Bailout

Apple?s day of earnings glory, iPad disappointment

By Justin Fox

Apple's earnings announcement this afternoon was something of an epic event. First, the company reported making a staggering amount of money: $4.3 billion in profit for the quarter. Second, Steve Jobs got on the phone and was even more obstreperously entertaining than usual. Third, iPad sales for the quarter were a bit lower than hoped and Apple's stock price dropped 6% in after-hours trading.

That sort of sensitivity to the slightest bit of disappointment is to be expected when a company has been doing as well as Apple has for as long as Apple has. Everybody's looking for the moment when the company's spectacular growth trajectory over the past half decade finally plateaus. As somebody who bought Apple at $14 and sold at around $40 early in the 2000s (I don't own any Apple stock now, except indirectly through mutual funds), I'm certainly not the one to predict when that moment will arrive. But I doubt that the iPad disappointment is any kind of lasting setback.

Why's that? Because I want an iPad, I really do. And I will buy one soon. But Apple has trained me by now to wait for at least the second generation of any new product?it's inevitably so much better than the first. I'm going with the rumors that a new-look iPad will be out by Christmas. If and when that happens, I'll buy. For now, I'm waiting. I'm betting I'm not the only one.

Full post as published by Macroprudential on October 18, 2010 (boomark / email).