Gyroscopic Investing

http://www.cnbc.com/id/102372969

Apple earnings crush estimates, cash grows to $178 billion
Apple reported a blockbuster quarter on Tuesday, blowing past Wall Street's most optimistic expectations.

The company sold almost 9 million more iPhones than expected, while its cash pile ballooned to the point that it could buy about 480 of the S&P 500 companies outright.
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I just bought an iphone 6 and wondered what people thought of apple and it's future.

thoughts?

Wish I hadn't sold my last remaining shares at $98 for starters.

Doesn't look cheap, price to free cash flow is about 17.  It's no value play.  So it's fine up until the point growth slows and they miss earnings.

dualstow wrote:

thoughts?

Wish I hadn't sold my last remaining shares at $98 for starters.

Sorry to hear that!

I'd sold off part of mine quite a while back - ditto on the regret.  But I'm debating selling the rest soon anyhow (in a Roth).  I just don't think I'm really up for a VP, not until my PP is big enough for at least a bare-bones retirement.

No big deal. I've been in and out of Apple several times, and of course in retrospect it would've been more profitable to just hold on. There are other stocks that I held on to that didn't fare so well. That's the way it goes.

But, it's up 7-8% this morning! 

WiseOne wrote:

dualstow wrote: Wish I hadn't sold my last remaining shares at $98 for starters.

Sorry to hear that!
I'd sold off part of mine quite a while back - ditto on the regret.  But I'm debating selling the rest soon anyhow (in a Roth)
...

Good post, Benko.  I was reading something earlier about this, explaining how much cash / investments Apple has.  It's far out there.  People love Ipads.

MachineGhost wrote: Doesn't look cheap, price to free cash flow is about 17.  It's no value play.  So it's fine up until the point growth slows and they miss earnings.

It's actually closer to 12.5-13. I checked Finviz and their numbers are off. But in any case this company just prints money at the moment. Hardware is fickle though, so that's always a concern. Eventually they may go down the same road as IBM and rely on dividends and buybacks to prop up their stock price. When/if it gets to that point, I think they will be a much bigger company than it is today.

The fun part is if they decide to increase dividends.  Anyone think that might happen?

Note that the current price is still below the max of 119 in November...

WiseOne wrote: The fun part is if they decide to increase dividends.  Anyone think that might happen?

Sure!

Apple +7.3% premarket after reporting the largest net income of any public company in history and beating even the most bullish Wall Street forecasts. The tech giant posted profit of $18B for its fiscal first quarter, up 38% from $13.1B a year earlier, and sold 74.5M iPhones during the quarter. CEO Tim Cook also announced that the company will begin shipping the Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Watch sometime in April.

Boy, I'm starting to think this is more than just a passing fad.  There's no way they earn that much just from fanboy upgraders.  For being so conservative, there's sure seems to a lot of closet liberals around here with iPhones.

MachineGhost wrote: Boy, I'm starting to think this is more than just a passing fad.  There's no way they earn that much just from fanboy upgraders.  For being so conservative, there's sure seems to a lot of closet liberals around here with iPhones.

That's the funny thing about it - iPhones just work. I know you're being tongue-in-cheek, but there are a ton of people out there that see the price and just go with the outdated (in my opinion) perception that Apple is for trend seekers with extra cash. They aren't just being bought by ladies with flowers in the cigarette lighter jacks of their Volkswagen Beetles. ; - )

Even Neal Stephenson, who in In the Beginning, There Was the Command Line..., compared Windows to jalopies, Apple's pre-OSX OS to overpriced European cars, and Linux to tanks, even he has changed his mind. He's with OSX now. And I'm willing to bet he uses an iPhone.

iPhones (and iOS7, at least) give me even fewer problems than my Mac, which also gives me very few problems. Yes, I paid over US$1,000 for my Mac mini, but it's coming up on six years now and running strong. The new mini I bought last fall is still in the closet because I haven't taken the time to switch to it.

Maybe it would be going too far to say that iPhones are Kalashnikovs, but they really are reliable. You get your money's worth.

Edit:typos

I used to own Android phones, but I finally got tired of waiting for Google to fix the glitches.  Nothing worked quite right, and there was no consistency in the interface across apps.  With the iphone, everything works, the user interface is consistent, and the phone is now a tool rather than a demanding hobby.

People like simple things that work like they're supposed to.  They don't really care that much about bells and whistles.  Nobody besides Apple seems to understand that.  It's like they're designing for the 1% who want toys to tinker with.  Apple designs for the other 99%.

dualstow wrote: iPhones just work.

WiseOne wrote: People like simple things that work like they're supposed to.  They don't really care that much about bells and whistles.  Nobody besides Apple seems to understand that.  It's like they're designing for the 1% who want toys to tinker with.  Apple designs for the other 99%.

+1.

dualstow wrote: Maybe it would be going too far to say that iPhones are Kalashnikovs, but they really are reliable. You get your money's worth.

The other day, I dropped my iPhone 5 (with no protective cover!) on my kitchen tile floor from a height of about 4 feet. Landed right on its corner and made a disturbingly loud WHACK. Incredibly, the thing barely got a scratch. Still works perfectly.

IMO, that's a solid, well-designed piece of hardware. Kalashnikov is an appropriate term!

I believe that Apple is up something like 2200% over ten years! And I might be the only one who ever lost money investing in it.

Reub wrote: I believe that Apple is up something like 2200% over ten years! And I might be the only one who ever lost money investing in it.

How about making no money at all by not investing in it?