AAPL Up, MSFT Down as Redmond Announces Reorg


AAPL climbed to a 52-week high in trading Tuesday, closing at $53.19, defying the general Nasdaq trend downward, which saw Microsoft, Dell, HP, Intel and IBM down as the US Fed announced another interest rate increase, Marketwatch reports.

Microsoft fell 16 cents in the wake of the company's announcement of a reorganization of the corporation into three distinct divisions, each with their own president.

Meanwhile, AAPL continues to be the analysts' favorite, as company watchers upped their estimates on the company's likely earnings this quarter. American Technology Research raised their sights from $3.6 billion to 3.7 billion for the September quarter, predicting profit per share of 39¢.

In an interesting note, ATR's Shawn Wu said Mac sales had done "better than expected" in the back-to-school season.

AAPL closed at $53.19, up 55¢.

Analysis: Maybe MS's hugely unprofitable divisions and products will now get flushed out once and for all, without sheltering behind the massive revenues of Windows and Office. It's no surprise investors don't feel confident about the company's revenue streams from its 'non-core' products.