Timeline Strategy Consulting

Preview from Europe: Stocks Shrug Off Yet More Dire Data

Author's quote: "Note that the NASDAQ is now back positive for the year to date with Google".

Roger, the gains are not measured from the year's low, they are measured year-to-date. That means from closing price on 31-Dec.

That was 85.35 for AAPL and 307.65 for GOOG.

So today, with another bit of gain, AAPL is at 20.4% YTD and GOOG is 23.4% YTD.

In any case, it's sloppy writing to not check your math, and I refuse to read further. If the entire pretext of the article is someone's opinion based upon their observation of numbers, and those numbers turn out to be incorrect, why should I believe anything the author says?

Sloppy, sloppy, sloppy. There's enough rubbish about investing on the internet. Why should I waste time reading something that's verifiably wrong?

On Feb 09 11:51 AM Roger Knights wrote:

> "Apple is not +26%. If it were, it would trade at about $108."<br/>
>
> Its low was 79 and change, and its close on Friday was 99.75 or so.
> Rounding off to 80 &amp; 100 for simplicity, a 20-point rise from
> 80 to 100 is 25%. So I figure 26% is within the ballpark.

Preview from Europe: Stocks Shrug Off Yet More Dire Data

Google is not +54%.

If it were, it would trade at about $460.

Apple is not +26%.

If it were, it would trade at about $108.

They are both up in fact 20%, give or take a few.

Why should I read further into your article, which is opinion-based, when you have facts incorrect into the first 50 words? You should try harder.

Where Will GE's Jeff Immelt Be at 2 PM Today?

I am not a GE shareholder, and would not become one for a simple reason - their balance sheet. Take a look at it. It's impenetrable, with massive assets and liabilities that are out of proportion to their revenue stream.

Who knows the true worth of their assets?

Who knows the true value of their liabilities, or when they are due?

Who can calculate even a basic, and trustworthy, indicator for GE given how convoluted their financials appear? For instance, what's their book value and do you trust it?

GE is a bank with a diversified technology company as its veneer. Too confusing and opaque for me. Why invest in GE when there are many tech companies with much better growth prospects, much cleaner financials, and no need to go to Washington with a tin cup in hand.