These days, it seems I can’t so much as open up my Facebook page without seeing headlines about Apple sprinkled throughout my newsfeed.
Between the EU’s back-tax demand on the company; CEO Tim Cook’s response to it; Tim Cook’s insider selling of his stock; and now the leak that the iPhone Pro is being cancelled amidst reports that no patent for the device will be sought in one of Apple’s major target markets — Russia — there’s little chance that any financial media site will neglect the world’s biggest tech brand.
As I write this, shares of Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) are trading for just under $107, or about 5% below the six-month highs, which saw the stock rise past $112 back in April.
Many analysts are predicting that the company is post-peak, that it’s already several quarters into a slow but unstoppable decline trend.
And while I cannot disagree that the company may indeed be past its heyday — which I personally think ended the moment Steve Jobs passed away — something tells me we’re going to see a resurgence this month, and a fairly predictable one at that.
52-week highs came last year in November, taking shares to $122 on the heels of a product launch: the 12.9-inch iPad.
This year — in fact, this month — a far bigger, more anticipated product launch is scheduled, as Tim Cook will take the stage to (most likely) unveil the iPhone 7.
Just Call It What It Is: The Biggest Stock Pump of the Year
Taking place at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco on Wednesday, September 7, at 10 a.m. local time, you can bet that the entire tech universe will have its eyes peeled for the event, no matter how much the talking heads shake their heads at the company’s current generation of products or goliath-magnitude market capitalization.
Is it going to be a quantum leap or just another incremental improvement in software, camera technology, and storage capacity?
Will it be waterproof? Will it feature wireless charging?
I honestly don’t think it matters.
The fact is — and has always been since Steve Jobs first introduced the world to the iPhone nine years ago — Apple’s consumer base exists with or without innovation.
For now, at least, the brand will have legions of followers who will buy anything with the iconic logo, even if it’s overpriced, underpowered, and downright behind the competition.
And let’s face it: if share pricing doesn’t take a swan dive on news that the European Union is trying to shake the company down to the tune of $14.5 billion, what do you think might happen when that same company releases the latest iteration of a product that’s already sold over half a billion units?
Where do I expect shares to be trading that week? Hard to say at this point… But a couple-dollar enhancement over current price shouldn’t be a stretch.
Remember this: group mentality is far more emotional than individual mentality.
If you see people getting excited about the new product, you’d better believe that the trading masses will magnify this per-capita excitement several fold.
Will the bump last? Probably not for long because in the end, yes, Apple is starting to show its age.
Short of introducing something huge and game changing, like an electric car, for example, it’s simply grown too big and oversaturated all of its markets to maintain momentum.
For the next few weeks, however, a cool-headed investor just might be in luck.