“What Tim Cook and his execs pulled off [last quarter] is nothing short of amazing, as the tech giant reported record earnings and the stock on Friday came within spitting distance of a $700 billion market cap,” Jonathon M. Trugman reports for The New York Post. “In terms of its market cap, Apple really is in a class by itself. The No. 2 spot is currently held by Exxon Mobil at $375 billion. That’s quite a lead for Apple — not too many can hold first place in anything by essentially doubling the second-place finisher.”
“Apple did something no other company has ever accomplished: It made $18 billion in a single quarter. That’s up 37.4 percent from the mere $13.1 billion it made just a year ago in the same quarter,” Trugman reports. “This type of growth is off the charts, but what really sets Apple apart is it pays a dividend, usually not a sign of a growth stock, but a safe insurance company.”
“Nothing about Apple is normal. There is no way one company should be able to change the culture of a country. It helped us fit a jukebox, laptop camera and cellphone all in our pocket via a device thinner than a wallet,” Trugman reports. “So why shouldn’t Apple break the mold of value companies, too, by actually benefiting from increasing its already massive buyback and dividend?”
Read more in the full article here.
Um…. Think Different …. Does that ring a bell?
It always has been.
Nice to be recognized.
Yes. My thoughts exactly. Better late than never.
Time will show that SJ’s greatest innovation is Apple itself!
‘I do feel there is another way we have an effect on society besides our computers. I think Apple has a chance to be the model of a Fortune 500 company. Apple has the opportunity to set a new example of how great an American corporation can be, sort of an intersection between science and aesthetics.
Something happens to companies when they get to be multibillion-dollar entities – their souls go away, somehow they lose their vision.’
‘Steve Jobs Bio: The Unauthorized Autobiography.’
No matter how well Apple has done, institutional ownership is still lower than many other blue-chip tech companies and after that spectacular quarter, Apple’s P/E got squeezed like an accordian. Apple may be in a league of it’s own but Wall Street doesn’t necessarily think that’s a good thing. It still seems to allow Apple to be a question mark by potential investors.
With the amount of cash reserve Apple has I think Apple can still gain revenue through acquisitions however, Wall Street continues to believe Apple has reached a point where it can’t grow any further and that makes no sense to me. A company in a league of its own shouldn’t be tied to any standard upper limit theories. Wall Street appears to overlook the impact Apple’s retail stores have on retaining customer loyalty and the number of retail stores is growing all the time.
On institutional ownership you need to take into consideration market cap. While Google has 80% Inst. ownership it is on $360B market cap or total of $288 billion in holdings. Apple has just over 60% inst. ownership but on cap of $690 for total of $414 billion in holdings. Thus, on a net basis institutions have over $125 billion MORE invested with Apple. As Apple has appreciated greatly in recent years, institutions take gains out and invest in other diverse holdings. Similarly true for hedge funds.
To say the worlds most valued company is a question mark by investors is just about the most silly thing I’ve read today. Are folks questioning if Apple can continue at the torrid growth? Sure. That dynamic is true for any hugely successful company, not just Apple.