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Apple seems to be a healthy company with a solid business. Their earnings are strong, they don't miss estimates, don't stray from GAAP, don't have too much debt. Their estimated earnings for Q4 is slightly above Q3, and Q1 2017 is much higher. They probably won't miss these these.

Despite this, AAPL has experienced large dips over the last few months, and their P/E is currently 12 (and has been as low as 10). Meanwhile the S&P trades at 20+.

Why is it that the market dislikes Apple so much?

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  • Now would be a good time to buy AAPL, after a downtrend since April 2015 it may be experiencing the start of a new uptrend - reaching a higher low in mid-June 2016 and more recently making a new higher high.
    – Victor
    Aug 12, 2016 at 7:28

2 Answers 2

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This is also an opinion, the iPhone makes up too much of the company's total revenue. Last quarter results were very well received because of the somewhat dramatic increase in service revenue indicating that maybe the company can shift from relying so heavily on the iPhone. As it stands, Apple is a single product company and that hinders long term prospects, hence the relatively low multiple.

And the company has missed estimates, in fact one of those large dips was an earnings miss. Additionally, if you're looking at the charts another one of the recent dips was likely caused by the brexit vote because everything was clobbered for a couple of days after that.

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  • I agree. Its dependence on a single product and the fashion oriented consumer electronics market.
    – not-nick
    Aug 12, 2016 at 3:49
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This is an opinion, but I think it has more to do with the market's uncertainty about the long-term future of the company without Steve Jobs. Apple hasn't released anything more than incremental upgrades to its existing product lines since Jobs passed, and while some people would argue about the Apple watch, Jobs played a significant role in its development prior to his death, so that doesn't really count.

Whether you like or hate Apple, you had to admire Jobs' passion and creativity, and there's real question as to whether the company can sustain its dominance in the market without the Jobs vision over the long haul.

My guess is that the market is leaning slightly toward the "no" column, but only ever so slightly. The company continues to deliver fantastic results, but how long will that last of their next products don't wow consumers the way previous ones have? This skepticism manifests itself in a stock that trades at a lower P/E than it deserves to, but this is just my opinion.

I hope this helps.

Good luck!

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