Time To Short Apple?

I know to many Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) fans, that probably sounds sacrilegious.

You may be thinking, "Adam has lost his mind, he must be thinking about another stock, surely not Apple." After all, they just announced two new iPhones and sold 13 million of them this past weekend. They are the leader in the smartphone market, coming out soon with their game-changing Apple TV and a bigger iPad. That is correct, but...

It's not that difficult to look at the market action in the stock and see that it is pathetic. All of that positive PR information comes out about Apple selling 13 million iPhones in a weekend, yet the stock goes down. What's with that? The PR people must be pulling their hair out thinking about what they can do next to push the stock up. One thing I love about Steve Jobs, the original Apple genius, was he didn't give much thought about the stock market. He was more interested in creating insane, cutting-edge products. The new regime at Apple is more interested in pushing the stock price up and being politically correct.

Also, the Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) "act" is getting a little bit old and certainly Apple has not been able to innovate anything new in the past several years.

Even mega investor, Carl Icahn, can't believe that Apple's shares are not higher.

So what's going on with Apple? Continue reading "Time To Short Apple?"

Is It Time To Short Apple?

Is that a sacrilegious thought? Let me say I'm a huge fan of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and have been since I wrote my book "Right on the Money" on a Mac some 20 plus years ago. But that was when Steve Jobs was changing the world with his WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) interface and that silly little mouse that now is an ubiquitous part of our lives.

Times have changed and Steve Jobs is no longer with us, but I'm sure he would be happy to see that his company has overtaken Microsoft as the most valuable corporation in the world to the tune of some $750 billion. We all know that since Steve has passed on, the baton was handed to Tim Cook. Tim Cook is a very talented executive and certainly a master of the supply chain. But does Tim Cook have enough imagination to drive innovation forward in creating new and exciting products?

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Under Tim's leadership, Apple stock has certainly moved higher, no question about that, but what has Apple done lately? We will find out on Monday the 9th, when Apple will unveil a new product. Apple is rumored to be launching its new Apple watch and some upgrades to existing products.

Let me say I would like to be wowed by the Apple watch, but there is a little company called Pebble that has sold more smart watches than all the other smart watch makers combined and that company didn't even exist two years ago. Pebble is led by a very bright and focused individual much like Steve Jobs, who has a vision of what wearables can be and can do. His name is Eric Migicovsky and at 28 years old is the founder and CEO of Pebble. I'm sure we will be hearing a lot more about him and his company in the future. Could this be a David and Goliath technology story as mighty Apple may be felled by a Pebble? Continue reading "Is It Time To Short Apple?"

"One last thing ...thank you, Steve Jobs"

It is so hard, but this is from the heart.

One of my heroes, a genuine American genius has passed away this evening. I am referring to  Steve  Jobs,  who created so much of the technology and innovation that we enjoy and use everyday in our lives.

It was thanks to Steve, that I was able to write my book,  "Right on the Money".  It was thanks to Steve, and the technologies he created and championed, that I was able to make the successful  transition to the digital world.

I'm not sure why I feel so sad, I never met Steve personally, but I felt, I knew him through the technologies he created.  I'm not sure why, surrounded by my iPhone, iPad2 and my MacBook Pro,  all of which  are basically hardware and software, that I miss the heartbeat of Apple. Unless you are an Apple fan, you will not have the same feeling, I have this evening. Thanks to Steve, I feel a connection through the technology he created and believed in.

I feel an enormous loss and void this evening, but I'm not sure how I can explain that to you in words. I was not related to Steve, nor as I said earlier, did I know him personally.  None the less there is a profound sense of loss and sadness that I feel  for Steve and his family,  and the technology world.  Steve passed away at the top of his game, but too early.

I'm sure they're going to be a lot more eloquent tributes to Steve, but this one's from the heart. Thank you Steve, for all that you gave the world. You were the equivalent of a Einstein or a Henry Ford in my mind.  You were a true American maverick, and I will miss,  and forever treasure the technology you created and shared with the rest of the world.

As Steve would say, "One last thing ..."

Thank you,
Adam Hewison
President, INO.com
Cofounder MarketClub.com

The more things change, the more they stay the same

The more things change, the more they stay the same

Last month, on February 10th to be exact, I shared with you the "52-week Friday rule". This was a rule that I learned over 3 decades ago in the markets.

In case you missed this video, which you can watch here, I show you that when a market is closing at a 52-week high on a Friday, you should go long. The rest of the rules are in this video that you should watch as it has been working with amazing regularity.

Continue reading "The more things change, the more they stay the same"

Steve Jobs, Apple, the iPad, and King Gillette

On Wednesday, after much hype and drama, Steve Jobs walked onstage and unveiled Apple's latest creation - the iPad. Having watched almost every key address for Apple for many years I, like many others, were disappointed that the product didn't live up to the hype. Nonetheless, Apple will sell a boatload of these products, but not as many as the iPhone.

Upon reflection, it occurred to me that Steve Jobs is changing the whole business model of Apple and I don't believe anyone has caught on to this yet.

In all the reports I've read after the launch of the iPad, I think every writer/analyst missed this key point: Steve Jobs wants to be like King Gillette.

If you don't know who King Gillette was, you may not old enough to shave. King Gillette started his business at the beginning of the century. His business model is what I believe Apple's business model will be in the future.

Continue reading "Steve Jobs, Apple, the iPad, and King Gillette"