Apple shares over $500! Time to invest?
Because of one man, the shares in Apple have gone up by more than 5%, almost reaching the $500 mark and making over 17 million dollars for Apple. Sweet.
First, it started with a simple tweet from stockbroker turned billionaire hedge fund manager and investor Carl Icahn. It read;
“Had a nice conversation with Tom Cook today. Discussed my opinion that a larger buyback should be done now. We plan to speak again shortly.”
Then came the second tweet;
“We currently have a large position in APPLE. We believe the company to be extremely undervalued. Spoke to Tim Cook today. More to come.”
Less than two hours later, Apple shares had closed up by nearly 5 percent at just under $490.
In the days leading up to the Icahn tweets the shares had already been rising due to the leaked news of the Apple iPhone 5S announcement on September 10th, as well as the news that the Obama administration had overturned an import ban on some older iPhones and iPads, and that the International Trade Commission had ordered several Samsung smartphones be banned for infringing on Apple patents.
All positive things for Apple, which reflects in their share prices.
Icahn is investing in Apple because he believes it to be undervalued, yes, but also because he thinks that if Apple use some of their massive $150 billion cash stockpile to buyback stock, the value of the stock could skyrocket to around $700.
No news yet if this is something Apple will be doing, but with a slate full of new product releases scheduled for the end of this year through to 2014, the general consensus is that Apple shares will remain positive.
As of today, the stock prices have reached $507.15 after hitting a peak of 513.43 April 19th, the highest the shares have been since September 19th 2012, when it reached the peak of $702.10. Although the price has gone slightly down, the fact that they remain above the $500 mark is a good sign.
So, time to invest?
Images courtesy of Appleinsider.