“Several analysts rushed out overnight updates after Apple’s surprise announcement Tuesday that Steve Jobs won’t be delivering his usual Macworld keynote next month,” Philip Elmer-DeWitt reports for Fortune.
But Yair Reiner at Oppenheimer & Co. did something we’ve never seen before,” Elmer-DeWitt reports. “Not only did he downgrade Apple (AAPL) to ‘perform,’ or neutral, but he withheld his 12 – 18 month price target for the stock — replacing it with a big NA — until he gets some questions answered.”
“‘Six months have passed since Jobs appeared at the Apple Developers Conferences looking drawn and unwell,’ Reiner wrote in a note to clients entitled ‘One Scare Too Many,'” Elmer-DeWitt reports. Reiner wrote, “It’s past time for Apple to either disclose the state of his health or elaborate a viable plan for eventually transferring power. Until such time, we can no longer continue to recommend Apple as a long-term investment.'”
Elmer-DeWitt reports, “Reiner isn’t the only one unnerved by the Jobs news. Investors sent Apple shares down nearly 7%, to $88.95 a share, in midday trading Wednesday.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take:
By SteveJack
Let’s face it: the way things are today, short of Jobs retiring, or God forbid, dropping dead, nothing is going to change the pattern of Steve Jobs health scares, regardless of whether they’re real, imagined, or invented manipulations intended to affect the price of Apple stock.
Jobs could walk on water this afternoon and some people would voice “concern” that he only accomplished it because he’s lost so much weight that he’s about to ascend into heaven.
There’s only so much Apple shareholders can take. An extremely well-positioned, successful company having its share price driven down artificially whenever some short seller desires to cry wolf, er… “gaunt” is not something serious, or even casual, investors welcome. Those who are charged with keeping order (SEC) in the markets are obviously incompetent, AWOL, or both. Perhaps, Jim Cramer and many others (see below for one example) are right in calling loudly for reinstatement of the uptick rule?
The chairman of the SEC [Christopher Cox] serves at the appointment of the president and has betrayed the public’s trust. If I were President today, I would fire him… Mismanagement and greed became the operating standard while regulators were asleep at the switch. The regulators were asleep, my friends, they were not working for you. [The SEC has allowed abusive short-selling, to turn] our markets into a casino. – Senator John McCain, September 18, 2008
So, the headline asks the ultimate question: In this current climate, with stock-price-affecting health “concerns,” real or not, that can only be alleviated via retirement or death, and in the absence of the uptick rule, has Steve Jobs become too much of a liability for Apple shareholders? With his “health” sitting there as ammunition to be used whenever the shorts desire to fire off a few rounds, can Steve Jobs remain as Apple CEO without the uptick rule in place?
We get email here. Some AAPL shareholders are not happy with what they consider to be obvious and uncontrolled manipulation.
In an attempt to achieve utter clarity, here’s the Either/Or statement: Either Steve Jobs has to go or the uptick rule has to return. Without one or the other, Apple shareholders are at the mercy of forces that have absolutely nothing to do with the company’s current and future performance. AAPL stock simply cannot be recommended, if its performance has little or nothing to do with the company’s actual results. Cancel or Allow?
SteveJack is a long-time Macintosh user, web designer, multimedia producer and a regular contributor to the MacDailyNews Opinion section.
oh brother! first Sculley gets Steve booted by the board, and now this: kicked out because the company relies too heavily upon him. madness
not of steve’s doing. the media has created this problem.
The problem is not Steve Jobs or the end of MacWorld keynotes. It’s the #$%@ing anal-ysts!
Actually I hope they bash a bit more right now. I need the stock to drop to $80 so I can afford to buy 10 more shares.
I think he should just ascend into heaven and run Apple through a couple of prophets. I nominate me.
Oh please. What a crock, MDN. Are you guys becoming link whores too? If you read other news, you would have noted that CNBC’s Jim Goldman reported that informed sources made it clear to him that Apple’s pull-out from MacWorld is a business decision, and DOES NOT have anything to do with Steve Job’s health, good or bad.
If you work on trade shows as I do, you would be apalled at the cost charged by show organizers, and the hideous costs related to doing business at a trade show. From union fees for drayage, to the obscene charges to exhibitors for electrical services or Internet (a simple T-1 share for two days can cost even a small exhibitor over $1,000 at a big trade show for one connection) and more, trade shows are a very expensive proposition these days.
As it is, Apple has trade shows daily across the world. It’s called THE APPLE STORE. And the company may have learned that they can generate an equal amount of media coverage via smaller special events and at a lower cost. So why spend all the money on MacWorld?
If you are an Apple employee, you might be thankful. The savings on MacWorld might save your job.
Meanwhile, you have dickheads like Yair Reiner attempting to hold Apple hostage until the company capitulates, apologizes and gives some two-bit analyst what they demand. Um, who the frick appointed this frigtard to be God? And why doesn’t this dipshit drop a similar bomb on Warren Buffet, who has for years stated that he has a succession plan, and that it will remain an absolute secret until the genial Mr. Buffet either retires or dies? Can you say, “double-standard”, boys and girls?
Frankly, I am tired of this crap. Judge a company on its earnings, not rumors, lies, assumptions and innuendos. And shame on SteveJack and MDN for this garbage. You are becoming the very link whores that you despise.
Please wake me up when real news comes around. Otherwise, you’ll just continue to be fodder for the short sellers and hedge funds waiting to prey on your fears and ignorance.
Yair Reiner at Oppenheimer & Co. is an idiot… his company is a train wreck (their muni funds dropped 40% this year!!!). He is probably part of the manipulate- Apple -stock group. I wouldn’t hit a dog in the ass with his crappy opinions.
Ha! the ultimate artificial construction to bash a brilliant genius. Make up a bunch of hooey, illegally manipulate the stock, then blame Jobs: utter media corruption.
It’s so bad and ridiculous it’s funny. Ppl are not THAT stupid.
clue-by-four,
Congratulations, you’ve missed MDN’s point entirely. Whoosh! Right over your tiny pea brain.
Please apply the “clue-by-four” to your head repeatedly until you achieve basic reading comprehension skills or until you pass out whichever comes first.
In short: NO.
In long: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO…
(yes, I stole that bit from Zero Punctuation yet again)
I am beyond frustrated and annoyed with these same know-nothing idiots waving the “Jobs health” card around to easily manipulate the stock price for their own profit. It’s not Apple’s fault that the SEC are either not doing their job or are in on the scam.
If “Apple shareholders” (including, apparently, some at MDN) are more concerned about what other people think, than they are about having the best person possible as CEO of Apple, then these “Apple shareholders” are complete morons.
ANAL-yst. geez
I for one am very concerned. Apple has recovered and prospered because of Steve. I don’t think see a combination of vision, business savy, and asshole-ness that drives people to give their best anywhere on the horizon. Apple will try to hang on the way Disney did, but as CEOs come and go, the company will become more and more managed by committee.
It looks like to me, despite MDN’s ranting, that Steve is sick again, and that time may be short.
He is too important! We must get rid of him because that makes him a liability!
That is complete crap. Let me recap that illogic – a few Chicken Littles are squawking that Steveo is going to die early because he doesn’t resemble Buddha, so get rid of him now…
Relax, friends. Hakuna matata is the phrase that pays. Steve’s situation will take care of itself over time.
Yes, lets throw him under bus since he’s not doing well. Losers.
Many think that Steve Jobs IS Apple. So naturally, w/o Steve there is no Apple, or so the faulty logic seems to go.
Apple is the approx. 32,000 people employed by the company, AND the millions of customers around the world.
Its a symbiotic relationship that just happens to currently be headed by a wunderkind of the computer age. Cap’n Steve has righted the listing Apple ship, and now has a very able bodied crew in place to sail on to points yet to be discovered. Are you with the ship or not?
Any body here old enough to remember ” COMDEX ” ? It was the largest computer trade show in the U.S. Eventually, exhibitors dropped out of the show because of costs and alternative ways of advertising their products. The Internet has changed the need for trade shows, not to mention the high costs of travel and manning these shows. The time has come to ” put a fork in it “.
@iWill
Look at Apple when it started… then look how it was when he got canned…. then look at his success without Apple.. then look at the success Apple has with him back. Him leaving again could be bad. But who knows, last time he was canned maybe this time he will leave or die. I’m sure he has a plan for someone to take his place but im sure he wont tell until he says he’s leavin.. assuming he leaves.
Cox is an incompetent buffoon.
The experiment failed completely.
Bring back the uptick rule.
Without it, Jobs’ “health concerns” have been and will continue to be used to manipulate the stock at will.
Bravo, SteveJack!
It’s about fscking time somebody said it!
Without the uptick rule, Jobs’ health is simply there to be used by whomever wishes to artificially drive down the stock that day.
AAPL investors should be apoplectic as they own shares in one of the richest and best positioned companies on the planet and are seeing no rewards due to stock price manipulation by the short sellers.
clue-by-four,
Do you take off your helmet when you go to sleep or just leave it on 24/7?
Perhaps Apple’s stock price will be 70% of what it should be because of investors who care more about Steve Jobs’s health than actual company performance (present and future). That’s fine with me. I’d rather have Apple at 70% potential stock price now with Steve Jobs at the helm for as long as he wants to do it. Eventually, when Steve Jobs is still around after a few more years, investors will become less paranoid. Or Steve Jobs will retire sooner rather than later, and investors will get used to seeing that Apple is doing just fine. Either way, it is best for Apple to have Steve Jobs as CEO for as long as possible.
But I have a feeling Steve Jobs will be calling the shots at Apple for a long time. The MacWorld keynote date is really early this year, January 5th. Steve Jobs does not just get up there on stage and read off a tele-prompter or cue cards. He carefully prepares for and rehearses the show. He probably decided that it was more important to him that he spend the time between Christmas and New Years with his family, instead of preparing for the annual “MacWorld Show and Tell.” Let Phil handle it; he delegated. He’ll probably be sitting in the audience.
You Americans will never learn! Giving again to one man (Reiner here) to make and break handle to communicate to greedy stockholders whether Apple is doing well or not. Do not blame Jobs, do not blame Apple, blame the Reiner dude and the panting crowds for the posted disappointing figures. Or do you need another warning and trillions to go to incompetent or evil “captains” of your industry?
Just more of the silly attitude that we have in this country about the so-called “key man”, whether it is business or politics.
No question Steve Jobs was, and maybe still is the driving force behind Apple.
But IN NO WAY do I get up in the morning and plan my day around
Steve Jobs’ health. I do use my Mac, but that is me working individually. Things will change when he passes, but….we all go on.
And the idea that my day would substantially change because of what the President-elects mood is today is just pathetic! Some of you are willing to throw away what you could accomplish on your own because of who is or is not president? Yikes! Scary!
The ONLY reason that any society works, whether it is the Apple “society” or the nation works is because each of us individually gets up in the morning, goes to work and does his job. It is not because of what the “collective” does. That is just an obstacle that the talented and motivated individuals to work around. As it always was and shall be.
Steve Jobs does that, but he will not always be there, and someone else will step into his place or not. 30 million copies of OSX out there plugging away used by individuals. We all get replaced someday, but the momentum is there if we keep it up.
End of Wednesday afternoon philosophy rant.
The system that determines share prices is broken, pure and simple. When a successful company’s share price has virtually nothing to do with its performance, the system is doubly broken. When Steve Jobs retires, whenever that may happen, Apple will instantly become a different company because a man like Steve Jobs cannot be replaced just like that. It may be that he can’t be replaced at all and Apple will return to being just another seller of uninspired electronic gadgets. Who knows? Meanwhile, long live Steve Jobs!
Anyone who thinks the Stock Market has ANYTHING to do with reality is delusional.
Just think, the ones who are doing the best financially are the ones who stuffed their money in a mattress! I have lots of friends and family who lost 20% or more of their retirement savings with the latest crash.
My girlfriend, following my advice, cashed in all her investments and paid off her mortgage just a couple of weeks before the meltdown.
To all the little players out there: if you play with the big boys who pull all the strings you WILL get burned, that’s why they want to you come play you are a revenue source.