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Bullish Analyst Says Apple Has Potential to Become Trillion Dollar Company Within 18 Months

Apple may have the potential to become a trillion dollar market cap company but I think it's a very slim opportunity. They can't just keep only selling iPhones to make that necessary revenue. They've got to find another revenue stream apart even from selling computers and smartwatches. It's a shame they never tried to get into the cloud business like all the other major tech companies have done. I'd like to see Apple making devices for the health-care industry because I feel that could do a lot of good for consumers.

Apple needs some hook to become as valuable as the FANG stocks with their nice, fat P/Es. Even Microsoft's sweet P/E makes Apple's P/E look downright pathetic. Why is Apple always being seen as the doomed company with no future growth prospects while lesser companies are given free passes to unlimited growth prospects? I have an uncomfortable feeling that Amazon or Google is going to be worth far more to Wall Street than Apple will ever be. The big investors just love those two stocks. Every day there's some article saying Amazon and Google are going to be worth over a $1000 a share before the year is out. Each day those stocks climb higher and higher with never a sell-off. Even Facebook is likely going to leave Apple in the dust in terms of share gains.

What makes those companies' stock so much better to buy than Apple's stock? Apple has a decent EPS, gives relatively high dividends, has a loyal customer base and then there's that mountain of cash (minus debt). Yet, whenever the market goes down, Apple gets hit the hardest and then is the slowest to recover. It doesn't make much sense to me, at all. What is it going to take for Apple to have a secure future in Wall Street's eyes? Everything the FANG companies do is always seen as being a smarter move than what Apple does. I honestly don't get it because I can't see the future as well as those genius analysts. Why is it believed that Jeff Bezos can never make a mistake? He's human, so I figure he can make mistakes. It's always Apple said to be making mistakes and I don't see how that's possible. Apple seems to manage its finances quite well, so they can't be that stupid to only make mistakes.
 
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Relentless Power said:
I think anybody that buys expensive product takes a risk. But at least I have the comfortability knowing that Apple will stand behind their product and I know I'm receiving a very well-made item in return. Speaking in terms of purchases in the U.S., anytime is I have had issues any of their products, they rectified it. Their Customer service is the other half of why choose to support Apple besides their productline.
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In the US Apple service is great outside the US service gets a bit more scarce though it's better now than before.
 
Still won't be enough for Tim 'Snake' Cook. He's always looking to line Apple's pockets and will make that happen at the expense of customers. Greedy, greedy company with a totally fake 'community' rhetoric.
 
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If there's nothing AR or VR related on WWDC, something like the amazing things shown on Google IO last week, I'd be disappointed.
 
Without its roots an organism will die. Apple has abandoned its roots, the Mac business, and will start to wither and die without them. Apple has a fatal disease, the Wall Street disease of short term profits first.
 
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If Steve were still with us what would he be driving with Apple's current state? He was always a Mercedes CL guy. I doubt he would drive a Tesla as he never liked Musk.

I say he would still be a Mercedes CL guy, although prolly an AMG now (with plates.) :apple:
 
busyscott said:
I kinda hate that they are seeing this much love and bullish predictions in the marketplace. I'm sure they look at this as an indicator that they are making the right decisions, but based on my (albeit anecdotal) experiences and conversations, people are seriously concerned about the Mac line and that may have a bigger impact on phone purchases than Apple realizes.

What happens when the "Sheeple" that raved about Apple's superior products start jumping ship and singing a different tune?

I think the dedicated minority has a bigger influence on the quiet majority than Apple is comfortable admitting.
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Jump ship to where? People can be concerned about Macs but my company bought two Surface Book Pros and they both crashed fairly consistently under heavy loads running Excel. We ended up giving them to secretaries because they were so annoying. Folks went back to Toshibas which fit our existing docking stations, but are nearly as expensive as Macs and have a terrible screen. I'm sure folks here will say, well you should have bought Lenovos or maybe Dells are back in favor. Whatever. I can't continually drop $1,500 to $2,500 on laptops and be stuck guessing if the darn thing is going to work or if it will last for longer than two years. And I have to keep buying Windows OS for my entire team to keep everyone up to date? Yep, had to spend significant cash getting some folks from Windows 7 to 10. Yuck.

If I were starting a company I would never start it using Windows. And since I work sometimes in a communal work space filled with startups (legit ones that can pay relatively high rents), I see that most startups are using Macs. And I know basically no one who buys a PC to use as their personal home computer.
 
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Relentless Power said:
It is? Since you decided to quote Steve Jobs, I suggest you reread your quote again. Because Apple is still company that makes exceptional products and the consumer chooses to support Apple's products line and services, which results in Apple making money. It's an exchange for services and there a successful company because of it. They're making money because they make a product that lasts and they stand behind that.
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You are only half right. I have an old MBP that still works, but that they quit supporting 6 years ago. Their current products, just like the ones from other tech companies, are made with a roughly 4 year obsolescence model. This is further reinforced by no longer offering user replaceable batteries in any product offering. That's how they make more money. They get you to buy more often, and at high prices.
 
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Loads of unhappy people here steamed at Apple's success.

Amazing how they willingly give a tech company such enormous power of their lives and happiness.
 
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TallManNY said:
Jump ship to where? People can be concerned about Macs but my company bought two Surface Book Pros and they both crashed fairly consistently under heavy loads running Excel. We ended up giving them to secretaries because they were so annoying. Folks went back to Toshibas which fit our existing docking stations, but are nearly as expensive as Macs and have a terrible screen. I'm sure folks here will say, well you should have bought Lenovos or maybe Dells are back in favor. Whatever. I can't continually drop $1,500 to $2,500 on laptops and be stuck guessing if the darn thing is going to work or if it will last for longer than two years. And I have to keep buying Windows OS for my entire team to keep everyone up to date? Yep, had to spend significant cash getting some folks from Windows 7 to 10. Yuck.

If I were starting a company I would never start it using Windows. And since I work sometimes in a communal work space filled with startups (legit ones that can pay relatively high rents), I see that most startups are using Macs. And I know basically no one who buys a PC to use as their personal home computer.
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You must run in a limited crowd. Personally, I see a lot of Macs - mostly owned by students (I live in a college town) - but nearly all of them are at least 2 years old or greater (that's easy to discern, as they still have the lit up Apple on the back and sport MagSafe). Nearly all non-Apple businesses I see, including the said university, use PCs. They provide much more bang per buck for business needs, which don't generally include being pretty and thin. I guess things would be different in areas close to Cupertino.
[doublepost=1495458797][/doublepost]Toward the end of my career in computers, from which I retired some while back, my job was to support Windows servers and Active Directory front end products. The last couple of years before retirement, people I worked with (myself included) began purchasing Apple laptops for personal use at work, even though our jobs were to support Windows software and PC hardware. At one time, that included DEC Alpha servers, which were already 64-bit in 1996, and could run Windows NT, DEC Unix, or DEC VMS. By the time I retired some 12 years later, DEC was out of business, NT became Windows 2000 (etc), and Vista was replacing XP. This was when folks began buying personal Macs - for front end use, both the hardware and software had become superior to the Windows offerings. All this wordiness is to say that if you begin to see more and more people in places close to, let's say, Cupertino, sporting PCs, Apple will have reached its high end threshold - at least with laptop/desktop computers. It's interesting to watch trends over time.
 
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CmdrLaForge said:
Right - I made a projection into the future. I just love my current stuff and do not see myself spending a lot on Apple gear over the course of the next 18 month or so.
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Same story here. I haven't spent much on Apple products in the last two years or so. But that's not Apple's fault. I've reached a different part of my life (having retired and gained three children in that same period). Over the last 15 years, I've spent quite a bit with them. Even if I've moved on, there are others who have taken my place.

Katy Perry became a star despite the fact that I probably wouldn't recognize her on the street and have never purchased one of her albums or songs. Lots of things happen in this world without my help.
 
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curtvaughan said:
This is further reinforced by no longer offering user replaceable batteries in any product offering. That's how they make more money. They get you to buy more often, and at high prices.
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I have to take issue with this.

1) The batteries are enormous. It's unreasonable to expect them to be user replaceable at this point.
2) The batteries are covered under AppleCare. For the rest of the industry they're deemed to be consumable items, even if you have an extended warranty.
3) There are other OEMs shipping products with far smaller batteries which aren't even user replaceable. Yes I know, Apple have always been far ahead so no point being a little better than the nearest yardstick, but it's worth mentioning.

Look, I love user serviceable parts as much as the next person. But tolerances are much, much higher on the new machines. Adding user replaceable parts will affect the build quality. Compare the build of the 2016s to the 2012s; there's no comparison which one is far ahead. Many will argue that you can still maintain those high tolerances with user replaceable parts. I would have to disagree.

Regardless, we're approaching the point where microcircuitry makes yet another huge jump and products with RAM/drives will be designed on a practically atomic level. We can't expect serviceable parts for the future; and like it or lump it, we have to trust the OEM's build quality and QA with how a product will perform.

The whole industry is moving this way and as much as they get hate, Apple are far from the worst at planned obsolescence with their notebooks. I've seen so many machines come through the office that have loads of empty space inside and could have simply had a door for the RAM/HDD; yet you've got to rip the thing to pieces just to get to a 5400RPM HDD.
 
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On a lighter note, the word "Bullish" is probably not a good choice to lead a headline, especially in the morning before first coffee. I'll leave you to guess the reason. ;)
 
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Unless they swing and miss with their product line again.
Or they don't bother even swinging again.

Coasting on your market reputation to sell, while not updating your computer product line in 3,4,5 years and then chopping off parts of it that start to die... hell of an unstable way to reach a trillion dollars.
 
Translation: I Want a new boat... So I made up a random high number so I can make a commission when my clients buy the stock for their portfolio. When it does not pan out, I'll blame China... And Keep the boat.
 
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keysofanxiety said:
I have to take issue with this.

....
The whole industry is moving this way and as much as they get hate, Apple are far from the worst at planned obsolescence with their notebooks. I've seen so many machines come through the office that have loads of empty space inside and could have simply had a door for the RAM/HDD; yet you've got to rip the thing to pieces just to get to a 5400RPM HDD.
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Serious question....which other company do you know that makes quad core processor laptops (like the 15" MBP) with soldered SSDs and RAM ? A similarly constructed laptop like the Razer Blade allows for upgrades.
 
macjunk(ie) said:
Serious question....which other company do you know that makes quad core processor laptops (like the 15" MBP) with soldered SSDs and RAM ? A similarly constructed laptop like the Razer Blade allows for upgrades.
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Which other company makes quad core processor laptops in an enclosure so thin and with such high tolerances? Then see how upgradeable they are.

The Razer's aren't user upgradeable; certainly not the blades. We've had a few in the office and there's nothing user accessible about them. Even the manual on the website says taking it apart would void the warranty. Besides, they're absolute junk. The cooling system is horrendous and it immediately hits CPU/GPU TJ. max under stress.
 
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