From Stansberry & Associates daily digest:
Apple's share price broke below $600 Friday for the first time since July. Today, the stock trades in the $590s. It hasn't closed below $600 since July 30.
Apple fired two executives earlier this week, including mobile software chief Scott Forstall, the company's most controversial executive. Forstall was close to late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs. The Wall Street Journal suggests Jobs' "outsized personality" kept feisty characters like Forstall in check. Apparently, the last straw for current Apple CEO Tim Cook came when Forstall refused to sign an apology letter Cook issued to Apple customers for the company's bug-laden and widely criticized mobile maps software.
Apple also fired John Browett, the recently hired head of Apple's retail stores. Browett was also thought to be difficult to work with and a poor fit for the Apple culture. Makes you wonder how good Jobs' successor Tim Cook is at finding new talent that fits Apple's unique culture.
Apple's business trades at less than 10 times earnings, once you factor out its excess cash holdings. That seems pretty cheap for such an iconic business… but I doubt I'll ever recommend the stock. I have this nagging fear it will end up like Dell. The computer-maker was the darling of the 1990s. I even heard one analyst say Dell was the best-performing stock of the 1990s.
But today, Dell is struggling. It turned out, PCs and laptops were more like commodity products than branded consumer products. Apple has more than 60% of the tablet market today. How long will that last? Definitely not forever… and maybe not much longer.
Microsoft's new Surface tablet is a huge step in the right direction. Apple's iPads are more like big phones than small computers. I can't do real work on mine. I won't know for sure until my new Surface arrives at my door, but it looks like I'll be able to do real work on it… because it runs on a version of Microsoft's updated Windows 8 operating system. That's smart of Microsoft. We'll see how it sells.
Apple's share price broke below $600 Friday for the first time since July. Today, the stock trades in the $590s. It hasn't closed below $600 since July 30.
Apple fired two executives earlier this week, including mobile software chief Scott Forstall, the company's most controversial executive. Forstall was close to late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs. The Wall Street Journal suggests Jobs' "outsized personality" kept feisty characters like Forstall in check. Apparently, the last straw for current Apple CEO Tim Cook came when Forstall refused to sign an apology letter Cook issued to Apple customers for the company's bug-laden and widely criticized mobile maps software.
Apple also fired John Browett, the recently hired head of Apple's retail stores. Browett was also thought to be difficult to work with and a poor fit for the Apple culture. Makes you wonder how good Jobs' successor Tim Cook is at finding new talent that fits Apple's unique culture.
Apple's business trades at less than 10 times earnings, once you factor out its excess cash holdings. That seems pretty cheap for such an iconic business… but I doubt I'll ever recommend the stock. I have this nagging fear it will end up like Dell. The computer-maker was the darling of the 1990s. I even heard one analyst say Dell was the best-performing stock of the 1990s.
But today, Dell is struggling. It turned out, PCs and laptops were more like commodity products than branded consumer products. Apple has more than 60% of the tablet market today. How long will that last? Definitely not forever… and maybe not much longer.
Microsoft's new Surface tablet is a huge step in the right direction. Apple's iPads are more like big phones than small computers. I can't do real work on mine. I won't know for sure until my new Surface arrives at my door, but it looks like I'll be able to do real work on it… because it runs on a version of Microsoft's updated Windows 8 operating system. That's smart of Microsoft. We'll see how it sells.
