That's right. With the recent share price plunge in Apple (AAPL), from over $700 to around $525, the stock is rapidly approaching the valuation of 1990's tech darling Microsoft (MSFT). While clearly facing near-term headwinds, both on the product side (a narrowing of their technological lead over rivals) and the financial side (fiscal cliff, tax-related selling before year-end), among others, I find it hard to make an argument for why Apple should not trade at a premium to Mister Softee. To be fair, Apple still fetches slightly more if you go out to one decimal place, with AAPL trading at 6.4 trailing cash flow, versus 5.7 times for Microsoft. If Apple shares fell another 8% or so, to around $485, and MSFT stayed around $27, both would trade at 5.7x trailing 12 month EBITDA. Still, investors are having a hard time understanding exactly how sentiment on Apple has shifted so much in just a few short months.
Now I know many people come to this blog to discover new investment ideas, and Apple definitely does not qualify. However, since contrarian investing is one of my core tenets, I think it is important to point out that Apple shares are dirt cheap right now. In order to justify a lower stock price, say one or two years from now, you have to think that Apple's sales and earnings have peaked and are headed down from here. While that is not an impossibility, especially in the world of technology, I think it is far more likely that Apple's market share gains slow and level off going forward. Even in that case, the end markets they serve as going to grow nicely over the next few years. As a result, I don't envision their financials petering out from here, though for a company of this size, the hey days of rapid growth are clearly over.
For those who aren't sure such prognostications will prove true, consider again the comparison with Microsoft. Regardless of Apple's position relative to Google, Samsung, and the like in the coming years, is Microsoft really as well positioned? I don't think so. Even a bet that Apple will outperform Microsoft, given their stocks are nearly identically priced, is a bet investors can make in the public market by shorting one and using the proceeds to go long the other. iPod versus Zune? iPad versus Surface? iPhone vs Windows Phone? It's not a bad play.
Although discussing large cap tech titans like AAPL and MSFT hardly uncovers anything new for curious investors, I definitely think today's share price on Apple is worthy of discussion. The recent 200 point decline seems very overdone to me, based on what is happening out in the tech marketplace. The last time I updated my fair value for Apple stock I got a number with a "7" handle on it. Nothing has changed since then, and for the first time in a long time, I am actually looking to add to the stock in client portfolios.
Full Disclosure: Long Apple and no position in Microsoft at the time of writing, but positions may change at any time