If you're an Apple investor you'll be elated at the following news... seven (7) days ago, Apple's stock price jumped to $502.
That's up $97 from it's adjusted close on December 30, 2011, of $405.00, reflecting a year-to-date increase of 24%.
Today, it fluctuated between $507.16 and $514.85 reflecting a 2.54% increase over today's opening price of $507.16.
This increase reflects :
1) A general rally of the US stock market (denoted by the Dow Jones Industial Average and the S&P500), today, due to positive corporate earnings reports and the good news of the Greece's decision to proceed with austerity measures as set down by the European Union.
2) The great feeling that investors are having right now for Apple stock.
With analyst consensus being a "buy" for the stock, should you go out and buy it?
Well, Apple is a good brand, but as per the advice in article, "Apple stock powers past $500", there are several value stocks that you can get (that are cheaper), whose collective increase will be greater than that of Apple stock for this year.
(Apple's stock price is estimated to end the year at $570.73).
But look at the dividends Apple and those stocks are paying and decide.
If however, you have deep pockets and want to diversify your portfolio with a tech stock that will gain about $60 this year, go ahead.
(By the way, if you need deeper analysis of this let me know, I'll arrange it...)
Now, another of the things that Apple is doing right is being very responsive to its advertisers and developers.
iAd advertisers are finally getting a big break - in that they can now expect to pay US $100,000 vs the US$500,000 they paid previously, as the starting price to run their ads within iPhone and iPad apps.
This is after advertisers complained that they were paying too much for iAds..and were migrating to the Google Android platform..so much so that Google has captured 24% of the mobile display ad market of US $630 million.
For developers, iAd developer ad revenue is now 70% versus the 60% previously:
So what this means is that Apple developers should be seeing more green as they now get 70% of revenue generated by those ads shown within their mobile apps on the iPhone and iPad.
So this is good news all around, for developers, advertisers and Apple.
(NB: The above stock advice, does not substitute for advice from your certified financial adviser. Please check this person for financial advice.
I would like to thank zolierdos for the use of his Flickr inset photo of the Apple logo).
Sources Include
1) Article, "Apple stock powers past $500", by Matt Krantz, USA Today|Money, Updated February 21,2012
2) Article, "Apple Slashes iAd Pricing Again as Mobile Ad Share Declines", by Kunur Patel, AdAge Digital, February 14,2012
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