In recent days there's been a lot of positive noise towards the stock. You've got Carl Icahn talking about $240 for the stock being realistic based on its upcoming TV and auto initiatives. Then you've got brokers falling over themselves because of Apple's growing traction and expansion plans in China. I'm yet to be convinced that the Apple Watch will be a game changer for the company. But what do you reckon on the stock at the moment?
I still own some, but I don't own as much as I did 6-12 months ago. I've owned at least a little for the last 8+ years.
It does feel like a portfolio stock that anyone holding won't be any great rush to completely sell out of. Somehow the company is able to continue to drag out its halo effect and keep investors interested. Who knows how long this will last for but I just wish that I had bought into it all those years back.
The big question is, how will they manage their cash? We all know they have ridiculous amounts of cash, but most of it is overseas and if brought back into the USA they will be taxed on it. I don't know the specifics of the US tax law on this but it certainly seems like for the moment Apple has no intention of bringing that cash in... so I guess it's just sitting on their bank accounts (?) for the near term future.
I feel very good about the company overall. They're consistently awesome on both top and bottom lines. Of course you never know for sure what the stock itself could do (or even what will happen with any tech company in the long term), and they're already so huge that you can't realistically expect the kind of rapid sustained stock appreciation you see in much smaller companies. I wouldn't bet my life savings against the stock eventually getting up to $200+ sooner or later. But if it does happen, my guess is that it will probably take a little while.
Apple is losing market share to Samsung and cheaper handsets. They do have itunes which is profitable, but many developers do not like making apps for apple because of their strict guidelines and shrinking market share. One person can decide the destiny of a company, and after Steve Jobs died apple is not coming up with anything original. Google is moving into all sorts of new things, they have the android market with their play store and google makes a bundle from their google ads. Personally I think Apple will go the way of MS, it will still be there, but not a dominating player like in the past.
