“Carl Icahn isn’t the only billionaire investor with an appetite for Apple’s stock,” The Associated Press reports.
“Financier George Soros more than doubled his stake in the iPhone and iPad maker in recent months, according to regulatory documents filed Wednesday,” AP reports. “Soros’ fund held 66,800 shares of Apple Inc. stock at the end of June, up from 26,800 shares in March.”
AP reports, “Apple’s stock finished Wednesday at $498.50, its highest closing price since Jan. 23. At that price, Soros’ holdings are currently worth about $33 million.”
MacDailyNews Take: Petty cash.
AP reports, “Soros is making an even bigger bet on one of Apple’s biggest rivals, Google Inc. He ended June with 396,953 Google shares in his portfolio, up from 337,271 at the end of March, according to Wednesday’s regulatory filing. Google’s stock closed Wednesday at $869.81, valuing Soros’ holdings at about $345 million.”
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “David E.” for the heads up.]
And so it begins…again
The “dump” is over
So what is the new sell price going to be?
520
How will this affect the strings Valerie pulls…?
OOOH THE LIBERAL BOOGEYMAN I’M GONNA CRY
Why are these guys and presumably others buying now ? Because AAPL is cheap !
How blatant has the stock manipulation been by these bastards. How many small investors got wiped in this charade.
Samsung gets most of the blame for its unethical practices spreading FUD, paying bloggers etc but I think they were attacking Apple not AAPL.
These guys target is not Apple or AAPL, it’s you the investors. Fan the stock up with bullshit and get everyone excited till its priced double what they paid. Then kill it with more bullshit to drop it
down and make a killing now picking it up artificially low.
What gets me is its blatant and obvious criminal behavior and nothing happens.
I really don’t understand how the US works
I think you have demonstrated an understanding of how it indeed works. A select variety of criminal, or immoral, enterprises are permitted to flourish unmolested for a measure of time, with a wink and a nudge. After the life savings of ordinary people have been siphoned off, toothless pro forma regulations are enacted, after which the pirates locate a new target for legal plunder.
Yes, it’s why the average investor is at a disadvantage. Thus my constant comment regarding taking your profit when you’re ahead. It’s beyond common sense (it’s not a profit until you are holding it in your hand) it’s simple survival. I learned the hard way. But I did learn. So have millions of investors in AAPL in the last 10 months. They’ll do better this time. Hopefully. Life isn’t fair. It’s like swimming with sharks. Investors need to have a plan and be disciplined. Keep your eyes on the prize. Don’t get caught like a deer in the headlights when the rug gets pulled out from under the stock. And it happens to others, not just Apple. But it happens to Apple a lot. In particular because Apple is so big. But also because Apple’s investor base is so loyal. People will buy IBM and think nothing of selling it when they make a good profit. But many AAPL investors have a difficult time doing the same. It’s as though they feel like they should hold the stock forever because they love the company and its products. Rather than realizing that it’s an investment like any other and should be treated as such. When in reality, profiting from AAPL is alright. It’s why the employees exercise their options to sell their stock when they have made a good profit. It’s okay. You can love a company and everything it makes but never fall in love with any stock/investment. Because then you’re dealing with emotions rather than reality. That’s not good. Speaking of not good, Carl Icahn is not good for AAPL or Apple. I hope Tim Cook and company are able to ignore him discreetly. As I said before, he wouldn’t have tried this shit with Steve Jobs. Steve would’ve probably told him to “suck shit through a dead pigs ass”. Just saying.
Thanks Hannahjs and GM for for considered and intelligent replys. I live in Australia primarily but half my time is spent in S.E Asia so I see the US as some sort of alternate reality.
If you want to see what Australian political systems are like check out http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xx9eH3qOJXw
Honestly, it’s really like this
Ok. So what would be the inflated non-realistic price we should sell at and take profits. What is the realistic price for AAPL ? With the buy backs adding strength to the stock price, how far will the stock price fall back too ? You ccan pick a price to sell at and “take profits” but then may not be able to buy back in because the stock does not drop that much but holds. It is all a guessing game. $700 or $650 did not seem to be an outrageous price at the time considering Apple’s fundamentals, nor does it seem to so today.
Thanks
Yes, exactly H. The thing is , how can anyone live with themselves afterwards much keep doing it.
I think there is a big dose of sociopath in these guys.
I worked at a big multinational trading bank I won’t mention ( it’s German) and I also wondered if thes people have something lacking.
I was an IT doofus as BLN mentions, and being the network guy I was everywhere.
The traders admitted quite cheerfully they were gambling with other people’s money and didn’t give a shit so long as they came out(massively) in front at the end of the day.
Sorry for the rant, too much hydro I guess.
The people you mentioned are “full of themselves”, too personally focused to stay in touch with social values. They all come to regret their excesses in the end, and that in a nutshell is the human condition.
Grizz,
There is a world of difference between legal, ethical, and moral.
An incredibly truthful post. Sad, but true. Spoken as a true victim of the assholes. They hurt the middle class, small investors the most with these tricks of the trade.
To be a stock market investor (not a speculator) requires PATIENCE. This is the sword and shield of the little guy.
Another responder in this string stated that ordinary investors are at a disadvantage to the powers that be on Wall Street. In the short term, I would agree. To think that the ordinary investor can outwit and outreact Wall Street on a day trade is absurd. But if you invest in any business with an objective to stay invested for many years, Wall Street’s advantage diminishes dramatically.
In the short term, large players can manipulate a stock. But over a longer term, the stock’s fundamentals will track the company’s performance. Stock prices don’t move in lock-step with a company’s earnings or cash flow generation. But time after time, tests have proved that stock prices will eventually catch up with the company’s true value.
The past 10 months have been a roller-coaster for Apple investors. It’s been frustrating to see sentiment of Wall Street turn an about-face on Apple, and to put up with a torrent of negative hype and punditry that we read here. Certainly, Apple’s growth rate has taken a breather. But the company’s underlying financials, financial strength and cash flow generation (which is, in my view, the most important metric for any investor to track) has remained incredible.
Hateful though you may find a Carl Icahn or George Soros to be, they aren’t stupid. They know a good investment when they see it, and they have found a good one in Apple. They past 10 month swoon may be tough on us, but it has also been a window of opportunity for the shrewd ordinary investor.
Often, a company is beaten down by the CNBC bobbleheads, bloggers and pundits. In this case, I believe that Apple has been mispriced, and those of you who took advantage of it by either buying Apple on the cheap or hanging on to your investment in spite of nothing but bad news will soon be rewarded for your vision, perseverance and patience.
As with Apple, look for stocks that are underpriced relative to their earnings, cash flow and value. Be patient and invest with a multi-year horizon. Don’t get caught up in hype, pro or con. If the company pays a dividend, always reinvest it, and let compounding work its magic over a period of years.
If you do these things, you can look past the noise, the games and manipulation of Wall Street, and with patience and time, beat the street at its own silly games.
Wall Street might own the expensive watches. But you have the time.
Not too keen on this currency manipulator being a major talking point.
Amazon keep losing $$ each quarter and yet it stock price keep going up. If Wall Street Anal-ysts “handle” AAPL the same way as Amazon, AAPL will be way higher than $1,000.00.
I worked in the markets for 9 years. It amazes me people can’t tell that the supposed bias on the street (and hence every new network) is 180 degrees from where smart money is investing.
The funds all get washed out by stop hunting by big speculators, and those rabid greed heads fade every move. The big money is on volatility, and anything they can do for force panic is in their interest… which puts anybody with any money or retirement in the market in harms way, since nobody can trade with the frequency these guys do.
AAPL will be a screaming buy a $100 higher than this, but I bet most specs are profit-taking this rally.
Beware of wolves in sheep’s clothing.
I would clarify your call by saying, “Beware of Sheep in Wolves clothing”, they could be weresheep for all you know, praying on mankind like werewolves!
You can bet he is preying on clueless investors.
I thought of that but we all know that the .5% aren’t believers in “insanely great” or “thinking different”.
The problem with many enthusiasts and naysayers is that neither understand the fundamentals of investing. Apple’s P/E is under 12, making it a sound investment for the long term. Back to basics people, and quit the “speculating” about why or when investors jump on the bandwagon.
There is an essay on another mac site where the writer expresses concern that Mr. Icahn will gut Apple. She points out that Mr. Icahn’s history is one of just such endeavors.
There are good capitalists and bad ones.
It sounds quite credible that Apple is in danger of being hijacked and operated for the “investors” benefit rather than the customers who make Apple the formidable company it currently is.
Not sure MDN allows this, but I’ll try posting the link.
http://mac360.com/2013/08/battle-of-the-century-carl-icahn-vs-tim-cook-is-this-the-beginning-of-the-end-for-apple/
Icahn’s stake in AAPL is a flea on a gnat’s ass, so I shouldn’t worry overmuch.