Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Apple Financial, iPhone
CNBC: Apple beating recession
A panel on CNBC's Fast Money was recently remarking on AAPL's apparent invulnerability to the recession that's currently affecting the United States, noting that it's jumped 40% so far this year, outperforming the NASDAQ. J.P. Mark of Farmhouse Equity Research suggests that the excitement that persists among Apple's retail employees customers is a part of that performance.
As for the stock's immediate future, the panel and Mr. Mark point to this summer's concurrent release of iPhone OS 3.0 and a likely new iPhone model as a powerful stimulus. Finally, Mr. Mark notes that it isn't often that an electronic gadget becomes more useful and valuable over time.
I definitely agree with that. My iPhone is now almost two years old and it does much more than it did when I first opened its box. Also, if a new iPhone does appear this summer just as my current contract is expiring, I'll almost certainly buy it.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
onlydarksets said 1:52PM on 4-10-2009
Apple stock is still down 36% over the last year. Most of its increases have been in the last month, which is when all of the markets have rallied a bit. It's outperforming the markets by a bit, but how is that avoiding the recession?
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balls said 2:25PM on 4-10-2009
Agreed.
It's great that Apple is recovering, but I doubt they're beating the recession.
Jon Stewart was right. CNBC is fucking retarded.
Howie Isaacks said 2:46PM on 4-10-2009
Just about all companies are being impacted. However, Apple builds products that people want despite the Obama economy that we're living under.
msr said 4:03PM on 4-10-2009
Obama economy? The economy was worse before he took office. Are you an idiot?
Christopher said 3:19PM on 4-10-2009
@Howie - I don't want to turn this into a political debate and I'm not saying Obama is the messiah some are making him out to be but blaming the current economic situation on the actions of the Obama administration over the last 4 months and not the 8 years of the previous administration is just ignorant.
Izzy said 5:41PM on 4-10-2009
Howie = Right wing troll.
Patrick J-Whitty said 5:46PM on 4-10-2009
Howie, it would be awesome if you had the balls to come back and defend the crap you spew out of your mouth in every single one of your comments on this site. I guess it's too much to expect a right wing dittohead to show a little backbone.
robogobo said 6:30PM on 4-10-2009
hey Howie, nice haircut.
mike said 11:16PM on 4-10-2009
the 'adjustment' of a few months ago where the Dow plummeted to 6500 was basically an admission that the American economy was unrealistically inflated by a ton of overleveraging (ie. imaginary money/insane value proposition)..
The fact that Apple would come anywhere NEAR its previous (read:fake) stock price is stunning.
Moreover, although the Bush Depression has been avoided (thanks to Obama and Bernake) America is STiLL in a recession.
You know? So iPods and Mac Pro's still fall under the category of 'high ticket luxury items'.. Apple thriving in a recession is amazing.
Mike said 2:08PM on 4-10-2009
It occurs to me that Apple remains unaffected because their primary demographic are the people most unaffected by the crisis.
To my knowledge, the crisis is being worst on the very rich, who have all their money in stocks and investments that are crashing, and so they lose their money. On the other end are the very poor who work in factories and the like that are being shut down because the rich people who own them are losing money, so the very poor are losing what unfortunately little money they have too.
The entirety of Apple products, on the other hand, are best suited to the middle class people, especially those in fields such as engineering and academics, where there will always be money available, no matter how bad the economy gets.
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Howie Isaacks said 2:45PM on 4-10-2009
You're overanalyzing this. Apple is doing well because their products kick ass... nuff said!
Ryhan said 3:39PM on 4-10-2009
@Howie
No, apple is not doing well because its products "kick ass". Many companies create very good products that simply do not sell in this economy... as said by Mike, apple is doing well because those people who buy apple products tend to be wealthier, and thus less likely to lose their job.
@Mike
bah, engineering and academics? more like art students, architects, and web designers... the inability to run many programs natively, vulnerabilities, and sheer cost make macs unattractive to many. Why spend $1200 on a system that I could get for half that? =D (Please, do not respond to this comment... I'm not trying to start a fanboy war...)
thefreshpince said 4:33PM on 4-10-2009
@ Mike well you sure have a real misconception about the economy. Middle class is suffering as much, maybe even more, than the rich and the poor in this economy. The middle class taxpayers are giving away money to anyone who would want it, without getting a return. It's not even a 30% return on the money that is asked, but at least just giving the money back. I understand it takes time to get back on track, but all of these huge amounts of money are out of the middle class pockets and certainly not out of the riches nor the poor.
Apple products are certainly not suited for middle class people. Saving middle class people, then you're right. But someone that doesn't save a few months to get the computer, then you're way off.
D. Howard said 8:38AM on 4-11-2009
There isn't much of a middle class anymore thanks to the current recession. Apple is still doing well because of a few factors, one of the biggest being hype. Hype drives this company like crazy, just look at MacWorld every year at the stock's climb to the top and if the company can't deliver what the hype is matching, then they go down. (Example: iPhone at MacWorld '07: the stock hits $200, MacBook Air at MacWorld '08: the stock tanks, MacWorld '09: the stock tanks)
The iPhone is right now driving the company because of two things. One is that, obviously, the App Store has rejuvenated the device. Secondly, is price. By dropping down the price to $199 subsidized, the phone itself becomes affordable. Sure, the contract is a lot, but people now-a-days only really care about how much they pay TODAY.
Otsego_Undead said 2:12PM on 4-10-2009
"My iPhone is now almost two years old and it does much more than it did when I first opened its box. Also, if a new iPhone does appear this summer just as my current contract is expiring, I'll almost certainly buy it."
-- I absolutely agree, Dave.
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FightTheFuture said 2:37PM on 4-10-2009
i'm on the fence with new hardware. a new camera and a larger storage capacity aren't enough for me to upgrade my 1st Gen.
but if a faster processor or video decoder spawns apps more beautiful then the ones that are available now - then i'm game!
Odineye said 4:23PM on 4-10-2009
I'm really hoping for larger storage capacity. I want a 32 gig iPhone to replace my first gen. For my purposes I'd no longer need to ever carry a separate music player at that point.
Faster processor would also be a plus and, while I didn't care about the camera when I bought it, I find myself taking pictures all the time now, so that's on my list too.
hankvaccaro said 8:18PM on 4-10-2009
And I use it even more now then when I bought it.
Sam Williams said 4:31AM on 4-11-2009
Absolutely, Dave: you and J.P. Mark nailed it. Hardly any of my technology works that way. The proliferation of (i) more useful apps and (ii) optimised websites is incredibly powerful.
I'm using at least eight of my iPhone's apps every day; I'm not sure I can even say that about my HP workstation in the office or my MacBook at home. For my last foreign trip, I didn't even take the MacBook; the iPhone was plenty. In the last week alone I added the awesome Convertbot and the new Gmail web app to my home screen; another two steps forward.
What's particularly exciting for me is that the platform has advanced so far even with clear shortcomings in the hardware and software. Apple looks to be addressing most of the latter with 3.0; hopefully the hardware revision will be equally significant.
Galley said 2:12PM on 4-10-2009
Why didn't I buy 10 million shares of AAPL when it was at 82? Oh yeah, I didn't have $820 million.
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