Apple Inc (AAPL)

Great balance sheet. Great products. Great services. Trading at 11X next year’s earnings. If this is overpriced, yielding 2.5% (more than the US Treasury bond), then the whole market is overpriced. A very dynamic company that has lots of products and services. Thinks it is going to continue to innovate and that there will continue to be growth in emerging markets.

It is a ‘yesterday’ stock. He does not see what is going to make this stock go up a lot. The handset business has been shown to be a graveyard business for a lot of other companies.

Reported disappointing earnings. Carl Icahn sold all his shares yesterday, so the stock came down pretty hard this week. At $94, it is just a little over 10X next year’s earnings. Still a dominant product in the smart phone area. There are concerns about lack of innovation and lack of growth in China. They’re being valued cheaply, but still generates tons of cash. Buying it here your risk is limited. Should they come out with that next big thing, it could be significantly higher. In the interim, you have a strong Eco system in the service side of the business, which was up 20% last year. The iPhone 7 is also coming out later in the year.

He rarely buys a stock over $10. Thinks Apple are making huge errors. They are taking on debt, and why with the amount of money they have in the bank? Also, buying back stock doesn’t make sense to him. This is technology, which can be very, very good, but can have problems for companies when they are very technology-based. It could certainly go higher, but at some point often, technology is not the leader in the field anymore, and then the stock price gets killed.

(A Top Pick April 21/15. Down 14.2%.) Was stopped out, and doesn’t own this currently.

There were reports last week of slowing iPhone production. It is probably a trading stock now. The uptrend has ended. Until it breaks out, he would look at trading it. The bigger trend is not all that positive right now.

He was pounding the table at $85. He thinks their earnings will be good and they will buy back a tone of stock. Expect a dividend increase. $160 model price. A good value name to hold in your portfolio.

The next product cycle will be starting in September. Until then, you are facing really tough comparable sales numbers, and he wouldn’t be surprised to see the stock consolidate a little. He likes tech, this company, management and the product line up. You don’t need to jump the gun on this one.

The dividend is projected to be 2% this year. He thinks it will go up this year. He has held this for a long time even though he is not a buy and hold guy. It is reaching a resistance level. He is looking for an opportunity to take profits.

He likes this. When it gets up, he trims his position, and then buys back when it drops in price. This has a low PE and they have tons of cash. Feels that in September they are going to have a new release of an iPhone which, after 2 years, will have a good refresh cycle. If this sold off, he would be a buyer.

Analysts are looking at $120-$150 as targets. He would lighten up on market strength here.

Still one of the great stocks out there. A device company, but if it was the only device company going forward, then there would be a lot to worry about. They are building such a strong ecosystem of IOS software to become independent, and that is the future of this company. If you take out the cash, it is trading at about 9X earnings, making it exceptionally cheap for one of the greatest growth companies over the past few decades.

The verdict on the watch is still out. He does not see people wearing it. He wonders where the innovation is now with Steve Jobs gone. The iPod has peaked, as has the tablet. So he does not have an interest in the stock.

(Market Call Minute.) A pretty cheap stock, but the difficulty is that it is the biggest stock in the world, and how much bigger does it get.

It struggled over the last year. The main challenge is that for the first quarter since ’03 they forecast a decline in revenues. Will growth if iPhone picks up in Asia and new products gain traction. He feels that with the cash they have it is a buy. They are in a position to grow their dividend. Don’t get scared of recent volatility. The strategy is that they can create excitement with their new releases of iPhone.