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发帖数: 901 | 1 In another sign of the times, Apple shares are now trading above $400 each.
Apple reported a blowout second quarter, with sales up 82% and net income up
125% versus the same period last year.
At more than $400 a share, Apple's market cap is $374 billion, about 11% shy
of ExxonMobil's $417 billion market cap. ExxonMobil is the largest public
company in the U.S. by market cap. Apple is the second largest… but closing
fast.
That said, it doesn't make much sense to compare the two companies by market
cap. Apple is known for amassing excess capital on its balance sheet. It's
got more than $76 billion in cash and securities. ExxonMobil, on the other
hand, is constantly taking capital off the table for the benefit of
shareholders. It buys back shares, pays down debt, and has raised its
dividend every year for the last 28 years.
So the press thinks this is a sign of the times because Apple is a
technology company and ExxonMobil is an oil company. But it's really a sign
of the times because Apple doesn't pay out dividends or buy back shares…
And ExxonMobil is one of the all-time world champions of both. Which would
you rather own? It's not much of a question when you look at it that way.
And in 10 years, which company has a greater likelihood of seeing a lot more
competition? Right now, there's no contest. Apple sold 9.25 million iPads
last quarter, versus less than 1.4 million Android-run tablets. But in five
or 10 years, who knows?
Another problem with Apple is the same problem facing all the other big,
cash-rich tech companies. When it makes profits overseas, it has to bank
them there or pay a huge repatriation tax to bring them home. Without that
problem, some of the bigger tech companies – like Microsoft, Cisco, and
Intel – would either pay out higher dividends or make larger and more
frequent share repurchases.
Apple, on the other hand, seems to think it's the tech sector's Berkshire
Hathaway. Berkshire doesn't buy back shares or pay dividends… But it has
the greatest investor in history investing the capital. Apple doesn't.
We get fewer reports of Netflix's market cap, which shrunk by about 9%
yesterday and another 7% today. The world is catching on to what I've been
saying for months. Streaming costs more money than renting DVDs does, and
somebody is going to have to pay for it. Netflix raised prices recently and
split streaming from DVD rental. So now, they're two separate services.
In a letter filed with the SEC yesterday, Netflix told investors price hikes
to its services will likely result in slower growth next quarter. Also, it
has recently picked up a new, enormous, well-financed competitor: Wal-Mart.
Wal-Mart's website will now offer streaming video. Like Netflix, the service
is available on numerous devices, including set-top boxes. It offers 20,000
titles and will include many movies the same day they're released on DVD. | s*********8
发帖数: 901 | 2 And billionaire hedge-fund manager John Paulson thinks it's going lower…
Paulson, whose fund recently lost on financials and Chinese reverse merger
Sino Forest, admitted he was "too aggressive" in his positions. Currently,
his net long exposure is around 60%, down from 81%. "Eighty-one percent was
way too high. We cannot operate the fund at that level," Paulson said on a
call to investors. "I'd like to bring the risk down further to about 50%."
In addition to diversifying his financial holdings away from firms with
heavy mortgage exposure, Paulson is also shorting the euro… He, like us,
expects more destruction from the EU debt crisis. | b******r
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