Are Samsung and IBM the next to pass Microsoft?

Remember when AAPL passed MSFT?
Remember when GOOG passed MSFT?
Remember when IBM passed MSFT for awhile?

Market Caps as of September 7, 2013:

• Microsoft: $259,490,000,000
• Samsung: $202,874,184,480
• IBM:  $200,5000,000,000

More telling, of course, is their stock. Here are 10-year charts:

MSFT:

Samsung:

IBM:

Today’s Must Reads

Two excellent links at DaringFireball today:

Jeff Bezos’ Strategy with Amazon
I have written about this many times. MG Siegler makes solid, useful points.

McDonald’s Suggested Budget for Employees Shows Just How Impossible It Is to Get by on Minimum Wage
Is it sad, or scary? Or both?

Apple iWatch, plus Tim Cook

Two things:

1. I think the Tim-Cook-Jony-Ives team is (another) dream team. And I think Apple’s recent TV ads characterize this team.
2. I will buy an Apple watch. All I want from it is: serious waterproofing (100m min), battery life similar to a quartz watch

How else can we view Apple’s stock price?

The only way to view Apple’s current stock price is: suspicious.

A couple points:

• Apple’s P/E is too low or other company’s P/Es are too high. Fact.
• Telecos (AT&T and Verizon) have huge debt.
• Apple’s net income is greater than all the other sixteen company’s… COMBINED. Boom.
• Are Samsung’s numbers correct? I converted them from won (₩) and am not sure if they came out right. If they are correct, then Samsung’s P/E is very low, especially considering their EPS.

Bonus point:

• Apple’s rare, impossible Cash and Debt are due to: rare, impossible vision and discipline.

As of: June 26, 2013

** [not on US exchanges]

Sources:
http://www.forbes.com/global2000/list/
http://www.marketwatch.com/investing/stocks

You might never understand Apple.

…some people won’t. That’s OK.

John Gruber:

Apple’s “This Is Our Signature” mantra is in defiance of this superficial demand for an endless stream of new new new. Apple is saying they’re above the churn of the news cycle, and if you don’t understand that yet, they don’t care. You’ll either get it through your head eventually, or you will never understand Apple.

More on Apple’s “This Is Our Signature” here.

I, for one, am glad that Apple is pointing this out.

Me, writing on this point that Apple is different and not everyone will get that:

“Not everyone can (or wants to) see the heart—the discipline of principles—that these externals reveal.”

“There is a difference. And everyone knows it.”

“Apple’s products and operations are vastly superior. Many people have recognized this all along. Some people will never recognize it.”