Apple shares - Invest or not invest?

Thrugelmir

innovate wrote: »

Do you know how much do Samsung and Nokia and RIM are paying? And Microsoft and Google, for that matter?

Not a trick question, I honestly don't know.

No I don't. Read the Apple figure recently.

Only saving grace for Apple is that hi tech manufacturing is being returned to USA. Then parts shipped to China for assembly. So are generating new jobs.

sabretoothtigger

Thrugelmir wrote: »

Like Starbucks consumers can vote with their wallets.

If consumers operated morally, we'd all ride bicycles daily. Instead we support many regimes similar to Syria
Starbucks is a comparitive saint, ultimately they pay taxes via VAT and their employees NI and similar kind of things.

Tax laws are like this to encourage business revenue and employment, probably more important then face value tax.
The flaw might be on import taxes, Starbucks UK has to effectively import and pay for a brand name but pay no tax on those 'goods' yet other firms importing raw goods are paying import tax?
The only thing to have a level playing field, so UK can make their own coffee

Thrugelmir

sabretoothtigger wrote: »

If consumers operated morally, we'd all ride bicycles daily. Instead we support many regimes similar to Syria
Starbucks is a comparitive saint, ultimately they pay taxes via VAT and their employees NI and similar kind of things.

Do you remember Gerald Ratner? Takes years to build a brand name. Yet takes 5 minutes to lose it.

Consumers can be vicious when riled. Plenty of choice on the High Street.

Starbucks has lost sales. Costa amongst others has been the winner.

PS Starbucks is primarily a franchise operation in the UK.

merlingrey

Industrial growth in China and cheaper offerings and lack of a visionary like steve jobs could set it back with diminished income stream.

You have to predict demand and know the demand will remain in the future if you cannot do it then you don't invest.

They are in a position where competition could steal the limelight and the stock will drop 80-90% if the demand goes away and they don't come up with a new killer device.

UsernameAlreadyExists

Reaper wrote: »

My feeling is that Apple has peaked. Their recent products have been incremental not revolutionary. And look at the iPad Mini - worse in every way to Google's Nexus other than the range of apps of course. And even if Apple could come up with a decent map app (which it seems they can't) you woudn't be able to use it as it has no GPS!

I don't know how long punters will be willing to keep upgrading to the latest product at premium prices unless they can come up with something genuinely new.

To me this is a company that is past its best.

However if you are still determined to invest have a look at this comparison thread. It marks the which ones allow you to buy overseas stocks.
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3153942

And how right you were. Today they dropped back through 400.

Reaper

UsernameAlreadyExists wrote: »

And how right you were. Today they dropped back through 400.

Thanks, but bear in mind I am not saying don't buy them at all. Every company (except those going bust which Apple is not) has a price at which they are worth buying. The tricky bit is knowing what that price is.

Thrugelmir

Competition maybe their downfall.

Apple Faces $65 iPad Rivals in China

http://www.cnbc.com/id/100648407

innovate

Pile into chinese funds if you fancy a gamble :cool:

sabretoothtigger

Think Apple is a buy around here, share wise just because its been this price so often in the past it helps to support it after this fall.
The company itself was never that overvalued, they will announce some news soon maybe.

Can China easily just copy apple, I thought they were too quick to catch. Samsung maybe but they operate legally in the main ie copyright

yield of 2.71% well supported, reasonable prospects?

brasso

Thrugelmir wrote: »

Competition maybe their downfall.

They've always had competition, and competition has usually spurred them into further innovation. Will it continue to happen post-Jobs? Who knows?

Depends an awful lot on the what Apple TV turns out to be and whether the Apple Watch gets off the ground and does something new.

I can't predict the future of the share price, but as someone who has finally come to appreciate Apple after years of deriding the Apple mania thing, I'm certain the company itself will continue to exist and continue to have a large and loyal 'fanbase'. Once you use their hardware, it's not easy to look elsewhere.