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As someone who sold his Apple shares when they were $22 before two stock splits ago, I think I just pissed myself after reading that headline

Now THAT'S a target!!

Once again, from his lips to God's ears!

Let's ask first to Laura Goldman what does she thinks about...... (lol)

I dont think its that far fetched. Every % point of Mac sales is worth billions of dollars in increased revenue. Not to mention iPhone expansion and the dark horse, Apple TV.

this guy is just showing off let's get to 200 first

Mark it on your calendar and see how many days before Apple hits $600 per share. Then remind us.



(magic word: water) Water means unlimited for Apple!

Laura Goldman: "I am putting another nail in my coffin."

YEAH, BABY !!!!!!!

When I think of all the money that I've spent on Manolos and Jimmy Chus ...

Eh better than that, back in 2001 i believe apple was down at $15 a share, since then i think it has split twice, you do the math.

"When I think of all the money that I've spent on Manolos and Jimmy Chus ..."

Evidence that many Mac users are actually gay.

@ observer,

Duh.

News Flash! Many PC/Windows users are gay.

Are we done here?
Great.

I should of invested in Gold or Apple Stock...

Does that make apple's stock golden?

I'll just keep spending my money on hookers and blow

yeah, I know it's fun picking on Laura but how do you know she didn't dump her AAPL stock and bought RIMM (Blackberry) which has tripled in the same period AAPL has doubled? I don't know what RIMM is doing right but they are making headway into the consumer and small business markets in a large way. Maybe the iPhone needs native encrypted email. Also native apps helps as well. (sorry for getting off track)

When you think about how little market share the Mac has, and just how few people, in general, own Apple products now, it is easier to see the massive potential for growth.

Let's put this to the "smell test". The largest companies in the world are Exxon Mobil and PetroChina (as of 10/15/07).

Apple's PE ratio is already around 47 (as of 10/26/2007). Can you imagine what it'll be if the stock is at 600? And even if earnings more than triple (and who knows), it'll still be 50 or so, which is pretty high for a huge company.

Using today's prices, if AAPL is trading at 600 with the same # shares outstanding, its market cap would be about 525 billion. Yes, over half a trillion. Depending on how long that takes, that would put it ahead of every other company in the world (provided Exxon Mobil and PetroChina aren't rising all that fast). Consult this handy list: http://tinyurl.com/yw8skg. Yeah, AAPL will eventually be that large, if they keep their act together, and SJ doesn't get struck by lightning. Like Berkshire Hathaway without Buffet, what'll AAPL be without SJ? Wait, we already know the answer to that question.

That said, am I kicking myself for not buying AAPL back in 2003? Hell yes.

That's funny...My lady friend and I discuss this often. I've been telling her that Apple's stock price belongs up there with Google's, which is in the 600's. I also told her last year that Apple was "a $200 stock waiting to happen."

It's very interesting that someone else sees it too.

I'm just looking at the brand-new iPhone that hasn't even gone global yet, the iPod Touch that just hit the streets, the Leopard effect, the "MacBook Thin" featuring Multitouch that hasn't dropped yet, Steve just said they're going to keep up the pace (i.e. "pressure") with regular OS updates (12-18 months) for the foreseeable future, the hidden potential of Apple TV landing in everybody's living room eventually, the hidden potential of Multitouch itself, full ZFS integration down the line, etc., etc., etc.

Apple's stock price is STILL low, IMHO. Good times ahead!

Peace.
Olmecmystic

I sold my Apple shares recently. I had bought at $25.50 and held them for a fair long while. They split making my effective cost $12.75 per share.. I sold half at $89.75 and recently sold the rest at $160.

Now if shares are at $185, going to $600 doesn't sound like such a wild and unimaginable growth at 324%...

Afer all, even splitting my gains I still did better than 970%

Of course now.. I wish I still held on for some more... but hindsight is 20/20.. but a bird in the hand...

OK.. too many clichés eh?

Jay

Well ok, let's just assume Laura bought RIMM and it tripled at the same time AAPL Doubled. So how does that justify her putting a sell on AAPL ? It did double didn't it ? She was still wrong about it. Its not just about making fun of her, its also about saying the truth well and exposing how wrong these analysts can be.

I remember when Apple stock was $9/share back in 1997 and there has even been a stock split since then.... which means Apple stock has gone from $9 to $370 in the past 10 years.

Paging Laura Goldman. Paging Laura Goldman. Your crow has arrived. Laura Goldman, your crow has arrived on the loading dock. Please arrange to pick up all 5 tons before the end of day. Thank you.

Do I hear $1000?

It's really nice to see someone attempting to make REAL predictions instead of just stating the obvious based on current short-term trends. Predicting AAPL will go to $100 when it's at $85 and climbing hardly requires a sixth sense or reading entrails.

However predicting a meteoric rise of 100% within a one year time frame, accurately, takes some guts. Investment advisors are not usually long on guts when it comes to public prognostication. And they're usually wrong, to boot. (See: Goldman, Laura. Aka: nutjob.)

I don't know a lot about stocks, investments, etc. But I do know that Apple as a company is on as solid a footing as I could imagine for future growth. I've felt over the last few years that almost all the investment "advice" has been either too conservative or simply manipulative. Nice to see something on the other end of the spectrum for a change.

@Retarded_Baboon,

Exactly what does "should of" mean? I do think you mean "should have," as in some missed prior action or opportunity.

Seriously, until one has a decent grip on the English language, the ability to invest wisely isn't exactly paramount.

Since we're "pie-in-the-skying" here, what should Apple do when then get to $600/share and a market cap of $525 B?

Buy Micro$oft.

:-D

why would Apple be worth more than a company with twenty times the profits and revenue ?

i think that guy forgot to look at apple's current market cap, it' can't go on increasing for ever !

not passed exxon, never !

Just for fun, I called a radio investment show about a year ago to ask about holding on to my Apple stock. The oh-so-savvy host (who sells securities) commented that Apple just makes a gadget, and advised me to take my nice (at that time) profits, since there wasn't much upside to the stock. I'm so glad I ignored his (crappy) advice.

MDN Word: horse, as in "Horse...well, you know."

And I thought my AAPL price targets were high at 350 - 450 in 24 months.
And there is a bunch of products (Pro and Consumer) that Apple still as the wrappers on according to my sources.

MDN Word: stay as in, If you own AAPL stay the course for the ride up to the top.

$600 is not an outrageous number for the next few years. It’s not hard to figure out.

Let’s say Apple meets its iPhone sales target for 2008 (10M iPhones). The crucial question is how that translates into earnings. I’ve read these numbers; $135 profit on the sale of a iPhone + $432 for contract fees from ATT ($18 x 24 months). That’s $567 profit per iPhone. At 10M units, iPhones will add $5.67 BILLION to Apple’s earnings.

REPEAT: $5.67 BILLION. That’s nearly twice Apple’s earnings for 2007.

$600/share is probably a stretch for 2008. If iPhones sales accelerate beyond Apple’s expectations, you bet that $600 is achievable.

While the point about Apple's market value being $525 billion at this level is a good one - I still see this as a possibility. There is no other single company that has the ability and foresight to dominate the mp3 and video/music sales/rentals market, have about 25% of the mobile phone market, not to mention maybe 10-15% of the PC market hardware and software. Put all of these together (which I think are reasonable targets) and it makes since that Apple could be considered a 500 billion dollar company. No other company has the ability or possibility of putting these characteristics on their resume.

Martin said, “Why would Apple be worth more than a company with twenty times the profits and revenue ?

i think that guy forgot to look at apple's current market cap, it' can't go on increasing for ever !

not passed exxon, never !”

I think Martin forgot to look at Apple's low current market share in all but the music player market. The markets that Apple is attacking are huge and Apple's chances of achieving a leading position in those markets are outstanding. While Apple can not out value all markets put together, it can indeed grow to be the largest company on the planet. Apple will hit a market cap of 1 trillion dollars in not too many more years. And the doubters will be eating crow once again.

$600 sounds stellar but have in mind it is around 325% of today's stock price. In the last 5 years, AAPL rose around 2000%. In a reasonable time frame with rising Mac and iPhone sales $600 might well happen. 2 years from now?

I"m Laura Goldman and I am going to hang myself tonight.

$600.00 a share, if google can do it why not Apple? Between the Mac and the iPhone, how room is there for growth and profits? The sky is the limit, which in my mind means so is the stock price.

Apple TV, that needs plenty of nurturing but anything can happen. The iPod and Apple TV are content orientated and Apple already has the music player market. TV and video are different but Steve will figuare it out.

$600.00.... heres to ya!

Well, just to be conservative, if we split the difference between this figure, and Laura Goldman's sell order, we get $355.

I can live with that.

-jcr

Apple stock price has grown 40 fold since 1999. That makes my 125% gain minor in comparison.

What Apple has that a lot of tech companies don't is potential for more growth. Many have said it here, new products, new areas to sell products, low market share in computers, phones and poor competition in those areas.

If Apple increase their profits 6 fold they can be at 600 with half the PE ratio. That to me is not unbelievable.

@ Linux Guy And Mac Prodigal Son

Apple has 8.1% of the PC market, and a small (but solid, and very rapidly growing) share of the phone marker

do the math, they can't reach exxons numbers, even if they take a 50% share in both markets (and that's impossible anyway)

AAPL gained a lot, because their results keep improving, and they were undervalued, but there is a limit, from now on (or let's say from January on) the value of the stock will be me in par with the results, undervaluation is gone.

i'm a believer, but $600 is absurd.

let's say 300, 350 max.
(or more realisticaly, 250)

@Thomas from Deutschland

yes they gained 2000+ % that's no garantee to gain 6000%.

2000 + 300 % is not 2300 %, but 6000 (but u know that i'm sure)

@Walk away Bill just walk away

yes google did it, but with a smaller number of shares, if one share of apple reaches $600 they will be worth over double the value of GOOG.

@ MegaMe: I also sold my shares shortly before the split, in order to make a downpayment on my house. It's ironic that had I held onto the stock for just a little while longer, I would have been able to purchase my house outright! Oh well, it's hard to complain when I have a roof over my head. Cheers...

Martin,

You've forgotten the component cost factor. As Apple showed last Xmas quarter, when they sell masses of one product (iPods) they can demand lower component costs. They made 1B then mostly because they sold 20 M ipods.

The same will bee true for Macs as they increase market share. And probably true for the iPhone too.

The point is that they don't have to double their income to double their profit.

$600, $700, whatever...

"Chicken Little Fund Group"? "Chicken Little Growth Fund"? I mean, maybe it's cos i'm not a local. But the name doesn't really evoke a feeling of confidence to me!

Everything is impossible until it isn't.

Martin: Well, I know, $600 is +325% from now on, not from 2002. Sure you cannot add 2000%+325%, but remember AAPL rose by 20x in 5 years and it might be possible to rise by 3x in a similar time frame from now on if Apple's market share will keep rising. Thumbs up but don't bet on it.

Thinking of pumping $15,000 into Apple while the Aussie dollar is kicking the yank at 92c. Pronanly make more than any bank will give me in interest.
I suppose the more who 'chip in' to Apple helps them as well.

I meant probably.

(MDN - edit functions would be handy)