Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Apple is Officially Worth More than Microsoft

techcrunch.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

61–70 of 142 posts

Re: Apple is Officially Worth More than Microsoft

#61

Post by buster »

wow.. 25$ a share for MS vs. 250$ for Apple? As much as i like that Apple innovates and does produce good products, you'll have to be blind to not see the share crash in the future.. it strongly reminds me of the old startup days..

I mean (not offending) MS products are deployed in what.. 95% of all computers? office in every companies PC? Windows?

Ok, Apple does have music selling through itunes, hardware (very low market share here!) and the mobile app sales.

I don't know, i'd rather want to see the income of both companies per division, that'd be more meaningful to me, at least. A lot of shareholders betting insane amounts of money into a company seems to be too familiar.

(Also i'm usualy not interested in shares and such, so i've probably missed something)

Re: Apple is Officially Worth More than Microsoft

#62

Post by ashot »

buster wrote: post #61

wow.. 25$ a share for MS vs. 250$ for Apple? As much as i like that Apple innovates and does produce good products, you'll have to be blind to not see the share crash in the future.. it strongly reminds me of the old startup days.. I mean (not offending) MS products are deployed in what.. 95% of all computers? office in every companies PC? Windows? Ok, Apple does have music selling through itunes, hardware (very low…

you can't compare stock prices directly, they have no relative meaning

Re: Apple is Officially Worth More than Microsoft

#63

Post by [deleted] »

Perceval wrote: post #25
louislouis wrote: post #22

Smells like an Apple bubble?

Actually, their P/E ratio has been steadily declining over the past five years, even as their stock price has risen dramatically. Usually a stock is considered overvalued if the P/E ratio is really high. But this chart (stock price on top, P/E ratio on bottom) seems to indicate that AAPL is not being overvalued by the market as the stock price goes up: http://bigcharts.marketwatch.com/advchart/frames/main.asp?ti...

[deleted]

Re: Apple is Officially Worth More than Microsoft

#64

Post by ergo98 »

krschultz wrote: post #54
ergo98 wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Goldman Sachs' P/E has nothing to do with this discussion Nothing? Don't you think that's a little strong? P/E reflects growth prospects, and a large, established financial company has limited growth prospects. Just as a large, established, coasting tech company tends to have lower P/E ratios. GS lives in an industry with lower P/E ratios, but saying that it has "nothing" to do with it is terribly wrong.

You are missing the point, GS is a horrible example to compare to anything but other financials right now. We have upheaval in the financial market around the world along with new regulations coming down a year after they were basically bankrupt and had to be bailed out by the government. What about that is established, limited growth prospects etc. There are plenty of other large cap companies to compare MS to that…

>You are missing the point

So you're going to provide another poster's "point"? Their point was that they were two different industries, which is entirely fair. Your point is something entirely different altogether, yet you're speaking on their behalf.

P/E is often a farcical metric, yet you know I'm not the one who brought P/E into the discussion, yet here we are.

Re: Apple is Officially Worth More than Microsoft

#65

Post by 10ren »

noarchy wrote: post #3
melling wrote: post #2

Some would argue that they were always worth more. :-) It's interesting that this happened without breaking Microsoft's 90% desktop monopoly. Apple got bigger but it wasn't to the detriment of Microsoft. They just grew into new markets.

I suspect that this was just a sound bite in 1997, but Jobs himself said it: "We have to let go of a few things here. We have to let go of the notion that for Apple to win, Microsoft has to lose."

I was amazed when he said "we lost, they won" with no sense of rancor, nor of defeat of self. Very growthful and in-reality. Say what you will about Jobs, he's not dogmatic; he's far from an apple fanboy.

He's doing what a recent article on disruption (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1375141) reminded me of: don't confront entrenched competition, it will "invoke a competitive response" and they'll win (or "never attack a fortified hill", from crossing the chasm). Instead, do something else.

Re: Apple is Officially Worth More than Microsoft

#66

Post by buster »

ashot wrote: post #62
buster wrote: post #61

wow.. 25$ a share for MS vs. 250$ for Apple? As much as i like that Apple innovates and does produce good products, you'll have to be blind to not see the share crash in the future.. it strongly reminds me of the old startup days.. I mean (not offending) MS products are deployed in what.. 95% of all computers? office in every companies PC? Windows? Ok, Apple does have music selling through itunes, hardware (very low…

you can't compare stock prices directly, they have no relative meaning

Mh, yes, now that i think of it... my first thought was "woah, i'll have to pay 10 times as much for one apple share", but in reality i'd just say "in invest 1000$ in whatever company, regardless of how many shares".. if the share goes up 10% it doesn't matter how many shares.. well.. my bad, as i said, i've no real interest in that stuff :P

So, all in all, this means that Apple is seen as much worth as MS (and not 10 times more). That's a point of view i didn't consider..

Still, i would really like to see the income sources of both and how much income is generated where, that'd be interesting.

Re: Apple is Officially Worth More than Microsoft

#67

Post by louislouis »

FraaJad wrote: post #14
tomlin wrote: post #7

Also: More controlling than Microsoft.

controlling, maybe. MSFT is not the most "controlling" tech company out there (take a look at electronics and automation companies for real tight arsed behaviour) The problem people had with MSFT is their use of market dominance to kill off competition.

"The problem people had with MSFT is their use of market dominance to kill off competition."

Isn't that just doing business?

Re: Apple is Officially Worth More than Microsoft

#68

Post by rimantas »

buster wrote: post #61

wow.. 25$ a share for MS vs. 250$ for Apple? As much as i like that Apple innovates and does produce good products, you'll have to be blind to not see the share crash in the future.. it strongly reminds me of the old startup days.. I mean (not offending) MS products are deployed in what.. 95% of all computers? office in every companies PC? Windows? Ok, Apple does have music selling through itunes, hardware (very low…

  Ok, Apple does have music selling through itunes,
  hardware (very low market share here!) and the mobile
  app sales.
You should research what share of profits they have with that very low market share in both computers and smartphones markets.

Re: Apple is Officially Worth More than Microsoft

#69

Post by louislouis »

FraaJad wrote: post #14
tomlin wrote: post #7

Also: More controlling than Microsoft.

controlling, maybe. MSFT is not the most "controlling" tech company out there (take a look at electronics and automation companies for real tight arsed behaviour) The problem people had with MSFT is their use of market dominance to kill off competition.

"The problem people had with MSFT is their use of market dominance to kill off competition."

Isn't that just doing business?

Post reply on HN