

Apple elbows Google aside to become Silicon Valley's most valuable company - adrianwaj
http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_14903039

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jimbokun
'"The reason Apple has been able to do so well is that it produces products
that consumers want," Kaufman Brothers analyst Shaw Wu said. "That's something
that's very difficult and, frankly, something a lot of companies struggle
with."'

Sounds familiar.

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SlyShy
<http://www.google.com/finance?q=goog,+aapl>

Google has a higher profit margin, it should be noted. So yeah, Apple has
issued more stock, and by stock prices it is more "valuable". I'd still rather
own Google than Apple, if I were given a choice.

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solutionyogi
Really? From April 2005 to April 2010, AAPL appreciated by 583% whereas GOOG
went up by only 219%. AAPL has multiple winners and personally, I would own
AAPL vs GOOG.

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jongraehl
Apple's historical appreciation is nearly irrelevant when you consider whether
you want to own it _today_ at its present price.

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josephd
Obviously the argument about if Apple's growth is sustainable or not also
hinges on something troublesome about its history: the presence or absence of
Steve Jobs. Will you invest in a company that is so much personified in an
individual who will definitely leave someday?

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nl
The really interesting thing is the market capitalization:
<http://www.google.com/finance?q=goog,+aapl,+msft>

Apple is less than $50 billion ( < 20%) behind Microsoft in total valuation.
If you compare the P/E ratio of Apple & Microsoft then you can see there is
some expectation that Apple could overtake Microsoft in market cap sometime
comparatively soon.

Who'd have predicted that in 2000? Or even 2005?

(Speaking of historical predictions, who would have predicated that Microsoft,
Apple and Google would all be bigger than IBM in market cap?)

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r0s
Is this a sign AAPL is over-valued? Not trying to rag on Apple here, genuinely
interested.

~~~
nl
It's a sign that investors think Apple's revenues are going to grow further.

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ww520
Sigh. Too bad I sold my APPL three years ago. Got it when it was $19 though.

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adrianwaj
I suspect Apple will do a watch or in-car device. Both are ubiquitous
electronic personal devices not yet Apple'fied. For it to occur, it depends on
some new technology to come along that Apple can integrate into them better
than others.

\-- I think a watch will happen when rfid or other eps devices replace cash

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3pt14159
All I can think of right now is this: "Short Apple, buy Google"

Building products is HARD, even when you have a completely dedicated fanbase.
Fixed costs per unit are just too high. Physical store presence is needed.
Things come back on warranty. Support costs are high.

The difference is that not only does Google have none of those drawbacks, but
their product actually becomes more valuable as more people use it (more
statistical significance on predictions and tests, finer grained advertising
offerins, etc). So, in other words, their sources of revenue get more value
out of Google even if they are only targeting the same raw number of people,
because it will better optimized.

Also, Google's per user costs are so low and the scalability of any software
they design or buyout is so high that they have a much, much higher chance of
ten folding their earnings in the next two years than Apple does. And at the
end of the day, I don't look past two years when investing.

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noibl
Say 'surge' again. I dare you!

