Apple Stock News / Rambling
Pictured: Steve Jobs, Overlord of Apple, Inc.
Who doesn't know Apple? Wherever Apple Goes, a new
"innovative" product comes up. Love it or Hate it (mostly the later
for me), Apple revolutionizes the industry it enters in. The iPod and iPhone
are the latest examples of what Apple could achieve if it set its mind to.
Right now, about every phone maker out there is trying their best to bring out
the perfect imitator to the Iphone, and although many have come close, no one
has beat it (I am strongly rooting for a Phone based on Google Android to beat
Apple). As you may have figured it out by now, I am no fan of Apple, although I
do enjoy their products, have been an owner of Ipod for a long, long time, but
there are quite a few things about that annoys me - one of them being how they
tried to sneakily get windows users to install Apple Safari browser in disguise
of an update to Itunes (That must have sure got the folks at Mozilla and
Microsoft all riled up).
Apple Stock News Contd.
Nonetheless, this article isn't about me reporting my annoyances with Apple, rather it is to talk about Apple's stock performance for the year to date, some relevant and important news, and history of Apple Stock along with some corporate information regarding the company.
In this article I will discuss how Apple Inc's stock fared this year, how its competitors like Microsoft and Google performed. I will also compare Apple's stock performance with Dow Jones, NASDAQ, SAP 500, and the technology industry.
Pictured Below: Apple Inc Logo
Apple Inc. Company Basics
Company Name: Apple Inc.
Ticker Symbol: AAPL
On October 31st, Apple Inc's stock closed at $107.59, down $3.45. The stock opened at $107.37, reached a high of $110.78, and a low of $105.14. For the day, 59.29 million shares changed hand - fairly well traded company on NASDAQ exchange. Apple Inc has a Market Capital of $95.57 billion, and a 52 Week high of $202.96, and an all time 52-week low of $85. The stock has a beta of 2.62, meaning the company's stock is 162% more volatile than the market. About 888 million shares are public, of which 66% are owned by institutions. As of 13th August, Steve Jobs owned approximately 5.5 million shares in Apple. FMR, Barclays, State Street, Northern Trust, Bank of New York Mellon are some of the major institutional holders. Growth fund of America, Fidelity Contrafund, SPDR Trust Series 1, Janus Twenty Fund, and College Retirement Equities Fund are some of the major mutual fund holders. Apple Inc does not issue any dividends, and the last time it offered a dividend was in 1995. The last time Apple stock was split was in February 2005.About 2.8% of shares that are floated are shorted, which comes to 24.2 million shares (this is as of October 10).
Apple Stock
Performance Year to Date
The last 3 months saw a gradual decline in stock price of Apple. Apple's stock saw also a gradual decline from the beginning of the year to early march. From March, Apple Inc saw its stock rise steadily until June. From June, Apple saw a modest drop in its stock price August. Apple Inc. started the year at $194.84, and ended yesterday at $107.59. For year 2008 (until OCT 31), Apple's stock high for the year, was its closing price of the first day of 2008, $194.93. The stock tested its low only recently, with $88.74 on October 9. For the year, Apple's stock declined by 45.68% or $90.49. Apple's decline in its stock price was comparable to Google, which had a decline of 48%, Dell, which declined by 50%, and Research In Motion (RIMM) which an even steeper decline of 55%.
Apple Inc Vs Google,
Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, Dell, and Research In Motion.
Among Apple's competitors, Apple's stock performance would be moderate (in terms of losing less). As stated before, Apple lost about 46% of its stock price. Google was close to Apple Inc's stock performance, losing about 48% of its value. Of all the 6 companies, Hewlett-Packard fared the best, losing only 24% of its value. Research in Motion along with Dell both lost over 50% of their stock price. Dell lost about 50%, while Research in Motion lost about 55.5%. Microsoft on the other hand lost about 37% of its stock price.
The image below will show these 6 companies performed for the year to date.
Apple, Computer
Hardware Industry and Major Indexes
Compared to NASDAQ, Down Jones, and S&P 500, Apple's stock performed poorly. NASDAQ lost about 35% of its value; Dow Jones lost about 30% of its value, while S&P 500 lost 34% of its value. In regards to Computer Hardware Industry, Apple performed a bit better, besting it by 5%. Computer Hardware Industry lost about 51% of its value. Some of the biggest companies in Computer Hardware Industry include - Apple Inc, Dell Inc, Sun Microsystems, Ingram Micro, and Tech Data Corporation. All of the above mentioned companies have a market capital above 1 billion dollars.
In the below graph, you will see how the Computer Hardware Industry performed compared to S&P 500.
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