Alan,
I think the thing that is going on with Apple is that it is a very polarizing type of company, like MSFT. There are lots of people that love the company and will love everything that they do. And there are people that will hate the company, even if they came up with a cure for cancer. Investors/traders should not be in any of these categories or at least should be able to look at things objectively.
You are right that the PE is very low. Lower if you subtract out the cash. And there is a dividend. The smartphone market is not yet at its peak but may be getting there in the next year or two. Tablet market is just heating up. iPod segment has gotten rolled into the mobile segment. The classic computer market is growing but very slowly. But the biggest segment of Apple's market right now is mobile and that is still growing and Apple is at least hanging onto a good part of the market share there and that is why Apple's PE could be higher. I think Apple's biggest problem is that it is so big, people are wondering if it can still grow and that is why there is PE compression. And it is why, even though they may report very good numbers today, that it is difficult to say which way the market will look at those numbers. Maybe the TA people feel they have a handle on it but Apple has surprised to the upside and downside and caused a lot of TA to be ineffective.
So where will Apple go and what will they report? I know they will beat their numbers. The numbers from Verizon, ATT and Sprint suggest iPhone sales in the 20+ and maybe close to 30 million. Much depends on where this number goes. I am thinking, hoping, for 25 million plus and with that number, Apple should do well. So I think Apple will do well but I have been wrong before.
Good luck out there.
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