| Apple is still hot today and blazed new territory for the umpteenth time in as many trading sessions. Apple closed above 70 for the first time since April 12th of 1991 when the stock closed at 71 3/4.
Traders seem to still be enamored of Apple's low P/E ratios as well as Apple's hot new G4 and iBook. Apple P/E is 18.6, a little more than half that of its nearest PC competitor (as far P/E ratios go), IBM with a P/E of 31.42, and a quarter that of Dell, which has a P/E of 75.99.
Trading was largely negative throughout much of the day as concerns about retailers hit the Dow and inflation worries dragged down many other stocks across the board. Concerne began to circulate that the Federal Reserve may raise interest rates again this year.
Apple too started the day in negative territory, a victim, at leas somewhat, of profit taking, but picked up steam again in late morning trading. In afternoon trading, the stock burst above the 70 mark for the first time since 1991 to close at 70 9/16, a gain of 1 15/16 or 2.82%. Volume was heavy again today as 7,985,300 shares traded hands.
Apple's PC competitors also started the day off in Negative land, but some managed to closed the day out higher. Compaq, Gateway 2000, Hewlett-Packard, and Intel all closed higher while Dell, IBM, and Microsoft closed lower.
The Dow and the Nasdaq both gave up gains made yesterday. The Dow closed at 10839.09, a loss of 98.79 while the Nasdaq closed at 2734.24, down 16.56.
The Mac Observer Spin: Let's take a quick look at the future. Wall Street likes the G4 and the iBook. Soon a new iMac model will be announced (we will be running a story on when this will be announced in the short-term future). When that happens, Wall Street should go even more nuts. We do not think that Apple's run is over, though it is sure to fall victim to sustained profit taking at some point.
Apple
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