“In the marketplace, Apple (AAPL) has transformed itself several times, from a money-losing, miscalculating maker of home computers to a creative curiosity and ultimately to a technology juggernaut. It will no doubt transform itself again as it invents and improves its products,” Dave Roeder reports for The Chicago Sun-Times.
“For investors, AAPL also is an evolving story. It’s classified as a ‘large growth’ stock, which means that it’s seen as a company with its best days in front of it. The price of the stock is supposed to reflect prospects rather than current results. And the current price of the stock, $320.56, seems rich to many,” Roeder reports. “But is it really? Based on price-earnings measures, Apple doesn’t trade at much of a premium compared with its tech brethren and it’s about even with the average for the S&P 500, even though it’s growing much faster than most companies in that index.”
Roeder reports, “Many analysts who follow Apple believe the shares will head higher despite having been on an incredible ride. AAPL was less than $100 a share in early 2009. Robert W. Baird & Co. analysts last month issued their first report on Apple, concluding that the company supported a price target of $410 a share.”
Full article here.