BUY APPLE NOW, when (almost) everybody doubts its survival!
Jaidev,
I am going to buy Apple big time as well and I am glad you share my point of view on the company. Where can you buy a real (and not deemed) high-tech company at book value? Let me quote Tim Robertson (tim@mymacpro.com) in the February issue of the Web-zine the 'My Mac Magazine' (http://www.mymac.com) who in turn quotes Christopher Byron of MSNBC (yes, Microsoft!). It really leaves nothing to add. Please pass on your comments on Apple's financials:
>>MSNBC To The Rescue?
I stay away from all things MSNBC, because something about that network seems wrong to me. NBC and Microsoft in bed together is just wrong, IMHO. Seems to contradict everything a Onews sourceO is all about to me. Fair and unbiased reporting should be a staple in a news organization, but I doubt you'll ever see any anti-Windows reporting going on there.
That said, I want to thank Christopher Byron of MSNBC for a great commentary on Apple stock. (http://www.msnbc.com/news/52465.asp) For the first time in recent memory, a reporter or columnist had the guts to write an accurate, unbiased article on Apple. Sure, Mr. Byron was writing about stocks, but in a real sense, he was also writing about Apple as a company in a VERY positive light.
He wrote: OMost investors donOt yet seem to realize it, but a historic buying opportunity ala IBM about a year ago could thus be developing. AppleOs problems are big, all right, but theyOre not that big, and they certainly donOt warrant the rout that has taken place in the stock.O
Folks, truer words were never written. And remember, this is from a columnist from MSNBC. Yes, Microsoft. He also writes: OAt their current price of less than $17, AppleOs shares are selling for virtually nothing more than the companyOs balance sheet book value. And AppleOs balance sheet boasts real and valuable assets, not just the pretend-assets of OgoodwillO and OintangiblesO that comprise so much of American corporate finance these days.O He continues later with OThis is all happening because investors ¥ close to 40 percent of the stock is held by mutual funds and other institutions ¥ have increasingly spooked themselves into thinking that Apple just might not be able to hang on much longer.O
Did you notice the key words there? Ospooked themselves into thinking...O
Mr. Byron, thank you! Thank you for FINALLY telling it how it is. But wait, dear Mac users, he continues...
O... Apple has almost Terminator-like staying power derived from its incredibly strong balance sheet. This is one company that can make mistake after mistake, year after year, and still not run out of time or options or money to keep trying to get things right. Consider some basic facts. With roughly $1.1 billion of cash on hand, Apple has more folding stuff in the till than 96 percent of all publicly traded companies in America. ItOs got as much cash on hand as Philip Morris, Delta Airlines and Eli Lilly ... and more than Cisco Systems and plenty of other high-tech high flyers.O
But I save the best for last: OBut if you think Amelio knows what heOs talking about, and that reports of AppleOs demise are, to paraphrase Mark Twain, embarrassingly premature, then gulp down some Maalox and take a flyer on this unloved stock. On a risk/reward basis, youOve got much to gain and not a whole lot to lose.O << |
