Apple?

[yakers]

Is Apple really worth less without Jobs in daily command? Sitting on a lot of cash and good products. Very profitable. I suppose it will have to go down, at least relatively, sometime but near term still looks good. What would the stock have to drop to to be a buy?

 

[harley]

I've had a limit order in for $350 for a couple of weeks. I don't see any reason to change it just because some guy retires. It's been a bottom scraping order. Maybe I'll get lucky. It's in a Roth that I'm going to use for a little hormonal reconditioning, a la Uncle Mick.

 

[novaman]

In doing my analysis AAPL has consistently been underpriced, so I think that the question of Job's health has been factored in for several years.

 

[harley]

doesn't look like I'm going to get my cheap buy in. Last night AAPL futures were at 356, but I just checked and it's currently trading at 370. Oh well, a swing and a miss.

 

[BigNick]

Last time I checked they (literally) had more cash than the US Government, and Jobs hasn't been in day-to-day charge for some time.

I do find the tone of some of the press articles rather "obituary-like" for a man who is "only" going to be chairman of this enormous company. I wonder if they don't maybe have a tip that he doesn't have a lot of time left - pancreatic cancer is one of the ones you *really* don't want to get. I remember Charles M. Schulz and Alistair Cooke(*) both retiring about a week before they died.

 

[Brat]

Job's health issues have been known for a long time. It is my opinion that he has exhausted treatment options and has been told that his time is very short. Often the medications at this stage diminish the capacity to exercise executive functions and he needed make the transition that has been in process for some time official.

Job's leadership and sense of style is what made Apple great. Doubtless he knew that he would need to pass the candle to others soon and has tried to find others to continue his legacy.

 

[kombat]

I think in the early days, Jobs' presence and persona were a stronger driver of Apple's success. The company survived thanks to a "fanboy" dedication of a cohort of self-described "nerds" who loved the niche aspect of the brand, and how identifiable Jobs was.

However, in recent years, I think the importance of that segment of Apple customers has been severely diminished. Quite frankly, they're simply grossly outnumbered. Now that Apple has gone mainstream, its customers include a much broader swath of society. Specifically, people who never really cared who was running the show, or about the history of the company. They just thought iPods were "cool."