Watch Goldman Sachs' Rod Hall defend his $165 Apple price target

"At this point," says CNBC's Jon Fortt, "that would be a long way down."

My take: I can't tell if Hall is serious or if he's trolling. He's been wrong before. See Goldman Sachs’ Rod Hall eats hat, raises Apple price target to $240

13 Comments

Jeff F said:

Too bad CNBC doesn’t have the likes of a Mike Wallace to grill Rod Hall over his price targets. Jon Fortt’s comment “that would be a long way down” isn’t exactly hard-hitting Q&A. Rod should have swallowed his hat a year ago and kept his old $240 price.

I keep asking myself – is there anything to like about Goldman Sachs?

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October 9, 2019
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Fred Stein said:

Best poker face. He must be laughing on the inside.

Seriously. He is smart. Surely he knows that buybacks and services growth can sustain a share price above $200. (above $250 in my view.)

$165 implies a black swan event. He should admit that.

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October 9, 2019
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- Jeff F said:
  
  He’s smart and says AAPL is a $165 stock while it trades at $230?
  
  Sounds like another “very stable genius” to me…
  
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  October 10, 2019
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Gregg Thurman said:

I keep asking myself – is there anything to like about Goldman Sachs?

Ummmmm, They helped make the AppleCard possible?

At my bank yesterday (Umpqua) signing loan docs. One of the docs displayed the credit report used to approve the loan. My credit rating was a paltry 702, which I thought at the time was pretty good, considering I filed bankruptcy 15 years ago and have done nothing to re-establish my credit (through options trading have paid cash for everything since).

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October 9, 2019
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- Jeff F said:
  
  I don’t use the Apple Card, as I have another CC that earns 2% (instead of 1%). I’ll use Apple Pay when it works, but after failed two attempts with the wireless tech, I go straight to my 2% CC.
  
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  October 9, 2019
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  - John Konopka said:
    
    I use Apple Card all the time on my Watch. Works great. Using it this way you get 2%.
    
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    October 9, 2019
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    - Jeff F said:
      
      Using Apple PAY on the Watch is janky in my experience. If the merchant’s terminal doesn’t accept Apple Pay (whether on the Watch or iPhone), you’re forced to use the physical Apple CARD, which earns exactly half of Apple PAY.
      
      Goldman probably figured a way to kink the Apple PAY connection, forcing the customer to use the Apple CARD, allowing Goldman keep the extra 1%.
      
      I leave the Apple CARD at home. CapitalOne has a CC that pays 2% and I never leave home without it. 😉
      
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      October 10, 2019
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Gregg Thurman said:

Ran out of edit time to point out that the loan officer mentioned getting a new MacBook Pro. With that I showed him my AppleCard. That elicited a lot of questions and a CROWD of other bank employees. It was really pretty funny watching these banking “professionals” ooh and ahh over the card.

I showed them the App and that went over very well, especially the part where charge activity displayed the actual vendor name. I wish those on Apple 3.0 could have heard the reaction when I brought up the charge vendor’s location on Maps.

As an aside my interest rate on AppleCard is 23.99%. My Umpqua line of credit is 10.50%. I will be using it to pay off my long term AppleCard debt (if ever I have any). That way I earn the points AND get low interest rates.

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October 9, 2019
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Michael Thompson said:

Paid Criminal Degenerate Liar Rod Hall.

There I fixed it.

He isn’t dumb or making any incorrect assumptions. He’s playing his role as part of Wall Street’s criminal racket.

Nothing more and nothing less.

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October 9, 2019
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Joseph Bland said:

These days, one can pretty much follow the impact of USA/China trade tensions in the stock price. Yesterday, things looked bleak. This morning, there was talk of a possible “partial trade deal” (with reports that China was offering to increase its purchases of agricultural products), which was taken back in the other direction at the end of the day after Chinese officials lowered expectations for a deal in response to the US’s blacklisting of 28 Chinese companies. Also, Apple did not make China happy with its decision to to reinstate the previously removed HKmap Live app, which China accuses of aiding the protestors in Hong Kong.

Frankly, we still don’t know how this is all going to play out, and while I think Mr. Hall (and our fellow poster Victor) are expecting the worst from the tariff war, IMHO it’s just too soon to tell. Importantly, counterbalancing that is what appears to be an impressive uptick in iPhone sales, which has a synergistic impact when coupled with continued growth in the rest of Apple. The net result is that I personally discount the possibility of a move down to $165/share. Nevertheless, I’ll keep some powder dry in the off chance that I’m wrong about that.

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October 9, 2019
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- Gregg Thurman said:
  
  one can pretty much follow the impact of USA/China trade tensions in the stock price.
  
  Those choosing to buy, or sell, based on vague, incomplete and ambiguous news reports and tweets regarding China/US trade negotiations are trading on nothing (and shouldn’t be allowed to manage their own money).
  
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  October 9, 2019
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  - Joseph Bland said:
    
    @ Gregg:
    
    I don’t disagree. But for whatever reason, AAPL is down almost $3 in the after-hours market as of now, giving up more than it gained during the day.
    
    This is not the kind of stock behavior that the average investor is pleased to see, regardless of who or what is to blame.
    
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    October 9, 2019
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Kirk DeBernardi said:

Wow.

Getting paid for eating hats.

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October 9, 2019
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