Eye on Apple

Stock markets are closed for Martin Luther Kind day.  When they reopen tomorrow Apple will be the most interesting one to follow.  Last week they announced they are going to start selling the iPhone on the nation's number one phone service, Verizon.  Both the iPad and iPhone 4 have exceeded all sales expectations.  The company valued at $320 billion will announce 4th quarter earnings and they are expected to be off-the-charts good.

All signs that the stock is poised to move up, right? 

Today it was announced that Steve Jobs is taking a medical leave of absence.  I can't think of any other CEO who is viewed as the driver of success the way Steve Jobs is at Apple. 

Quick, name the CEO of the largest company in the world?  The largest company is Exxon and its CEO is a guy I've never heard of. 

So what will happen to the stock price?  The Verizon news means the company will sell millions more iPhones... on top of already incredible sales.  Still, I think the Jobs news is going to bring Apple's stock price down. 

If you want to watch on Tuesday here's the link. 

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By the way, not to brag but during the financial meltdown I highlighted four stocks that were ridiculously undervalued.  Here were their prices at the time, followed by their prices now and percentage increase:

Apple:   $91.13  now $348.48... up 282%
ebay:     $14.31  now 29.18... up 103%
Google: $327.24 now $624.18 up 90.7%
Coke:    $41.12  now $63.13 up 51%  (Coke pays dividends... meaning the return to an investor is higher than 51% because they got money back from the company.  If I had ever taken a finance class I could calculate the value of those dividends, but suffice to say the Coke increase is better than 51%)

The overall stock market is up 40% since that prediction so picking four winners does not make me a god, but it's still a pretty good record. 

Apple's gain of 282% means if you had invested $1000 just a little over 2 years ago you would have $2820 now.  Ahh, if only I had money.