Either Tim Cook needs to hire some new people who can articulate Apples vision and counter Wall street FUD or he needs to resign.
2015 was the most profitable year for any company in the history of man. Yet the stock is down 5% for the year. The main reason is because Cook failed to control the message of the company. The entire investing community views Apple as a one trick pony with a trick that has peaked. This is so far from the truth. Apple has so many current and future revenue streams to easily double revenue from this point. But Cook has failed at convincing Wall Street that iPad, Watch, AppleTV, ApplePay, Apple Car, Beats, Apple Music, ect have a bright future and can add hundreds of billions in future revenue.
Amazon CEO was able to convince Wall Street that Cloud services would be huge. But Amazon cloud generates less than $1 billion in profit. Apple Watch profits dwarf Amazon cloud. But Cook refuses to release Watch figures so Wall street gives Watch zero credit.
Something is wrong with Apple's investor relations. I can't even speak to a live person. I call the number and all you can do is leave a message. I left 3 messages and no one called back. I mean what the fuck. I have tens of thousands invested and they can't even return a fucking phone call?
Wall Street totally disrespects Tim Cook and pisses on his face. Various analysist have flatout called Tim Cook a liar and a cheat. Other said he was breaking SEC rules and manipulating numbers. WTF. You never hear this kind of shit directed at Google/Amazon/Microsoft CEO. Only Cook. Whatever he is doing, he is doing it wrong.
Cook is doing fine. The problem is people like you are ignoring the huge risk in investing in Apple which is effectively a one horse company at the moment.
Until Apple can balance the income from things associated with iOS it is effectively a one trick pony. If iPhone crashes the so too will everything associated with it. IPad, Watch, ApplePay, Apple Car, even Beats all depend upon iPhone being a success into the future. This isn't rocket science by any means, you just need to wake up and smell the coffee.
As for your ten of thousands invested, you really shouldn't blame Apple for your bad choices. Seriously think about what happened to Nokia, Rim and even Motorola all effectively one trick ponies.
Except there are other companies at record valuations that one could argue are "one trick ponies" too. And when wasn't Apple a "one horse company"? In the late 90s/early 2000s it was the Mac, specifically the iMac. Fast forward to 2004-2006 and Apple was the iPod company. Now it's the iPhone company. FY200 94% of Apple's revenue was Mac hardware sales. FY2006 revenues were 38% Mac and 40% iPod but unit sales were 88% iPod. FY2015 iPhone was 66% of revenue and 75% of sales. I don't think Apple is any more of a "one trick pony" now than it was 10 or 15 years ago it's just that one "pony" happens to be incredibly popular and very profitable. I hate the fact that Apple stock is basically driven by iPhone supply chain rumors these days but I'm not sure what Apple can do about it. They can't force people to stop loving and buying smartphones. We know they're working on other things but some things that tech analysts are hyping like AR/VR is going to be niche for a long time. This stuff might be incredibly cool but nobody is going to walk around all day with some big contraption attached to their face. I have no doubt that's why Apple targeted the wrist.
Apple is in a tough position because on the one hand you have people fretting over iPhone sales constantly looking for the next big thing™ and every time Apple releases something new the first thing out of their mouth is "ok, what's next". And on the other hand you have people fretting that Apple is losing focus and wanting them to slow down and focus on quality. These people would love nothing more than if there was nothing new from Apple in 2016 and Apple just focused on improving existing products and services. Of course that won't satisfy the first group, especially if iPhone sales start to flatten out or go negative. Maybe if Wall Street looked at iPhone as the cash cow that is giving Apple the time and money to work on that next big thing™ so don't worry as much about unit sales growth but they'll never do that. If Apple's iPhone unit estimates are down YOY for the March quarter the stock will take a beating (even though this past month it's taken a beating because of analysts already predicting that). Sigh.
One for the Conspirathy-theorist out there:
In MarketWatch there´s an article about what not to buy in 2016, of the ten products eight are generic; bourbon, fitness trackers, selfie sticks, hoverboards, downpayment insurance, etc. Only two are branded products, Gess what brand they are...
I have yet to understand why people care so much about Apple's stock price. It sees no profit or losses resulting from these fluctuations. And if you're an individual investor, you shouldn't get caught up investing in a single company anyway. As for issuing dividends: they're completely useless in my opinion. I 100% backed Steve Jobs decision to never issue them. I'd much rather see Apple use that money to create another Rockstar Consortium shell company, or something. Every time I play a business simulation (like Capitalism 2), issuing a dividend was equivalent to burning money in my backyard.
Not to sound cynical, but this performance works out pretty favorably for Apple's stock buyback program.
No matter what people say EVERY COMPANY eventually crumbles and decays. Eventually all companies go bankrupt.
This was Apple's most successful year EVER. In fact it was the most successful year ever for ANY COMPANY in the history of man. Yet the stock lost value. ...
That honor would go to the The Dutch East India Company and was worth $7.4 trillion.
I think that Apple stock is reflecting what Apple has been doing the last year. Apple has excellent figures thanks to the excellent iPhone product line. The iPhone 6 family was a great step forward from the iPhone 5, which was a much smaller step from the iPhone 4. Apple regained lost market share and has stellar profits. The market has doubts that the iPhone 7 will be another big improvement. The secrecy of Apple does not help here. If the iPhone7 a just a evolution, the average user will replace his iPhone when it needed not when Apple wants it. This uncertainty has a negative impact on the stock market. I think that the secrecy is a great strategy when launching brand new product lines, but it much less great for a mature product line as the iPhone This negative impact is enforced by declining iPad sales and by product launchers that were not that polished as previous launches (the Apple Music app was merely a beta release when launched, awkward recharging of the new mouse, ...). These launches have a bigger impact on the perceived ability to innovate than Apple and its fans can imagine. Some fundamental questions about the Apple strategy need to be addressed by Tim Cook: how to improve the mediocre quality of some software developments (Apple Music, Numbers, ...), how can make iCloud on par with the competitive offerings both on feature level and commercial level, how to improve iOS for professional use of the iPads. As long as these points are not addressed, the market will have its doubts.
I think that Apple stock is reflecting what Apple has been doing the last year. Apple has excellent figures thanks to the excellent iPhone product line. The iPhone 6 family was a great step forward from the iPhone 5, which was a much smaller step from the iPhone 4. Apple regained lost market share and has stellar profits. The market has doubts that the iPhone 7 will be another big improvement. The secrecy of Apple does not help here. If the iPhone7 a just a evolution, the average user will replace his iPhone when it needed not when Apple wants it. This uncertainty has a negative impact on the stock market. I think that the secrecy is a great strategy when launching brand new product lines, but it much less great for a mature product line as the iPhone This negative impact is enforced by declining iPad sales and by product launchers that were not that polished as previous launches (the Apple Music app was merely a beta release when launched, awkward recharging of the new mouse, ...). These launches have a bigger impact on the perceived ability to innovate than Apple and its fans can imagine. Some fundamental questions about the Apple strategy need to be addressed by Tim Cook: how to improve the mediocre quality of some software developments (Apple Music, Numbers, ...), how can make iCloud on par with the competitive offerings both on feature level and commercial level, how to improve iOS for professional use of the iPads. As long as these points are not addressed, the market will have its doubts.
Actually most of the clowns spewing D&G recently are saying "wait for iPhone 7", all their gloom is over the March and June quarters. But honestly if they think iPhone has peaked I'm not sure why they're pinning their hopes on iPhone 7. They really believe the only thing people care about is what the external case looks like?
Apple the company has become disconnected from AAPL the stock. I don’t like the tone of recent articles. They seem to imply that Apple is a failed company on the verge of bankruptcy. I sincerely hope that the top management doesn’t succumb to the Wall Street hand wringers and start messing with their DNA to satisfy the “I want it NOW!” crowd. This is the sort of conflict that does ruin companies. Investors want instant returns and don’t care about the long term strategy. If their demands result in true damage to the company they’ll just move along to the next victim like the vampires they are.
That article nails it in spades. I have saved the URL. The part about clickbait negative headlines is dead on. If you didn’t know better you’d think Apple was in a death spiral.
That article nails it in spades. I have saved the URL. The part about clickbait negative headlines is dead on. If you didn’t know better you’d think Apple was in a death spiral.
How can Microsoft have a PE of 37 and Apple 11? That makes no logical sense. It all comes down to perception. I watch a fair amount of CNBC and their Apple coverage is by far more negative than positive. I can't tell you how many times that sniveling Joe Kernan has trotted out his "what happens when someone builds a better mousetrap" line. He's convinced Apple is one quarter away from somebody doing that. I can't think of one anchor on CNBC that is Apple positive. Getting a steady diet of that every day it's no wonder the stock is in the toilet.
Apple the company has become disconnected from AAPL the stock. I don’t like the tone of recent articles. They seem to imply that Apple is a failed company on the verge of bankruptcy. I sincerely hope that the top management doesn’t succumb to the Wall Street hand wringers and start messing with their DNA to satisfy the “I want it NOW!” crowd. This is the sort of conflict that does ruin companies. Investors want instant returns and don’t care about the long term strategy. If their demands result in true damage to the company they’ll just move along to the next victim like the vampires they are.
I don't want Apple to do that either but as I've said before I do think they need to bring someone on the executive team to run their cloud business and let Eddy be content and Apple Pay full time. I think these are the right things to do and would be a nod to Wall Street, which is very bullish on the cloud and is looking for additional recurring revenue streams from Apple's services. I'd much rather see Apple do this than start making a bunch of big acquisitions. If they start doing that we know there's a problem in Cupertino.
Either Tim Cook needs to hire some new people who can articulate Apples vision and counter Wall street FUD or he needs to resign.
2015 was the most profitable year for any company in the history of man. Yet the stock is down 5% for the year. The main reason is because Cook failed to control the message of the company. The entire investing community views Apple as a one trick pony with a trick that has peaked. This is so far from the truth. Apple has so many current and future revenue streams to easily double revenue from this point. But Cook has failed at convincing Wall Street that iPad, Watch, AppleTV, ApplePay, Apple Car, Beats, Apple Music, ect have a bright future and can add hundreds of billions in future revenue.
Amazon CEO was able to convince Wall Street that Cloud services would be huge. But Amazon cloud generates less than $1 billion in profit. Apple Watch profits dwarf Amazon cloud. But Cook refuses to release Watch figures so Wall street gives Watch zero credit.
Something is wrong with Apple's investor relations. I can't even speak to a live person. I call the number and all you can do is leave a message. I left 3 messages and no one called back. I mean what the fuck. I have tens of thousands invested and they can't even return a fucking phone call?
Wall Street totally disrespects Tim Cook and pisses on his face. Various analysist have flatout called Tim Cook a liar and a cheat. Other said he was breaking SEC rules and manipulating numbers. WTF. You never hear this kind of shit directed at Google/Amazon/Microsoft CEO. Only Cook. Whatever he is doing, he is doing it wrong.
Cook is doing fine. The problem is people like you are ignoring the huge risk in investing in Apple which is effectively a one horse company at the moment.
Until Apple can balance the income from things associated with iOS it is effectively a one trick pony. If iPhone crashes the so too will everything associated with it. IPad, Watch, ApplePay, Apple Car, even Beats all depend upon iPhone being a success into the future. This isn't rocket science by any means, you just need to wake up and smell the coffee.
As for your ten of thousands invested, you really shouldn't blame Apple for your bad choices. Seriously think about what happened to Nokia, Rim and even Motorola all effectively one trick ponies.
I disagree with your "one trick pony" theory. Nokia and Motorola decided to get that way selling and dismantling all their legacy business something that Apple didn´t made. On the other hand RIM, Motorola and Nokia "ponies" where disrupted by other "ponies" with better thicks. Do you see anything disrupting the current smatphone status quo? because if you do, you are very very wise guy.
And let me go a little bit further, not only your examples showed a much more myopic approach in their business, but Apple ant least is trying to introduce and reinvigorate other business units like iPad (with the Pro), the AppleTV (with the fourth generation and the App Store, Apple Music, ApplePay. So is obvious that Apple don´t bet the bank to the iPhone fate, but to the ecosystem, even more, tries to reduce its weight in their revenue. A much broader act than a "One trick pony" as you can see. That it success or fail time will tell. Anyway I insist. Is Wall St. Incredulity that Apple performance is here to stay than a proven inhability of the company to do it again, that drags the stock, not the facts.
Maybe one day you will be right, but remember all your three examples where disrupted by another device that do the "trick" better. And right now there's no other device that can substitute the current smartphone.
Apple needs a completely new IR team, and a radically different messaging strategy when it comes to major market moves.
Right now, both are frustratingly disappointing, especially given the remarkable fundamentals of the business.
Agree 100%
Either Tim Cook needs to hire some new people who can articulate Apples vision and counter Wall street FUD or he needs to resign.
2015 was the most profitable year for any company in the history of man. Yet the stock is down 5% for the year. The main reason is because Cook failed to control the message of the company. The entire investing community views Apple as a one trick pony with a trick that has peaked. This is so far from the truth. Apple has so many current and future revenue streams to easily double revenue from this point. But Cook has failed at convincing Wall Street that iPad, Watch, AppleTV, ApplePay, Apple Car, Beats, Apple Music, ect have a bright future and can add hundreds of billions in future revenue.
Amazon CEO was able to convince Wall Street that Cloud services would be huge. But Amazon cloud generates less than $1 billion in profit. Apple Watch profits dwarf Amazon cloud. But Cook refuses to release Watch figures so Wall street gives Watch zero credit.
Something is wrong with Apple's investor relations. I can't even speak to a live person. I call the number and all you can do is leave a message. I left 3 messages and no one called back. I mean what the fuck. I have tens of thousands invested and they can't even return a fucking phone call?
Wall Street totally disrespects Tim Cook and pisses on his face. Various analysist have flatout called Tim Cook a liar and a cheat. Other said he was breaking SEC rules and manipulating numbers. WTF. You never hear this kind of shit directed at Google/Amazon/Microsoft CEO. Only Cook. Whatever he is doing, he is doing it wrong.
Given the profit growth period Apple has had, ignoring stock prices for a moment, one has to hand it to Tim for being the most successful CEO in history I would have thought. However, and I don't disagree, for some reason Wall Street seem to have a down on Apple, given how it and so many analysts applaud the mediocre business successes of companies such as you mention during the same period. The question is though, is Wall Street anti Tim as you suggest to simply anti Apple? Perhaps Tim does need to use others or another to be the voice for Apple, I don't know if it would matter though. There is just something weird about so many analysts' and Wall Street's attitude to Apple I can't get my head around. Meanwhile I hold all my shares and add to them with dividend re investment.
Stock price bears no relationship to the real word. You only have to look at Google to see that. The people who manipulate the market don't want Apple to be that successful for more reasons than I can think. Apple don't seem bothered and they shouldn't be. They are making more profit than anyone else and have more money in the bank than anyone else. If the stocks plummeted, Apple can just buy them back and regain more control, hopefully to a point where they can go private again.
Cook is doing fine. The problem is people like you are ignoring the huge risk in investing in Apple which is effectively a one horse company at the moment.
Until Apple can balance the income from things associated with iOS it is effectively a one trick pony. If iPhone crashes the so too will everything associated with it. IPad, Watch, ApplePay, Apple Car, even Beats all depend upon iPhone being a success into the future. This isn't rocket science by any means, you just need to wake up and smell the coffee.
As for your ten of thousands invested, you really shouldn't blame Apple for your bad choices. Seriously think about what happened to Nokia, Rim and even Motorola all effectively one trick ponies.
I disagree with your "one trick pony" theory. Nokia and Motorola decided to get that way selling and dismantling all their legacy business something that Apple didn´t made. On the other hand RIM, Motorola and Nokia "ponies" where disrupted by other "ponies" with better thicks. Do you see anything disrupting the current smatphone status quo? because if you do, you are very very wise guy.
And let me go a little bit further, not only your examples showed a much more myopic approach in their business, but Apple ant least is trying to introduce and reinvigorate other business units like iPad (with the Pro), the AppleTV (with the fourth generation and the App Store, Apple Music, ApplePay. So is obvious that Apple don´t bet the bank to the iPhone fate, but to the ecosystem, even more, tries to reduce its weight in their revenue. A much broader act than a "One trick pony" as you can see. That it success or fail time will tell. Anyway I insist. Is Wall St. Incredulity that Apple performance is here to stay than a proven inhability of the company to do it again, that drags the stock, not the facts.
Maybe one day you will be right, but remember all your three examples where disrupted by another device that do the "trick" better. And right now there's no other device that can substitute the current smartphone.
From the article at Fortune
Apple’s iPhone business is winning spectacularly. But for the Street, it’s a Wall of Worry... If Apple is too concentrated in iPhones, so is Starbucks SBUX -1.30% selling coffee, Boeing BA -1.24% selling planes, General Motors GM -0.93% selling cars, etc. (the list is very long).
Those other “one trick ponies” are doing just great are they not? Well maybe not GM recently.
He's positive when Apple stock is doing well. Go back to 2013 when he was constantly complaining about Tim Cook.
Almost everyone (except Apple fans) was dumping on Cook then.
Cramer has been surprisingly positive in the past few months despite AAPL sliding from $135 to $105. Indeed, I am guessing that's why it was no accident that Tim Cook got on the phone with him about sales in China. (That call, btw, put a floor on the AAPL carnage in late August).
Comments
Apple is in a tough position because on the one hand you have people fretting over iPhone sales constantly looking for the next big thing™ and every time Apple releases something new the first thing out of their mouth is "ok, what's next". And on the other hand you have people fretting that Apple is losing focus and wanting them to slow down and focus on quality. These people would love nothing more than if there was nothing new from Apple in 2016 and Apple just focused on improving existing products and services. Of course that won't satisfy the first group, especially if iPhone sales start to flatten out or go negative. Maybe if Wall Street looked at iPhone as the cash cow that is giving Apple the time and money to work on that next big thing™ so don't worry as much about unit sales growth but they'll never do that. If Apple's iPhone unit estimates are down YOY for the March quarter the stock will take a beating (even though this past month it's taken a beating because of analysts already predicting that). Sigh.
http://www.celebritynetworth.com/articles/entertainment-articles/whats-richest-company-world-youd-surprised/
The market has doubts that the iPhone 7 will be another big improvement. The secrecy of Apple does not help here. If the iPhone7 a just a evolution, the average user will replace his iPhone when it needed not when Apple wants it. This uncertainty has a negative impact on the stock market. I think that the secrecy is a great strategy when launching brand new product lines, but it much less great for a mature product line as the iPhone
This negative impact is enforced by declining iPad sales and by product launchers that were not that polished as previous launches (the Apple Music app was merely a beta release when launched, awkward recharging of the new mouse, ...). These launches have a bigger impact on the perceived ability to innovate than Apple and its fans can imagine.
Some fundamental questions about the Apple strategy need to be addressed by Tim Cook: how to improve the mediocre quality of some software developments (Apple Music, Numbers, ...), how can make iCloud on par with the competitive offerings both on feature level and commercial level, how to improve iOS for professional use of the iPads. As long as these points are not addressed, the market will have its doubts.
http://fortune.com/2016/01/01/apple-stock-2015-whimper/?xid=yahoo_fortune
That article nails it in spades. I have saved the URL. The part about clickbait negative headlines is dead on. If you didn’t know better you’d think Apple was in a death spiral.
And let me go a little bit further, not only your examples showed a much more myopic approach in their business, but Apple ant least is trying to introduce and reinvigorate other business units like iPad (with the Pro), the AppleTV (with the fourth generation and the App Store, Apple Music, ApplePay. So is obvious that Apple don´t bet the bank to the iPhone fate, but to the ecosystem, even more, tries to reduce its weight in their revenue. A much broader act than a "One trick pony" as you can see. That it success or fail time will tell. Anyway I insist. Is Wall St. Incredulity that Apple performance is here to stay than a proven inhability of the company to do it again, that drags the stock, not the facts.
Maybe one day you will be right, but remember all your three examples where disrupted by another device that do the "trick" better. And right now there's no other device that can substitute the current smartphone.
PED is a boring, master-stater-of-the-obvious.
The irony....
The people who manipulate the market don't want Apple to be that successful for more reasons than I can think.
Apple don't seem bothered and they shouldn't be. They are making more profit than anyone else and have more money in the bank than anyone else.
If the stocks plummeted, Apple can just buy them back and regain more control, hopefully to a point where they can go private again.
Apple’s iPhone business is winning spectacularly. But for the Street, it’s a Wall of Worry... If Apple is too concentrated in iPhones, so is Starbucks SBUX -1.30% selling coffee, Boeing BA -1.24% selling planes, General Motors GM -0.93% selling cars, etc. (the list is very long).
Those other “one trick ponies” are doing just great are they not? Well maybe not GM recently.
Cramer has been surprisingly positive in the past few months despite AAPL sliding from $135 to $105. Indeed, I am guessing that's why it was no accident that Tim Cook got on the phone with him about sales in China. (That call, btw, put a floor on the AAPL carnage in late August).