“In Wall Street’s quarter-to-quarter obsession with growth, it’s not surprising that analysts continue to take a wait-and-see attitude when it comes to Apple,” Richard Saintvilus writes for Yahoo Finance. “Despite how cheap Carl Icahn believes shares of Apple are, institutions don’t share the same opinion. If they do, they’re demanding more proof that Apple is indeed the no-brainer investment Icahn claims.”
“There are no shortages of opinion about what ails Apple. The company is coming off a quarter where it sold 51 million iPhones (a company record) while analysts are busy dissecting what Apple must do to avert death,” Saintvilus writes. “By contrast, BlackBerry sells less than 2 million devices and everyone’s applauding its revival. It’s absurd.”
MacDailyNews Take: Welcome to Wall Street, Rich.
“If competition from Samsung and Google was truly intensified, how was it possible that Apple could have achieved such a record quarter? The answer is simple; consumers are willing to pay a premium for a distinguishable device. They value a product that stands out from the rest,” Saintvilus writes. “For now, with the stock trading at just 13-times earnings, I have to agree with Icahn. Apple is a no-brainer. Especially given that the company is buying back billions worth in stock and pays a 2.3% yield. On the basis of long-term free-cash-flow growth these shares are worth (at minimum) $650 by the end of the year.”
Read more in the full article here.