fbpx

Apple’s Core

Dear Mr. Berko: I bought 100 shares of Apple at $129 last June, believing it could move up to $200. I’m down by 21 points. What’s your opinion? Do you think I should sell Apple? — SA, Oklahoma City

                Dear SA: Apple (AAPL-$108) is the world’s most valuable enterprise, with a $600 billion market cap. AAPL is sitting on more than $215 billion in cash and produced $234 billion in revenues last year. The iPhone, AAPL’s most profitable product, generated about 67 percent of revenues last year. But though 75 million iPhones were sold during AAPL’s most recent quarter, those sales were flat compared with the same period last year. Meanwhile, revenues from iPads, Apple Watches and Macs, which cratered last year, are facing tough competition from less expensive and nimbler competitors. Revenues from AAPL’s ancillary products were up well last year, but not significantly enough to appreciably boost earnings.

                AAPL is vitally important to Wall Street; about 62 percent of its 5.5 billion shares are owned by over 2,400 institutions, mutual funds, hedge funds, closed-end funds, exchange-traded funds, corporate raiders (Carl Icahn owns 52 million shares), pension plans, college retirement funds, bank trust accounts and private and foreign investors, and they’re used as collateral for big bank loans. A falling AAPL could create a minor catastrophe! Because Apple is so important, there’s a very tall wall of silence around the Street’s finest to avoid negative comments. Comments failing to laud AAPL are blasphemous, un-American and bad manners. The closest thing to a negative AAPL comment was a remark by UBS analyst Steve Milunovich: “The bottom may not be far away.” And he reduced his 12-month target price to $120 from $130.

                What can AAPL do for an encore? Apple’s research and development team and its marketing department have produced ignoble failures, such as iPod Hi-Fi, Newton, Apple Maps, Pippin, G4 Cube, Lisa, Apple Watch, MobileMe, iOS8.0.1, Copland and Apple Mouse, to name a few. And I’m certain as sunshine that Apple’s participation in driverless car technology will fail ignominiously and produce a juicy tax write-off.

                Though Tim Cook, the CEO of this impressive gadget maker, can’t conjure another blockbuster product, he can certainly borrow money. Despite Apple’s current $215 billion cash hoard (mostly overseas), Tim decided to borrow $12 billion with maturities going out 30 years and yields slightly higher than Treasury notes. This new debt will fund Apple’s capital return program, including continued stock buybacks and dividend payments to shareholders. It makes good sense because the $181 billion in cash AAPL has parked overseas would be subject to a 35 percent tax if Tim were to bring it home. Tim will continue to play a sit and wait game until AAPL can repatriate that cash to the U.S. at a much lower rate. And a lubricated Congress, with the advice of generously lubricating lobbyists, may vote a one-time repatriation tax that could become law for a week in early 2018. In 2004, there was a temporary amnesty window allowing companies to pay a 5.25 percent tax on repatriated earnings. I’m delighted that Tim failed to negotiate the tax-free return of AAPL’s $181 billion overseas profits as payment for helping the FBI decode the San Bernardino terrorist’s cellphone. Many AAPL employees believe Tim’s refusal was seditious and subversive.

                Today AAPL is in a holding pattern without a new or exciting product to market; it’s basically the same old stuff in different wrappings. And though that same old stuff is good stuff, there’s a growing number of competitors selling that stuff at bare-bones prices in order to earn income elsewhere. AAPL’s decision to maintain a premium pricing strategy so its margins remain strong may be ill-advised. This limits sales growth — especially in countries with emerging markets, where demand is strongest.

                I doubt Apple’s share price will have any pizazz for a while and suspect that it will trade in a narrow range between $92 and $115 a share. Sell your 100 shares and take a loss, because the growth you seek isn’t there anymore.

                Please address your financial questions to Malcolm Berko, P.O. Box 8303, Largo, FL 33775, or email him at mjberko@yahoo.com. To find out more about Malcolm Berko and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

COPYRIGHT 2016 CREATORS.COM

You May Also Like

Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival Hosts Oscars Watch Party

Space is limited and advance purchase of tickets is required.

Desai Foundation Hosts Holi Celebration in Miami

The aim is to raise awareness and support for health, livelihood, and menstrual equity programs in India.

Set Sail for Fun: Inaugural Red Shield Regatta Launches in March

The evening will be hosted by Captain Lee Rosbach of Bravo TV’s Below Deck.

Editor’s Letter: A Heartfelt Return

If you are a longtime SFBW reader and are wondering what the heck I am doing back here with an editor’s column, well there’s a story behind that. It was

Kevin Gale

Other Posts

Screen Gems

“The Price for Freedom,” a chronicle about Harry T. and Harriette V. Moore, will begin pre-production of the monumental civil rights story in the Fort Lauderdale area.

Chef Aarón Sánchez Prepares to Shine at Visit Lauderdale Food & Wine Festival

We spoke with Sánchez about current culinary trends, food festivals, and his own approach to cooking.

American Heritage Schools Hosts Virtual Job Fair for Teachers

Educators around the U.S. are invited to attend.

Editor’s Letter: A Man of Nearly Unlimited Interests

Kevin Kaminski, Lifestyle Group Editor, was an honor to the profession of journalism.

Drew Limsky

Drew Limsky

Editor-in-Chief

BIOGRAPHY

Drew Limsky joined Lifestyle Media Group in August 2020 as Editor-in-Chief of South Florida Business & Wealth. His first issue of SFBW, October 2020, heralded a reimagined structure, with new content categories and a slew of fresh visual themes. “As sort of a cross between Forbes and Robb Report, with a dash of GQ and Vogue,” Limsky says, “SFBW reflects South Florida’s increasingly sophisticated and dynamic business and cultural landscape.”

Limsky, an avid traveler, swimmer and film buff who holds a law degree and Ph.D. from New York University, likes to say, “I’m a doctor, but I can’t operate—except on your brand.” He wrote his dissertation on the nonfiction work of Joan Didion. Prior to that, Limsky received his B.A. in English, summa cum laude, from Emory University and earned his M.A. in literature at American University in connection with a Masters Scholar Award fellowship.

Limsky came to SFBW at the apex of a storied career in journalism and publishing that includes six previous lead editorial roles, including for some of the world’s best-known brands. He served as global editor-in-chief of Lexus magazine, founding editor-in-chief of custom lifestyle magazines for Cadillac and Holland America Line, and was the founding editor-in-chief of Modern Luxury Interiors South Florida. He also was the executive editor for B2B magazines for Acura and Honda Financial Services, and he served as travel editor for Conde Nast. Magazines under Limsky’s editorship have garnered more than 75 industry awards.

He has also written for many of the country’s top newspapers and magazines, including The New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Miami Herald, Boston Globe, USA Today, Worth, Robb Report, Afar, Time Out New York, National Geographic Traveler, Men’s Journal, Ritz-Carlton, Elite Traveler, Florida Design, Metropolis and Architectural Digest Mexico. His other clients have included Four Seasons, Acqualina Resort & Residences, Yahoo!, American Airlines, Wynn, Douglas Elliman and Corcoran. As an adjunct assistant professor, Limsky has taught journalism, film and creative writing at the City University of New York, Pace University, American University and other colleges.