“Despite growing pessimism about its growth momentum and perceived inability to compete with Google and Microsoft, Apple’s most recent quarter told a different story,” Richard Saintvilus writes for Forbes.
“Despite 52% sequential revenue growth and 18% year over year, Apple’s first-quarter report was considered a disappointment,” Saintvilus writes. “But things need to be kept in the proper perspective, especially when using that word. Granted iPhone sales were slightly under what the sell-side analysts would like, but relative to expectations it was no calamity.”
“I don’t think large revenue growth numbers are possible without a lower-priced iPhone,” Saintvilus writes. “However, in the meantime, this is still a story about valuation. Apple is clearly too cheap. Granted expectations were a tad high several months ago. But things are now on the opposite end of the extreme. Fair value is well ahead of where the stock is trading today… This is not a sub-$500 stock.”
Read more in the full article here.
“…perceived inability to compete with Google and Microsoft…”
Oh please!!! My sides hurt! I can’t take any more. I’ve got to stop laughing!
I’ve been trying to see the humour in it.
Is it funny because the cadre of analysts and the sycophancy of bloggers are only reading each others’ speculations instead of studying actual quarterly results?
Is it funny because everybody on the planet knows that the “competing” products are following Apple’s paradigm shifts, and will continue to do so in every cycle?
Is it funny because the opinionists are just like the street-corner doomsayers holding signs proclaiming that the end is nigh!—the extinction dates written in with an erasable marker?
Or is it funny in a cosmic sense, as Schiller said: “Against stupidity the gods themselves contend in vain…”
A little of each.
It’s funny as the embodiment of the pratfalls of Pulcinella!
Always with the punch line.
You stole Judy’s retort!
😆
Microsoft?!!!!!!!! There such a mess right now lol what the hell is this guy smoking?
They should kick out the big Wallstreet Hedge Fund guy’s, and all the Wallstreet guy’s who don’t have a clue and constantly dish out the negative spin on Apple. Let the Apple believers who really want a stake in Apple a stand behind Apple be the stock owners.
What do pigs know about value?
then do you know, pig? they are experts. you’d better shut up. actually, they are true. apple stock can’t grow if they won’t make cheaper version of iphone, ipad (not mini). plus, they really need new market. iphone, ipad are already full. if they won’t, they will enjoy bitter sweet over year over.
Once again edward, your exact and to the point commentary has left me speechless.
Apple has never made a cheaper anything to compete… In fact it’s everyone else on the planet that is trying to emulate apple.
They have never swayed from their goals based on consumers wants..
The only “want” is what apple makes..
If someone doesn’t want an apple product because they think apple should make it cheaper – than I say work harder and save..
The world is in trouble because people are brain washed into believing they want everything as cheap as possible because its their right to own 6 LED tvs.. It’s a privilege – not your right..
So act like a big boy and don’t sound like such the spoiled little shit you are..
Edward works for samdung, simply ignore him.
What a shame the whole world doesn’t have the same reverence and devotion tonanything Apple as Apple fanbois. The rest of the planet will never enjoy the same narrow-minded fascination that you people wallow in.
Troll boy is back I see.
How long did it take you to come to that conclusion?
He saw your handle, Freek. That was enough.
I wonder what you will have to say when AAPL shoots back up…actually, no, I don’t wonder. Keep it to yourself. It will be worthless drivel.
My happiness isn’t dependent on what other people think on Wall Street, you poor pathetic fanboi.
MacFreek – what kind of psychological problems do have, to come here repeatedly just to make vacuous comments about fanbois over and over …. and over ……….and over.
I so dislike it when people indulge in name-calling and insults, but — ohhhh well — nothing else seems appropriate… Just piss off, you pathetic little fuck.
Yeah, like your impotent threats mean anything.
You preach to me about insults yet you call me a “pathetic little fuck”. Care to explain?
I did explain already.
I said, “I so dislike it when people indulge in name-calling and insults”. In other words, I’m setting the scene. I’m stating that name-calling and insults are something I really, really dislike. I have disliked it for the many years I’ve been online. In other words, it is not something I agree with and do not want to do.
And then I say, “but — ohhhh well — nothing else seems appropriate” In other words, your posts have no rational, factual or useful comments to make logical, thoughtful replies to. They are just vacuous insults themselves. And so, I reluctantly break my usual principle and descend to your level – i.e. fact-less name calling and say, “Just piss off, you pathetic little fuck.”
Does it have any impact that several other comments show similar sentiments – albeit somewhat more polite? If not — if you don’t care that no-one wants you here and that no-one values the vacuous name-calling and insults you vomit forth (except perhaps one or two similar minded individuals), then you really do need to seek professional help.
Seamus, you are a hypocrite. Before you lecture others you should practice what you preach.
MacFreek,
Apart from your overt Weapons-Grade stupidity, it appears you are either deaf or cannot read. I would appear to be rather useless but the exercise can be cathartic. Therefore, to quote Seamus…”ohhhh well…Just piss off, you pathetic little fuck.”
You are!
Dear Buster, Seamus, et al.
The more you post the stupider you are. It must be brutal to know that other people don’t think exactly as you, eh, slavish fanbois?
Zune Tang, or sputnik, is that you?
No, ZT was good at what he did. MF is not.
I neither need nor want your approval, fanboi.
I doubt there is any direct relation between Apple’s earning potential, profits, cash holding and Apple’s stock price.
Stock price is just yet another tool for ANAL-ysts to game the system and allow them to earn $$ they never deserve. The only losers are someone like us – regular AAPL investors.
my 2 cents…
A recent survey of professional economists and lay-people results:
90% of the economists believe stock prices cannot be predicted
55% of the public thinks stock prices can
Conclusion: Wall St Analyst = snake oil salesman!
“Expectations were a tad high several months ago”? Like $1111? Ah yeah, I guess so. What an idiot! This putz starts off throwing perception out there and then tries to mix in fair valuation. In between he mentions a cheaper iPhone. And concludes by telling you that it’s not a sub $500 stock today. Expectations were certainly too high several months ago. But that is not perception, that’s reality. Reality is that the stock is worth $450 today. It may be worth more Monday and it may be worth less? That’s reality. You may want a lot of money for your home but until someone is willing to pay that price it’s just going to sit there. It doesn’t matter how much you and all your neighbors love your house, until a buyer comes along it’s not worth that much money. The colonial house down the street may sell at a higher price because people are in the market for colonial style homes. The perception is that your ranchhouse is not as cool as the colonial. Doesn’t matter that your house cost more to build. When people are ready to buy ranch homes yours will sell. Take some money out of your bank account and fix the driveway and paint the house. Spend some money on it. Advertise it. In the past ranch homes were easy to sell. Not so much now. Now you have to make it stand out from the crowd again. Buyers need to perceive that your house is the best thing since sliced bread again. Perception is based upon what a stock is going to do not so much what it has done in the past. Remember,” past results are no guarantee of future performance”. It’s in every prospectus. Perception about Apple is that they are a great company but they have competition unlike before. They have no “more affordable” iPhone available to compete in emerging markets. They have no larger iPhone to compete with large Android phones. This perception is based on facts. I believe Apple is working on these things and hopefully coming up with new ideas. When these things start to appear Apple will go back up. This guy should crawl back in his hole.
14 to 15 x earnings is a fair valuation for Apple. It will get there again.
When Apple’s stock soared to $700 a share Apple fanbois raved how brilliant Wall Street analysts were, but once stock prices fell Apple fanbois now curse the same people they lauded as financial geniuses. What fools these Apple fanbois are.
I never ranted at brilliant the Wall Street Analyst’s, ever. I was a believer in Apple, and realized with the iPhone, iPod and iPad that Apple had created a non-stop cash cow that has been bigger created in history. How? Creating great quality products that created repeat purchases by 100’s of millions of people every second. It’s ashamed that scumbags like Shmidt & Samsung can blatantly steal and get away with it in broad daylight. That’s why I sold my business for millions, and got out. I invested in Apple, because I believed in Apple!
What business, Guy?
When Apple was trading at $700 it was at 16x earnings. Thats not an outrageous multiple. Apple will keep chugging along making truck loads of money and growing at 15 to 20 percent and the stock will be at $700 again soon.
And not a damn thing can be done about. I wouldn’t have felt so bad if Apple hadn’t gone up as high as it did and those stupid analysts shouting Apple was going up even higher. If Apple had just climbed to $500 and just held in that range I wouldn’t have been disappointed from such a large fall in share price.
GM pretty much nailed it although still some things don’t make a lot of sense. Of course, Apple is only worth what investors are willing to pay for it. It’s like a real estate agent trying to sell a house where a murder has been committed. The house may be in the same neighborhood with others and maybe even improvements have been done to the house, but almost no one is willing to buy as long as they know there’s been a murder there. The news media is telling everyone, everyday that there’s been a murder in Apple’s house. Look out for angry ghosts and investors giving Apple a wide berth. That’s just the way human perceptions work, I suppose. I’d be a buyer as long as the house is given to me for a much lower price. I ain’t afraid of no ghosts.
Still, there’s more wrong at Apple than just this recent drop in share price. The continually shrinking P/E is something I just don’t understand. What is causing Apple’s P/E to be “decimated” when Apple has had so many bright spots in the last few years. I’m very concerned that there are investor perceptions about the company that can’t be shaken. How did Apple become a company with less growth potential than Microsoft despite the fact both companies are moving in opposite directions? What can Apple possibly do to make this perception change? Who knows? Maybe nothing will help. I just don’t know, but I’m very concerned about Apple being even less valued as time goes on. I don’t know how everyone can be in agreement that Apple doesn’t have a future if that’s what’s making Apple’s P/E fall.
Just listening to the these stories saying that Apple is worth more than $500 is frustrating. Why? Because everything I see says Apple is worth a lot less than $500. But how is Google worth $800 a share and Apple worth only $450 a share? Seriously, Google’s profits are lower, they don’t have as much cash and they don’t even offer a dividend, so what’s keeping Google’s share price so much higher than Apple’s.
It has to be due to investor perceptions or something I’m missing entirely or just a crooked Wall Street picking and choosing random stocks to give high value to. I do know that fundamentals seem to be a useless measure of value in Apple’s case but I guess there’s nothing that can be done about it.
GOOG and AMZN basically have no competition. GOOG is an ad based company. AMZN is retail. They are both so far ahead of anyone who is second that it’s basically irrelevant. That. That is why they are valued so high. Apple has Samsung nipping at its heels. Depends on who you want to listen to regarding most phone sales. But Apple is simply not alone in their space. Like it or not, it’s as simple as that. It really is. If you go back a number of years you’ll see that Walmart was the same way. At one time Walmart was the only super cut rate retailer left standing. They had annihilated everyone else in the space. And it didn’t take them long either. Kmart and a few others were a distance, distant second. They no longer mattered. Then AMZN came along. Boom! Walmart was no longer the king of the hill. If you follow other companies besides Apple you know this to be true. It happens in many areas of business. Apple is not the steamrolling company that it was just a few short years ago. It’s as basic as that. Wall Street doesn’t have an agenda. People don’t hate Apple for no reason like fanboys think. It’s just business. People here need to quit acting like it’s their best friend in trouble. They don’t know how childish that looks. Get a life. Move on.
GOOG and AMZN basically have no competition
Because amazon is the only place to buy stuff online and google is the only place to buy online ads’s?
But both companies are similar in that they both grew rapidly by expanding into a marketplace vacuum, which no longer exists. And both are in the process of radically shifting their business models in an attempt to respond to competitors “eating their lunch” which they are completely unaccustomed to. (or didn’t did you notice the radical drop in amazon’s profits?)
The real problem with both companies (more amazon’s) is they are just faceless internet conduit’s to a service. Amazon has no real presence nor any real customer loyalty (and represents a minor fraction of total internet retail business (particularly when viewed in actual profits not just gross receipts) This is why upstarts like Raukuten have forced them from their original direct (warehoused) model into a new (for amazon) associate business model. This kind to paradigm shift for a company the size of amazon indicates that THEY think they are in headed for trouble.
Talk to me in one year. Surely you don’t think that Google is standing still? Any more than Apple is standing still. Same goes for Amazon. And I’d be curious to know who is eating Google’s lunch? And I’d be interested to know who you think is eating Amazons lunch? But you can see who’s breathing down Apple’s neck! Being an Apple fanboy is one thing. Coming up with irrational comparisons is just plain silly. Like I said, talk to me in one year. We’ll see who’s right and who’s wrong. And yes, you can iCal this one. I will.
One interesting prospect for Goog is they recently hired Ray Kurzweil as head of engineering. That is one smart guy with an eye on the future.
So tell us about Google’s ad rates dropping off a cliff and why Google refuses to discuss those numbers on conference calls.
Apple is down in the dumps until Apple can prove it can still introduce breakthrough products without Steve Jobs that everyone never knew they wanted💘
I’m sick and tired of these posts talking about the demise of Apple. Is it different without Steve Jobs? Hell yes. But to say game over for Apple is a joke. All the pretenders to the throne (SamDung, Google, Microsoft, Blackberry) are copying Apple; what have they innovated….all they have done is copy Apple the last decade. When the iPhone cam out everyone, and I mean Everyone, made fun of the touchscreen. Who’s laughing now? Every smartphone manufacturer copied Apple. Has SamDung innovated anything? Google? Microsoft? Blackberry?
When the iPad came out everyone said it was an overblown iPod Touch and it’s name was weird and sounded like a feminine product. Who’s laughing now? No one has caught up with Apple in the Tablet space and never will because Steve Jobs did not allow Eric Schmidt to have a look at the iPad before it was released as he had with the iPhone. The argument can be made that if Schmidt never had a preview to the iPhone Android would be a distant second. The iPad market is the iPod all over again.
GM, LaughingBoy, Mac Freak….all wrong. Go read about the Tulip craze in holland in the 1630s or the Internet bubble of the 2000s. Just because investors say something is worth something does not make it so. Enron was worth a lot until its bubble burst. It had poor fundamentals. So does Amazon trading at a P/E ratio over 3000! And Google is a one trick pony who’s Page Rank Patent ( which their search engine is based on ) runs out in 3 years. Game over for them at that time.
I’m sick and tired of these posts talking about the demise of Apple. Is it different without Steve Jobs? Hell yes. But to say game over for Apple is a joke. All the pretenders to the throne (SamDung, Google, Microsoft, Blackberry) are copying Apple; what have they innovated….all they have done is copy Apple the last decade. When the iPhone cam out everyone, and I mean Everyone, made fun of the touchscreen. Who’s laughing now? Every smartphone manufacturer copied Apple. Has SamDung innovated anything? Google? Microsoft? Blackberry?
When the iPad came out everyone said it was an overblown iPod Touch and it’s name was weird and sounded like a feminine product. Who’s laughing now? No one has caught up with Apple in the Tablet space and never will because Steve Jobs did not allow Eric Schmidt to have a look at the iPad before it was released as he had with the iPhone. The argument can be made that if Schmidt never had a preview to the iPhone Android would be a distant second. The iPad market is the iPod all over again.
GM, LaughingBoy, Mac Freak….all wrong. Go read about the Tulip craze in holland in the 1630s or the Internet bubble of the 2000s. Just because investors say something is worth something does not make it so. Enron was worth a lot until its bubble burst. It had poor fundamentals. So does Amazon trading at a P/E ratio over 3000! And Google is a one trick pony who’s Page Rank Patent ( which their search engine is based on ) runs out in 3 years. Game over for them at that time.
Apple’s fundamentals are strong and people in a year will be kicking themselves for not buying Apple when it was trading in the 400s.
I for one hope and expect Apple to focus on me, and their millions of other customers. We are where Apple gets its money and profits from.
Investors can just go f##k themselves. They are playing greed driven gambling games with Apple bargaining chips, er stocks to make money off of other investors. They are a bunch of greed driven mutually cannibalistic sharks and deserve little respect.
Apple needs to continue competing with itself and making its customers happy, and not get sucked into competing with other companies, and pleasing investors. That would be the worst mistake they could make.
Years ago I used to work in the PR department of a big brokerage firm and the one lesson I learned from the brokers I worked with:
–> Reality has NOTHING to do with the stock market.
It is an industry of dreams, greed, averice and outright lies. They are professional gamblers who spend their days hoping to get lucky or screw someone else.
I wonder if Google is going through the same thing and that we will see that stock crash in the near feature. It’s well over 700 now and about a week ago I saw an article with a headline asking if google was worth 1000? It feels like irrational exuberance that hit Apple. I thought it was wort 750, and even more but the rise to 750 was too fast. That’s why the decline have been so painful.
“This is not a sub-$500 stock”. DUH!!!
Apple doesn’t have to prove anything to anyone. It’s proven everything for the last 15 years when everyone said Apple was dead like Mr. Dell Dumb shit. Look where he is now. The unfair market devaluation of Apple stock is typical for anal-ists with there heads up there asses. There will be more great products and those same anal-ist dumb shits will still complain about something else as usual.
It is not a sub $500 stock. It is a nice sub $400.01 stock.
About $50 to go.
Wake me up at $410/ share.
BTW- Google is just a tad below $800/ share. $799.71