Apple stock today closed at 598. Not long ago it was in the 80s.

[Stinky The Clown]

Buy it or not?

Some analysts are predicting it could go to 700 or more.

[Xipe Totec]

1. I would call that a sell signal...

Cash in and don't be greedy.

[A HERETIC I AM]

2. Is it cheap?

"Buy what's cheap, sell what's expensive"

Best investing advice I ever heard.

And of course, you can be on both sides of that equation at the same time, so there you go.

[cynatnite]

3. Damn that Obama...

[onehandle]

31. Damn Socialist President!

If not for him, Apple could be a success.

[originalpckelly]

4. Don't buy, Tim Cook has no inspiration.

They are running on fumes, and until they get another Steve Jobs-esque figure, they will be on the downward slide.

Scott Forstall might be OK, but really he just sounds like a douche.

[A HERETIC I AM]

10. Out of curiosity....

Are you currently short Apple?

I mean, if you would give such specific investing advice to a complete stranger on the internet, are you taking it yourself? Are you short AAPL?


If not, why not?

[onehandle]

25. LOL! Bookmarked. nt

[sudopod]

39. There you go again, saying mean things about people's religion.

[2ndAmForComputers]

5. You'd have to be crazy to buy.

And no, I won't retract that statement if it's at 630 next week.

[originalpckelly]

7. It will be below $100 in a few years.

If Tim Cook is at the lead then they are dead.

[2ndAmForComputers]

12. How can you buy a long-term future (is that how it's called?)

that allows you to sell X stock Y years from now at a pre-fixed price? THAT looks like a good deal. Although I don't really have the nerve to play with these things.

[A HERETIC I AM]

32. It's called a "Put" option.

A PUT gives the buyer the option, but not the obligation to SELL a specific security for a specific amount for a specific length of time.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Put_option


http://www.investopedia.com/terms/p/putoption.asp#axzz1p9IodhGZ

[truebrit71]

45. The longer term ones are called 'Leaps'.

...which allows you, if offered, to go out several years in the future...

[A HERETIC I AM]

47. Thanks.

I held a Series 7 License for a while but couldn't for the life of me remember "Leaps".

I knew there were longer term ones available but just couldn't remember the term.

Until I just now read up on it, I had also forgotten the standard expiration on common options. 3, 6 & 9 months, with none lasting more than a year.

Options are much like learning a foreign language. If you don't use it, you get rusty. I'm VERY rusty on options.

Thanks for mentioning "Long Term Equity AnticiPation Security"

[spooky3]

6. I've asked myself that many times. The rule of thumbs I use are:

a) is the price:earnings ratio below 15? if so, lean toward buying. (right now it is above 15, which would suggest you might NOT want to buy).
b) when there is a big dip one day due to what you believe to be people's overreactions to fears, lean toward buying.

I wish I had had the money and the courage in the 1990s to invest in Apple. I have bought their products since well before they were "cool" and have with very few exceptions been very happy. (Of course there are issues such as those with sweatshop labor, which I hope that Apple will address fully). Some people say that if you find a company like that, buy their stock.

Other people have said they follow their teenage kids to the mall to see what is appealing to them and buy based on that. Apple might meet that test, too.

[originalpckelly]

8. The problem isn't really about PE ratios...

it's all about what made apple apple. They have lost the charismatic figure in their organization and they have replaced him with a man who has the personality of a gray wall.

[spooky3]

13. I disagree with the cult-of-the-CEO way of thinking.

There is no question that Steve Jobs had a profound impact on Apple. But he wasn't alone. Wozniak for example was as important to its success as anyone. And now, it is a huge corporation, that Jobs had plenty of time to structure for it to survive and thrive. I trust that he did as good a job of doing that as anyone could, and surely had significant input in choosing his successor.

I personally never bought an Apple product because of Steve Jobs' personality or charisma.

It is possible that one person could undo the good work of many who continue to work there. So I can't say with certainty that the company will or won't collapse (again). If I definitely believed they would collapse, I would sell all my Apple stock today (yes I do own some shares as an individual and in some mutual funds, retirement and non-retirement). If I definitely could say they will thrive, obviously I would buy more now even though the price has gone up rapidly, recently (and it went up a lot last year too).

But there is also research showing that some people greatly overestimate the impact of a given CEO on the performance of large corporations.

So, based on what little I know and my satisfaction as a consumer, I am willing to gamble that they will continue to succeed over the long haul.

[originalpckelly]

16. Apple does not look like a normal company organization-wise.

They have the organization of the artist going over there. Instead of an unending series of managers, they have a relatively flat organization. Yes, they have different levels, but this nimble organization I think allowed them to do the amazing things they did last decade.

I also think that Mr. Jobs' ability to convince people they could do things they thought they could not do was also very important to these products that Apple unveiled last decade.

They might be able to capitalize on the previous ideas, but I don't see a new device like an iPad whose roots are solely in the Cook period. The right people just won't have the right power at the right time.

[spooky3]

19. Let's check back in a year and see what has happened.

[originalpckelly]

20. A couple years.

In a year they will probably be OK.

But in 2-3 they will have missed the next wave and that's when it will happen.

[banned from Kos]

9. Apple will end this year with $150 billion in cash

So $600 is 4x cash. No debt.

Cheap as hell.

[originalpckelly]

11. They are just carrying forward the momentum of the Jobs years.

I have been following them for a while, and this keynote for the iPad was a dud. The iPhone 4S introduction was solemn for a good reason, but this last part should not have been like that. Cook has the most boring presentation and he is just another boring tech guy.

In an organization based upon charismatic leadership, you need to have a charismatic leader.

[Elwood P Dowd]

21. I know dozens of people who have purchased Apple iPods, iPhones, iPads, iMacs, etc., and they

have no fucking clue who the hell Tim Cook is. Most only knew of Steve Jobs from the news reports when he passed away.

[originalpckelly]

24. It's not really about customer-ceo stuff...

It's about how the organization that makes the things and comes up with the new ideas works.

It is short-sighted to think about technologies they have already developed and are only expanding upon, rather than technologies they would have pursued were he at the helm.

As the years go by, the more and more opportunities Apple misses and other companies are created to take advantage of, then you will see them fail.

Not only that, but the execution of future versions of all of the current devices will be threatened by the lack of a good leader to make it happen on time the right way.

[onehandle]

29. That's just not reality. The results of the keynote is a total worldwide sellout.

But keep fucking that chicken.

[sudopod]

40. Was it that good a speech? nt

[thelordofhell]

14. For the next year.....it will go up a little more.......maybe 650?

But with Steve Jobs gone, the company will start making those same stupid greedy decisions that killed it last time Jobs wasn't there.

[originalpckelly]

17. It's not just that...

they won't be revolutionary enough to place themselves at the forefront of whatever comes along...unless they get a Jobs like CEO soon.

[Brother Buzz]

15. Lieutenant Dan got me invested in some kind of fruit company

So then I got a call from him, saying we don't have to worry about money no more. And I said, that's good!

[GoneOffShore]

18. They are going to start have to paying dividends soon.

I'm holding my shares.

[cthulu2016]

22. I hate saying this, but it may be a buy

I'm not a fan of the market and surely not of cult-stocks...

But Apples Forward P/E is 12.33, and trailing P/E is only 16.78. Profit margin 25.80%.

So by the standards of crazy-ass fad stocks it isn't all that "expensive" and probably has room to run

[onehandle]

23. Could be as much as 900 by next year. Buy. nt

[2ndAmForComputers]

26. I'm SO bookmarking this.

[onehandle]

28. No matter what, it will be at least 700 in a year's time. iPad '3' is projected to sell 33 million.

...in 2012.

Do the math.

[2ndAmForComputers]

36. I see a bald man in a suit banging a shoe on the desk and screaming "WE WILL BURY YOU!"

[Loki]

27. In 1996 when I bought my first Mac

Apple's stock was trading at $30.00 and below and many thought it was ripe for a takeover. All my friends were buying Pc's and kept taunting me about my "soon to be out of business" Apple product. Wonder what they might say now.

[Kolesar]

30. 26 years of consuming, and I still have not purchased one Apple product

Not even a song.

[onehandle]

33. Enjoy your Zune.

[belcffub]

42. if you had bought stock instead of the mac

you would be able to retire now

there was a site a while back that let you select a mac model and year and would tell you in todays stock price what it would be worth today... a 1996 price in stock would be well over a million dollars now... wish I had bought the stock back then...

[brooklynite]

43. I bought my shares at an effective prices (with stock splits) of $4.

Last edited Thu Mar 15, 2012, 10:11 AM - Edit history (1)

Heeeheeheeheeheehee

[CK_John]

34. No buy, if you factor in the China problem. IMO China is about fall apart due to

lead, mercury poisoning. Ground water pollution and split policy society.

Apple is part and parcel of China and may be forced to relocate here, which would take 5 yrs to pull off.

[FreeState]

37. Apple is already diversifying its production countries, Brazil just opened an iPad factory n/t

[demosincebirth]

35. I think eventually they're going to run out of gadgets to sell.

[FreeState]

38. I agree - after the TV market there won't be much left without major innovation n/t

[Johonny]

41. If you have the cash I'd buy

me I don't like investing in that type of stock. I like smaller price dividend stocks. Last summer you could snap them up and get a next return and a nice dividend. Now I 'm thinking mid-April go into commodities. DU stock advice is always bad

[spooky3]

44. So, Stinky, aren't you going to weigh in with your thoughts, or reactions to some of the comments?

Would like to hear what you think.

[just1voice]

46. Yeh sure, go ahead and buy 10,000 shares

I mean who doesn't have 6 million dollars laying around for speculating on criminally corrupt stock markets run by "too big to fail" banks that are currently destroying entire country's economies, including ours.