Jim Cramer writes on Real Money that banking on what commentators have to say about Apple is not the way to make bank on Apple.
Apple (AAPL) -Get Report is one of the news media’s favorite companies to scrutinize, something which can provide as much confusion as clarity to investors, TheStreet’s Jim Cramer explained in a recent Real Money column.
Cramer looked at how and why many investors missed the opportunity to buy Apple at its bottom price of $116 in March but now are buying at higher prices.
Apple shares are up nearly 10% in the past three months, and ended last week at $145.11
“Stunned that suddenly people are buying the breakout of the stock, I decided to go back and look at the breakdown to see if you could have spotted a bottom, the opportunity of the year to buy the stock of this amazing company when it was falling off a cliff,” Cramer wrote.
Cramer found that the media focus on unconfirmed reports about issues such as order volume, combined with the enigmatic nature of Apple itself, helped create confusion and doubt about a company whose stock was actually about to rise.
“Here are some sample headlines from some important publications on the day it hit bottom: ‘Apple falls toward 3-month low, bear market now in sight.’ Or how about this one: ‘Apple's stock in danger of lowest close since November,’” Cramer wrote.
Cramer looks at how numerous commentators missed the signs of opportunity.
“Apple is famous for not allowing companies to talk about orders or business done with the company, something that makes it difficult to figure out how the company is doing, at least according to suppliers. But that doesn't stop the press from trying,” he wrote.
He suggests that banking on what commentators say is not the way to make bank on Apple.
“What matters is this: You got an opportunity. However, it was so hard to take that it is a constant reminder that it is not worth trading Apple around different commentary and so-called news. Better to just, like always, own the stock,” Cramer wrote.