Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

mdriftmeyer

macrumors 68040
Feb 2, 2004
3,809
1,985
Pacific Northwest
Talking about future values for Apple's stock in terms of today's global GDP is as useful and statistically relevant as talking about my odds of marrying Miss Universe.
 

Taz Mangus

macrumors 604
Mar 10, 2011
7,815
3,504
Is eTrade the best way to go online for someone who doesn't do a lot of trading.

I'm in it for the small gain. I'm not trying to make a living off it.

If you have the money to put away I suggest you do it as a long term investement. In the last two days Apple has gone up $20+/share. In the last 3 months, Apple has gone up $200+/share.

----------

Sold 70K of GE stock at the start of the recession, bought a 1000 shares of Apple at $68 and change , me I'm getting out at $700, which will be early 2013:cool:

You could be cashing in sooner then next year at the rate Apple stock is going up. I perdict $700/share within the next 3 months. After Apple announced the 2012 Q1 profits the stock price went up $45+/share.
 

lcmazza

macrumors regular
Apr 3, 2012
213
0
Another one with no idea how insiders sell their stock.

LOL. I worked for Merrill Lynch's trading desk for years... I do know about prices and goals and I can tell you... they're not waiting for a $1000 share price, nor $800.
 

laurim

macrumors 68000
Sep 19, 2003
1,985
970
Minnesota USA
Is eTrade the best way to go online for someone who doesn't do a lot of trading.

I'm in it for the small gain. I'm not trying to make a living off it.

When I quit my job to freelance, I moved my 401k to eTrade and then opened a Roth as well. It's been easy to buy stocks and funds and to set up an auto transfer from my bank to my Roth so I keep putting money away without thinking about it. The only thing I don't like about it is I don't know enough about the multitude of funds to really know which ones to choose. There's a ton of information on the site but it's hard for a layperson to understand. That said, all but one of the funds I've chosen are actually doing pretty well so maybe I don't give myself enough credit :) My choosing criteria is usually based on the earning trend chart, the star ratings and the main companies in the fund. So, if they include things like Apple and Google, I like them. If they include oil companies or Haliburton, not so much. Maybe too emotional but that's how I roll and it's working for me so far.
 

DanK104

macrumors member
Sep 6, 2006
37
3
Cheap Apple stocks

Since everyone is comparing how little they paid for their Apple shares: I bought mine in 1992 for $7 (split-adjusted). It was a bad investment: within a year or two they had lost half their value. I didn't bother dumping them at that point, figured I would see if they came back...
(Still have them).
 
Last edited:

laurim

macrumors 68000
Sep 19, 2003
1,985
970
Minnesota USA
Since everyone is comparing how little they paid for their Apple shares: I bought mine in 1992 for $7 (split-adjusted). It was a bad investment: within a year or two they had lost half their value. I didn't bother dumping them at that point, figured I would see if they came back...

That's the thing that drives me crazy about stocks. You never know when to jump in and when to sell. You think the price is too high to buy but then a short time later you wish you HAD bought when it was that cheap. It's exactly like gambling, which I have no interest in either. I bought Netflix at $77 when it tanked, assuming either it would recover or they would get bought out (which worked great for my Macromedia stock). It HAS gone up a lot since but every day someone is saying they are going to go bust. I think about selling but I let it ride, it goes up more and I'm glad I stayed. I really need to stop watching the price because it's driving me crazy. Good thing it's only 15 shares...
 

lcmazza

macrumors regular
Apr 3, 2012
213
0
That's the thing that drives me crazy about stocks. You never know when to jump in and when to sell. You think the price is too high to buy but then a short time later you wish you HAD bought when it was that cheap. It's exactly like gambling, which I have no interest in either. I bought Netflix at $77 when it tanked, assuming either it would recover or they would get bought out (which worked great for my Macromedia stock). It HAS gone up a lot since but every day someone is saying they are going to go bust. I think about selling but I let it ride, it goes up more and I'm glad I stayed. I really need to stop watching the price because it's driving me crazy. Good thing it's only 15 shares...

It can be gambling the way you deal with stocks. Tech companies are high risk investment if you don't know what you're doing, which is the case.
You should learn more about long-term investing and how to analyze companies. It is complicated, but then it is your only tool not to make it a gamble. :)
 

laurim

macrumors 68000
Sep 19, 2003
1,985
970
Minnesota USA
It can be gambling the way you deal with stocks. Tech companies are high risk investment if you don't know what you're doing, which is the case.
You should learn more about long-term investing and how to analyze companies. It is complicated, but then it is your only tool not to make it a gamble. :)

I understand what you're saying but there are a thousand other things I'd rather spend my time doing :).

I actually used to work full-time 3yrs for an insurance and financial services company (as a web designer). While I was there, we got a meeting with an adviser to look over our 401k, make suggestions and teach us basics. So I understand the whole "balance your portfolio with high and low risk funds" thing. So I'm not a complete idiot. The last fund I bought was heavy in gold. For example, here is the list of percent total gains on all my investments over 12 years:

1,253%, 826%, 41%, -2.3%, 24%, 210%, 44%, -6%, 2%

Considering the market crash in 2008, I'd say I've picked pretty well so far. :)
 
Last edited:

sonarghost

macrumors regular
Sep 6, 2006
159
0
I'm starting to think that the 4,000 shares I sold when it was around $100.00 a share was a bad idea...
 

jlasoon

macrumors 6502a
Jun 1, 2006
505
627
Orlando, FL
I see no end for this stock surge.

This is the kind of garbage statement that gives us housing bubbles. I can foresee hundreds of scenarios in which :apple: stocks takes a nosedive. And it has nothing to do with the company itself. Take a look at the bond market, the dollar, gold prices, inflation, our trade deficit, and the list goes on. Inflation is the culprit behind the rise; the $ is becoming worthless. Heck there still trying to figure out gas prices, even though we have excess supply. Its the money stupid!!!!

The more this government drives this country into the ground, the more money I end up making. I thank God every night for giving me W & O.
 

ericinboston

macrumors 68020
Jan 13, 2008
2,005
476
$1 trillion market cap for a company that makes 1 phone and 1 tablet and 5-6 computers. Talk about all your eggs (mostly) in 1 basket waiting for a big flop.

iPhone is coming up on its 5th release which the iPhone line is tightly mimicking the iPod line when iPods hit saturation around version 6.

Apple is going to need to come up with some other products rather than the iPhone gravy train that will saturate soon and the iPad that will likely saturate soon too. It's the same iOS devices...just in small, medium, and large. :) apple will need to think up something NEW within 3 years or it's just an iOS company on 3 sizes.
 

Magaman

macrumors regular
Aug 14, 2009
133
1
I'm starting to think that the 4,000 shares I sold when it was around $100.00 a share was a bad idea...

I don't know what's worse, your selling or me not buying more when it was below $90. Though I will say since I use sharebuilder I've been putting in constantly every other week to slowly build up my position. If there is a stock split I would make a massive investment though.
 

linuxcooldude

macrumors 68020
Mar 1, 2010
2,480
7,232
$1 trillion market cap for a company that makes 1 phone and 1 tablet and 5-6 computers. Talk about all your eggs (mostly) in 1 basket waiting for a big flop.

iPhone is coming up on its 5th release which the iPhone line is tightly mimicking the iPod line when iPods hit saturation around version 6.

Apple is going to need to come up with some other products rather than the iPhone gravy train that will saturate soon and the iPad that will likely saturate soon too. It's the same iOS devices...just in small, medium, and large. :) apple will need to think up something NEW within 3 years or it's just an iOS company on 3 sizes.

Its a lot more then just the new iPhones & iPads coming out. It has to do with the software side too. Regular iOS updates that come out with new features. While the iPhone/iPad may come saturated, new services like the iCloud and iOS apps coming to the Mac, App store you can now download up to 5 different Macs, Siri voice recognition, iMessages free text messaging to any iPhone or Mac computer and vice versa.

All these and more extend the useful service life of even existing iPhones & iPads.

It also has to do with Apple integrating all of its devices together. If the Apple Television ever comes out, you can bet it will some how integrate with all its iOS devices as well.
 
Last edited:

RonDMC

macrumors member
Aug 6, 2011
48
0
The iPod’s decline was not due to market saturation it was due to the rise of the iPhone. There is still huge potential for the iPhone in emerging markets like China, Brazil, India etc. Most people also upgrade their iPhones and iPads on a two year cycle.

You can’t compare Apple with Microsoft. Microsoft’s rise to 620b market cap was all speculative Apple has the profits and growth to back their share price. No company this big has ever had the continued earnings growth of Apple quarter after quarter.

I don’t think this will continue forever but I do think it will continue for another couple of years at least and in that time we will probably see $1000 a share baring a repeat of 2008 but this will affect all stocks not just Apple.
 

Smug Boy

macrumors member
Apr 9, 2011
94
0
Apple has solid earnings, but now it seems like the analysts are piling on and getting ahead of themselves. Most of their profits are from mobile phones. While it's a lucrative market, it also can turn on a dime. Look at RIM and Nokia.

I think it's a solid company but am not expecting it to go up another 60+% in the near term given its rise over the past few weeks.

FD: I'm long AAPL.

Can you explain how their revenue increased from 26 Billion in 2011 Q4 to 46.5 Billion in 2012 Q1?
 

neutrino23

macrumors 68000
Feb 14, 2003
1,881
391
SF Bay area
And today, Microsoft is worth $250bn. Nobody could have possibly foreseen the loss of 75% of their market cap (based on inflation adjusted numbers) in the late-1990's, but surely enough...

Apple cannot simply keen on growing forever and ever. My predication is that there will be a big crash some time over the next few years. Probably 2015-16, especially if they reach $1000 per share by 2014.

There is no such thing as the perfect company, or the perfect stock. Investors need to realise this, because AAPL is looking pretty perfect at the moment and that's just going to fuel overconfidence.

Maybe not the crash but you could have expected the end of their growth. MS had 90% market share. They couldn't easily grow more.

Apple has relatively small shares of the markets they are in so they have a lot of room to grow. Certainly, they could make a mistake and lose business, but they are not hitting a natural barrier. This is a truly historic time in business. Think of when Ford started selling cars. People said they were toys. They weren't practical. Then they went on to be sold all over the world. This is kind of where we are with tablets and smart phones. In the next five years vast numbers of these will be sold around the world and Apple has a good chance to make unbelievable a,punts of profit filling this need.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.