AAPL stock - long term opinions

[MichealKnight]

Admittedly, I am late to the party on Apple, I only recently started buying shares...I think I'm around $310 per share.

There seems to be many AAPL investors on this board hence I'm asking....

Do you feel that AAPL is still a growth stock?

Also, I know there's no crystal balls but certainly, if one invests, one has some sort of expectation. How do you see Apple shares over the next 5 years or so? Up, down? Anemic?

Thanks

 

[davebarnes]

Apple is dead.
Google it.

 

[JustVisitingThisPlanet]

Apple should be fine long term but the stock is expensive.

 

[Montecfo]

I would not buy here but I do own it and have for long-term.

It's a fine company but it is not cheap, IMHO.

 

[kcowan]

Google has built their infrastructure to rival iTunes and iCloud so it is hard to see why new people would appreciate the price premium. In our case, we have 2x iPhones and 2x iPads so it is just easier since we would not upgrade all at once.

My first smart phone was a DIY Samsung and it was ugly. No way would DW have enjoyed it. Our friends have Android phones but he does all the work to keep them running. A friend had one and switched.

We are continuing to hold the stock to avoid a 2600% capital gain.

 

[MBAustin]

I've been an Apple user since getting a MacSE in 1990. My only serious investing regret is not buying AAPL in the late 90's when the price was under $10. After talking about it for years and years, I finally bought when the price had dipped to just under $150. Not a major part of our portfolio, but certainly happy with the results!

 

[braumeister]

Very longtime Apple customer here. Bought an Apple ][+ in 1980 and went through several iterations of those machines, then a Mac Plus in 1987 and many, many iterations of Macs. In fact, many more than most people, because I w*rked for a few years for a minicorp that developed custom Mac software.

I loved the company and believed in it, so beginning in around 1988 I bought the stock every time it was battered to the ground and people were talking about how it had no future. Once it got up to an unreasonably high price (IMHO) I sold it and waited for the next crash of its stock price.

That method served me very well, many times. In hindsight, I should have just held on to it, but it's my nature to get nervous when sitting on huge unrealized gains. I need to sleep well at night, after all.

 

[MRG]

Never owned anything Apple except the stock. Bought it back in 2012 and still have 265 shares left. I had sold calls in on it back then and made some fast money. I'd sold some off after the 7:1 split and more off last year as it took off. Apple is my only remaining individual equity. As to the future I think it's going sideways for a while as the economy actually crashes and begins to recover. What the heck do I know?

 

[tenant13]

Apple allowed me to retire. I bought it when it was $60. It then went up to $700, split 7 ways and is now $340 a share. I actually sold some of it recently even though in the current market it's one company that's worth holding on. My portfolio is up 10% for the year because of Apple. I see it going up to $500 in the not so distant future if they keep running the company the way they do. If it goes under $300 again - conceivable - it would be a buy imo.

There's nothing especially innovative about their products - this is not Steve Jobs' Apple - but everything just works right out of the box. Always has. They make their own hardware (including chips as of lately), wearables are selling like hot cakes, they have a tight grip on the software, installed customer base keeps spending on services and somehow iPhone, while perhaps not cool, still remains a status symbol - so does Apple watch. Apple TV+ is fine and if they land a genuine hit, it will become a serious player in the streaming market. They sit on a huge pile of cash, make small but smart acquisitions, sell bonds, buy back stock, increase dividends... what's not to like? It's truly a model of well run company.

 

[conversationalphrase]

Cash on hand: >$40 billion
Net profit margin: 19%
Operating margin: 22%

With numbers like these I am holding.

 

[audreyh1]

If it keeps going like this I think it’s going to hit $400 soon!

 

[RobLJ]

I bought it in early '18, then sold it in Feb '20 for an 80% gain, due to my sense it was fully (over) valued, and concerns about Chinese demand/tariffs.

If it drops back on a market correction, I'll rebuy it.

I made 80% in two years, so I'm happy; it's a great company but highly valued. The shift to streaming services is a key (for me), but I'm not impressed with Apple TV; that was another part of selling.

If I owned more, I probably would have just sold half the position and held, as I've done with Microsoft (a 6 bagger for me; I bought towards the end of the Balmer era).

 

[eytonxav]

I've made some good profits on Apple over the years. I would only buy on big dips. As to their future, it will depend on if they can continue to innovate and differentiate themselves and also on the political situation with China. Apple still has significant manufacturing and customer base there that could be jeopardized in the future. They do have a very loyal customer base, including me.

 

[ProspectiveBum]

The next growth opportunity for Apple will apparently be in AR. Apple Glass is reportedly coming, though there’s disagreement about how soon. They’re incorporating LIDAR scanners in their newer devices that will also be used for AR applications. Unlike Google’s attempt at glasses, Apple’s will reportedly incorporate LIDAR, but not cameras, which should alleviate some of the privacy concerns people had about Google Glass.

I’m an Apple user, but wouldn’t call myself a fan-boy. A number of their products seemed laughable when I first heard about them: AirPods? Apple Watch? I wasn’t an early adopter of either, but they’re both superior products, and after using them it’s easy to understand why they’re driving so much revenue.

As a shareholder, I’m expecting (hoping?) these new AR devices will spawn further revenue growth.

 

[MichealKnight]

ProspectiveBum thanks for chiming in. Admittedly I'm a "get off my lawn" guy where it comes to social media and tech. I frankly despise the instagrams, facebooks, texting, smartphones, etc even though I also see the convenience brought by such.

AR - -do you really think people will want to put on glasses and be happy to pretend they are at a ballgame? I can't imagine it....but then again these people are so owned by tech - who knows, maybe its possible.

 

[pj.mask]

AR - -do you really think people will want to put on glasses and be happy to pretend they are at a ballgame? I can't imagine it....but then again these people are so owned by tech - who knows, maybe its possible.

That VR. AR would be while you’re at the baseball game looking at player 52 their name and stats appear as a text box above their head. Or in Europe the names of the shops are translated into English. Or the reviews of the restaurant are shown next to the name. Or the navigation path is displayed on the road.

 

[audreyh1]

Dang - this has been one heck of a pre-split run-up! High today $499.47. Close $497.48 up $24.38 (5.15%).

 

[cat4ever]

Long term holder here

AAPL is the only reason I'm on this board. As soon as I saw that Apple was putting simplicity over upgradability and sheer power I started buying. That was back in 96/97, before the iMac. In the last 10 years I've always rebalanced to hold between 400K and 1 million in AAPL stock. Wish I never would have done the rebalancing, but other than that consider myself very happy and lucky.

As for the future, I'm holding strong (famous last words) and will incrementally add, especially on any dips. Maybe there's a dip coming but I doubt it will be a big one, just too many things going right for them. 5G, AirPods, Apple Watch, CarPlay, the list goes on and the future should only bring more of the same as the world becomes more and more "virtual".

 

[tenant13]

AAPL is the only reason I'm on this board. As soon as I saw that Apple was putting simplicity over upgradability and sheer power I started buying. That was back in 96/97, before the iMac. In the last 10 years I've always rebalanced to hold between 400K and 1 million in AAPL stock. Wish I never would have done the rebalancing, but other than that consider myself very happy and lucky.

As for the future, I'm holding strong (famous last words) and will incrementally add, especially on any dips. Maybe there's a dip coming but I doubt it will be a big one, just too many things going right for them. 5G, AirPods, Apple Watch, CarPlay, the list goes on and the future should only bring more of the same as the world becomes more and more "virtual".

Similar story. I started buying after the orange iMac. I sold a bunch right after it came back to the pre Covid levels. In a hindsight that wasn't the greatest move but I still have a lot left and thx to Apple I already have more money than I could spend. So I refuse to get annoyed by greed. But in all seriousness: why would you NOT invest in Apple? This is one company that is actually run like clockwork.

 

[Montecfo]

I got in most recently at 20. It's.bewn a great holding. Would not buy here. Do like.it for the long-term.

Never been a huge position for me though I have successfully traded the stock.a lot as well as the options.

 

[Closet_Gamer]

I own a bunch of AAPL...accidentally.

I buy the DIA, QQQ and SPY every month and they collectively represent about 30% of my portfolio.

AAPL is:
13% of the NASDAQ.
12% of the Dow.
6.4% of the S&P 500.

I'm sure its also a noteworthy fraction of my target date fund that is in my 401K.

That's plenty for me!

It is an amazing and durable company with an incredibly loyal fan base.

Though I think there is growing tarnish, particularly as prices continue to go up and we see more problems with various software upgrades.

The various new devices are just less compelling too. We're pretty much an Apple family but that may be waning.

I'm typing this on an 8 year old Mac...its essentially a glorified Chromebook now except for Excel that I use to track investments.

My wife just bought a Chromebook instead of a Mac replacement.

I only have an ipad for work, haven't bought one of those in 5+ years. DD1 is getting one to take written notes...though the underlying software will be OneNote.

I received a pair of Airpods as a gift...lost one and instead bought a really nice set of third party buds for $39 that I like more than the Airpods.

Had an iWatch. It was a fun little toy but too bulky to fit nicely in my long sleeve shirts for work. About 18 months in, I dropped it and shattered the screen. Never replaced it, don't miss it.

We're all iphones and my kids live on those 24x7...but now that we've dispensed with iTunes (Spotify and Audible) and reduced our usage of iMessage (WhatsApp), having them be Apple is less important.

I suspect that this may be our last round of iPhones. I use an iPhoneX for the most part, but I live overseas and keep a US sim in an old iPhone8. When back in the US recently, it became my primary phone for a few weeks. Honestly, didn't miss the X.

 

[Badger]

AAPL today is a few dollars short of $500/share today. Isn't AAPL supposed to split 4-for-1 this month? We have a few shares from an inheritance a couple of years ago and have ignored it until the recent announcement. I don't care one way or the other about the stock but not sure what to do with it.


Cheers!

 

[audreyh1]

AAPL today is a few dollars short of $500/share today. Isn't AAPL supposed to split 4-for-1 this month? We have a few shares from an inheritance a couple of years ago and have ignored it until the recent announcement. I don't care one way or the other about the stock but not sure what to do with it.


Cheers!

Yes, this appears to be a pre-split run-up. Split is supposed to occur on August 31 to shareholders of record on August 24.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/lcarre...split-to-bring-in-new-investors/#114c047a5401

 

[jollystomper]

In 1996 I bought Microsoft at $113/share. with all of the splits it encountered over the years, at its current price the original cost is around $4/share. I sold some over the years to help with college payments but still hold 80% of the original shares I bought. As new technology came out, many times there were articles about Microsoft falling behind, but they have always found a way to keep going. I look at it as a stock that I might sell a nibble here or there just to enjoy it, but will pass along the bulk of it to my heirs.

Apple should be viewed the same way... I do not own any shares directly, but through my mutual fund and ETF holdings, Quicken Portfolio X-Ray says it is about 2% of my stock investments. I see it in a similar light as Microsoft stock.

The funny thing is, I have never been a big fan of its technology. I do not won any Apple products. I see it as too expensive for my tastes, and too proprietary when it comes to integration with industry standards. But I know I am in the minority here. So many people love their products and innovation and are locked into it, along with them having enough money to buy almost anything they want, that it would take a lot for it to stop growing.

 

[Montecfo]

Yes I own the stock, not the products. I think the stock is the best thing APPL sells.