Why Steve Jobs' Leave Of Absence Means Big Earnings (AAPL)

By now, we've all heard about Steve's medical leave. In the e-mail to employees he was quoted as writing "I love Apple so much and hope to be back as soon as I can". First off, they notified the public on a market holiday. This was smart because it will give investors trading Apple (AAPL) on the NASDAQ some time to digest the news and not react so emotionally. Of course there are CEO succession rumours around, and rumours asking will Tim Cook, 60 be able to take care of one of the most influential companies on the planet? But that was bound to happen. Steve Jobs and Apple's executive are some of the smartest management on the planet. They know how to turn bad news into good news and know how to always keep the attention on Apple. The attention is usually good attention. However, with antenna-gate, Chinese worker suicides, and Jobs health comes negative blows that can hit their stock in a flash. Let's rewind to last week at CES. There were some huge announcements from Google (

) and Motorola (

) about the Xoom with Gingerbread and the Android based Atrix smartphone. For once the attention wasn't on Apple, it was on the competition. That didn't last long, as Apple invited the press to come to announcement where Apple and Verizon announced the iPhone 4 coming to Verizon in February. This news overshadowed all of CES in the headlines. Apple didn't want to allow the competition to enjoy the tech limelight on blogs like Engadget or Gizmodo for very long. Now let's think of today's announcement. Negative news about Apple is on every tech blog, news show, and all over twitter. Apple will NOT allow this to turn into mass speculation over their CEOs health. Apple is going to come in hot this week with earnings and blow the doors off estimates. This will reassure the investors and the 190 hedge funds that own Apple that the company is here to stay and Steve Jobs won't let their share price fall because of his health. Announcing record numbers of iPads, iPhones and OSX market share will surely help boost the stock after the hit it will take tomorrow. Tim Cook will be taking over day-to-day operations at Apple. He has been with the company for over a decade and has seen the company flourish into a tech powerhouse. I have a feeling that this leave could last past Apple's iPad 2 announcement and the iPhone 5 announcement. To prove to investors that Tim Cook can run Apple, even if Steve Jobs isn't there, the next two announcements are going to be huge. The iPad 2 will once again be a game changer and the iPhone 5 will not be a step up like the iPhone 3G to iphone 3Gs- it will be in a whole new league. That is my analysis of Apple's current situation and I believe they will not let their share price tank because of this news, and if they do- they will make it back by having a phenomenal quarter. I think tomorrow will add a great buying opportunity for people that didn't have the chance to get in early January. Good luck everyone and thanks for reading