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Doug Kass doesn't pull any punches in making a bear case for Apple (AAPL +0.9%). The iPhone 5...
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Wednesday, October 3, 2012, 1:32 PM ETDoug Kass doesn't pull any punches in making a bear case for Apple (AAPL +0.9%). The iPhone 5 "feels like a toy," Kass writes, while claiming Steve Jobs would have never "let it go out the door like that." With Jobs gone, Apple risks "losing that magical Walt Disney feeling," he adds. Kass, who shorted Apple in winter (that hasn't worked out well), also believes Apple is "losing mojo and mindshare" to Samsung, and predicts his fears might start to be realized after the December quarter.
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short DJIA for 1000 points
short AAPL for 300 points
thx for the insight
What is his determination of Apple "losing mojo?" How does one measure mojo?
Since he said Apple could lose that Disney feeling, I am to assume that he is long DIS, right?
LOL, another bozo. This is who we quote on this site now?
He made a horrible call on AAPL and he's doubling down.
Back off Doug, you have no credibility any more.
If you ever did.
Hows that short position in Apple doing? Nice job releasing an article trying to manipulate the stock price in order to make up some of your major losses.
Wonder what he will say when the iPhone and iPad are combo'd in a year or two, opening a whole new high profit world with a mid-sized device that does everything both do now, but better and with more whiz bang goodies Apple is known for.
I don't think so. Stop loss is an open invitation for the
market maker to pick your pocket. Caution !!
I admire Cook for calling the shots as they are. Instead of making puny bellyaches he acted like a straight shooter re the maps. They will improve and then be the best, like everything else he does. And, next time he tells us a product is "great" the whole world will believe him. That's the leader we "investors" want !
I was an original cell phone user (anyone remember the Panasonic phones, with the shoulder bag and hand set with the cord?). Then i was a Blackberry user (yes, there were more than a few phones in the middle)...and i fought the i-phone as 'how much better can it be'.
Well, you can't even compare the i-phone and the blackberry. They are simply worlds/generations apart.
Now, as far as the stock...it is priced with one foot in, and one foot out. Tremendous success with some truly magical products; tremendous angst that there will not be a 'next' phenomenal device. It could be twice the current price if the string of great products continues, or it could be half the current price if the next device fails to deliver that magical joy.
Anyone who is short the stock is playing the probabilities that the next product is an economic flop. That hasn't held true for the last few devices, and hence Doug K is getting pummeled. IF he sticks with the short, chances are that we are closer to a flop, and he will get even, or perhaps even make a small amount of money--depending on what vehicle he has used to establish the short.
Without that product failure, well, good luck on making money being short AAPL.
-- Follow the advice of some old dude who has no idea what to make of new technology and can't understand what was wrong with "them old big dial up phones that were easy to use and you could even call a number to find out what time it was"
- And to go broke even faster follow the old dudes advice on the leading tech stock when he tries to talk it down bcus he is short it in his own book. How pathetically lame and transparent, I hope it goes up another $20 on him by Friday.
Stick to your old dude Gold and currency calls Dougie
Silicon valley is way outside your wheel house
The author, as well as ever one on earth has had a toy which has given joy and pleasure! Apple has become the world's greatest producer of a toy that is giviing an entire generation all over the world joy and pleasure.
Is it a necessity - NO. Is there any one that you know in the entire world that has not at on time enjoyed a toy?
Hats off to the greatest and most profitable toy maker in the world!!
"Last week I went into one of Apple's New York City stores. It was not as nearly busy as my last visit in August."
"I played with the iPhone 5 for about a minute and got quickly bored."
"Go play with the iPhone 5 yourself. It feels terrible."
"Apple has started to experience Microsoft-like virus problems."
Concurrently the passing of Steve Jobs transforms something special into something just good. There's none to take the reigns, just a series of custodians to come for the foreseeable future.
As Apple's tissue-paper legal defenses against legitimate competition are doused with warm water, it will become obvious to the market how Apple's most likely direction is to consistently LOSE market share for the next 10-20 years. Keep in mind how quickly the headwinds of technology change. Look at the rise and fall of Facebook. (If you're reading this and hopeful about Facebook, there's no convincing you about anything).
Apple's mistake is succumbing to a silicon valley malaise which contains a mixture of ego, greed, and tech-centric mentality. You can't speak to the general public like this and not develop a loathe reaction over time. You have to stop alienating and squeezing your customers. You have to stop trying to control the marketplace.
Free enterprise got Apple where it is from its humble beginnings, its complete hypocrisy for them to lock their devices and push out software updates that render older devices useless. On the computing side, they have pushed out 10 years of pointless updates to their Mac operating system which have introduced very few needed features and forced the consumer into upgrades simply to avoid incompatibility.
Apple is now synonymous with greed. They can't destroy their product line and they never will, but they've completely sold out on principles and have lost their human touch.
A company dreamed up and built by a visionary is not a good place to invest when that visionary is gone. The i5 is case in point, most non biased reviews say 'its nothing special', and Jobs had a hand in it!
So Buyer Beware!
Few are likely short the stock at all, and short sellers did not drop the stock 50 points. Labour costs in China and mistakes in execution of a new product are warning signs. Perhaps just a glitch, time will tell. History indicates the kind of dominance aapl
enjoys rarely lasts forever, and the.
visionary is not there any longer. Although more likely than not a correction, the next major move in aapl is likely to be lower, 600 or below.
This is probably true. However, since he's short AAPL, his "fears" are that AAPL will continue to rise. How about mid 700's by end of October. and 800 by end of december quarter.
Still not selling AAPL the next two Wednesday should bring relief.
At any rate good to see the Chinese acting like Americans and challenging the powers that be.
Wednesday, October 19, 2011, 2:13 PM Not all the pros who follow Apple (AAPL -5%) are so sanguine about its earnings miss. Doug Kass, for one, wonders why analysts failed to properly gauge the big impact the iPhone 4S would have on last quarter's sales. Blaming results on “product transitions” often means growth is maturing, so has it peaked at Apple? Plus, Kass thinks too many people are long Apple for the shares to work.