AAPL @ $150, sell or hold on for good times

[swingerofbirch]

I'm what you call a *very* casual investor. I have half of my money in Apple and half in some index called the QQQQ. I had very little money to invest, so it didn't really matter and I am young. I think I bought maybe 70 shares of Apple at 104, watched it dip down to 80 and now it's up to 150. My dad is encouraging me nonstop to sell, but I don't see any reasons why Apple should be expected to do badly in the near future.

Anyone in a similar position thinking of cashing out?

 

[SFStateStudent]

I say hold on until the 3GS iPhone sales are included; then sell, sell, sell......

 

[belvdr]

There's not enough data to answer the question. Specifically, what is your goal of investing in AAPL? Is it to make a bigger purchase? Is it for retirement?

 

[rdowns]

I'm long on Apple. My shares cost me $11.25.

If you may need this money, sell some of the shares and book some profit.

I see APPL with a rosy future. Macs are selling well, the 3 GS is doing very well(won't see much of the results of 3 GS in next weeks earnings announcement as it was only on sale for 10 days in that quarter) and I'd bet they have something up their sleeves for new iPods in September. Of course, there's the rumored table-like device.

 

[belvdr]

I'm long on Apple. My shares cost me $11.25.

If you don't mind my asking, did you get a lot of shares at $11.25? How long ago was that?

 

[Dave00]

"Something called QQQQ". I'm not sure why you own shares of an index you don't even know the name of.

You need to do some more research in order to decide what the right thing to do is with your money. And whether now is the time to sell has more to do with your timeframe than the stock. If you need money for food, it's time to sell, no matter what the price. If you're in it for the long haul - as you should be - then you need to decide whether Apple Computer is a company that's going to be more or less profitable over the long term. Whether it goes up or down in relation to a quarterly earnings report is more speculation than investing.

I've recently sold some AAPL because it'd done so well it'd become too big a part of my portfolio. But I don't pretend to know whether $150 is the short term top, or whether it is $160, or whether it'll drop back to $130 before earnings. My horizon is much longer.

 

[rdowns]

If you don't mind my asking, did you get a lot of shares at $11.25? How long ago was that?

Bought most of my shares like 7 years ago. Been through one stock split. I own enough.

 

[swingerofbirch]

There's not enough data to answer the question. Specifically, what is your goal of investing in AAPL? Is it to make a bigger purchase? Is it for retirement?

My goal..hmmm...I hadn't really thought about it so much other than to sell at the highest point. It's not money I need for anything in particular. I don't have any costs but I don't really have any income either. I'm thinking of buying a condo in the next decade so having more cash would be good for that. As I'm 26 I hadn't considered retirement, but it's not a bad thing to think of. I guess I could buy a place and just find a way to live off of saved money the rest of my life. I guess in a way you could say I already am "retired."

"Something called QQQQ". I'm not sure why you own shares of an index you don't even know the name of.

You need to do some more research in order to decide what the right thing to do is with your money. And whether now is the time to sell has more to do with your timeframe than the stock. If you need money for food, it's time to sell, no matter what the price. If you're in it for the long haul - as you should be - then you need to decide whether Apple Computer is a company that's going to be more or less profitable over the long term. Whether it goes up or down in relation to a quarterly earnings report is more speculation than investing.

I've recently sold some AAPL because it'd done so well it'd become too big a part of my portfolio. But I don't pretend to know whether $150 is the short term top, or whether it is $160, or whether it'll drop back to $130 before earnings. My horizon is much longer.

Yes, my horizon is quite long as well. As for buying the QQQQ and not knowing what it is, my dad basically just told me I needed to invest last year because he thought the stock market bottomed out and wanted all of us to invest in something, so I wanted Apple cos it's the only stock I knew about, and he told me to put the rest in the Qs. He said it was a technology index of the top technology companies, so I guess I just trusted him. I was doing this somewhat as a lark, it was money I had made from a job I had that I was investing, and I don't particularly need it. My living situation is a bit different from other people's without going into needless detail.

So yeah I'd like to keep holding onto it as long as it keeps doing well. I mean if it goes down again, like it did when it hit 80, I'll just keep holding on until it does well again. There's no timeframe by which I have to sell. Although it occurred to me I could also sell now and buy it again if it dips down again.