Re: AAPL. Best investing advice I have ever seen.
First, the disclaimer: Back in November, when shares of AAPL were up in the $600-$700 range, I put in a limit buy order that was way, way off the market. I wasn't sure that it would be accepted. To my amazement, it was. The order expired in mid-January, and I renewed it. On Friday, the order was executed. I now own a teeny, tiny amount of AAPL. I don't own so much that it will ruin me if there's a crash. Come Monday, I might be sorry I bought when I did, or I might not. I don't know. If I knew the answers to questions like that, I wouldn't be spending my time posting at DU, would I?
If you want to know of my investing prowess, you should be aware that, way back when, I bought shares of Nortel and Washington Mutual too. I'd tell you to go look them up, but you can't. They went kerplooey. Just about every penny is gone.
At any rate, some twelve or thirteen years ago, I'd turn on the TV to hear exactly the same things said of Enron, JDSU, Dr. Koop.com, Pets.com (or whatever the dot com with the sock puppet in its ads was called) as people were saying of AAPL last year. "It's going to $800." "It's going to $900." "It's going to $1100." Now the same people are telling you the exact opposite.
This guy has it right.
Apple analysts are of no value to investors
John Shinal's Tech Investor Archives
Jan. 26, 2013, 6:01 a.m. EST
Apple analysts are of no value to investors
By John Shinal
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — The wave of target-price cuts this week from those who get paid to follow Apple Inc.’s financials is a reminder of a valuable lesson for retail investors: When sentiment changes on a stock, the last places you’ll hear about it are in the reports of Wall Street analysts.
When I was a reporter covering Cisco Systems Inc. in the late 1990s, it was my job to talk to several analysts a day to find out the latest bit of news that might move the networking company’s share price.
If the stock moved more than 2% on any uptick in volume, I had to write a story explaining why. After dealing with that every day for about three years, I realized the overwhelming majority of analysts had no better clue than I did about what was moving Cisco’s stock.
Based on that experience, I developed a rule that has since served me well, first as a journalist and then as an investor: If you hope to make money on a stock, you have to ignore what 90% of the analysts are saying about it.
Say, whatever happened to that Henry Blodget fellow? Well, would you look at that. He's still handing out advice.
How Low Could Apple Go?
Final disclaimers: I do not own an iPhone. I do not own a smart phone. I do not have cellphone service of any kind. I think anyone who would stand in line overnight to buy a cellphone has rocks in his head. Fanboys need to get a life.
This is not a solicitation to buy or sell stocks, but you are free, indeed encouraged, to humiliate me as you see fit.
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You have guts! Me, I rely on pros at TRowePrice and morganstanleysmithbarney to do my 'ulcer-work' for me. Seems to be paying off.
and I misspoke: Would NOT seek to humiliate you!
DOW down 14.4 now, today. I earned a few bucks last week; we'll see.
