''Buy'' stock recommendations. Get #1Stock of the Day pick for free.

Here are highlights from Friday’s Analyst Blog:

What Will Apple’s Price Hike in Russia Do?

Apple Inc. (AAPL-Free Report) recently hiked the price of its devices in Russia. Of late, Russia has been plagued by a major devaluation of its currency, ruble. This devaluation, in turn, is primarily attributable to the dual problem of economic slowdown and declining oil prices, both of which have impacted the ruble in an adverse manner.

The ruble has fallen approximately 30% against the US dollar since Jan 2014. This, in turn, has compelled companies that sell foreign goods in Russia to pass on the increased cost of importing goods to the customers in the form of a price hike. Apple seems to be of no exception.

Recently, Apple had launched its official online store in Russia but the site was closed the following day pending an adjustment of prices for iPhones, iPads and computers. It was again reopened on Nov 26, 2014 but with average price increases of 25% for its latest smartphones, iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus.

Per the new pricing model set by Apple, iPhone 6 with 16 gigabytes of built-in storage will be available for 39,990 rubles ($864), up from 31,990 rubles ($693). The price of the larger iPhone 6 Plus with 16 gigabytes of storage space was raised from 41,990 rubles ($907) to 52,990 rubles ($1149).

Moreover, the price of its older iPhone 5 models was also increased by Apple by about 5,000 rubles ($108). The new iPad Air 2 with Wi-Fi and 16 GB of memory increased to 28,490 rubles from 4,000 rubles while price of the 64 gigabytes version went up from 4,500 to 33,990 rubles. The price of the device with 128 GB of memory was raised from 5,000 to 39,490 rubles.

The prices of the previous models including the likes of iPad Air, iPad Mini 2 and iPad Mini were increased by 2,000 to 3,000 rubles on an average. The price of iMac with a 27-inch Retina display has jumped to 144,990 rubles (up 20,000 rubles).

Per IDC, Apple garnered $1.32 billion of revenues from selling iPhones in Russia during the first nine months of calendar 2014 compared to its closest rival Samsung that earned $1.19 billion.

However, we believe that the timing of the price increase was not impeccable for the iPhone-maker as it was made just after Samsung had slashed down the prices of its smartphones in Russia. Further, we believe that due to this untimely price hike, Apple may end up losing its market share in Russia to peers including Samsung, Sony (SNE-Free Report), Google (GOOGL-Free Report), Amazon.com (AMZN-Free Report) Lenovo and HTC.

We believe that the company will continue delivering robust performance going forward driven by its robust and innovative product pipeline including iWatch, scheduled for an early 2015 release.

Nevertheless, we believe that Apple has a loyal user base worldwide and hence, though the price hike may lead to slump in its iPhones sales in Russia in the near term, it will not pose to be a headwind in the long run.

Currently, Apple sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

Today, Zacks is promoting its ''Buy'' stock recommendations. Get #1Stock of the Day pick for free.

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