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Technology Stocks : Apple Inc. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: MGV who wrote (169769)	5/27/2014 2:05:05 AM
From: Ryan Bartholomew	1 Recommendation Recommended By sylvester80 Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 213173

That's an impressive job of spin as I've ever seen. Over that 20 month period, AAPL is down around 10% while the broader tech market (e.g., Nasdaq) is up about 30%. Add in dividends to both and the performance gap doesn't change much. Of course it's possible to come up with hypothetical scenarios where someone had the foresight to market time either investment with brilliant accuracy, but the reality is that shorting Apple over the past 20 months while going long the market would have been the best combination of the two aforementioned positions.

To: MGV who wrote (169769)	5/27/2014 10:08:40 AM
From: Since1998	1 Recommendation Recommended By HerbVic Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 213173

While there is no shortage of Apple haters out there (often psychologically disturbed, channelling their frustrations with Windows or inability to afford iPhones into Apple hate), there are very few "Amateur Apple Shorts." Short interest in Apple is overwhelmingly professional and usually part of paired or hedged trades. Short Apple Long Google was a very popular trade among hedge funds that helped drive down the stock from its highs. That trade has been partially unwound over the last year, helping Apple move up. Large Apple short positions can be hedged with large options positions, those shorts may not be burned at all when Apple rises if their options positions are making up for it. Imagine you are a broker who takes an Apple order to repurchase 10 million shares over the next couple months. You may end up going short in providing the shares at times but can purchase options to maintain a net neutral or long position on Apple. The "amateur" investors having the biggest impact on Apple have been retail investors buying Apple on margin. Apple is the stock most commonly held on margin, which helped spike it up to its peak in 2012 and forced selling from margin calls were the biggest factor driving it down to the bottom in 2013. The appeal of Apple stock to happy Apple customers will continue to drive the volatile trading of the stock in the future.