Alphabet Inc., which includes Android-maker Google, just surpassed Apple Inc. as the most valuable company in after-hours trading on Monday.
Alphabet knocks Apple from the top spot that it has held for the better part of four years.
After the bell, Alphabet’s combined share classes were worth a total of $568 billion versus Apple’s value of $535 billion.
A year ago, Apple had a market value of $643 billion, nearly twice Google’s $361 billion.
“The last time Google was more valuable than Apple was in February 2010, when both companies were worth less than $200 billion,” Ari Levy reports for CNBC. “At the time, Apple had yet to release its first iPad, the newest iPhone on the market was the 3GS, and the Mac was the company’s biggest product line, accounting for one-third of revenue. Steve Jobs was still at the helm.”
“Google’s latest rise versus Apple began in July,” Levy reports. “From that point through the end of 2015, its shares soared 44 percent, while Apple’s sank 16 percent.”
“Investors are concerned,” Levy cloims, “that unless Apple changes course and decides to compete with lower cost Android manufacturers on price, the iPhone’s best days are in the past.”
MacDailyNews Take: Holy crap, that’s the stupidest statement of the year so far (and that’s saying a lot)!
Ari, get a clue, will ya? Apple’s iPhone can soon reap 100 percent of world’s smartphone profits.
“According to eMarketer, Google is poised to capture 32 percent of the mobile ad market this year and next, staying well ahead of Facebook, which is around 20 percent,” Levy reports. “The company generates so much profit from its digital ad business that it can invest in all sorts of potential growth areas, namely autonomous driving and extending life.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Again, while “most valuable company” is a nice title to have, “maker of the best products and services” is really Apple’s goal, not to have the higher result of shares outstanding multiplied by share price.
If losing this symbolic crown – to Google, no less – makes Apple redouble their efforts to delight customers with excellence, we welcome the coronation wholeheartedly.
SEE ALSO:
Alphabet Inc. is close to snatching Apple’s crown as the world’s most valuable company – February 1, 2016
Apple would be worth $1 trillion if market valued it like Steve Jobs-run company – January 4, 2016
Analyst: How Apple’s market value hits $1 trillion in 2016 – November 10, 2015
Analyst: Apple at $1 trillion in a year – May 11, 2015
Apple regains ‘World’s Most Valuable Company’ crown – August 1, 2013
Apple overtakes Exxon Mobil as world’s most valuable company – August 9, 2011
I’ll say it again: This happened on Tim Cook’s watch.
The caretaker CEO failed. He’s more concerned with promoting Liberal claptrap like “Gay Weddings” than with properly running Apple Inc.
Tim Cook deserves his pink slip. It’ll match the one he wears every night.
Didn’t Apple gain the crown under Tim’s watch? Look folks, this is a very complicated company. Lots of moving parts. They… Wait. “Pink slip?” What kind of shit is that? Forget it, you don’t deserve the dignity of a thoughtful reply.
I never understood why everyone assumes that a chief executive gets full credit for things that happen “under his watch”. Many things take years or decades to play out.
Steve’s powerhouse company had tons of momentum keeping the cash flow going. All Cook had to do was reinvest that money into the business. What has he done? Beats, round offices, $75+ million prize for new execs to walk in the door, rumors of secret development for cars.
What hasn’t Cook done? Adequately update and improve Apple products.
That is the bottom line. Stale hardware, buggy software, and poor services are all losing their competitiveness over time. The good news is that Apple has stashed away plenty of cash to right the ship. The bad news is that Cook doesn’t see the problem, he’s busy with his social agenda. Apple has too much money, which means it is now making stupid decisions on its way to being the next Microsoft instead of staying relentlessly hungry in delivering the best value to the user.
Tim: that’s VALUE, not rose gold fashion accessories. You could have sold tens of millions of 4″ screen iPhone 6 Minis by now, and instead you have Angela taking appointments for custom fittings for Apple Watches. Does this make any sense ???
Give me a break!
That’s a freaken knee jerk reaction to something that has nothing to do with how well the company is ACTUALLY doing.
It’s blatantly obvious the INVESTORS have no faith in AAPL. On the flip side of that is that Apple’s customers still do. When Steve Jobs was alive Apple was a fraction of the size it is now. As Tim Cook stated, Apple has over a billion devices in active use. Tim has done a hell of a job pushing Apple into the position it is in today and NO ONE ELSE could have done that. They are in the process of strengthening their foundations so they can move on to greater things.
This stagnation as you describe isn’t about Apple being lazy, it’s Apple making sure they can support whatever it is they have coming next. It’s extremely ironic that people lambast Apple for releasing products too soon, before they’re ready and at the same time whine about them not moving fast enough and expanding into other areas.
I wish AAPL would completely collapse and Apple buys back as much as they can. Hopefully at some point in time they’re able to remove themselves from the open market. These valuation arguments are absolutely ridiculous and have no merit when discussing how well the company is actually doing.
Where did all of the Apple nay-sayers come from in MDN forums lately? This is not the fun place it used to be.
Facts: This to shall pass. Apple has been undervalued before (still), Apple is very good in the underdog position, Apple has always led the personal computing market in direction and innovation, (ever since they invented that market, by the way.) This will not change no matter valuation, market share, etc.
Can we get past the doom and gloom and talk more interesting things? It is really getting old and boring. Apple’s doom has been preached from roof tops ever since 1996 for crying out loud! (and even a couple times before that) I know, I am old enough to have watched it all. From the birth of Apple to today.
Please troll your gloom elsewhere! This site used to be positive, upbeat, and pointing out the errors of those who undervalue or underestimate Apple. That is the MDN that I want to visit.
You’re a bag of feminine hygiene all right….
And a closet homosexual going by his endless anti-gay rants.
You are an idiot. Go away this is for serious people.
As usual not one suggestion as to what he or anyone else could have done differently.
WHAT ? ? ? ?
Dozens of people here have been bemoaning the drop in Apple quality and value for years under Cook, across the board, relative to the competition.
Just off the top of my head, in order to regain the prior levels of loyalty & goodwill of users and investors, Apple needs to deliver:
PRODUCTS AND USER EXPERIENCE
– More new product development to fill in holes in product lineup
– More timely product updates for existing products
– debug software properly before release — make a very public and responsive push to address the many user complaints in app store reviews to get all software above 4 stars. OS X has been on a rapid downhill slide in user ratings since Snow Leopard.
– no not yank support for great software (iPhotos, Aperture) and replace it with an inferior, less capable successor
– support professionals with industry-competitive professional level products and services
– improve iOS and Mac App Stores to allow better multi-level searches and permanent filtering
– break up iTunes into manageable pieces, preferably with a complete division of rental and purchased media management
– stop making OS X into iOS; use the screen real estate to show full toolbars and complete, helpful GUIs
– support latest standards, including 4K resolution in all video products, 802.11ac for all wifi products, etc
– improve retail technical support and training; make both online and brick&mortar stores highlight Apple products first rather than burying them behind overpriced 3rd party accessories, many of which are not compatible with each other (there isn’t hardly a Lightning iPhone dock that is compatible with iPhone cases).
– make subscription-based services like Apple Music and iCloud to be OPTIONAL and user-installed, NOT pushed in OS updates
– allow users complete control of Apps — should be able to delete native apps. Facebook and Twitter shouldn’t even be installed by default. People who don’t own Watch shouldn’t have to carry the app for it on their iPhones.
– improve battery life in iPhones and ultraportables
– restore abandoned products like iServe and the 17″ MacBook Pro
MARKETING
– spend more time educating consumers
– spend less time selling subscription services & 3rd party apps and more time advertising the Mac
– restore classes & social events at retail stores
– make product introductions meaningful again, with the product “available today!”
– actually show up and listen to consumers at industry events like CES and others.
– learn from your competitors, use VALUE, not just FASHION to sell your products
– stop implementing artificial USER CONSTRAINTS to lock in the consumer or force them to overpay for cheap things like RAM
FINANCIAL STRATEGY
– stop pandering to Wall Street short-term thinking
– stop accruing debt in order to play tax games
– stop copying competitor strategy
– invest more in diversified manufacturing closer to consumers who will use product
– invest more in software development
– hire a proper lobbyist, not the CEO, to propose meaningful US and international tax reform that is honest and open.
– stop overpaying executives with obscene bonuses and salaries
– create incentives for Apple employees to develop and commercialize for new ideas
– create incentives for 3rd party companies to create world class software for the Mac
OTHER
– consolidate Apple’s mission statement to identify what the company stands for and what its purpose is, and who it intends to serve
– squash stupid rumors before they undermine company value
– make meaningful news releases on a regular basis instead of allowing the rumor mill to spin out of control
– stop relying on users to provide free technical support to other Apple users.
– BE TRANSPARENT – explain exactly what Apple policies are and what actions are taken for solving issues. Currently Apple is poor at responding to Chinese labor issues, and user feedback to Apple seems to go down a black hole. Maps corrections are not acknowledged. All shoddy and shameful behavior.
– expose competitor lies. At the very least, use Hodgeman/Long style advertising to point out the lack of security and privacy that Google and others foist on consumers.
– halt the overt political and social cheerleading. stop championing pet causes while ignoring bigger and more severe causes like child labor and honest fair pay for women.
– improve the “switching” campaigns by spending much more time refining products using research and feedback from recent switchers AND experts in GUI rather than allowing Ive’s personal design memes to make user-unfriendly interfaces.
– Fire the dead wood.
Some of this stuff is true but even with these deficiencies Apple is still fabulously successful. Imagine what happens if they solve any of these problems!
That is why I’m here. I’m sick and tired of Cook resting on Jobs’ laurels. Apple needs to get back to what made them great.
Apple is not dead, but it also will never again be what it was when it brought out great desktops, the Macbook Air, the iPods, the iPhone, and the iPad all within one decade.
My favorite quote from Steve Jobs had to do with his criticism of Microsoft where he said that they have no taste, and “I don’t mean that in a small way…” The ability to focus, the ability to know what a company can and should do, the ability to seek quality is missing and gone forever.
You getting confused the stock market is something that is manipulated and controled by the large banks and super elite like the Bilderberg group. You as a small minority share holder are just a pawn in this large game!!!
Let me give you some facts Apple has over $218 billion in cash!!! This is more money to hand than most countires even more free cash than the UK, France etc.
Apple owns over $100 billion of its own shares and every year generates over $50 billion in profit. This is more than any company on the Planet!!!!
This was all done when Tim Cook took over, so your stupidity is amazing. Do you have a low IQ? You keep moaning about the gay thing with Tim, everyone know homophobic people are closet gays so are you trying to tell us something?
Who cares Acel – the stock has suffered tremendously under Tim’s watch as well – especially lately, so I don’t really care about anything you mention above other than this stock moving upwards – for all we know Tim and company are shorting the stock to purchase more shares at a lower price – wouldn’t surprise me, he has been a complete train wreck lately will the numerous botched product and service releases, c’mon with the money this company has all releases should be seamless and without error or delay – unacceptable, and likely the main reason big money is getting out in a controlled manor
!!
Did you not read the first paragraph stocks are just a gamble, Hedge funds, Banks and organisations like Bilderbergs control this and know how to make big money from it.
Plus dont forget the world economy has issues too: Problems in China, oil prices, not to mention the €250 billion in loans to the oil companies which then are struggling to that pay back now, problems with housing markets to name a few as people again have borrowed too much money which they will struggle to pay back, in the UK borrowing debt stands at a massive £1trillion and this will hit an estimated £2 trillion. Dont also forget the UK and USA have some of the higest debts in the world!!! we are heading for a repeat of 2008!!!!! So dont be suprised if what you say happen then happen 2016.
The best thing Jobs did as a business man was to hire Tim Cook very soon after he came back to Apple in 1998, The Apple production process was a mess. Jobs had the ideas but Cook was the person that made them profitable. Without Cook I doubt that Apple would ever have achieved as much. Jobs almost messed it up with the Friendship of Eric Schmidt. But that said without the visionary Jobs Apple would also not have been this big. Just wait and see the next wave of Jobs’ vision and the production chain. The watch will be huge once the medical app’s are running full tilt and the device becomes a complete stand alone device. Apple Watch sales will explode and likely replace the smart phones as the only device people will need.
People will still need a larger viewing area like a second screen and/or some other mechanism like AR or VR to consume content on. Are you suggesting that the watch could potentially project holographic images over a wider viewing area, compared to the smallish area of a watch screen? I can see how a user would flick the wrist to scroll up and down web pages/apps and use voice for input, but what would be the mechanics for game play?
Tim needs to go – he has no interest in seeing the stock go higher, yes he should care that he is loosing investors a lot of money, it is very apparent that big money is running away regardless of the isn’t Apple cheap bs – great job Tim
Lets do the math: Apple made approx $52B last year while Google made approx 8B. Which company seems more valuable? The last two first fiscal quarters were the most profitable in corporate history and last year was the most profitable year in corporate history. So, in what way is Tim Cook failing? He has no say in the market valuation and as a stock holder I don’t want him focusing on it. The current situation is unprecedented: since no company has ever made this much money we must ask ourselves: does a company’s profits have to grow every year in order to command a high P/E ratio? Why isn’t generating $50B/year enough? The law of large numbers obviously comes into play and no matter how successful Apple or any other company is their profits must plateau or they would become the entire world’s economy. The real issue is whether the profits are sustainable even if plateaued. From all perspectives it appears to me Apple’s profits are sustainable. There is no company in the world that is as operationally proficient (thanks to Tim Cook!!), and they are reasonable innovative. They are just getting started developing services to market to their large and loyal installed base which will likely produce vast recurrent income. Don’t believe any of this? Go ahead, sell your Apple shares, I’ll buy them at a discount sucker!!
Let’s hope we get to see more than a new colour watch strap in March.
Keep dreaming. Hot Pink with a rainbow strap to promote Timmy The Flower’s LGBT agenda. Who needs Apple Watches and Apple Pencils on hand during the two biggest launches in Apple’s recent history when marching in Gay Pride parades is Timmy’s utmost concern?
I can’t wait for this year’s shareholders’ meeting!
Ha ha knew it AAPL Bagholder is a closet case
Spot on comment – focus on the business and not offering your opinion on everything else non work related regardless of what that is – that is the real issue with this stock – get your shit together
This was the goal of the stock manipulation-and was achieved by Eric Schmidt’s influence and back-room dealings. Gotta take down Apple by manipulating wallstreet into manipulating AAPL and GOOG in order to manipulate public perception in such a way as to make it appear that Apple is failing, and Apple is over.
Schmidt is a creepy and dangerous man with his multi-government lobbyists and incessant influence peddling.
Where is the huge potential for growth for Alphabet that warrants a P/E ratio of 33? Clearly the end game of manipulating GOOG up and AAPL down was to specifically put Apple’s lights out.
You’ve read my mind, Eric succeeded at holding Apple stock down, but where is Carl Icahn to battle Eric Schmidt?.
Definately has the mole’s MO and evil signature.
Do know Evil…
Thank the Federal Reserve for pumping assets prices up. This move to Alphabet is a last ditch velocity play before they all come back to the artificially suppressed Apple.
With all the cash Apple has, with all the business segments booming, with WAY WAY more revenue and profits than Google—and now this? What friggin “future expectations” can justify this overtake? If Google has millions then Apple has gazillions.
This is insanity. The only good thing is that it was not Microsoft that surpassed AAPL altho they have been closing in a bit the last 1-2 years too, standing now at about 440 billion.
Maybe it’s time for Wozzie to stand in as interim chairman of the board? To keep an eye on the flock a bit ..
It’s a meaningless bullet point.
It makes sense. GOOGL has a story to tell that sounds more or less the same every quarter and that Wall Street likes. The business keeps growing and it is hard to see that it has saturated and/or about to reach a threshold where it can’t easily continue to grow. As long as the revenue growth and EPS growth numbers keep rolling in, qtr by qtr, it makes sense that the p/e multiple remains high and total market cap goes beyond Apple’s, just based on how the stock market works.
I doubt that Google will ever make more money than Apple, but the inconsistency in Apple’s earnings and growth trajectory is a stock valuation concern. It just defies stock valuation school book rules to assign Apple a high p/e. I am a true Apple fan (the products) and a still has tens of thousands of shares. But I am not too optimistic about a fast recovery for the stock. There’s nothing that can turn around the valuation big time in the short term. Unfortunately.
Thank you.
Most here aren’t getting the idea of growth.
Apple does not have any major growth prospects right now.
Android, profitable or not shows growth potential in all kinds of markets, and it carries with it Google’s core service, advertising.
The only thing that can turn the stock around is a product that gives the perception of growth.
Watch? Nope. Just an add on for existing iPhone users.
iPHones? Nope. Most people who buy iPhones are people who already have iPhones.
Services? We shall see. I see that last bump as a flash in the pan due to music, but don’t see music growing that much.
Cars? I won’t hold my breath.
Apple produced original TV content? Please.
Apple TV? Lots of cheaper competition.
But apps could be the key.
Mac? I dunno. Don’t see much evolution or revolution in that space. Certainly nothing that’s going to spur major growth.
Growth has come from moving into new markets with the same small number of products.
The problem is if China stalls and other markets aren’t able to bear the price of high margin products.
T-Mac,
I’ll admit to being an unapologetic fan boy…but I see a lot of potential for growth…mainly taking search right away from google- Remember apple maps? – off to a rough start I’ll grant you but now its fine and is the dominant map for IOS. Siri and data centers are in place… Speaking of iPhones, there is still plenty of un-upgraded base. Apple makes the best phones in the world, has the high end market locked up, and also locks people in with the ecosystem.
I see tremendous opportunity for the iPad pro (at next years prices) to become the default product for education.
Apple TV- tremendous upside- I pay 160$ a month for cable- theres a lot of room for improvement.
Cars- a long way to go (but they told Musk that he wouldn’t waltz into the cars biz and make a splash. 200 billion is a big war chest-
Cheers (long on AAPL)!
Being a fan boy, then, I hope you recognize when your bias leads you to project huge values based on potential that may or may not come true, especially when Apple relies on other companies to do their dirty work for them.
1) Apple just re-signed Google as default search engine this year. Cook completely lost my faith with that move.
2) Maps is an annoying constraint for iOS users, not a benefit. For some people with limited needs, the default may be fine. But Maps DOES NOT WORK AT ALL for many many people, and Apple refuses to let people set a better map app as the default. This reeks of MS Internet Explorer all over again. Users should not be treated this way.
3) Apple’s iPhone sales aren’t going to grow significantly until he pulls his finger out of his ass and delivers a full family of phones in enough screen sizes to please the customer base, at prices they want to pay, with adequate memory to do what Apple advertises you should be able to do with your phone. As of this date, Cook has refused to do this. There is no excuse to treat customers this way. At least do the kind thing and offer more RAM for cheap. Or give people the superior battery life they as for. But no, Apple doesn’t treat iPhone buyers with a superior value, they just offer more colors and more iOS features that 90% of owners will never use, then call it a day. That might sell fine to the brand-loyal sheep in America, but it won’t get you anywhere in a price sensitive market, which includes the rest of the world right now.
4) iPad Pro is hobbled by a non-Pro operating system. It’s a niche product, case closed. It would be more convenient if it synced to a real Mac with Pro graphics software, but who knows when Apple might get around to making the Mac the efficient center of a digital workplace again. Syncing with iCloud and iTunes 12 continues to suck big time.
5) Apple is advertising the hell out of ATV out of desperation. ATV4 costs more than the competition and currently offers no capabilities that they don’t. It’s technically inferior and far from being future-proof. It will never be a competitive gaming platform (poor graphics), it will never be a useful digital video recorder or deliver UHD video (inadequate memory, useless USB), and it sucks as an Airplay client without a discrete digital audio output. It has a clumsy interface with a poor remote. It’s an overpriced outclassed mess.
6) An Apple car would be as big or bigger a money pit as Tesla, which is pretty but doesn’t make any money and never will make money until gas gets expensive again.
On the other hand, MacRumors lists many stale Apple products that would see significant sales growth if only Cook would get off his ass and update them, and then advertise them properly.
You and I think alike!
We returned the Apple TV. Apps are not the future of TV in this household.
U are just being super negative.
Maps works great for me.
Tvos needs work.. And it was a premature launch.. But it sure has potential…
I agree with ios , and file managment limitation and compatibility annoyances… But you discount the security end of things here and intuitive ease of use.
Its not all that bad.. Unless u are on the bandwagon to try to creat that perception.
Paul, I would argue you have some bias as well 😉
1. no argument there
2. Not an “annoying constraint’ — I rather like not having big brother have my location data in addition to all the other data they acquire.
3. WTF? more screen sizes? Adequate memory? Better battery? Take a good look at the android mess and you will have your answer of what happens when you try to please all of the people all of the time. I think customers who care have voted with there dollars…what is it…like 90% of smart phone profits? Let the android makers enjoy their razor thin margins while they fight over the last 10%…
4. The iPad is an appliance…it fires up instantly, and its designed to be simple. Thats why apple has sold a sh*tload of them and almost all of them are still in use. Ask Microsoft how well the windows 10 tablet is doing… Apple will roll out a full fledged tablet OS when it is ready.
5. ATV4 works fine for what most people want. Its not designed to be a competitor for a 4th gen gaming console- its designed to compete with the Wii. I am bummed at the lack of 4k- not because there is a lot of content out there but because my 6S shoots it. However, for watching movies etc works great.
6. Have you driven a Tesla? They are freakin awesome. My next car would be a Model X but I gotta have a roof rack. I think the auto industry is ripe for a paradigm shift (remember the iPhone argument?)
People are getting too hung up on stock price. If you are a day trader, this is not the stock for you. If you believe in the company, buy and hold. (I bought when it was $12) The market is not based on reason…
I don’t know, I’ve talked with a lot of people who overall seem to be agreeing with Paul lately.
Maps remains inadequate, that’s just a fact. Customer response doesn’t lie. Cnet gives it a 3/5 rating, which is generous. Their conclusion was that Google Maps and Mapquest were superior. http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2413811,00.asp
Seems like a lot of people on MDN have been waiting for a new 4″ iPhone for years. And before that, iPhone users had to waited a couple years for Apple to deliver its best-selling model 4.7″ and the most capable 5.5″ phones, both much later than the competition offered them. What takes so long to give people what they want?
Look, either Apple is going to be a tech leader, or its going to be a laggard. You can ‘t have it both ways. Under Cook, Apple was clearly a leader, offering the most stable and reliable stuff ever, before people even knew what they really wanted. Now under Cook, Apple is so slow and cautious that the competition has time to get a couple generations of products out the door before Apple even moves. But these days when Apple finally releases a product, users find it buggy as hell, just read Apple’s own app store reviews. Or a product is not in stores in quantity when promised. Available only via appointment. Selected colors only, sold out of space grey, which is and never will be as popular as black. Dismiss this if you will, but I see it as a sign that Apple doesn’t care as much about the user experience as when Apple was the underdog.
The iPad is a big iPhone, which is great if all you do is consume media and play on Facebook. It will never replace the Mac for a significant number of us at least. How many people make a living with an iPad, and how many people rely on a Mac for their daily bread? You know very well which is more important for users to be right, secure, solid, and reliable, with the most competitive up to date specs. But Apple just refuses to keep it as good as it can be. Cook is letting the Mac fall behind while he spends all his effort on the goddamn iOS app store and iCloud subscriptions. That many be what wall street wants, but it sure isn’t what Mac users want.
Tesla isn’t worth the price. Sorry, but it’s just too much money for what you get — which is a Google OS in an electric car. Let me guess, you’ve never driven a Chevy Volt.
Growth is great but not everything.. Consistency in generating profit is also a very important metric.
Just imagine apple addin 18billion to their pile of cash every quarter. In a few years its cash is going to be more than the its cap value ! …… Is growth the only important thing?
Also in your post you choose to discount anything that could count as positive for Apple. Everything Apple is a an arbitrary “nope” for you.
Yet you have no hesitation to enbrace googles future.. ……All you have there is androids advertizing growth……. but remember no china.
Excatly what is the next huge growth prospect from google …. ? They monitized the hell out of youtube recently.. Great.. Whats next? Whats the excitement about? Anything tangible?
Yet for apple :
1 billion ios users
Healty growth once normalized for currancy and last years unusual spike (due to larger iphone)……..when normalized they would have shown 15%ish growth.
China, india
Services at 18 billion 26% growth
Most profitable company..
The problem with Apple is not so much fundamentals.. Its perception..and yes their PR department seens to be in a coma.
Fix that.. And a lot will change. Fix that and pe will junp back to 15-18…
Sure there are execution issues in many fronts.. All companies have them… Some hide them better than others.
Apple has to put massive emphasis on PR… And make sure 2015 operational goofups and dissaray and some of the bogus product decisions are not repeated.
Its not all doom for apple and roses for google..
Thats just a perception problem.
Apple has to shif excitement into high gear again.
AAPL can regain the title provided they invest just over $200b instead of parking the fund and increase dividend payout. AAPL should buy or invest in large companies.
Screw that. Apple’s pandered to the overly emotional traders and Wallstreet analysts for long enough.
Finish the remaining declared stock buyback and give the finger to any further “suggestions” on how to pump up AAPL. It’s clearly playing into the manipulator’s hands, and it’s totally distracting from making good product and services since Apple is forced to play by Wall Street schedules instead of releasing when ready and available.
@mossman
I’m sorry, but wtf are you talking about??!! Do you know the number one responsibility for Tim Cook? It is his responsibility to the shareholders of Apple! Period. End of story. I’m not sure you should be commenting about Apple stock, just focus on liking their products and leave your silly rants about Wall Street out of further posts as they make you look dumb. Thanks in advance!
Reality: yours is the short-term view. To pay out the most value over the long term, Cook needs to invest more in developing better products and services. Yes, he absolutely needs to keep investors happy, but it’s plain to see that investors were much happier when AAPL was a growth stock paying zero in dividends than they are with the new Apple, which is clearly being run by accountants instead of people who are interested in growing the company’s customer base with unparallelled hardware and software. I know that everyone here thinks Apple products are clearly and obviously superior in all aspects, but if that is so, then the prices are too high because people aren’t buying. With so many holes in Apples increasingly sealed & user-unfriendly product lines, it seems obvious to me what Apple needs to do to gain customers.
Is there anyone out there who would prefer a current 4″ screen iPhone, for example?
Cook chose to ignore you people and instead is offering a Hermes double leather wristband in stores, with an appointment. Aren’t you all very happy???
Responsibility to the shareholders? Really? Does that include “shareholders” who are in the stock for a millisecond? Because right now most traders are using this stock- not holding it. Stock ownership has gotten away from its intended purpose. The CEO shouldn’t waste his time trying to pander to these parasites…
Short term selfish traders are not shareholders worth keeping happy.
Who looks dumb now, lol…
(That was directed at “Reality”, of course)
Apple should buy more of its share then delist itself off the stock exchange. Turn itself into a private company or a Partnership.
Then it does not have to be affected by stock market price fluctuations
Wall Street is holding off an Apple NOT because of the reduction in sales. They are holding off because Apple won’t announce sales volumes of the watch and AppleTV. So they reject a stock of a company that will continue to earn what Alphabet sells in a quarter.
Wall Street is a casino. It’s full of sheeple (See The Big Short). They are just looking for the trend they can make money on. Right now there is no fast money in Apple, so it is rejected by the players.
Apple, is going after getting Google’s ad business off iOS. If they succeed, it will hurt Google. Do iPhone owners want ad-free browsing? Yes. Will they get it? Perhaps. Will that hurt the Internet? Hard to say.
But Alphabet is going to have a tough time commanding great ad prices for Android users that don’t buy anything with their phones.
Apple should buy Duck Duck Go and make this the default search engine for Siri and IOS then watch Google worry
Boom! You got that right! With s flip of a switch, IOS devices, (over 1 billion) and macs can be directed to a different (Apple’s own?) search engine. Apple has been quietly building data centers and advancing Siri. google is an overvalued 1 trick pony. Apple makes an amazing ecosystem of quality products and services. Karma is coming for you google…and its gonna be a bitch!
Is he talking actual worth, against stock prices? Didn’t bother reading the whole article.
There are those people with predigitists that cannot see good works by Tim Cook because their eyes are filled with unnessesary hare. I judge him as a business leader that’s has helped his company tremendously. The analysts have chopped 25 dollars from the price of the stock because of the ingrown ptrdigists. Google went up 90 dollars just because they changed their name. I personally would never invest in Google because of their dishonesty.
Most Valuable Company title is based on number of shares times the price per share, Market Capitalization. Apple sells for around 9 times what they earn per share. Alphabet sells for around 37 times earnings. If Apple sold at the same PE, would be around a 2.5 trillion dollar company.
Apple’s stock has been declining specifically because of the wankers who visit this page and spout such vitriol about the rest of the tech sector.
If Apple dropped prices to “change course and decide to compete with lower cost Android manufacturers” the stock price would drop like a rock. Every quarterly conference call, the #1 concern of the analysts is gross margin, and there is concern if it drops by 1% point. Unless Apple starts building POS devices made of cheap plastic and commodity components, the only way the compete on price is by cutting their margins by 50%. I cannot see how any AAPL investor would be happy to see that.
“And there was much rejoicing (yaaaaaayyyyyy)”
So, Google generating “so much profit from [i.e. it is 90% dependent on] its digital ad business that it can invest in all sorts of potential growth areas, namely autonomous driving and extending life” is completely awesome while…
…Apple generating so much profit from its iPhone that it can invest in all sorts of actual profitable products, namely watches, best-in-class-mobile-custom cpu/gpus, AppleTV, content deals, iPad Pro, etc. means “unless Apple changes course [it’s] best days are in the past.”
Apple stock going down is in some ways understandable given the market conditions over the last few months.
Google’s postion going up on the other hand is hard to comprehend, given they have no new income streams or even potential income streams.
This from the AP: “Meanwhile, Alphabet’s other companies together produced an operating loss of $1.2 billion on revenue of just $151 million. Alphabet labels that category “other bets.” For the full year, Alphabet’s other companies lost $3.6 billion on revenue of $448 million.”
Loss of 1.2 billion on just 151 million. That’s the real Alphacrap.
Just came to think about another reason why GOOGL is enjoying a much higher valuation multiple than AAPL – GOOGL and its new CFO has taken a series of measures to increase reporting and performance transparency across its various business lines and investments. That’s exactly what the stock market likes.
Tim Cook & Luca Maestri have done the opposite with the way Apple reports, primarily by keeping Apple Watch numbers in the dark (and Apple TV, but not as important yet). This leaves it up to everybody to make their own guess, which are all over the place. Nobody buys into T. Cook’s argument that they keep the Watch numbers secret to ensure competitors don’t have them. How would that help/complicate for competitors if they would know if Apple sold 3 million or 6 million of the watches?
Lastly, Tim Cook & Luca Maestri sounded really pathetic at the last conference call – they started to sing the “forex headwind” excuse song within 30 seconds into the call and remained stuck on the topic. They really rubbed a notion into all listeners’ faces that Apple doesn’t have a strategy they’re confident in, as they spent too much time wining about the macro difficulties. In past conference calls, Apple has been lauded for not dwelling on forex complaints, but now they sounded every bit like the most lousy S&P 500 sucker company you could imagine. The two jokers on the call really didn’t do shareholders and Apple any good that afternoon last Tuesday!
“Investors are concerned,” Levy cloims, “that unless Apple changes course and decides to compete with lower cost Android manufacturers on price, the iPhone’s best days are in the past.”
The world is fucked if that passes for anything remotely close to acceptable logic.
Did anyone see Google’s guidance for 2016?
Just as a point of fact, Google’s annual revenue was equal to Apple’s Q1 2016 revenue.
Google grew their revenue 18% y-o-y to a staggering not quite $5 billion in profit while Apple grew 1% to a puddly $18 billion in profit.
Google’s P/E on trailing earnings is 36. Apple’s isn’t even 10.
So of course, with a $5 billion dollar quarterly profit they would be more valuable than a company that made almost as much in profit last quarter as Google did in revenue!
America, land of the FUBAR stock market.
Absolutely, it doesn’t make sense, however, with the magic-wands of Wall Street everything is possible.
Are you reading what you just wrote???
If you invest in GOOG, then you’re investing in a company that can increase its revenue 18% per year.
Meanwhile, Slow Tim is growing Apple revenue at 1% per year.
IT DOES NOT MATTER HISTORIC REVENUE, WHAT MATTERS IS INCREASE IN REVENUE TO PROJECT FUTURE VALUE.
Until people here understand that Wall Street is all about future projection, they will never understand how to value AAPL properly. Take your emotions out of it.
Looks like the con job of renaming Google to Alphabet and separating core services and ‘other bets’ worked.
Wall Street seems to be dazzled by ad click throughs increasing by 31%.
Doesn’t seem to matter that price per click declined by 13%, double the forecast.
The 1.1 Billion dollar loss of ‘other bets’ also seems to be totally irrelevant.
It is like R&D costs have been totally erased or forgotten from Alphabets operations.
Maybe Apple should rename themselves ”Fruit & Vege”
Separate the profitable stuff into Apple and put all the crud into Brussel Sprout.
Exactly what I was thinking. Go-ogle was able to increase its value just by playing shell games with its name. I keep hearing about stock prices increasing because of Wall Street expecting future growth, yet all Go-ogle had to do was file paperwork “creating” a parent company, and its stock jumped considerably.
That’s what I call a true “growth strategy”.
If Apple continues to make the same amount of money (no growth) and continues to buy back the same amount of shares than their enterprise value will be $0 within eight years and the last remaining shareholder will own over $200 billion in net cash.
https://kirkburgess.wordpress.com/2016/02/01/apple-inc-going-for-free-within-8-years/
Correction: the last remaining share in 2029 would own the company and $230 billion in cash. EV still goes within eight years.
The point is, AAPL is priced incredibly low compared to their cash generation.
Apple refused to provide a backdoor for the NSA, CIA, etc.
Google and Facebook provide all info to the Federal Government.
Don’t you think that explains the Apple, Google/Facebook situation?
You nailed it.
“Investors are concerned,” Levy cloims, “that unless Apple changes course and decides to compete with lower cost Android manufacturers on price, the iPhone’s best days are in the past.”
Proof positive that investors’ greed is rotting their brains.
yeah, that analyst statement is so bizarre
doesn’t the dude know apple takes 94% of the Phone profits of the world? so taking 6% is better?
the upside down world of investing today.
I really couldn’t care less about market cap and marketshare. I’m MUCH more concerned about mindshare, specifically the fact that SO MANY PEOPLE are either completely oblivious or they just don’t care about Google’s (and FB, etc) business model. They’re literally selling everyone (people) to advertisers in exchange for ‘free’ services. Clearly, I’m in the very small minority of people who are concerned about this (GMail has 1 Billion subscribers???). Google/Alphabet are on an unstoppable path to domination of the tech industry- it won’t be long before anyone who wants to make it in the tech world will have to kiss the ring on Eric Schmidt’s filthy hand. If you ask me, this is where having Steve Jobs at the helm would benefit Apple the most- he had a way of handling the Eric Schmidt’s of the world, and it usually benefited not only Apple, but us consumers as well.
Why privacy matters
Think your email’s private? Think again
What will a future without secrets look like?
Please tell me how a company with quarterly revenues of $21 billion is worth more than a company that turned a quarterly PROFIT of $18 billion?!? Only on Wall Street….
Read up on the difference between size and growth.