What about Apple now?

[ERD50]

I heard on the radio the other day that Apple is claiming it TV coming out next year, will be every bit as significant as the iPhone. If Jobs was the one making that claim, I would probably put a little more credance to it beyond just marketing hype.

No one hyped some flops more than Jobs -

List: Steve Jobs’ Top Product Hits & Flops « CBS San Francisco

A couple of my 'favorites':

4. Puck Mouse (1998) – The new iMac was the first major product created after Jobs’ return to Apple in 1996, and it was a big success, despite its tiny, round mouse. Users couldn’t tell which way it was oriented by feel, and it tended to disappear in the cup of the hand, making it hard to use.

5. The Cube (2000) –

-ERD50

 

[eytonxav]

No one hyped some flops more than Jobs -

List: Steve Jobs’ Top Product Hits & Flops « CBS San Francisco

A couple of my 'favorites':

4. Puck Mouse (1998) – The new iMac was the first major product created after Jobs’ return to Apple in 1996, and it was a big success, despite its tiny, round mouse. Users couldn’t tell which way it was oriented by feel, and it tended to disappear in the cup of the hand, making it hard to use.

5. The Cube (2000) –

-ERD50

Well I did say "would probably put a little more".Is that statement worded with such a strong conviction that you have laugh at it? I also am not sure the hypes you mention were in the same league hypewise as comparing the product to the likes on an iPhone.

 

[ERD50]

Well I did say "would probably put a little more".Is that statement worded with such a strong conviction that you have laugh at it? I also am not sure the hypes you mention were in the same league hypewise as comparing the product to the likes on an iPhone.

I just thought the idea was funny, nothing personal at you saying it, or your wording.

I followed Apple quite closely for many years, and have read a number of books. IIRC, it was "The Second Coming of Jobs" that really pointed out how badly he fumbled some things, and was not always the visionary that most hold him up as. Not that everyone is going to bat a thousand, but it was interesting just how he failed in some of these ventures.

That said, I don't think any other person on the planet could have turned Apple around in such a remarkable way (if at all) as Steve Jobs did upon his return in 1997.

-ERD50

 

[clifp]

Once Apple dropped below 500, I got interested in it again. I have owned on and off again over the decades but I bought my last Apple product (except for iPod ages ago) back in 1985, so I know I don't understand the company that well.

I wrote some march 450 puts. I closed one today but will exercise the other in an IRA at cost basis of $435. I think Apple will be higher in the future but if it will outperform the S&P is an open question .

 

[FIREd]

Bought some AAPL this morning at $425.68. Never owned this stock before.

 

[chasesfish]

I personally despise investing in the consumer electronics space. No stability in earnings, it's tough to rely on them to grow long term

 

[Free To Canoe]

Apple below 90 yesterday. Any takers?

 

[braumeister]

I see a good chance it will go lower still. Still an outstanding company to own IMHO.

 

[target2019]

Calling the bottom for 2016: $86.68 on 9/30/2016.

 

[ProspectiveBum]

I don't pretend to be a stock picker, but I've bought $55k of AAPL in the last 3 weeks. I think their pivot to services will allow them to continue to grow over the next few years, and there isn't a big down-side risk. Time will tell if I'm correct.

 

[papadad111]

I am considering to buy AAPL puts ...

I don't believe the company can navigate long term without their original founder. History already proved that once. History tends to repeat.

 

[harley]

I've got a buy order in for a price just below $90. I hope to pick it up in the next week or so. I sold my last hundred shares in a taxable account a few years ago at almost $100 (cost basis $10), and I've been waiting for chance to buy them back. I sold when I was in the 15% bracket and didn't pay CG tax. I just didn't do a very big Roth conversion that year. I was going to buy them back after a year, but the price went up so I waited. And in the meantime I decided to transfer my gambling fund to a Roth so I don't have to worry about taxes from now on. I could have bought them back at the sell price, but I'm a bit greedy.

I've still got to find a way to sell my taxable BRK.B shares without much of a tax hit. I've only got 10 more years until RMDs, so I want to maximize my Roth conversions. If I get a chance I'll dribble a few shares/year out filling in the gap between the conversion and the top of the 15% bracket. I already bought the replacement shares in the Roth at a much lower price than they are at today. Those were my only two big winners, so I can probably just pay the CGs on those without too much pain.

I love playing "Avoid the Taxes".

 

[harley]

I've got a buy order in for a price just below $90. I hope to pick it up in the next week or so. I sold my last hundred shares in a taxable account a few years ago at almost $100 (cost basis $1), and I've been waiting for chance to buy them back. I sold when I was in the 15% bracket and didn't pay CG tax. I just didn't do a very big Roth conversion that year. I was going to buy them back after a year, but the price went up so I waited. And in the meantime I decided to transfer my gambling fund to a Roth so I don't have to worry about taxes from now on. I could have bought them back at the sell price, but I'm a bit greedy.

I've still got to find a way to sell my taxable BRK.B shares without much of a tax hit. I've only got 10 more years until RMDs, so I want to maximize my Roth conversions. If I get a chance I'll dribble a few shares/year out filling in the gap between the conversion and the top of the 15% bracket. I already bought the replacement shares in the Roth at a much lower price than they are at today. Those were my only two big winners, so I can probably just pay the CGs on those without too much pain.

I love playing "Avoid the Taxes".

 

[target2019]

Tim Cook has done an adequate job of handling the post Steve Jobs era. However, the lack of an innovative new product, a game changer, does not seem likely at this time.

 

[harley]

Still, Apple owns about half the cash in the world. They can buy innovative game changers, even if they can't develop it themselves. I still think they're a good investment, especially at this or lower prices.

 

[nash031]

Kicking myself for not selling at $130, but I don't know that it's a terrific value even now. The 7-way split has them selling still right around $650 while S&P is off about 5% from its high. I bought in at an equivalent under $450 and under $400, so I'm not sure right now they're a superior value.

That said, I'm going to crunch some numbers in the next week and look to see if I want to buy more.

I think AAPL's days of being a big time growth stock are behind them, and they should be invested as a value stock. For them, the idea of a game-changer is much more difficult because they're already so big. JMO.

 

[harley]

Freakin' Warren Buffett. I only needed it to drop another 1.5%, and he has to go and buy $1B worth of their stock, driving the price back up. I'll have to wait a bit for the news to fade before it drops back down to my range. So close, and yet so far.

 

[Andre1969]

I have about $30,000 worth of Apple stock right now, and have been trying to maintain roughly that level. If it goes up enough I'll sell some, and if it drops enough I'll buy some. Last time I sold was back in 2015, and it was around $130. I bought some back when it dropped to $100, and just bought another 20 shares last week at $90.10 per share. Currently, 320 shares total.

I initially paid something like $88.60 per share for it back in 2005, but since then it did a 2:1 split a couple weeks after. And then it split again in 2014...I forget whether that was a 6:1 or 7:1?

 

[Totoro]

Bet against Buffett is rarely a good strategy, yet I still don't see it.

Apple is a powerful brand, so was Nokia. And Dell. And IBM in the consumer space. Anything electronics related in the consumer arena is dangerous in my book.

 

[Cassius King]

And to be clear, this isn't a Warren Buffett purchase. It was made by either Todd or Ted. Each of them manage $10b for Berk. One of them was confident enough to make it a 10% position of theirs.

 

[Hamlet]

Bet against Buffett is rarely a good strategy, yet I still don't see it.

Apple is a powerful brand, so was Nokia. And Dell. And IBM in the consumer space. Anything electronics related in the consumer arena is dangerous in my book.

There is risk of a shift in consumer sentiment, but at this price it would have to be dramatic to make Apple a bad buy. They are close to a single digit PE and have more cash than any other company in the world.

As long as sales don't fall off a cliff, this stock makes sense to me.

As someone else pointed out, it probably isn't Buffett buying this but one of the new guys.

 

[audreyh1]

People talk about Apple "no longer being a growth stock" - but they were never priced like one. The P/E has always been absurdly low, even when the growth rate was incredible.

 

[MRG]

People talk about Apple "no longer being a growth stock" - but they were never priced like one. The P/E has always been absurdly low, even when the growth rate was incredible.

+1.

The 400 shares I kept from 4 years ago have grown into 450.☺ I'm staying.

 

[kgtest]

Bought back when we had a very brief one day drop to 95+ last year then sold at 125+ a few weeks back before the decline.

Tried to catch the falling knife and bought back in too early at 99.99... apparently I forgot about that LIMIT order I set.

No more room for individual equities with AAPL taking the whole slice of my equities pie right now. A little overweight, 20% of the portfolio is in AAPL right now. I wish I had bought NVidia instead of so much AAPL in the tech sector.

 

[Free To Canoe]

Freakin' Warren Buffett. I only needed it to drop another 1.5%, and he has to go and buy $1B worth of their stock, driving the price back up. I'll have to wait a bit for the news to fade before it drops back down to my range. So close, and yet so far.

+1

He did the same thing to me on KMI, too.


Warren always said that he would never buy technology because he likes to stick with what he understands. This makes sense that he would like them now (at the right price). They have become the Coca Cola of electronics. They are unique in the marketplace and it is not because of unique technology.