Apple and the Stockmarket

[Shaun.P]

I've been wondering about how successful Apple is doing these days: I don't know how to anaylyse all these stock figure etc, but I was just wondering, looking at the value of the stock is Apple doing well as a company, like is the share price increasing/decresing, is the price of stock high (this is good right?)

Thanks for any help and clarification.

AAPL

If you look at Microsofts 52 week sharep price range it is:

52wk Range:
24.01 - 30.20

But Apples is

52wk Range:
21.18 - 69.57

Microsofts stock is approx at 30 right now, and Apples is at 60 something - does this mean Apple is doing better than Microsoft?

 

[Daveman Deluxe]

Well, a stock that is doing well is a good sign of a healthy company, especially when it's a growth stock, as AAPL is. That said, there's no real way of knowing what Apple's total stock valuation is in comparison to Microsoft's, because we don't know how many shares of each there are outstanding. For example, a company with ten thousand shares outstanding at $10 each is worth as much as a company with twenty thousand shares outstanding at $5 each ($10/share x 10,000 shares = $5/share x 20,000 shares = $100,000). In the case of MSFT and AAPL, we're talking billions of shares outstanding, but the principle is the same.

At its most fundamental level, the value of stock is basically the perceived market value of the company. It appears that stock buyers have decided that they think Apple is worth roughly two-and-a-half times what they thought it was worth Q1 2004.

 

[MrJohnson]

Well, a stock that is doing well is a good sign of a healthy company, especially when it's a growth stock, as AAPL is. That said, there's no real way of knowing what Apple's total stock valuation is in comparison to Microsoft's, because we don't know how many shares of each there are outstanding. For example, a company with ten thousand shares outstanding at $10 each is worth as much as a company with twenty thousand shares outstanding at $5 each ($10/share x 10,000 shares = $5/share x 20,000 shares = $100,000). In the case of MSFT and AAPL, we're talking billions of shares outstanding, but the principle is the same.

At its most fundamental level, the value of stock is basically the perceived market value of the company. It appears that stock buyers have decided that they think Apple is worth roughly two-and-a-half times what they thought it was worth Q1 2004.

I wish I had bought my savings worth of apple last year 🙁.

 

[morkintosh]

If you look at Microsofts 52 week sharep price range it is:

52wk Range:
24.01 - 30.20

But Apples is

52wk Range:
21.18 - 69.57

Microsofts stock is approx at 30 right now, and Apples is at 60 something - does this mean Apple is doing better than Microsoft?

Stock is generally a good indication of what investors think of the company, (i.e. lots of people are currently buying Apple stock). It would have been a great buy about a year ago, right now it is way to high to purchase imo. Microsoft is a much better preforming stock traditionally, growing at a significantly higher rate over the last 10 years; growth chart. The actual price of stock and be effected by splits (MS split in 2004ish and Apple in 2002ish) and payment of dividens (MS started paying shareholders dividens this year). Other things to factor in to an investment decision, debt to equity of the company, % market share, current R&D. Microsoft has $30 billion in cash just sitting around, but they also have some serious legal troubles in Europe, major product delays etc. Apple doesn't have even close to that much cash to put behind research efforts, but does get more value out of each research dollar spent, they also have had a VERY successful year in terms of product release (which is why investors like the stock so much right now).

If I were buying stock right now I wouldn't buy either of these companies, Apple is too high and will likely drop back down to a "normal" value in the next year, MS on the other hand has some significant problems to overcome which will likely scare investors off for a year or so, keeping the stock low.

 

[rdowns]

Well, a stock that is doing well is a good sign of a healthy company, especially when it's a growth stock, as AAPL is. That said, there's no real way of knowing what Apple's total stock valuation is in comparison to Microsoft's, because we don't know how many shares of each there are outstanding. For example, a company with ten thousand shares outstanding at $10 each is worth as much as a company with twenty thousand shares outstanding at $5 each ($10/share x 10,000 shares = $5/share x 20,000 shares = $100,000). In the case of MSFT and AAPL, we're talking billions of shares outstanding, but the principle is the same.

At its most fundamental level, the value of stock is basically the perceived market value of the company. It appears that stock buyers have decided that they think Apple is worth roughly two-and-a-half times what they thought it was worth Q1 2004.

Outstanding shares of a company are a known fact. You will often see a company's market cap or market capitalization when looking a t a stock quote. That number is simply the current share price multiplied by the # of outstanding shares. If you are interested, learn more here:

http://www.investopedia.com/articles/basics/03/031703.asp

 

[Daveman Deluxe]

Outstanding shares of a company are a known fact. You will often see a company's market cap or market capitalization when looking a t a stock quote. That number is simply the current share price multiplied by the # of outstanding shares.

I was aware of that, I was simply saying that the link provided did not provide the number of outstanding shares. That said, it is true that a number for the market cap of AAPL was given. I wasn't really thinking too hard, I didn't sleep at all last night.

 

[Daveman Deluxe]

Sorry for the double post, but I felt that this post is different enough to merit more than a standard edit job.

AAPL's market cap is $25.89Bn, MSFT's is $290.49Bn, according to Yahoo!'s stock quotes.