I think the areas that the market is impatient and disappointed in:
1. Distrust in Tim Cook as to whether he can keep the innovation pace that SJ had as a reputation. Wall Street is begging for a new product announcement, Apple TV that will be innovative and a paradigm shift.
2. Mismanagement of cash- Tim Cook has not offered any future for the ever increasing accumulation of cash. When Apple chooses to pay more in taxes than to it's share holders, the shareholders will bail. Shareholders want higher dividend, representative of the profitability. Microsoft pays double the dividend that Apple pays. Share buyback- Shareholders, would accept a faster buyback but smart investors understand that there is no benefit to them until they sell off with a buyback which is self defeating, i.e. no future. Bold investment in M&A. Apple is doing none of this.
3. General greed. Investors need to see everything grow, not just cash, but margins, % market share, new products, numbers that blow away ridiculously high analysts estimates, and everything else. If one of these falls off, then the stock gets hammered mercilessly. Is the company in trouble? No, but investors can be hurt if they sell when the stock gets hammered.
My strategy is to keep my investment in Apple growing up to a maximum % of my portfolio of 15%. I did quite well last year with Apple trading around a core position that I have increased to 50% higher than last year. I'm still trading with stock bought with money gained in Apple gains from the past two years. Currently, my holdings are all short term except for 23 shares which are over a year. I can afford to hold until Apple gives me green numbers on those short shares. But the 23 shares are in positive territory, by $160 a share. That's the good news, the short buys are in deep negative territory. Therefore, it doesn't appear that my Apple income this year will be anywhere near my last two years.
I am not worried that Apple is going down as a company, I'm just looking forward to one of the 3 points be fixed by Tim Cook so my investment can continue to grow. The earnings call last night did not give me much faith that Tim Cook is concerned and plans to do anything. He said, " At Apple we're not concerned over profits our only concern is to make products that are the best user experience." This was shocking to me because I feel we need a leader at Apple who wants both! Maybe the comment was patronizing the questioner because the company is doing a pretty good job of maintaining some of the highest margins in the industry.
Meanwhile, on the lower level, my wife is happy with her new iphone5 and my Verizon bill actually went down by $13 a month. Do we really need more varieties of iphones? I don't care but maybe if Apple has a product that meets everyone's need, then maybe they will gain market share. And, not lose % margin if they convince the public all their iphones are better than the competition.
At least were not in Nokia. Nokia announced today it is suspending its dividend for the first time in 20 years!
1. Distrust in Tim Cook as to whether he can keep the innovation pace that SJ had as a reputation. Wall Street is begging for a new product announcement, Apple TV that will be innovative and a paradigm shift.
2. Mismanagement of cash- Tim Cook has not offered any future for the ever increasing accumulation of cash. When Apple chooses to pay more in taxes than to it's share holders, the shareholders will bail. Shareholders want higher dividend, representative of the profitability. Microsoft pays double the dividend that Apple pays. Share buyback- Shareholders, would accept a faster buyback but smart investors understand that there is no benefit to them until they sell off with a buyback which is self defeating, i.e. no future. Bold investment in M&A. Apple is doing none of this.
3. General greed. Investors need to see everything grow, not just cash, but margins, % market share, new products, numbers that blow away ridiculously high analysts estimates, and everything else. If one of these falls off, then the stock gets hammered mercilessly. Is the company in trouble? No, but investors can be hurt if they sell when the stock gets hammered.
My strategy is to keep my investment in Apple growing up to a maximum % of my portfolio of 15%. I did quite well last year with Apple trading around a core position that I have increased to 50% higher than last year. I'm still trading with stock bought with money gained in Apple gains from the past two years. Currently, my holdings are all short term except for 23 shares which are over a year. I can afford to hold until Apple gives me green numbers on those short shares. But the 23 shares are in positive territory, by $160 a share. That's the good news, the short buys are in deep negative territory. Therefore, it doesn't appear that my Apple income this year will be anywhere near my last two years.
I am not worried that Apple is going down as a company, I'm just looking forward to one of the 3 points be fixed by Tim Cook so my investment can continue to grow. The earnings call last night did not give me much faith that Tim Cook is concerned and plans to do anything. He said, " At Apple we're not concerned over profits our only concern is to make products that are the best user experience." This was shocking to me because I feel we need a leader at Apple who wants both! Maybe the comment was patronizing the questioner because the company is doing a pretty good job of maintaining some of the highest margins in the industry.
Meanwhile, on the lower level, my wife is happy with her new iphone5 and my Verizon bill actually went down by $13 a month. Do we really need more varieties of iphones? I don't care but maybe if Apple has a product that meets everyone's need, then maybe they will gain market share. And, not lose % margin if they convince the public all their iphones are better than the competition.
At least were not in Nokia. Nokia announced today it is suspending its dividend for the first time in 20 years!
