Probably a good move; hope you profited a little. Nobody ever went broke taking a profit, right?

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2019!

I bought some stock these past 4-5 days, but none on 12-31 as originally planned.

He is what I bought and the price I paid:

Apple (aapl) 152.25

Coca-Cola (ko) 47.50

First Data (fdc) 16.50

Lazard (laz) 35.55

MGM Resorts (mgm) 23.10

Here are their closing prices on 12-31-18:

AAPL 157.85

KO 47.35

FDC 16.91

LAZ 36.91

MGM 24.26

Dow Jones -- 23,327.45

S & P 500 -- 2,506.85

If I don't forget, I'll reprint these stocks and indices numbers at the end of 12-31-19, god willing.

Good luck with all these stocks reck.

Thanks Mike. The bear is being put to rest .... the volatility will still stay awhile but too many positives are out there for the market not to do very well in 2019.

And no, I won't re-quote my positives again.:lol:

Good luck to you too and Happy New Year to you and your family.

S&P futures fall a quick 20 points on Apple pre-release.

Prelim rev of $84 billion vs Street at $91.3 billion.

EPS roughly $4.15 (implied from metrics in press release) vs Street at $4.66.

Management blamed Chinese weakness for most of the shortfall. The company did a very good job of protecting GMs despite the rev shortfall. The stock has traded like crap since last qtr.'s release, so it will be interesting to see what's discounted already.

Exit qtr with roughly $27/share in net cash (calc from dollar amount and share count), according to release

Looks to me that the strong US dollar has had a more negative effect than slowing unit sales, despite the talk on cable tv.

Apple is a money making machine, earning more money in a typical quarter than most companies do in a year. Few companies in history have compounded earnings/free cash flow at consistent double digit rates as has Apple.

Good Call
 

Federal Reserve might have not much to offer.
How can this be with Apple always taking a bite

December ISM Manufacturing 54.1 vs 57.8 Briefing.com consensus; November 59.3.

US slowdown confirmed (ISM is a great leading indicator) - the next Fed move will be a rate cut, imo. Largest month-to-month drop since 2008.

the way i read this, the market still going to go up for at least 2 more quarters. maybe back to the highs and even a good shot it surpasses it. then i see utter devastation if the numbers line up right. for now there looks like there is some money looking to enter the markets.

its down today on the heels of a weak report and AAPL. AAPL is a weak stock that has $80 billion in cash sitting in the bank. its the growth going further that doesn't look to bright for them. the time to buy AAPL is when you are paying a bigger discount to their technology. they will come up with another trick down the road.

i am going to probably re-short GE Friday and take the trade to bed with me.

looks like a casualty of trumps easy to win trade war,trump doesnt realize that most US companies are global and when he slows china down it will effect other countries therefore eventually slowing down US growth and layoffs to come in the united states.But he is genius with a high IQ

I have this sickness that probably will cause me some sleepless nights but I bought some stock again today. The selling was just too much. We've reached a point where stocks are being 'given away' -- prices very far from their intrinsic value.

I bought some more Apple today at $142.25. Ten bucks cheaper than I paid last week. :bang::bang:

At this better price I still get the greatest money machine in the history of finance and business just cheaper ... plus a growing 2 per cent dividend, plus all that accumulated cash that has grown to be a $80 billion pile as lambo reported. And, which the company sells at about 13 times that FCF. Cheap.

The end of constant and silly Fed rate hikes in 2019 will help Apple way more than anything you'll read or hear in the business press. Rates will be down to flat in 2019, despite Jerome Powell. The selling, even with 'weak' guidance is way overdone.

I also bought some Lyondell Basell Industries at $82.30. Here's another consistent earnings grower and free cash producer with a 4.8 per cent dividend, 35 per cent ROIC and is now in a very strong growth mode. And the company sells at a ridiculous 7 times FCF. It's a mid major chemical company that will benefit from failing oil prices and a weakening US dollar big time.

Not to disagree with my friend lamboguy but I don't understand what he means when he says the time to buy Apple is when they sell at a discount to their technology. Apple hasn't been a pure tech company for many years. It is a lifestyle and marketing company -- and they don't sell-out their customers like Facebook and Google does. Apple created a ecosystem that has reached such a level that every dollar in sales almost directly goes straight to the bottom line.

I won't be buying any stock near term. I have bought stock on my birthday every year since 1990 and it has served me well. And I will again.

Don't wish me luck ... just call a psychiatrist. :lol::lol:

Berkshire Hathaway owns 258 million shares of AAPL. there is now way they can dump that one in one shot. it could take them 6 months to get out of all those shares now. i don't know if they are selling, but if they are there will be a lot of pressure on that stock for some time to come. to me, that stock has between 122-130 written all over it. if you want to get aggressive, 92 is possible.

this thing has gone straight down since 233 and its a great company with lots of cash and cash flow.

i am dividing the company in 2. first the $80 billion and then whatever is left. obviously, you can't short cash, but you can short an idea. i think the company is very innovative but i am also looking at the selling pressure on the stock now and figure that selling usually gets overdone when a stock gets routed.

what it comes down to is that i see 2 possible lower levels one between $130- $122. the other one is a drop dead number of $92 that could happen if the market comes completely apart for whatever reasons. when they raid the whore house, they take all the girls with them.

Say it ain't so... that's 50 bucks less than what I paid today!! :lol::lol:

Some things will never happen, btw, and some will happen that are not factored in or totally ignored:

One is ... Buffett will never unwind his AAPL holdings -- with the dividends and buybacks, he says he'll be a 10 per cent owner in just a few years. Imagine that... 10 percent. I own 750 shares that I started buying 15 freaking years before Buffett ever bought a single share, and at a fraction of the price that he paid!! And I feel I am the richest guy on earth. Wow. Ten percent ownership. In my dreams.

Apple is the greatest operating company in the history of finance but I do concede the market is in a shit hole right now and it could go down further.

A weakening dollar is a greater probability than the dollar rising higher. Interest rates won't be raised more than once in 2019, if that. That weakens the dollar. A weaker dollar will help Apple more than anything.

A probable trade deal with China is also beneficial and that has been ignored in the media these past few days. A trade deal sends stocks higher and higher, as will no Fed increase ... plus other factors that I mentioned twice just a few posts back: lower unemployment, lower or steady oil prices, wages increasing, higher corporate earnings ... higher dividends and buy-backs by companies, lower corporate and individual tax rates ... the sky is the limit with all this good news. :lol::lol:

All that I have written now and earlier have a much better chance of happening than not.

So, close your eyes and ears and buy some of the best companies on earth that are currently for sale. Good luck.

Happy New Year.