“One analyst blacklisted several companies on Monday, citing a reason not often (or possibly ever) heard on Wall Street—moral and ethical grounds,” Katie Little reports for CNBC. “In the report, Ronnie Moas, Standpoint Research’s founder and director of research, downgraded Apple stock from a ‘hold’ to a ‘sell,’ reiterated a ‘sell’ recommendation for Amazon.com shares and initiated Philip Morris stock with a ‘sell’ rating. After holding in his feelings for ‘too long,’ Moas wrote that he couldn’t sleep despite taking his nightly sleeping pill. At 1 a.m., he reached his boiling point and felt compelled to speak his mind.”
Little reports, “Moas’ Standpoint bio page states he began his career as an analyst and market strategist at Herzog Heine Geduld, which was bought by Merrill Lynch in 2002, before leaving to start his own firm in 2000.”
Before this, he served for three years in the Israeli army and worked in concert productions,” Little reports. “‘For Apple Computers [sic] to pay their workers $2 an hour while they have $150 billion in the bank is nothing short of obscene. I heard all of the arguments in their defense and they make no sense to me,’ wrote Moas in the note.”
Little reports, “Thomson Reuters StarMine, which tracks and ranks analysts’ performance, has no record of Moas’ recommendations on Apple.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Hey, Ronnie, how’s the water in the deep end?
Mr. Misinformed fails to realize that Apple has done more to raise the quality and pay of Chinese assembly jobs than any other company on the planet.
Apple stock should not be “downgraded” by even a no-name, one-man-band, scary-eyed “analyst” on this basis.
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Apple supplier Foxconn again lifts pay for China workers; 16-25 percent increase – February 17, 2012
FLA President: Foxconn factories ‘first-class; way, way above average’ – February 15, 2012