Apple (AAPL) investors need to take a breather, says BTIG, downgrading the stock to Neutral from...

This news story has 12 comments:

Register or Login to rate comments »

vphibbs Comments (140)
 
"Despite another consensus-destroying quarter".....so naturally a downgrade. CYA statement. They get it both ways.
9 Apr 2012, 08:14 AM Reply Like

robertwiggers Comments (7)
 
BTIG:
Just because you are tired doesn't mean Apple and it's investors are.
Go ahead take a nap we are moving on.
9 Apr 2012, 08:31 AM Reply Like

RunTour Comments (3)
 
I suppose this article commits the sin of asking us to just take a breath for a while, but let's not forget that as a consumer products company Apple is still a producer of multiple products, and not just the iPhone and the iPad - have we forgotten the iPod, the seed that seems to have sprouted this hydra head of prosperity? - and that more than profitability Apple has been making markets by being ahead of them for some time now. We shall be surprised. Can we take it? The company is certainly doing something right. The real Jobs legacy is that Apple grows and creates its own markets, and doesn't follow anyone. Comments?
9 Apr 2012, 08:48 AM Reply Like

tradermarc Comments (56)
 
Good comment. I have witnessed this in my family as well. My extended family started out on iPods and have slowly migrated to iPhones and are now beginning w/ iPads and even the Mac Book Air (btw: from the demo my brother gave me it's definitely a buy for me next time I'm in the market).

I have yet to purchase an Apple product myself but will be one of the first to jump on the iPhone 5 when it's released. All of the iPhone purchases have been former Droid owners and won't likely be going back for the foreseeable future. Apple has momentum and earnings that back up share appreciation. No slow-down is eminent.
9 Apr 2012, 08:54 AM Reply Like

bailinnumberguy Comments (1086)
 
A reasonable point of view diverging from the vast majority of other analysts. I don't agree w/ it, but it is based on a somewhat rational argument concerning the iPhone. Reasonable people can disagree.
9 Apr 2012, 09:00 AM Reply Like

stonedoc Comment (1)
 
I'm glad that there is some negativity on this stock. We need to have naysayers to provide realism to the stock. No doubt the stock will go through 700, and then 800 eventually. However, thank god for the down graders without whom we would not have the sellers to give us any stocks for the rest of us to buy.
9 Apr 2012, 09:03 AM Reply Like

scott trader Comments (2724)
 
Did Lance Armstrong take a breather?........blah blah blah
9 Apr 2012, 11:21 PM Reply Like

Mike Wong Comments (46)
 
Hahaaa...... I like that analogy!!!
23 Apr 2012, 12:36 PM Reply Like

Paulo Santos Comments (11703)
 
He did stop once in a while to take is Epogen shots. eheh
14 Mar, 10:05 AM Reply Like

dacama1 Comments (105)
 
If I am reading the chart correctly aapl had it highest closing price on the 9th of April. So far BTIG is correct.
23 Apr 2012, 12:20 PM Reply Like

Mike Wong Comments (46)
 
BTIG is not correct. BTIG said AAPL investors need to take a breather. They are not taking a breather now. They are panicked. If sustainability of the iPhone's $600 price were the issue, BTIG should have downgraded AAPL at 644, not 574.

Therefore, when BTIG uses the word "need", it is pure crap.
23 Apr 2012, 12:35 PM Reply Like

convoluted Comments (1241)
 
Once again, over 70% of the market volume, and the price moves associated therewith, are a function of sophisticated algo mechanics. Opinions that derive from traditional orthodoxy, while offering the allure of rationality and the tantalizing prospect of easy gains, have to be considered and weighted against the machinations of the referenced dimension.
In some sense, the more rationality and logic one applies in reaching conclusions, the more apt one is likely to be disappointed in the outcome. The manner in which technology has been incorporated into markets has fostered new behaviors and, in turn, leads to more money managers adapting game theory techniques.
For example, why would AAPL have a brief spurt yesterday, only to close lower? Suppose a program detects a lot of uncovered short calls held, presumptively, by weak hands. Given that one has sufficient leverage, it wouldn't take much to create a squeeze to create quick cover. Buying calls into the up move, and then shorting the down move, and you're celebrating with your hedge fund pals.
Of course, that's speculative-and any number of explanations could account for that move. I paid particular attention to the move because (a)I wasn't playing golf, and (b)I have a number of option positions weighted against an uptick. (Interestingly enough, had I not been glued to the screen, I would have returned after hours to observe that my bear call spreads had actually made money). The mere act of observation could have caused me to take remedial action-which would have been unproductive (unless I traded long calls against the credit spread).
My point is that blindly utilizing traditional financial metrics may or may not yield traditional outcomes-particularly for those that have the attention span of a gnat. If you seek to be a traditional investor, that's fine. But, just know that rational approaches are worth less now than ever-and that this is due, to a large extent, not to some blanket irrationality, but to new trading methodologies. And, if you can refrain from waging an emotional and ineffectual battle against this phenomenon, you can devise and deploy your own strategies to protect and preserve your financial interests.
14 Mar, 08:54 AM Reply Like