Does any one remember what a Lisa Computer was? Has anyone ever touched one? (I did, for a couple hours many years ago.) This was one of the first follies of Steve Jobs. Talk about a clunky, unattractive computer. Anyway, when Apple (AAPL) ran a Lisa television commercial long ago, guess who the star was? Kevin Costner, star of Field of Dreams, Dances With Wolves, Bull Durham, JFK, and many other movies.
Tag: Apple
Apple is Now Officially a Trillion Dollar Company
by Fred Fuld III
It’s official. At the time I am writing this, Apple (AAPL) is trading at 206.87. The company has 4,842,917,000 shares issued and outstanding, according to the latest Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
If you multiply these two numbers, you get a market capitalization of $1,001,854,239,790. That’s over a trillion dollars.
This makes Apple the first American company to reach the trillion dollar level.
Apple is actually the second stock to reach a trillion dollar valuation. The first was PetroChina (PTR), that hit that level in 2007.
Disclosure: Author owns AAPL.
The Yummies are Causing the All-Time Stock Market Highs
Many have wondered why the stock market continues to make all-time highs, almost every day. This exceptional rise may be due to the Yummies, the Young Upwardly Mobile Millennials. Yes, the Millennials, also known as Generation Y. Many traits have been ascribed to this generation, but you don’t ever hear the members referred to as being invetor-oriented.
So let’s look at the facts. Legg Mason Global Asset Management, the 20th largest asset manager in the world, produced the 2017 Global Investment Survey, and the Summary of U.S. Results are very enlightening.
For example, did you know that Millennials invest more in non-cash investments than the Generation X or the Baby Boomers? As a matter of fact, 77% of Yummies apply their funds toward these assets, versus 75% for Gen x and 69% for Baby Boomers.
Let’s look at some definitions before continuing. Legg mason consideres Millennials to be between the ages of 18 and 35, Gen X at age 36 to 52, with Baby Boomers ranging from 53 to 71 years old.
Some other interesting factoids about the Yummies. They invest three times as much as Boomers in non-traditional investments. Plus, a far greater percentage of Yummies put their money into investment real estate than the Baby Boomers.
But what is most amazing is the fact that 11% of the Yummies invest in gold and precious metals versus only 7% of the Gen Xers and a measly 2% for the Baby Boomers.
When the respondents were asked which investment categories they believe offer the best opportunities over the next 12 months, 46% of the Yummies said domestic stocks, with Gen X and Boomers closely agreeing, both at 42%. International stocks came in second as an investment opportunity in the opinion of the Millennials.
Finally, 87% of Yummies have saivings, investments, or both but only 81% of Boomers have these assets, and just 75% of Millennials.
Many wonder why the FAANG stocks, Facebook (FB), Apple (AAPL), Amazon (AMZN), Netflix (NFLX), and Google (GOOG), continue to rise. So now you know. If you are wondering who is driving up the price of stocks and cryptocurrency, you need look no further than the Yummies.
by Fred Fuld III
Disclosure: Author owns AAPL and AMZN.
New Years 2018 Investment Poem
To be sung to the tune of My Favorite Things
New Years 2018 Investment Poem
Facebook and Apple and Netflix and Google
Throw money at them, no need to be frugal
Amazon’s up over fifty percent
It’s probably not just a random event
When my stocks drop
When I lose bad
When I’m feeling mad
I simply remember my favorite trades
And then I don’t feel so sad
Bitcoin and Ether and Litecoin and Ripple
It certainly looks like my money will triple
California will have legalized pot
Which should cause all weed stocks to get very hot
When my stocks drop
When I lose bad
When I’m feeling mad
I simply remember my favorite trades
And then I don’t feel so sad
The stock market indexes have gone very high
Investors made money and that is no lie
The markets have risen nine years in a row
Everyone’s guessing how high it will go
When my stocks drop
When I lose bad
When I’m feeling mad
I simply remember my favorite trades
And then I don’t feel so sad
© 2018 Fred Fuld III, All rights reserved
Trivia: The iPhone Name was Originally Owned by Cisco, Not Apple
Here is a bit of financial trivia for you. Linksys, a division of Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO), released its iPhone on Monday, December 18, 2006, which was a phone that connects to a home wireless network for making phone calls through the Internet using the Skype service. Skype was originally owned by eBay Inc. (EBAY)at the time and is now owned by Microsoft (MSFT).
It had been anticipated that Apple Computer Corp. (AAPL) would be using the iPhone name back then, but it had been registered by Cisco in 2000. The iPhone trademark is now owned by Apple.
More info about the “first” iPhone release can be found here, an article from bizjournals back in 2006.
Is Apple Getting into the Marijuana Industry?
Maybe it’s just a coincidence but California just legalized recreational marijuana a couple months ago and now Apple (AAPL) has filed a patent for a vaporizer, often referred to as a vape. Vapes are commonly used to smoke cannabis.
According to a recent article in Gizmodo, Apple filed the application back in July and was posted yesterday on the USPTO website.
According to the abstract, “A chamber body is to receive therein a substance that is to be vaporized or sublimated into a vapor. A plate whose bottom face rests on the substance inside the chamber body is temperature regulated, e.g., using a heater therein, which releases heat directly above the substance that lies below. The plate slides downward as the substance is consumed by vaporization or sublimation.”
Who knows what plans Apple has for this device? Who would have thought that a large cap stock like Apple might come out with a product that could be used in the marijuana (cannabis, hash, hemp, ganja, weed) industry?
Disclosure: Author owns AAPL.
“Jim Cramer Causes Market to Break 20,000”
Can you believe this headline? “Jim Cramer Causes Market to Break 20,000”
This was a headline that I had printed up on a fake newspaper about ten years ago. I had two of these newspapers printed up, one I send to Jim Cramer and one I kept for myself.
Jim Cramer actually held this newspaper on his show displaying the big headline, back on Tuesday, November 21, 2006, shortly before Thanksgiving.
Back then of course, the 20,000 level on the Dow Jones Industrial Average was a fantasy. Who would have thought back then that 20,000 would be reached, especially after the market crash?
This newspaper was printed as the Los Angeles Herald Examiner, a newspaper that no longer exists. It also features a picture of the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, with a fictitious article underneath.
In the article, a few stocks were mentioned with outrageous prices, but one that was very prescient was the statement “Apple Computer (AAPL) which ended the day at $853”. Remember back then, this was prior to the 7 for 1 stock split in 2014, so dividing that 853 by seven, would give you a current price of about 121, which is where the stock is trading now.
If you want to check out the details of the Dow Jones Industrial Average Index and how to “game it” or run what-if’s, check out the article called Stock Trading Hack: How to Game the Dow Jones Industrial Average.