Recent Comments

  • Robert Paul Leitao on Apple at 343.99: Another record close (barely) - 'Daniel: What I’m observing (and has been mentioned on a number of podcasts I listen to daily) is share prices are responding positively to earnings growth. However, multiples, in general, are compressing even as earnings push share prices higher. In other words, share prices are moving higher at a slower rate than earnings multiples and the compression of multiples is being masked by the pace of earnings growth. 

Looking out to 2027, I expect the pace of share price appreciation to moderate and for interest rates to not only raise the costs of capital, but to offer competition to equites through higher yields on bonds and other debt instruments. There’s now no shortage of demand for capital including to fund government debt at all levels and satisfy the high capital demands for the continuing AI buildout.'
  • Daniel Epstein on Apple at 343.99: Another record close (barely) - 'When I first saw today’s price action I thought of other times when Apple stock rose quickly within Two weeks of an earnings report while waiting to hear about a new hot products sales. Often the stock peaks for the short term about 5 days before the earnings report and then pulls back. If the news at the report is received well then that previous peak is often returned to quickly. And if the street is impressed after the earnings call the stock tends to perform well as optimism reigns. If the news is less well received like the guidance is not as strong as the street wants then the stock peak for a while is the number before the earnings release. Given the Duo release schedule and other new products I can see this next few weeks playing out like this in some fashion. The market hasn’t been rewarding good earnings beats as often as it has in the past. Could be the way news is more available than it used to be makes it tougher to surprise to the upside. We will see what happens this time.'
  • Robert Paul Leitao on Apple at 343.99: Another record close (barely) - 'Michael: In the 30+ years I have been closely tracking Apple’s share price I don’t think so-called “quiet periods” or “blackout periods” have any real impact on the share price. In my observation, periods in which the public has confidence Apple is continuing to innovate are the periods in which the share price tends to move higher. Apple has just completed a successful CEO transition, has released the iPhone Duo and continues to announce and release innovative products for consumers in the AI era. The only “blackout periods” I get concerned about are periods in which the company appears to have stalled on innovation. Between new iPhones (one member of the family is willing to wait patiently on the availability of a Duo, I’m planning for the iPhone 18 Pro Max), the HomeView, the new Apple TV 4K and new HomePod minis and, especially the Apple Watch updates, our Apple shopping carts are already full for the holiday season. In my view, follow Apple’s pace of innovation and then follow the share price.'
  • David Emery on If you only have time for one iPhone Duo review - 'John Gruber’s review is pretty thorough: https://daringfireball.net/2026/10/the_iphone_duo It’s less about the hardware, and more about how Gruber would use it.'
  • Steven Philips on If you only have time for one iPhone Duo review - '“…only Joanna Stern folded and unfolded it 32,000 times.” And, boy are her hands tired! 🙂'
  • Greg Bates on If you only have time for one iPhone Duo review - 'JS left the Journal? Wow! Exciting.'
  • Robert Paul Leitao on Apple at 343.99: Another record close (barely) - 'I follow a number of different sectors and industries and what Walmart announced yesterday is remarkable. There’s now a combined Walmart+ and Sam’s Club Plus membership for $120 per year. Where I live in northern Los Angeles County a Walmart Supercenter sits essentially next to a Sam’s Club location. This will further diminish my need to walk into a traditional grocery store at any time while reducing my need (or desire) to visit most other retail locations. Between Costco, Walmart and Sam’s Club, I’m pretty much covered even for car tires and especially for gas. Today it was announced Walmart just unveiled tools to welcome AI agents for shoppers. Retail is changing in America and with those changes consumers are more apt to purchase Apple products, when available, through retailers such as Costco, Walmart and Sam’s Club. https://apple.news/AEs5EI9GjT6ehZibZ1a258A'
  • Michael Goldfeder on Apple at 343.99: Another record close (barely) - 'A record high during Apple’s blackout period. How often does that happen?'
  • Robert Paul Leitao on Apple at 343.99: Another record close (barely) - 'Today was a good, ol’ fashioned up day on the street with all four major indexes going green on the day. Market breadth broadened on this day with nearly 60% of S&P 500 components finishing the day with gains. Skydance topped the index’s leaderboard today with a gain of 10.85% to close at $7.87. On the same day Netflix dropped 5.31% to $65.04. The company recently beat on earnings but offered forward guidance that was below expectations. It was a very good trading day for Apple to set an all-time closing high.'
  • Robert Paul Leitao on Apple at 343.99: Another record close (barely) - 'Apple jumped $4.49 today to close, as PED stated in the title of this blog post, at a new all-time closing high of $434.99, up $4.49 or 1.32% on the day. Today’s gain is all the more remarkable because it occurs against of backdrop of uncertainty over both the demand for and the supply of the new iPhone Duo. Today’s record closing price eclipsed the previous all-time closing high of $343.46 set last Friday.'
  • Greg Lippert on If you only have time for one iPhone Duo review - 'I watched @MKBHD’s review. He’s also good. He was + but not glowing. https://youtu.be/ESABTN4VtrA?si=jJRIHkXivx5_h8jP'
  • David Wilson on If you only have time for one iPhone Duo review - 'Yes, that is how to do a review. Love Joanna Stern’s reviews, and sense of humor. And her sense of what’s important.'
  • Rodney Avilla on When did Androids become stickier than iPhones? - 'I would assume that as people get more and more engrained into one system, that their tendency to change go down. I believe what we will see will be those who are new to cell phones and are considering an android phone and can afford higher quality will ‘switch’ to Apple. Also switchers may be android owners (but Apple wannabe’s) whose financial situation improves.'
  • John Konopka on Premarket: Apple is red - 'I’ll wait for the official call from the keeper of the stats but it seems we have a new closing ATH, $343.99.'
  • Bart Yee on UK to Apple: Loosen your grip on friction-free payments - 'Sorry, that should have read: Hey Bill, “I’ll bet the regulators would want to force Apple to…” Not directed at Bill but the EU and their misguided attempts at “regulation” when their companies can’t compete.'
  • Bart Yee on UK to Apple: Loosen your grip on friction-free payments - 'Hey Bill, how about forcing Apple to charge more so that it becomes less attractive to banks and consumers, thereby allowing competitors to use Apple’s NFC tech to offer the same services in Apple’s hardware but charge LESS than what Apple WAS charging. For example, if Apple was charging 0.015 cents per transaction, the regulators would force Apple to charge twice as much, 0.030 center per, making it more expensive and less attractive to banks and consumers. This should drive people away from Apple and into the embrace of competitors. The competitors, by regulation, would then be allowed no more than 0.010 cents per transaction, making them cheaper and more attractive to banks and consumers. All they have to do is download new apps, get their cards hooked up to the new services, and find banks and merchants who will accept these alternatives. Easy to manage the competition by choosing winner and losers. What’s that you say? That’s too much work, too much friction, none of the alternatives are trusted as much, what about hidden fees, subscriptions, or just the bother when what I am using already meets all my needs, trust, and convenience of first party apps and software which work seamlessly already? Then why are we “fixing” something that isn’t broken from the consumer’s viewpoint? We ALREADY VOTED with our wallets (literally) and our usage, the market has spoken, and your regulators want to change and control the market away from what consumers already like and want. Yes, have companies put out more apps and more choice, and then study how well they get adopted. BTW, why aren’t you forcing consumers to buy and use the UK based Nothing phones and their ecosystem based on Android?'
  • John Konopka on If you only have time for one iPhone Duo review - 'Gregg: I’m not getting one but I will head over to the local Apple Store tomorrow to get a look at one.'
  • John Konopka on Premarket: Apple is red - 'Less than 30 minutes to go. Currently $344.15. Will we see another closing high?'
  • Bart Yee on UK to Apple: Loosen your grip on friction-free payments - 'This is true, but the consumer has the right to choose to use the bank, use the credit card, or use the NFC based contactless payment system or other systems such as Google Wallet and Samsung Wallet for Android/Galaxy devices, Curve to combine multiple cards into one, wearable payment rings like Astari, and merchant phone-tap solutions like SumUp Tap to Pay or Square which make up the other close to 40% of the market plus Atoa & PayPal Business Apps which Allow open banking or QR-code based peer and retail payments. All of these systems come with fees because they provide a service. If one believes they should somehow be “free”, where are they getting paid to provide it? If you believe the consumer ultimately pays for everything, then the consumer should abandon or stop using these services and just revert back to cash or pay the direct fees for using a direct credit card or debit card. There are always choices, but modern society offers, in general, convenience and less friction / frictionless alternatives, plus methods of helping a person record, track, and manage their spending via technology and offered services. The worth the fee Apple and other charge is each person’s decision, and each bank, credit card issuer and each merchant’s decision to offer or accept. There is choice, but it’s also correct to say to be left behind also has financial consequences – save the fees may mean less (convenience, revenue, transactions, usefulness, attractiveness of businesss, etc. to all stakeholders). Choose wisely.'
  • Gregg Thurman on If you only have time for one iPhone Duo review - 'I have no desire to get a Duo, that said, this is the kind of review all influencers should be doing'
  • Daniel Epstein on When did Androids become stickier than iPhones? - 'Good points Fred! Also apparently the survey is based on the last three months which might not include the fall introduction of Apple’s latest phones. Apple doesn’t usually fair well in these types of reports so might just be noise. Without actually saying what the current market share of each operating system is in the US it doesn’t tell you which operating system is winning at any particular point. A quick search says Apple has somewhere between 50% and 58% of the US mobile market. “Maintaining a steady lead over Android” is one quote from the search I feel is worth including And of course Apple IOS is from 1 company compared to the many forms of Android available in the market. And revenue per operating system is not really counted either. So if Apple and Samsung have the majority of profits in the mobile market (with Apple the much bigger portion) does it really matter if Android users don’t switch in high percentages in the US? It is not the metric I would use unless you saw a decrease in Apple’s loyalty showing up as an increase in Android growth metrics. Maybe one of the reasons Apple has added the Duo to compete in another part of the mobile market they deem worth capturing. And yes they did wait for the technology to mature to put out an Apple level product.'
  • Fred Stein on When did Androids become stickier than iPhones? - 'Upvoted David and Dan, and add. The survey is US only. And it seems the survey does not include first time buyers. Apple grows its IB with first time US buyers (as indicated by preferences of US teens in other surveys) and growth in emerging markets.'
  • Roger Schutte on Reflections on covering Apple since 2003 - 'hmmm…intrique.'
  • Philip Elmer-DeWitt on Reflections on covering Apple since 2003 - 'This was their first joint appearance since Sept 12, 2025.'
  • Michael Goldfeder on When did Androids become stickier than iPhones? - 'I can remember when leasing a vehicle became available back in the day. Okay, waaaay back in the day. Nobody was leasing a domestic Chrysler K car. A Ford Maverick. Or a Chevy Vega. Maybe a Corvette. They were leasing Mercedes. BMW. Porsche. Along with other high end foreign vehicles. Guess which category Apple is analogous with on the car front? Same comparison for Android? Stickiness has its standards. Always will IMO. Much like that famous “Grey Poupon” commercial with the two owners of the Rolls Royce’s adjacent to each other at a stoplight. Not Android users either.'
  • Jim Fonda on When did Androids become stickier than iPhones? - 'I know people who dislike the whole idea of Apple’s walled garden. For computers, they pick Linux. For phones, they mostly seem to pick Android. I’m always trying to get people to switch to Apple products, so I engage with these people to understand what they want, and if Apple can provide it. From what I can tell, there is plenty of support for Android that is not geared on price, and is primarily based on not wanting a “sticky” product.'
  • Michael Goldfeder on John Ternus: The TIME interview (video) - 'It’s all about consumer privacy at its core. Sound concepts that no other company can match. Apple might be behind in the wasteful Capex AI rush to nowhere, but are light years ahead in the area that nobody else can come close to matching: “Privacy is a human right.”'
  • Joseph Bland on More analysts weigh in on Apple - 'Morning, Gregg. We’re in our 80s and not wealthy, just better off than most. Bottom line: We only sell, and since we’re 100% AAPL, we only sell AAPL. Been that way for years now. That doesn’t mean I’m not “investing”, in that I’m rolling the dice for us in a high risk but potentially high reward way that doesn’t include stocks or bonds. We’re investing in US patents, and not inexpensive ones. I had two granted last year, another will grant this year, and another handful are in various stages. I also am finalizing setting up a corporation. Note, however, that I’ve only been able to take this chance because I lucked out and married a pearl of a soul mate coming up on 42 years ago, because so far our health problems are manageable, and because we put our fiscal trust 100% in Apple.'
  • Michael Goldfeder on Premarket: Apple is red - '@Robert: I was on a three week trip to Spain and France and cannot thank you enough for all of your daily market updates. I speak very little Spanish and French and finding an english tv station at the hotel was at times nonexistent. But you are better than Bloomberg and CNBC combined. Thank you again as always. Although I can order eclairs and quiche as I remember the important phrases from my high school French class, my foreign language skills are scant. But your constant, insightful, and consistent market updates on the Apple 3.0 platform are great reads regardless of the time zone I happened to be in at the time.'
  • Dan Scropos on When did Androids become stickier than iPhones? - 'I’d say that Android number has gotten higher over the years because all of the “switchers” have gone to iPhone and all that’s left are the Android diehards. This seems like a big nothing burger.'