“In 2014, the world’s journalists, investors and software developers all collectively discovered they’d been disastrously wrong about Apple in 2013,” Daniel Eran Dilger writes for AppleInsider. “And with good reason.”
“Journalist Daisuke Wakabayashi of the Wall Street Journal finally admitted that ‘the story line’ he and his colleagues been actively promoting throughout 2013 (that Apple’s ‘formidable growth had petered out and Samsung Electronics Co. was eating its lunch’) was completely backwards, an upside down concoction of false reports that contradicted everything that was actually happening in the industry,” Dilger writes. “Well, at least he passively admitted ‘the story line’ was false.”
Dilger writes, “The authors of knuckle-dragging hit pieces (like the BBC’s recent blaming of Apple for all social ills around the planet, even those with very little connection to Apple) will continue, but mainstream journalists have appeared to wake up to the reality that Apple is the primary innovator in consumer electronics, the only company with any real concern about workers’ rights and environmental issues, and virtually the only PC and phone maker that can consistently earn sustainable profits.”
Read more in the full article here.
It’s all about the fast buck. Samsung made it in 2013 but ran out of steam this year. Journalists jump on the apple hating bandwagon because they can get a lot of hits. Analysts beat on apple so that they can move the stock where they want it.
Apple keeps doing what it does and moves the industry in the right direction. But be clear those at Apple work their butts off to achieve what they do. That’s the key to long term success.
You’ve summed it up to a T but this is what has me scratching my head and that’s nstitutional ownership…
Amazon – 68%
Microsoft – 73%
Facebook – 69%
Netflix – 91%
Google – 83%
Apple – 62%
What a joke. When fund managers look at a company, what the heck are they looking at to own a stock? I don’t see one thing outstanding any of those other companies have that make them a better investment choice than Apple.
Fund managers are looking for ongoing, reliable quarterly returns into the indefinite future. That means companies with locked in subscribers providing guaranteed revenue, or some other direct linkage to retail sales that is difficult to forego without major inconvenience.
They view Apple as a product company whose future is dependent upon the next hit generating big revenues, and don’t believe they can continue being successful with that gamble. In short, Apple will be successful until it isn’t, then the company’s revenue will collapse.
So, they view Apple’s business model as too risky. They care nothing about customer satisfaction, quality product construction, or a related ecosystem, unless it can guarantee quarterly returns.
That is the excuse they use but the reality is that the fund managers are using the clients money to fuel their own agenda. Apple doesn’t play the same game as the other companies on the list and do not suck up to the brokers to promote their stock.
Some of that has changed with the increased dividends and stock buyback. Still overall Apple is not a darling of the market but is a perfect tool for stock manipulation.
FWIW Apple’s revenue and profit far outstretch any other company or combination of companies.
I own both Apple and 401K funds. Overall, growth in the funds is around 5-10% per year. If it were not for dividend reinvestment, the fund growth would be dismal. Apple stock is comparison is up 1100%.
I’m not justifying their decision, but the one thing all of them have in common that Apple doesn’t is that they all have a dominant position in at least one major area:
Amazon – Online Retail
Microsoft – Windows, Office
Facebook – Social Network
Netflix – Subscription Video Streaming
Google – Search, Adwords, Android
Apple does extremely well in a variety of different areas, but where it dominates isn’t necessarily in areas that are strong to being with… iPods? Music sales?
Apple is number 2 or tenuously number 1 in almost everything it does, what fund managers aren’t seeing is how many areas Apple is #1 in profit, and how significant its hold is even when it’s in the #2 position.
The journalists and analysts got it wrong.
Imagine that … 🙂
The embarrassment of riches that keep coming to Apple would eventually say loud and clear beyond the shadow of anayst doubt who the winning home team is.
Humbling and humiliating it must be for them to admit – NAH!!!! On to the next disingenuous self-serving stretching-the-facts story.