International Individual Stock Discussion

Hi guys, thought id start a thread where we could talk about specific stocks and companies individually.

In the interest of transparency, if you comment on a stock and you own it, please disclose that info.

I might kick things off by bringing up Apple.

They've had a 25% drop from their recent high and people are still selling.

I think this might be a great time to get in, perhaps to dollar cost average into it over the next 3-6 months.

Everyone is so concerned about dropping iPhone 6 sales, but surely this is purely because everyone that got the 6 is waiting for the 7 to come out later this year rather than upgrade now to the 6s?

What are people's thoughts on Apple?

 

Apple's innovation has been getting worse year by year and they're getting more and more competitors in the market offering at least comparable products at better prices. I think the market is reacting to that, both in phone sales (The other s models haven't shown as little as the 6s for example) and share price.

That said it's still a solid company that makes great profits.

 

Agreed!

Apple are still growing gross margins at the rate of around 1.5% per annum. Margins have increased from 37.6% in FY2013 to 38.6% in FY14 and to 40.1% in FY15. For any company that is special, for a company as huge as Apple it is amazing.

They also have billions in cash reserves. Apple are not going anywhere. The recent share price fall is a buying opportunity.

Disclosure: I hold AAPL

 

i dont buy the notion that apple aren't innovating still.

they will be an iPhone company for the forseeable future and that is COMPLETELY fine.

they will continue to introduce new products to market, some will work (iPad), some won't (large iPad). i think the Apple Watch will work, but i think it will be the 3rd or 4th version that will take off, not these early iterations.

other companies are entering the smart phone market, but Apples margins continue to remain high and they still have the smart phone that most want. and they have huge growth opportunities in China still.

its funny that a company that makes so much profit has such a bearish outlook yet Amazon, that reports no profits, is seeing its share price grow. Amazon sinks all their money into other ventures that they believe will grow their company. What's their PE right now? Apple are also investing in the future, its just that they are secret about it.

Apple have $US200 Billion in cash reserves.

To put that into perspective, Tesla's market cap is currently $US28 Billion.

They have huge opportunities still imo and have the capital to make it happen.

 

I think their innovation is very stale in recent times. What was the last new feature on an iPhone? I can't honestly think of the last time that an iPhone added something that wasn't a copy from another product that did it first, the selling point on the iPhone for the last 4+ editions has basically been "bigger screen, thinner, more megapixels, faster processor and every second one gets a better battery". It's an update not an innovative upgrade, which I think is why sales are slumping. I can do everything on my iPhone 5 that people with the 6s can do, their's is bigger and faster but even the speed is negligible.

I'm the opposite on the Apple Watch. Traditional watches are jewelry and nothing more nowadays so essentially the Apple Watch is an attempt to make a piece of functional jewelry, I don't really get the point of it to be honest. It is going to need to add some serious flash to even remotely appeal to me personally and given that I still haven't actually seen one on the streets I'd say I'm not alone. I just don't get what they are hoping they will achieve with it.

I do think the driverless car technology that Apple are apparently working on is brilliant (you drive in Perth long enough and you work out how amazing driverless cars sound, believe me!) and if they pull that particular development off then it's on for young and old. I just think that their electronics devices have become stale, people are realising that they're not getting any functional improvement from the phone so why upgrade every time, iPads are even slower in this regard.

As I said though, I still think they're a fundamentally strong company and investment, I just think the decline is because they've almost changed their stage in the business cycle unless they can start to be an innovator again instead of a follower. Now they've got a great market share that they defend well but they're slowly losing it to more innovative competitors. Of course it's Apple and their ability to keep things under wraps means that tomorrow they could announce the next revolutionary piece of technology and given their fundamental strength that alone makes them a good buy, I just understand why they're price is coming back a bit and think something needs to happen to change that general direction for them.

 

Hi all
As this is a thread on individual stocks l would like if one of you can please advise me on BWP
This company operates as a trust so how does that effect me as a share holder ?
Does it have tax implications?
Can l sell these shares at anytime?
I purchase shares as a individual no trusts,companies etc

I have not bought any BWP yet.

Cheers
Offshore