No, because it was producing value in relation to its stock price. Read what i wrote. The estimated PE for Apple for 2014 is going to be only ~15. . . i.e. the stock will sell for only 15 times earnings. That is WAY under valued. That represents an anticipated 6.66% return on investment on a stock that has $188 BILLION dollars in liquid assets! That is totally insane! You can get pretty close to that return investing in some mutual funds that have no where near that kind of liquidity. . . much less a stock that is paying quarterly dividends and is simultaneously buying back stock! More insanity to price a GROWTH stock at such a ridiculously low price! Some analysts are holding that Apple is FOUR TIMES underpriced. . .
Apple generated $75 BILLION in revenue for a market cap of $750 BILLION. . . but that is just one quarter. Multiply that out by FOUR QUARTERS and Apple is generating $300 BILLION in revenue! By profit, assuming equal quarters, which won't be true, it would be $18 x 4 or $72 Billion. . . or pretty damn close to a PE of 10.5!
Even at the estimated 15, we are looking at an average $50 BILLION a quarter. $200 Billion a year in revenues. Show me another money machine producing any where near as well.
Any company that produces like that can never be called a bubble. It is valued correctly or way too below its actual value. You just want it to be a bobble because it is Apple.
These are just facts of Finance and Economics. As I said before, a bubble is a market or a stock that is vastly over priced for what it can legitimately produce in real value i.e. wealth. Apple IS producing way above its competition and similar businesses in its industry so it cannot be a bubble.
Providing the evidence to support a claim is supposed to be the responsibility of the person making the claim.
You keep talking about the ‘Apple Hater Cult”, but, not being fanatical about a product or a company has nothing to do with ‘cultism’. On the other hand, loving a product or a company, to the extent that people might go into convulsion and anger tantrums, like you are doing, is very indicative of a cult. The Apple cult is so dangerous, that, a Jim Jones type might start offering some ‘Apple Ade’ to the cultists, just so they can live a normal life again.
All that aside, the Apple bubble is not about the earnings; it’s about the illogical rise of the stock to a very high market cap. No company with one product driving their earnings, should have a stock flying so high. Like I’ve said, when the iPhone starts to be regarded as nothing special and nothing that should command the premium prices that Apple is gouging their loyal customers with, then, the stock will have a steep drop to a level that will be more representative of it’s true value, perhaps around #200 billion or below.
Remember that you heard it here first. Bubbles don’t last forever, and bubbles are not just about earnings. Heck, many companees in the dot-com boom era, didn’t have stellar performances, and what hey had was irrational exuberance bringing up teir stock prices to undeserved levels. Those companies either went bust or got downsized tremendously.
Apple is a stock bubble; it’s riding high on earnings driven by, mostly, a single product. Apple needs to do something quick, or they will, for certain, ‘burst’ like all other bubbles.