Bought a PowerBook in 1997? Shoulda put that money in Apple stock instead

[Josh]

Here’s a spreadsheet of infinite regret.

After Apple shares hit an all-time high of $272.18 on Friday, a few fanboys started reconsidering their purchases from long ago. Jason L. Baptiste wrote on Y Combinator’s Hacker News website, “If you spent the money on an original iPod in 2001 on Apple stock ($499), you would have $14,513.78 today.”

Thus, a meme was born, as the comment was widely shared and retweeted.

UC Berkeley junior Kyle Conroy decided to actually put that idea to the test for hundreds of Apple products. He created a table comparing the original prices of the company’s products from the past 13 years with the total returns of an investment had you put the same amount in Apple shares. (Conroy didn’t factor in depreciation or inflation.)

It’s pretty stomach-churning to see what could have been. If, instead of spending $5,700 on an Apple PowerBook in November 1997, you decided to put that cash into Apple stock, you would have $330,563.38 today. Ouch.

Full table: http://www.kyleconroy.com/apple-stock.php

Original story: http://venturebeat.com/2010/04/25/apple-stock/

 

[brblx]

so how many 1997 powerbooks should i be shorting apple right now?

obvious bubble is obvious.

 

[RearAdmiral]

I'd rather die poor.

 

[JS80]

so how many 1997 powerbooks should i be shorting apple right now?

obvious bubble is obvious.

I wouldn't say a PE of 20 is a bubble.

 

[ViviTheMage]

Yeah, but if no one bought the products, how would they have gotten 'popular' to begin with, hrmmmm ?

 

[goog40]

Adjust those numbers upwards depending on how much sales tax you paid too. And add in the cost of all the iAccessories purchased too.

 

[brblx]

I wouldn't say a PE of 20 is a bubble.

in a very bad year their stock has gone from around 85 to 270. that seems a little dubious to me.

yes, idiots are giving them their money hand over fist...but weren't they still doing that a year or two ago?

does not compute. you're saying that you don't think their shares are overvalued?

 

[JS80]

in a very bad year their stock has gone from around 85 to 270. that seems a little dubious to me.

yes, idiots are giving them their money hand over fist...but weren't they still doing that a year or two ago?

does not compute. you're saying that you don't think their shares are overvalued?

No, the shares the fully valued. And I fully expect idiots to give them money when the iPhone 4 comes out and when the iPad 2 comes out.

 

[dwell]

I remember just before OS X came out this Apple fanboy I know bought a ton of AAPL stock then it busted overnight and he lost half his money. Don't know if he pulled out after that but he was quite depressed. If not, he's rich now.

 

[Azurik]

in a very bad year their stock has gone from around 85 to 270. that seems a little dubious to me.

yes, idiots are giving them their money hand over fist...but weren't they still doing that a year or two ago?

does not compute. you're saying that you don't think their shares are overvalued?

You're analyzing how much the stock has moved rather than the value of the company. You're also using the low of 85 to the high of 270, forgetting that before the economy went sour, Apple's stock was around $200.

Without looking too deep into metrics, a quick glance at their P/E ratio of 22, I'd say the company is fairly valued. It's not cheap, but it's no where near bubble levels. That's not to say their stock can't crash if the markets decide to topple over.

 

[zinfamous]

so if everyone did this rather than buy the products...then the stock wouldn't have done shit, right?

 

[KaOTiK]

p p p p powerbook!

 

[darkxshade]

so if everyone did this rather than buy the products...then the stock wouldn't have done shit, right?

Well it isn't about that, it's just pointing on an an individual basis what one could have earned if only they made that decision while everything else remained the same.

I know that feeling all too well, I was not old enough or knew how to buy stock but I had tried to convince my parents to buy AAPL when I was in high school(~13/share before multiple stock splits) because I thought their iMacs were going to hit it big. Of course it was the iPod that did it but all the same, I could have been rich.


Edit: I also told them to buy Dell stock too at the time... also no dice. As if they were gonna listen to a teenager for stock advice.

 

[Kaervak]

If, instead of spending $5,700 on an Apple PowerBook in November 1997, you decided to put that cash into Apple stock, you would have $330,563.38 today.

Wait. $5700 for a laptop? WTF is wrong with some people?

 

[darkxshade]

Wait. $5700 for a laptop? WTF is wrong with some people?

It was 1997 too

 

[Arkaign]

lol a 1997 model powerbook is worth about a stick of gum right now. Actually, I'd rather have the stick of gum.

 

[JM Aggie08]

Flawed logic is flawed.

 

[Beattie]

lol a 1997 model powerbook is worth about a stick of gum right now. Actually, I'd rather have the stick of gum.

I'd rather have a stick of gum than a 2005 (that was the last PPC year, right?) powerbook.

 

[speg]

Don't forget AAPL was trading at $200 in January 2008. Only due to the financial meltdown did it fall to $85. So, really the doubling back from $85 was just the markets recovering from the meltdown. Only recently have we seen AAPL start to grow move for it's own reasons (stellar earnings).

 

[AstroManLuca]

I'd rather have a stick of gum than a 2005 (that was the last PPC year, right?) powerbook.

It was a late 2005 12" PowerBook G4 that finally convinced me to switch to a Windows PC. Haven't regretted it yet.

 

[BlueAcolyte]

Wouldn't everyone buying the stock drive up the price by itself? (But like a bubble)

 

[vshah]

newsflash: hindsight is 20/20

 

[thegimp03]

Wow, interesting...glad I never bought an apple back then.

 

[Anonemous]

/must use hot tub time machine to go back and buy apple powerbooks

 

[preslove]

It was a late 2005 12" PowerBook G4 that finally convinced me to switch to a Windows PC. Haven't regretted it yet.

I switched in 2006 to a first gen macbook. That convinced me to never buy an apple product again.