“Lackluster performance from computer makers Dell and HP this summer should leave investors rebooting. While all hardware makers are circling the drain; Apple’s recent price decline stands out as a buying opportunity,” Robert Weinstein writes for TheStreet.
“Every conversation about HP’s turnaround includes Whitman’s success at eBay. My recollection of eBay during Whitman’s tenure was of constant complaint from eBay sellers about leadership,” Weinstein writes. “While it’s clear Whitman took a small headless company and turned it into a leader, the level of competition was relatively low. The single biggest factor in eBay’s success is the critical mass of users it enjoys… If Dell reports well in three months I will once again look for a buying opportunity; otherwise I won’t hold my breath for a full recovery any time soon.”
Weinstein writes, “Apple’s recent price retracement under $600 offers investors the best risk to reward ratio in this group of technology companies. Other than HP, Apple is the only other dividend stock here and Apple shines in the most relevant metrics. Apple trades near a single-digit price-to-earnings ratio while at the same time increasing revenue and earnings like a growth stock… Considering Tim Cook making positive changes including a stock dividend (with the board’s approval), it’s reasonable to believe Apple shares will appreciate into 2013 on their own, or a split will facilitate it. Either way count on Apple to top this list of stocks in performance into 2013.”
Read more in the full article here.
So, produce products & services people really really want.
Now, HP & Dell products in my home are, let’s see…nothing.
wow. Weinstein: finally a gutsy journalist who puts Whitman hype where it belongs.
she’s looks, talks & behaves more like a sophisticated white trash biz(wo)man.
nothing besides eBay to prove. plus eBay wasn’t so hard, when there’s no real competition and her ideas could’ve been someone else’s.
anyway, no co. besides Apple influenced 7 industries, let alone 1.
HP inspired Steve Jobs in 1978 but never since.
Dell, well, Michael’s Dull and though hailed as genius in 80s, never did more than dilute the shit out of PCs.
In fairness to Mikey, his idea in the 80s of rapidly building all systems to order was revolutionary.
Unfortunately for him, it was an idea that was easily copied by his competitors.
Well if my HP wireless all in one printer did what it was supposed to do, I might be a happy customer, but instead I’ll never buy HP again, despite having bought quite a few previous ones.
They managed to sell me a printer that usually doesn’t print first time and often won’t print at all. It often outputs twenty or more pages with just one line of random ASCII characters when it should produce one photo and just to cap it all, it won’t scan to my Mac and doesn’t recognise some Apple Airport base stations. Then they have the nerve to charge outrageous prices for a tiny cartridge of ink.
When a company offers such an overwhelmingly crappy product combined with useless ( virtually non-existent ) after sales support, they deserve to go out of business.
Apple’s after sales support is the number one reason why I buy their products.
Example; my iPhone 3GS developed a crack, 13 months after buying it. I took it to the Apple Store, the Genius took one look at it and swapped it out. No questions asked.
Apple are the only company that remembers you are still a customer even after you’ve paid for their products.
Alas, Apple hasn’t made printers for decades
I’m pretty much Apple fanboy now, but did work for HP for 15 years. In fact was part of team there that looked at acquiring Apple in the late 90’s (before Jobs returned and market cap was at 7 billion). People seem to forget HP started silicon valley, Woz started there and Jobs worked there, and HP products and services still touch more people worldwide than Apple. I wouldn’t buy HP stock today, I would buy Apple. I wouldn’t buy HP Notebook, I would buy MacBoom Air. However, I would not count HP out and simp,y recognize markets have cycles, companies have cycles.
Apple has succeed wildly by keep tight focus, limited itself to key consumer markets and relentless pursuit of cutting edge design. Howevere, they won’t stay on top forever, no company does. Lots of highend users are already upset and starting to leave Apple, even while all us consumers jump on board.