Apple Stock Watchers: Guess Who Isn't #3 Anymore?

[Frank MetaMusil]

Originally Posted by Azure

What exactly is so important about market cap again?

Where is Apple in terms of revenue and profit on the grand scheme of things?

It's the size of a company as viewed by the public.

Market cap reflects only the equity value of a company. A more comprehensive measure is enterprise value (EV), which includes debt and other factors. Insurance firms use a value called the embedded value (EV).

[Sylvanfan]

Originally Posted by Barnes

When I was 20, I received an inheritance and wanted to put $10,000 of it into Apple because of the Apple branded music player rumours. My dad sent me to his financial advisor and she somehow convinced me to invest in JDS uniphase and Nortel instead.

That $10,000 would be worth $300,000 today but instead I have $0.

How long ago was that. I did have a financial advisor suggest Apple to me in 2000 or so based on the fact that they had survived the tech bubble and could likely rise again. Than again the same guy also claimed Nortel at over $120 a share might not be a bad buy. I do wish I'd taken his advice on Apple.

[Azure]

Originally Posted by Frank MetaMusil

It's the size of a company as viewed by the public.

Market cap reflects only the equity value of a company. A more comprehensive measure is enterprise value (EV), which includes debt and other factors. Insurance firms use a value called the embedded value (EV).

Ah okay.

Reason I'm asking is because the latest issue of Forbes had the top 100 companies for a bunch of categories. Market cap wasn't one of the categories which had me wondering why its so important.

Thanks!

[FanIn80]

I've always had a hard time finding relevant information on a company's finances. Where would a guy go to get this info? I mean legitimate, relevant info. Not something from a PR release or a blog.

Edit: Never mind. http://moneycentral.msn.com/investor...sp?Symbol=AAPL

Even better: http://msnmoney.brand.edgar-online.c...fticker%3dAAPL

[Barnes]

Originally Posted by sylvanfan

how long ago was that. I did have a financial advisor suggest apple to me in 2000 or so based on the fact that they had survived the tech bubble and could likely rise again. Than again the same guy also claimed nortel at over $120 a share might not be a bad buy. I do wish i'd taken his advice on apple.

2000.

[Azure]

Originally Posted by FanIn80

I've always had a hard time finding relevant information on a company's finances. Where would a guy go to get this info? I mean legitimate, relevant info. Not something from a PR release or a blog.

Edit: Never mind. http://moneycentral.msn.com/investor...sp?Symbol=AAPL

Even better: http://msnmoney.brand.edgar-online.c...fticker%3dAAPL

I would assume Forbes has everything as well on their website.

They seem to do a pretty good job analyzing businesses.

[Phaneuf3]

Originally Posted by Russic

It was, but people started complaining about it.

Why not just an apple sub-forum? There are seriously enough threads now that it may warrant it.

edit:
Just a sample off of page 1:
Apple Stock Watchers: Guess Who Isn't #3 Anymore?
Apple's iPad Megathread
Apple TV: Thoughts?
Apple Back-to-School Promo Starts Today
iPhone JailBreak Thread
iPhone HD Leaked?
iPhone/iPod touch Must Have Apps
iTunes Video and Artwork Issue

And to a lesser extent:
Android Prototype Tablet Running Flash
(because it appears to have been solely created to contrast it with another high profile tablet computer device that was recently released)

9/20 threads on the first page are devoted to Apple. Time for a sub-sub-forum!


edit2: Missed this one too! Make that 10/20
YAAT: Apple Said to Face Inquiry About Online Music

[FanIn80]

Originally Posted by Azure

I would assume Forbes has everything as well on their website.

They seem to do a pretty good job analyzing businesses.

I was speaking more in terms of actual financial statements, not just articles.

[bomber317]

Originally Posted by FanIn80

And, as an aside, are Apple stocks even worth tracking anymore? I mean, at over $250/share, who can realistically afford to buy enough of them to really capitalize on any gains moving forward?

I never understood why people in general are scared of high stock prices.

I purchased AAPL about 4 months ago at around 205, sold it about 2-3 weeks ago when it first broke 260.

I didn't look at it as making $55 a share. I looked at it as making 26% on my X dollars of initial capital.

Does it matter if you have 1000 shares of a $10 share or 100 shares of a $100 stock?

There will be questions of liquidity, (look at berkshire A shares), but AAPL is a very liquid stock.

Anyways, end of my rant.

If you're looking into the stock, baring major stock market collapses, now is a good time to buy AAPL with the upcoming sales of iPad in the global market and with some rumors regarding the iPhone.

[FanIn80]

Yeah, I guess it's all relative. I forgot how much APPL has climbed lately.

Instead of thinking about only getting 4 shares for $1000, I should be thinking about those 4 shares potentially breaking the $300 mark, which would be a pretty quick 20% ROI. It's no different than buying 100 $10 shares and watching them go up to $12.

Liquidity is probably the key word here. In and out.

[Pastiche]

http://theappleblog.com/2010/05/27/a...=Google+Reader

Apple is about control, even though Steve Jobs says quite the opposite in his open letter to Flash. Don’t get me wrong, I’m no big fan of Flash myself, but I do think that Apple’s intentions have more to do with controlling the nature and delivery vehicle of content than with encouraging openness. Otherwise it’d have backed Google’s VP8 open web video standard from the start. The kind of control Apple exerts works well for it as a niche player, but now that it’s arguably the most important tech company in the world, the same rules don’t apply.


Big stays big by being inclusive and cooperative, to a degree. Take Google, which works with so many partners it’s hard to keep track of, with the end goal of satisfied customers in mind. Microsoft, too, works with others more than it shuts them down, as long as the terms are favorable. Apple seems content to remain largely sheltered, even when it would be easier and more expedient to work with a partner. In fact, since the company started making its own chips with the iPad, it looks to be shutting down even further still.


Such an approach may provide some short-term gains, but rising competitors like Google will take advantage of the general bad feeling it will generate among other tech firms to form the kind of partnerships that helped elevate Microsoft to its loftiest heights 10 years ago. And Apple will still be at base camp, stubbornly refusing the aid of other climbers.

[Russic]

Originally Posted by Phaneuf3

Why not just an apple sub-forum? There are seriously enough threads now that it may warrant it.

edit:
Just a sample off of page 1:
Apple Stock Watchers: Guess Who Isn't #3 Anymore?
Apple's iPad Megathread
Apple TV: Thoughts?
Apple Back-to-School Promo Starts Today
iPhone JailBreak Thread
iPhone HD Leaked?
iPhone/iPod touch Must Have Apps
iTunes Video and Artwork Issue

And to a lesser extent:
Android Prototype Tablet Running Flash
(because it appears to have been solely created to contrast it with another high profile tablet computer device that was recently released)

9/20 threads on the first page are devoted to Apple. Time for a sub-sub-forum!


edit2: Missed this one too! Make that 10/20
YAAT: Apple Said to Face Inquiry About Online Music

You make a strong point, but I like to follow the capitalism theory of internet threads. If the threads are of little interest to people, then threads of higher interest will overtake them. I think a subforum would become necessary if threads of non-apple topics started getting buried, but as of yet I don't feel that is happening. I find it's already confusing enough to decide if a thread belongs in the off-topic or tech forum at times, and many times mentioning it in the tech forum means that many won't see it. Making another subforum might just make things worse.

[Barnes]

Originally Posted by Pastiche

http://theappleblog.com/2010/05/27/a...=Google+Reader

All bull.

See MS at WWDC thread.

If Apple is a niche company then so is Google. They sell ads. Everything else they do is a delivery method for advertising or a way to gather data.

And VP8 is a heat score. It will get sued into oblivion once MPEG LA starts to collect royalties on h.264 and enforce their copyrights.

EDIT: MS at WWDC was just a crazy rumor.

[FanIn80]

I've never understood the love for Google. Yes, they do cool things like Pacman on their home page... but when you lift the curtain, the only thing they are is an advertising company.

You guys think they do all this stuff out of some altruistic sense of duty? They do it so they can sell advertising.

[Cowboy89]

Originally Posted by FanIn80

I was speaking more in terms of actual financial statements, not just articles.

http://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-ed...clude&count=40

Why not look at the actual financial Statements that they are required to file to the SEC?

Also for Canadian Company Filings check out http://www.sedar.com

[FanIn80]

Originally Posted by Cowboy89

http://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-ed...clude&count=40

Why not look at the actual financial Statements that they are required to file to the SEC?

Also for Canadian Company Filings check out http://www.sedar.com

Yeah, that's the same list I posted in the MSN link... but it's even better since it's straight from the SEC.

That's awesome, thanks!


Edit: I can't believe I didn't think of just going to the SEC site. Oh and I just caught the bit about the CanCon link too. Even more awesomeness!

[FanIn80]

Relief wells... That's right up there with WMDs.

[Hack&Lube]

Suicides at the Foxconn factory that produces Apple (as well as many other) products are nearing 16.

http://gizmodo.com/5549222/foxconn-j...ed-on-the-roof

This isn't a condemnation of Apple, merely that the low prices you pay for electronics (and the economic success of these companies) comes from the backs of these underpaid, overworked, and badly treated workers.

[Burninator]

Originally Posted by FanIn80

I've never understood the love for Google. Yes, they do cool things like Pacman on their home page... but when you lift the curtain, the only thing they are is an advertising company.

You guys think they do all this stuff out of some altruistic sense of duty? They do it so they can sell advertising.

That's pretty cynical. What's your point exactly? That they are a business and they want to make money? Apple just wants to sell you pieces of metal, plastic, glass and digital content from iTunes. How are they doing anything different?

[FanIn80]

Originally Posted by Burninator

That's pretty cynical. What's your point exactly? That they are a business and they want to make money? Apple just wants to sell you pieces of metal, plastic, glass and digital content from iTunes. How are they doing anything different?

It's not cynical, it's true. People act like they're the Anti-Apple, but all they're trying to do is find new ways to make money off of you buying other people's stuff. People love Chrome now, but what happens when they build in yet another new and creative way to show you an ad?

Just because it doesn't sound like roses and sunshine doesn't make it inaccurate.

It also doesn't mean that I don't like some of their stuff, or that I won't play Pacman on their logo.

Edit: Apple is getting into the ad business too. Believe me, I'm not on board with that either.