What about Apple now?

[FIREd]

Availabe as an accessory...

You know, I saw someone use one of those on the street the other day.

 

[imoldernu]

What happened 1/25/2013 in the last 2 minutes of trade.
$439.88
Apple's Flash Dump In The Last Second Of Trading Caught On Tape | Zero Hedge

And just so they know what to expect, here is what happened to Apple stock in the last second of regular trading today, courtesy of Nanex. Unlike traditional flash crashes where the trade is an HFT error, or a few shares traded through the entire bid or offer stack, in this case it looks like a very premeditated unloading of some 800K shares (some $350 million worth) of AAPL in the last second, with the full knowledge it was shake the market. Why anyone would want (or wait until the very last second) to do that, while covering the offsetting ES short in the pair trade, to ramp the market into the close, is anyone's guess.

Did someone here do this?

Is David Einhorn here on ER?

http://www.insidermonkey.com/blog/these-hedge-funds-have-been-killed-by-apple-inc-aapls-selloff-44632/

 

[audreyh1]

Hmmm - that might explain why my limit order didn't execute even though the bottom of the range was shown as $435 - a number that hadn't been reached earlier in the day.

 

[AndrewJackson]

I find apple pretty funny because it is so big that it literally is its own asset class. Seriously, the market cap is like .5 trillion. Anyway, if you are going to make me pick a monster company, I would much rather have Exxon mobile. Over the next 100 years, I see energy as a much more valuable than the latest I gadget.

But hey there is a lot of cash on the appl balance sheet and the pe is getting low.

lol...Today Exxon overtook aapl as the biggest company.

 

[target2019]

Apple has had a great run. My own history with them goes back to the original Apple Mac and Laserwriter, and has continued through the present. For this company, the recipe is high-priced products you can't live without, and future vision provided by Steve Jobs. In the early eighties Apple released video on VHS that depicted the future. User walks into room and speaks to a screen embedded in a desk top. It makes his appointments and calls Mom. It was Siri and iPad, but 30 years ago. So that's vision.

Recently purchased an all-in-one iMac for someone, and there are only two models in local Apple store. Nothing else in view except for iPads, MacBooks, and iPhones. Obviously a lot of people are interested in those products, but the traditional PC/Mac hardware is quickly falling out of favor. That affects companies like Apple, Dell, MS, HP, etc.

What does Apple have in development that will propel it ahead of competition? Is there a key executive or scientist who is getting ready for products to be delivered 30 years from now?

 

[NW-Bound]

lol...Today Exxon overtook aapl as the biggest company.

I remember when Cisco had the largest market cap in 2000, at around $500B. People were talking about how Cisco was on the way to be the first "trillion dollar" company. OMG!

To be fair, one must recognize that Cisco had a P/E of greater than 100 then. Apple P/E is 1/10 of that at this point. Still, it shows how investors could get so irrational at times.

And I did not do a "sell all" and "get all out" in 2000. I was not too smart either, although I did not invest solely in Cisco then. I held other tech companies, and thought that their P/E of 30 or so looked pretty cheap compared to Cisco.

 

[Hamlet]

Yeah, I think the valuation is a huge difference between Apple today and Cisco in 2000. In 2000, Cisco was priced like it would grow forever.

Today, Apple is priced like their earnings will get cut in half very soon.

I remember when Cisco had the largest market cap in 2000, at around $500B. People were talking about how Cisco was on the way to be the first "trillion dollar" company. OMG!

To be fair, one must recognize that Cisco had a P/E of greater than 100 then. Apple P/E is 1/10 of that at this point. Still, it shows how investors could get so irrational at times.

And I did not do a "sell all" and "get all out" in 2000. I was not too smart either, although I did not invest solely in Cisco then. I held other tech companies, and thought that their P/E of 30 or so looked pretty cheap compared to Cisco.

 

[NYEXPAT]

Dumped the AAPL today that I bought last week (7k profit), as it did not perform as I had anticipated.

 

[audreyh1]

We bought some last Friday and yesterday. I'm thinking we'll still have a chance to buy some more this quarter.

 

[ziggy29]

Today, Apple is priced like their earnings will get cut in half very soon.

You'd think they recently lost one of the greatest business visionaries and "idea people" that capitalism ever had...

 

[Bestwifeever]

You'd think they recently lost one of the greatest business visionaries and "idea people" that capitalism ever had...

Bring back Woz!

 

[Andre1969]

Andre didn't miss, he lucked out. Today he is getting another chance at an even better price!

Nah, I missed out, slightly. Ended up buying at the next day's open, of $451.81. Since then, I think it dropped as low as $435 or so, but I just looked, and now it's back to around $458-459.

But, I'm not going to quibble over a few bucks here and there. And I did that purchase, mainly to rebalance my Scottrade account a bit. And if it gets out of balance again, I'll buy or sell a few shares, as needed.

 

[audreyh1]

You'd think they recently lost one of the greatest business visionaries and "idea people" that capitalism ever had...

And that person didn't have any ideas written down or left as a legacy. No ideas and prototypes in the pipeline, no ideas passed along to head engineers and his key managers.....

 

[sheehs1]

Watching Apple the last 20 to 25 years has been interesting. I recently sold out of my position. The rise of Apple has been correlated to the rise in social media (i.e., put a computer in everyone's hands, and make it smaller and smaller every year). Right now I think they may be vulnerable to competition that does the same for cheaper prices. The continued "winner" if you will, may be the company that buys out other companies to enhance the social experience or make it cheaper for us.
Have been trying to nail down the "functional" advantage of an Apple TV. What can they do to entice people to pay the price? What new functionality can they provide that is different from today and not already available in one form or another?
I consider Apple to be a "front end" to "customer" experience. As long as the back end of most businesses require the number crunching capability of IBM and Microsoft type applications, I don't see Apple invading that particular territory except of course as a "client server" (which is already available).
China may be a great area for growth but how long before the mimics take over (they already have started).

Anyone's guess on what or who Apple needs to consider buying or merging with to enhance their dominance? Netflix? Amazon? Healthcare?

 

[ziggy29]

Have been trying to nail down the "functional" advantage of an Apple TV. What can they do to entice people to pay the price? What new functionality can they provide that is different from today and not already available in one form or another?

As a Mac user since 1996 and a consumer of Apple products (not at the exclusion of all else, though), I want to like the concept of Apple TV but it doesn't really do more than a lot of the things built into a $150-200 Blu-Ray player that many of us already have. It would mostly just duplicate existing functionality in an entertainment center.

One thing that could really change my mind? Include an OTA tuner with DVR, complete with accurate channel guide, and I'd probably be sold. The combination of the online streaming capabilities of Netflix, Hulu et al with the ability to watch and record free OTA television in HD would likely be enough for me to ditch cable/satellite completely.

 

[sheehs1]

I agree Ziggy. I am thinking they need their own network too!
They could start with Netflix and Hulu. Once people have jumped ship, I bet Apple would have no problem negotiating contracts with others.

 

[Texas Proud]

As a Mac user since 1996 and a consumer of Apple products (not at the exclusion of all else, though), I want to like the concept of Apple TV but it doesn't really do more than a lot of the things built into a $150-200 Blu-Ray player that many of us already have. It would mostly just duplicate existing functionality in an entertainment center.

One thing that could really change my mind? Include an OTA tuner with DVR, complete with accurate channel guide, and I'd probably be sold. The combination of the online streaming capabilities of Netflix, Hulu et al with the ability to watch and record free OTA television in HD would likely be enough for me to ditch cable/satellite completely.

+1... just got a notice that my Dish prices are going up.... would love to ditch them... but want the DVR that is easy to use... (I do have an OTA DVR, but no guide to easily pick shows)....

I also would like to get internet cheaper than I am... paying AT&T over $85 for phone and crappy DSL that seems to stop working well when DW wants to watch something over the internet...

 

[Midpack]

I love my iPad & iPods, but FWIW Apple Drops Out of Top 20 Most Trusted Companies for Privacy - Mac Rumors

 

[NYEXPAT]

Average daily volume (past 6 mos) is 19 million. Thursday's volume was 3x that and Friday's volume was a little less. Since the stock moved down $15.00 on Friday on heavy volume, my theory that Thursday was a "capitulation" day has been disproved and hence I closed my position and wait for another day.

 

[HighRoller]

I find apple pretty funny because it is so big that it literally is its own asset class. Seriously, the market cap is like .5 trillion. Anyway, if you are going to make me pick a monster company, I would much rather have Exxon mobile. Over the next 100 years, I see energy as a much more valuable than the latest I gadget.

But hey there is a lot of cash on the appl balance sheet and the pe is getting low.

+1

 

[christrong]

Watching Apple the last 20 to 25 years has been interesting. I recently sold out of my position. The rise of Apple has been correlated to the rise in social media (i.e., put a computer in everyone's hands, and make it smaller and smaller every year). Right now I think they may be vulnerable to competition that does the same for cheaper prices. The continued "winner" if you will, may be the company that buys out other companies to enhance the social experience or make it cheaper for us.
Have been trying to nail down the "functional" advantage of an Apple TV. What can they do to entice people to pay the price? What new functionality can they provide that is different from today and not already available in one form or another?
I consider Apple to be a "front end" to "customer" experience. As long as the back end of most businesses require the number crunching capability of IBM and Microsoft type applications, I don't see Apple invading that particular territory except of course as a "client server" (which is already available).
China may be a great area for growth but how long before the mimics take over (they already have started).

Anyone's guess on what or who Apple needs to consider buying or merging with to enhance their dominance? Netflix? Amazon? Healthcare?

I've always thought they did best when they changed the way the game was played. They need to do that with appletv. Get rid of tv subscriptions like dish, directv, time Warner etc. switch to Ichannel (like ITunes) where I pick what channels I want on a monthly basis ( ie pay $10 for discovery, $10 for cnbc and$10 for the travel channel for a month). This would be similar to ITunes revolution in that I don't need to buy an album to get a song, or in Television's case I don't need to get the 250 channel package to get the 7 channels I actually watch.

Also they need to add blue tooth surround sound speakers.

 

[photoguy]

Have been trying to nail down the "functional" advantage of an Apple TV. What can they do to entice people to pay the price? What new functionality can they provide that is different from today and not already available in one form or another?

I think the biggest "functionality" apple could bring is universal licensing for content (similar to how almost all music is available). Streaming netflix sucks because almost no movies are available. Apple is big enough that they at least have a chance at succeeding in negotiations (i think it's still a very steep uphill battle for them though).

 

[KMyer]

I just decided to buy some Apple stock for the first time ever when the market opens this coming week.

My one son was way ahead of me. Several years ago we put a little money in Etrade accounts for our children to teach them about investing. One of our sons bought a couple of shares of Apple and proceeded to see his account balance triple in value over the next three years, partially because of his Apple stock. Another son didn't fare so well with his Dell investement.

On a related note, I love the new iPhone 5 I just purchased...even if I had to return the first two iPhones because they were defective. It sure beats the Blackberry!

 

[yakers]

How to lose money on Apple: The rise and fall of Andy Zaky - Apple 2.0 -Fortune Tech

Pretty interesting story about covered calls not working for this investor, lost his money and everyone elses's.

 

[eytonxav]

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.