Have you checked out Amazon tablet sales relative to Apple tablet sales. Apple more than 10 to 1 over Amazon. FACT!
I don't see how you can say FACT since when did Amazon ever say how many 'tablets' they've sold (or shipped)? The only company (that I know of) with the guts to give out numbers of what they've sold is Apple, so whilst your 10:1 ratio may be correct, we'll never know!
3. I care even less for the stupids who invested in a company with P/E Ratio of 500. If you allow others to do the thinking on behalf of you, you always end up allowing them to rip you off. Sorry for the harsh words but this is reality.
Every once in a while you let slip something that plainly shows what an outsider you are here.
To your "point," Apple is amassing that money for a purpose, not hoarding it. Remember their stated mission is to change the world for the better by making products and services that people want to use. If you don't think Steve and his pals have thought of some really big future projects, then you have yet to learn anything from Apple at all.
Semantics, and please stop with the 'change the world' self-aggrandizement. Penicillin changed the world, immunizations changed the world, indoor plumbing changed the world. A few touchscreen devices have not changed the world, and if it has it's been for the worse. The younger generation is getting dumber though the have a wealth of information at their fingertips, and there's been a exponential increase in vanity, and narcissism.
It is plain to see that Amazon's business model is to sell at unsustainably low prices to drive out the competition and once the monopoly has been established, to start charging monopoly prices (a.k.a. Start gouging). Anyone who says that such a strategy is, in the long run, good for consumers and society as a whole is either an idiot or goes by the name of Jeff Bezos.
Yet many of the purchases I make through Amazon are fulfilled by someone else. Amazon just handles the transaction (sound familiar?). In this case they're helping the competition not eliminating them.
Amazon is leading the online retail market. I'm surprised there's so much hate here for the company and/or stock. They took a loss because they offered cut throat pricing and invested heavily in their future. Not because they have bad products or a bad business model or bad management.
I see the 10% drop as a buying opportunity.
I think it comes because many people no longer have a book store to go and purchase/skim new releases. Borders and other mega chains killed the small local shops but at least they were local. You could go and browse new books and buy them.
Amazon's predatory pricing (anyone can grow selling at a loss) has driven many of these stores out of business. Amazon's continued losses have more to do with supporting existing business and less to do with investing in the future business.
Suppose a business man comes to your town and opens 50 restaurant. He opens a restaurant right next to every single restaurant in the town. He puts a burger place right next to the Mom and Pop burger place. He puts an italian place right next to the italian place that was there for 50 years. But here is the kicker. The business man decides to charge $1 per meal. How long do you think the local restaurant will last? Now imagine if this Business man does this for 17 years.
I don't care how loyal the people in the town are those competing restaurants will go out of business. Then after 17 years the Business man decides to close all 50 restaurants and leaves. The towns economy tanks and hundreds lose their jobs. Later we find out that the Business man left with $20 Billion in his wallet. Come to find out that the local government was subsidizing his restaurant the whole time using taxes you were paying each year.
That is what Amazon is doing.
The Business man is Bezo's.
The local government is Wall Street.
The towns people are you and me.
Even if Amazon loses 80% of its value Bezo's is still going to make tens of BILLIONS of dollars.
So who's paying for this? Like in that town its YOU and ME.
Some of it are individual investors who buy Amazon shares. But most of it is the regular working class. Do you own Mutual Funds? Do you have a 401k? Then chances are you own Amazon. Amazon is part of any S&P500 Mutual Fund, Nasdaq Mutual Fund, any Tech mutual fund, and probably any growth mutual fund. So each of us are funding Amazon or paying them 'taxes'. We will be the ones holding the bag when this thing goes crashing down.
Wall Street will make Billions because they got in on the ground floor with the IPO. And you can be sure they will unwind their investment and cash in huge.
So enjoy your $1 meals for now. Just remember that we are all paying the 'taxes' to fund the largest PONZI scheme in the history of the world.
I agree 100% with this post. This has been my thought on Amazon as well for several years.
I really don't understand the gloating of Amazon taking a hit? Is it because they're a "competitor" of Apple? (I don't even see them as a competitor, personally).
I enjoy the hell out of my Amazon Prime membership. I am not interested in owning any of their hardware, but Amazon is a great retailer & they'll be around a long time to come.
I don't think the gloating is from people looking at the company as consumers. I imagine nearly everyone here, myself included, is a happy Amazon customer. As an investor, you look at what Wall Street has allowed Amazon to get away with and it is puzzling. They have teetered on the edge of profitability for nearly 20 years, their outlook has never been all that encouraging, but the company has maintained a very high valuation. I don't think what you are seeing is gloating. It is more people collectively thinking it is about time. Amazon is very customer focused and I think that is great. I am not sure they have a particularly good business strategy and that is scary.
Not when you want to invest in developing new products and services.
You got suckered into the idea of profitless growth. Google has grown it's business and invested in the future WHILE posting profits. Apple has. Walmart did/has. Microsoft has.
Only fools don't understand that Amazon's money is going toward servicing EXISTING business and only a small amount is going toward FUTURE businesses. If they simply stopped "investing" and tried to post a profit, their entire business would collapse and they would be unable to continue operations. Think Enron.
Okay, first, what Buffett has to say regarding such companies:
The worst sort of business is one that grows rapidly, requires significant capital to engender the growth, and then earns little or no money.
- Warren Buffett
And then there's my own thoughts:
If you want to make tablets, video streaming hockey pucks and smartphones, essentially shadowing Apple's lines of business, you should expect to be assigned Apple's P/E.
and
Could it be that $800 million in expected Q3 losses is Bezos' early admission that the Fire phone is a flop? An $800 million write-down next quarter should just about cover it.
Not sure how the phone could be considered a flop yet. It just went on sale yesterday.
Online retailer thinks they can do a genius UI mated to first-rate hardware, connected to a rich ecosystem, virtually overnight (using some forked version of Android.) You know, what Apple has spent most of the past 8 years nailing down to a fine art, and the rest of its existence schooling the rest of the industry on how it's done.
Unfortunately for the industry outside of Cupertino, the sea-change that occurred in June 2007 doesn't leave much room for others to make a similar impact unless they change the game entirely. The only hope that these me-too products have is to capture the low-end of the market. And any number of awful versions of Android running on awful hardware have addressed that segment. And whatever is left of it is probably looking for an iPhone 5C (and no, not a completely redundant Windows Phone.)
1. I got products at low cost,
2. I don't care if Amazon is making money or not.
3. I care even less for the stupids who invested in a company with P/E Ratio of 500. If you allow others to do the thinking on behalf of you, you always end up allowing them to rip you off. Sorry for the harsh words but this is reality.
What is "harsh" about saying that you bury your head in the sand so that the coming storm will not cause alarm?
An unsustainable business model will not keep those Wal-Mart-style bargains you cherish from continuing forever. Something's got to give.
I will continue to buy from Amazon in the same manner in which I already am, but will be much more likely to do so over alternatives if I know that Amazon is losing money on what I buy. Even though this feels like a mathematical impossibility, I’d be fine with paying more for a product at Amazon than an alternative if it means they will lose money.
That’s actually a pretty good business strategy. Amazon could put banners on the pages of products that lose them money to advertise them! They’ll get way more sales that way. What could POSSIBLY go wrong?!
I will continue to buy from Amazon in the same manner in which I already am, but will be much more likely to do so over alternatives if I know that Amazon is losing money on what I buy. Even though this feels like a mathematical impossibility, I’d be fine with paying more for a product at Amazon than an alternative if it means they will lose money.
That’s actually a pretty good business strategy. Amazon could put banners on the pages of products that lose them money to advertise them! They’ll get way more sales that way. What could POSSIBLY go wrong?!
I do a lot of price comparisons when shopping, and Amazon's price is usually either the same, or just a tad bit less than a retail store. I bought a pair of Timberland boots recently at Sears because the price was actually a few dollars less than Amazon. Sure you'll find an insane deal here and there on Amazon but that's the exception not the rule.
This is simply the dumbest thing I've read on the internet this week. Good job.
You say Amazon is using its earnings to grow? Lets look 5 years back. They put a ton of money into the Kindle reader. Five years latter has that really lead to profit grow. No. In fact the Kindle reader is now a nitche product. Do you really thing 3rd class devices like there tablets/phones will lead to growth? The Kindle Fire has been out for 3 years and it sales are plummeting. Another investment that did not pan out.
What about there investments in cloud services? In five years they will need to replace all there hardware. Thats not really an investment, just an added expense. And Cloud has become an extremely commoditized service. Players like Google are selling cloud space at ridiculoudly low prices. So what are all these investments that will pay off? Warehouses? Shipping centers? Please.
Apple is not hoarding. With your reasoning everyone should spend every cent that they earn. If not they are hoarding. Apple is paying the most dividends annually to its shareholders in history. Apples buyback is by far the largest ever in corporate history by tens of billions. The last two years Apple has purchased dozenns of companies and spent Billions in acqusitions, strategic alliances, and investments in R&D and manufactering equipment.
I can be the toughest critic of Apple. I own $120k in shares. They are doing an excellent job with there cash. Its not hoarding. Its called being smart and responsible.
Newsflash: most people are in debt for much more than they make and/or have saved, so yes they're spending every dollar they earn. You're smart enough to know that.
Newsflash: most people are in debt for much more than they make and/or have saved, so yes they're spending every dollar they earn. You're smart enough to know that.
Newsflash: those people don't know how to manage their finances.
Comments
I don't see how you can say FACT since when did Amazon ever say how many 'tablets' they've sold (or shipped)? The only company (that I know of) with the guts to give out numbers of what they've sold is Apple, so whilst your 10:1 ratio may be correct, we'll never know!
I will keep buying from Amazon.
1. I got products at low cost,
2. I don't care if Amazon is making money or not.
3. I care even less for the stupids who invested in a company with P/E Ratio of 500. If you allow others to do the thinking on behalf of you, you always end up allowing them to rip you off. Sorry for the harsh words but this is reality.
Semantics, and please stop with the 'change the world' self-aggrandizement. Penicillin changed the world, immunizations changed the world, indoor plumbing changed the world. A few touchscreen devices have not changed the world, and if it has it's been for the worse. The younger generation is getting dumber though the have a wealth of information at their fingertips, and there's been a exponential increase in vanity, and narcissism.
Yet many of the purchases I make through Amazon are fulfilled by someone else. Amazon just handles the transaction (sound familiar?). In this case they're helping the competition not eliminating them.
They don't make commercials or ads saying their competitors stuff is crap in comparison.
I think it comes because many people no longer have a book store to go and purchase/skim new releases. Borders and other mega chains killed the small local shops but at least they were local. You could go and browse new books and buy them.
Amazon's predatory pricing (anyone can grow selling at a loss) has driven many of these stores out of business. Amazon's continued losses have more to do with supporting existing business and less to do with investing in the future business.
I agree 100% with this post. This has been my thought on Amazon as well for several years.
It is easy to sell at a loss.
Not when you want to invest in developing new products and services.
I don't think the gloating is from people looking at the company as consumers. I imagine nearly everyone here, myself included, is a happy Amazon customer. As an investor, you look at what Wall Street has allowed Amazon to get away with and it is puzzling. They have teetered on the edge of profitability for nearly 20 years, their outlook has never been all that encouraging, but the company has maintained a very high valuation. I don't think what you are seeing is gloating. It is more people collectively thinking it is about time. Amazon is very customer focused and I think that is great. I am not sure they have a particularly good business strategy and that is scary.
You got suckered into the idea of profitless growth. Google has grown it's business and invested in the future WHILE posting profits. Apple has. Walmart did/has. Microsoft has.
Only fools don't understand that Amazon's money is going toward servicing EXISTING business and only a small amount is going toward FUTURE businesses. If they simply stopped "investing" and tried to post a profit, their entire business would collapse and they would be unable to continue operations. Think Enron.
Online retailer thinks they can do a genius UI mated to first-rate hardware, connected to a rich ecosystem, virtually overnight (using some forked version of Android.) You know, what Apple has spent most of the past 8 years nailing down to a fine art, and the rest of its existence schooling the rest of the industry on how it's done.
Unfortunately for the industry outside of Cupertino, the sea-change that occurred in June 2007 doesn't leave much room for others to make a similar impact unless they change the game entirely. The only hope that these me-too products have is to capture the low-end of the market. And any number of awful versions of Android running on awful hardware have addressed that segment. And whatever is left of it is probably looking for an iPhone 5C (and no, not a completely redundant Windows Phone.)
Apple doesn't hoard. It can't spend the money fast enough in a responsible way.
What is "harsh" about saying that you bury your head in the sand so that the coming storm will not cause alarm?
An unsustainable business model will not keep those Wal-Mart-style bargains you cherish from continuing forever. Something's got to give.
1. I got products at low cost,
2. I don't care if Amazon is making money or not.
I will continue to buy from Amazon in the same manner in which I already am, but will be much more likely to do so over alternatives if I know that Amazon is losing money on what I buy. Even though this feels like a mathematical impossibility, I’d be fine with paying more for a product at Amazon than an alternative if it means they will lose money.
That’s actually a pretty good business strategy. Amazon could put banners on the pages of products that lose them money to advertise them! They’ll get way more sales that way. What could POSSIBLY go wrong?!
I do a lot of price comparisons when shopping, and Amazon's price is usually either the same, or just a tad bit less than a retail store. I bought a pair of Timberland boots recently at Sears because the price was actually a few dollars less than Amazon. Sure you'll find an insane deal here and there on Amazon but that's the exception not the rule.
Newsflash: most people are in debt for much more than they make and/or have saved, so yes they're spending every dollar they earn. You're smart enough to know that.
Newsflash: those people don't know how to manage their finances.
Beginning with the government.