AAPL hits intra-day all time high, headline writers scrounge thesauri for 'stratospheric' synonyms

Apple's announcement earlier today of an on-sale date and presales for the iPad seems to have struck a major chord with investors. Never mind the fact that April 3 only equals "late March" for unusually large values of March; when it comes to magical & revolutionary, Wall Street votes "yes, please" with a record intraday high for AAPL. The stock hit $219.70 at 1:14pm this afternoon, and is on track to remain above yesterday's close of $210.71.

Apple investors who bought in 5 years ago, when the stock traded around $40 -- or even those who sought a bargain in January 2009, and picked up some shares in the mid-$80s -- are undoubtedly delighted. Just in today's trading, Apple's market capitalization is up over $7.5 billion dollars, at around $198B total; compare to Google's ~~138B~~$180B, HP's $123B, and IBM's $165B. Not too shabby.

Update: Closed at $219. Jim Cramer's "Stop Trading! " segment included his philosophy of trading AAPL, which suggests a buy and hold now, dump right before April 3, then buy back in during the inevitable backlash against the iPad when the press says it's not deserving of the hype, "because they will be wrong."

[h/t Silicon Alley Insider]

Note: I hold a small, long-term position in AAPL.

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Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/apples-stock-zooms-to-its-all…

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Apple's announcement earlier today of an on-sale date and presales for the iPad seems to have struck a major chord with investors. Never...

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GadgetGav

Seriously, you're directing people to Jim Cramer..? The guy couldn't be more wrong about trading Apple stock. He's probably wrong about most stocks, but the only time I come across him is in APPL related stories and his track record is pitiful.

March 05 2010 at 8:07 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

What's Dell "I'd shut it down and give the money back to the shareholders" worth these days? Oh, about $27.2B or $13.88 per share. Wonder if Michael owns any Apple stock?

March 05 2010 at 4:23 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

1 reply to WM's comment

Izzy

What's funny is that Michael Dell has always said he would sell Apples if they would let him. He understands the market even if he can't influence it as much (right now). I'd love it if he carried the iPad, I'd be able to use my Dell card for something.

March 05 2010 at 5:13 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

balls

Adam is right. Google's market cap is 180 billion.

And you conveniently left off MSFT's (arguably apple's biggest competitor) market cap, which is 250 billion.

Of course talking about share price in a vacuum is meaningless. Apple's P/E is at 20, Googles is at 27, and MSFT's is at 15.

Apple is doing really well making some real smart plays in key business segments, but their hardware business hinges a lot on the Chinese economy. The moment the chinese yuan is unbuckled from the USD, the cost of apple's products will suffer (along with every other electronics manufacturer that uses china's cheap labor). This does not bode well for the long term prospects for Apple Inc, considering they're a hardware company, while Google and MSFT are both software.

March 05 2010 at 4:07 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

2 replies to balls's comment

Michael Rose

I did leave off MSFT, but the Silicon Alley Insider story I linked to has a comparison chart of both those equities.

Interesting that on the one hand you portray Microsoft as Apple's biggest competitor, then in the next breath describe them as being in different industries (software vs. hardware). Of course, Apple is both a software AND a hardware company, which makes a difference. (Also notable that both Google and Microsoft sell hardware too.)

Considering Microsoft's profile in the mobile device space, I wouldn't necessarily think that the next market battle is going to be between them and Apple.

March 05 2010 at 4:15 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

balls

@Mrose

You're right. MSFT does make Xbox, zune (fail) and other devices, as does Google.

They key difference (imo); MSFT's big revenue generators are Windows, and Office.
Googles is Search Ad Revenue.

Apple does have healthy non-hw revenue centers, like iTMS, and App store revenue, but IIRC the bulk of their income comes from device sales.

MSFT and Apple are in the same industry, it's just where they make the bulk of revenue. I'm not saying one company is better than the other--both have major strengths for investors; just that Apple (like all HW companies) reliance on China is unsustainable for the long term (the US economy's reliance on China is also in the same boat).

March 05 2010 at 4:29 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Rick

I bought stock at $80 :)

March 05 2010 at 4:05 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

2 replies to Rick's comment

Izzy

I wish I had bought it when it was $4 in the dark Scully days.

March 05 2010 at 5:11 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Genetical

I got it at 20 :)

March 05 2010 at 11:06 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Adam