“Apple shares plunged more than 12 percent last week amid disappointment with the company’s earnings,” Dan Weil reports for MoneyNews. “And hedge fund heavyweight Doug Kass, president of Seabreeze Partners, doesn’t see the stock resuming its steep ascent anytime soon. ‘The king is dead. Long live the king,’ he tells CNBC. ‘The company faces a much more difficult business landscape, the competition is escalating, and that’s going to challenge profitability over the next couple of years.'”
Well reports, “Apple’s net income rose less than 1 percent in the quarter ended Dec. 29 from a year earlier. And while its sales climbed 18 percent, that was the weakest increase in 3 ½ years.”
MacDailyNews Take: Ever notice how these type of articles compare Q113’s 13-week quarter with Q112’s 14-week quarter without noting the discrepancy? Omission of pertinent facts is a very convenient, and unfortunately, common, method of lying.
Well reports, “The company is losing its first-mover advantage in products like smart phones and tablets, thanks to its heft, Kass says. Apple is going the way of Microsoft — a ‘large cash flow generator with limited secular earnings growth,’ he maintains… Kass thinks [AAPL] will trade between $425 and $500 for ‘as long as the eye can see.'”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Dougie must be quite nearsighted. iCal’ed.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Elder Norm” for the heads up.]
Related article:
Doug Kass: Buy Apple – November 13, 2012
He is a Kasshole.
Throw him in prison and let us never speak of him again.
We’ve heard the same crap from Kass for the last 10 years. If you listened to him you wouldn’t have bought at $30, or $60, or $120, or $240. Kass has zero credibility with anyone who’s studied Apple over the years. His doom and gloom only plays well with Apple neophytes.
Dougie is not nearsighted. He wants to see a few more percent drop of AAPL and throw in all his saving at the lowest, so to see it doubled or tripled in less than a year.
Exactly – these activist hedge fund guys are creating negative sentiment to drive the stock down, searching for stop-outs, then riding their short positions down further – simply looking to pile in at a false bottom. The exact opposite play is happening at Netflix – squeezing shorts, riding the rocket to ridiculously false highs – watch for the 180 turns, they’ll come fast and furious.
Another one that it is trying to manipulate the stock price for his own convenience
I really do not understand all these guys that pretend to be able to say something about companies that really do invent and produce goods….not like the analysts that simply critics whatever they feel like without doing anything usefull in all their entire life!!
I am sure this guy is praising the Amazon and Samsung “innovation”, look at Amazon they report lower than consensus and the shares go up 11%!!!!! because Bezos says that this is a long term strategy and bla bla bla….and Samsung only because the started off copying Apple and now people just like to settle for less than the best but this will not lst, at the end the true innovator will come out on top and that will be Apple!
Yet Amazon which makes pennies on everything it sells is a huge growth stock! Amazon may have huge potential to increase sales, but there is no room to magically increase margins without increasing prices.
I must admit that I do buy a lot of stuff from amazon because the prime service is really good for what you pay IF you buy things regularly, but I don’t pay over the odds for things just because of next day delivery, so if they increased prices I’d go elsewhere.
Obviously the stock market isn’t just about current performance, but prospects, expectations and so on, but it’s also nuts.
True, but amazons margins are increasing while apples are not. I don’t agree with this measurement being used to go negative aapl, but it is the measurement being used by the smart money. The 128 gig iPad will help margins in the near term, and down the line, continued aapl dominance will prove the margin argument wrong – and aapl right.
When an asshole like Doug Kass make such a bold prediction, you have ask yourself a serious question what is his f**king agenda?
Although I don’t agree with Mr Kass, the language you describe him with reflects huge volume on the person spouting it.
you have a sad perspective on life.
That’s OK Doug, so with Apple being dead, we can count on you to never do another write-up, or opinion EVER again. Thanks for everything & don’t forget, we shouldn’t see your name again, around this part of town.
Sites like MoneyNews who do not have a comment section, do not have a comment section for a purpose – so that no one can point out the lies (by omission) that they publish.
… to specify a 14-week quarter vs a 13-week quarter is “lying”. While it may be intentional obfuscation (lying), it may well be ignorance! How do you divide 52 by 4 and get 14? I’m sure most people, even the fiscal geniuses, never noticed.
THAT said … Kass needs to engage his brain before putting his mouth in gear.
How about having people like this sign a legal paper that they don’t own by any means and will not buy Apple stock at any time. Maybe that will keep them from trying to manipulate.
He is one of those analysts who wants Apple to be like Microsoft only to justify there are no better, clever people than themselves. “I told you, Apple is as anyone else, not a company full of the best of the best people, but full of lazy ones that only do what their bosses ask them to do. They do not deserve be the most valuable company.” And we will see…
That’s what I think, too, and these analysts exhibit a criminal genius in recognizing that their livelihood depends not on reputation but on vigorous flag-waving; they are bulletproof—no one seems to remember anything from the past other than the most persistent memes (what Hitler called ‘Große Lüge’), and no one important will hold them accountable.
Of course, a poverty of ethics is very helpful in the biz.
kass=hit whore
Wow he’s got FUD down to a freaking science.
In his remarks regarding the death of Apple he seems to be discounting the possibility that Apple might enter new markets or produce new products of which he hasn’t an inkling. Perhaps these new markets and/or products, should Apple enter/produce, might generate more revenue and profitability? Is this possible? Might we not consider it as possible before writing the company off? And what will Amazon do to earn their multiple? Will they shave 0.1% off their operating expenses, perhaps by using only part-time employees so as not to incur any health insurance costs? Sounds to me like behavior we should be rewarding. /s
Doug has declared Apple dead before. He said the iPhone would never make it back in 2007. Apple was dead at $50 per share.
Wall Street and Apple’s competition has always wanted to view the company’s product array as a stationary target and so continually get burned by skating to where the puck was. In the past Apple always maintained a huge innovation lead. If that has changed, then Apple could become dead money. My guess is the company is not dead, but let’s see the future Tim Cook keeps saying they are inventing.
Apple is far from dead and will NEVER end up like Microsoft. It was all of these analyst’s stupidity saying how Apple was going to hit 800, 900 or 1000 dollars a share making everyone buy Apple. Now since these short term investors that bought the stock to make a quick buck had bought at 600 a share is selling off the stock before loosing any more money. The people that is left is the ones that bought Apple at 400 a share or less that is hanging on to the stock. Even this asshole Doug Kass said that Apple will stay trading at 500 a share for the foreseeable future. This will be good enough for the persons holding on to Apple. What just happened to Apple was just a “correction” of their stock price.
This guy is a FUD-raking, dick. Why isn’t he piping up about Amazon?
Here we go again… *sigh*
Kass is once again over-reacting and exaggerating the perceived effects of financial results on the future. Apple has had its ups and downs through history and it will continue to do so. Just because it seems to be on a decreasing trend does not mean it’s the end or that the trend will continue. Apple will not waste time trying to control the market — it will focus on what it does best, to make great products for people, of which cash flow and stock prices are a byproduct.
He must have been reading my posts. We are both right. And yes, MDN – iCal this for sure!
But if Apple is dead, very soon there will be no more iCal.
No more MDN.
No more need to spread your wisdom among the exodus of misguided Apple aficionados as they morosely disperse into the wilderness.
I’m reminded of this quote:
God is dead. (Nietzsche)
Nietzsche is dead. (God)
How could a company with $137 billion in cash be declared dead? With that much money it can surely resurrect itself in so many ways even if it is.
Of course not.
And yes folks, this is one of many reasons Apple keeps $Billions in cash on hand. Apple is used to dumbass haters screwing them over. My favorite company of all time has nothing to do through this bogus ‘Apple Bear’ period but continue to be itself. Great idea Apple! 😀
Doug Kass
Jeffrey Gundlach
Examples of complete idiots who don’t get it. Oh, right. These are guys who manipulate the stock market. I look forward to finding out in a couple years that these guys got arrested for inside trading deals.
So we’re clear, I’m not suggesting they are doing any inside trading (because, you know, these guys will sue for libel)… just pointing out that it’s always someone relatively high profile or doing this stuff for years that you find out has been doing shady shit all along.
If it is intuitively obvious to the most casual observer that Kass is such an ignorant moron is it really worth commenting?
You can’t grow earnings at record phase for ever.
You can’t troll and not expect consequences.
Oh look, yet-another one to add to the long list of Apple Death Knells. Congratulations dumbass Katt:
Apple Death Knell Counter
Q: Are ‘Apple Bears’ stupid? Ignorant? Or are they all merely stock manipulators?
A: Time will tell! And I’m going to enjoy watching the show. There is a lot of punishment being dished up for the Apple HATERS by the end of 2013. 😆