mark reeth: tim cook, apple ceo, went on kramerthe other night, trying to convince investors and shareholders that everything is a-ok.and one of his quotes, that you sent to me before the show, i quote: "we are going togive you things that you can't live without, that you just don't know you need today."jason moser: yeah ... reeth: well, jason, i just don't know whatthe hell he's talking about. they've been saying over at apple that the pipeline isstrong, there are more products coming, the next iphone, the next ipad, the next whatever.the watch was an attempt at that, which i think largely has flubbed. i'm not confident,personally, in apple's pipeline. and i think that's drawing a lot of fire from investorsthese days. what's your take, first of all,
on tim cook's comments from the show the othernight? moser: i think, with apple, let's separatethe stock from the business. i think they each deserve their own fair consideration.from a business perspective, this is a phenomenal company. it's huge. the balance sheet is afortress. and a lot of different resources and ways they can go. and, obviously, it's oneof the most important businesses of our time. apple the stock, though, yeah, that's a bitof a different story right now. and i'm not sure there's an easy answer there. i am growinga little bit tired of hearing tim cook say that, as well. every call, he's talking aboutthe pipeline, and these products you're going to need that you don't even know you need.and that sort of sounds familiar, because
i think that's what jobs was always reallygood at doing, was giving us things we didn't even really know we wanted or needed.reeth: yeah, just one more thing. moser: just one more thing. and i mean ... alot of people are investing in apple these days because they think it's dirt cheap, andthey think that's a reason to invest. and i get that. i'm not necessarily disagreeingwith the idea that it is cheap. it sells for something like 10x earnings, and backing thecash out of the balance sheet there, it's pretty phenomenal. by the same token, i think a lot of the storyis very well-known already. we know they're going to pay a dividend. we know they're goingto keep on buying back shares. i think a lot
of that is priced in. maybe not all of it,but i think a lot of it is. the market generally is a forward-looking mechanism. i think tim cook has done a wonderful jobmanaging this business. i think tim cook is not an innovator. and i'm not saying innovatingis easy, either. i think innovating is something that is very unique, and that's why you don'tsee it happening all the time. if it was easy, everybody would be doing it. i think tim cookis basically doing the best he can. i think he's making the best of a given situation.and i don't know that it's fair to really expect much more from him. i tend to agree with you. i think the watchhas basically done what i thought it would
do. it's done ok. it's not going to be a newdirection for the company, i don't think. i think they're facing a lot of challengeson the tablet front. i think the phone is certainly becoming more and more commoditizedas time goes on. and i think as technology improves and more companies out there aredoing more things, apple's closed ecosystem becomes less attractive. i think most peoplelike to be able to utilize all the options that are out there. a number of people loveapple and only want to use apple. that's great, have at it. but a number of people also wantto be able to use everything else that's out there, and maybe have an iphone while they'reat it, and that's cool, too. i saw a tweet from joe magyer maybe a weekor so ago that i think really sums this all
up. you look at, when tim cook took over in2011, i think it was, they first implemented a dividend in 2012. you look at that stockfrom 2012 to today, and it's clearly underperformed the market. even with the dividends and buyingback shares and everything. i think that's for a number of reasons, but part of it is,it's obviously a very big company. they are trying to sell hardware at a high price point,which is not going to work everywhere. there's a reason why the majority of the world isusing android and not apple. people tend to want to be able to utilize all of the optionsthat are out there. i think apple stands a chance to do very well.i think they're going to need to make some acquisitions. i think a catalyst could bein that balance sheet, because so much of
that money is overseas. i'd love to see ourgovernment here offer up a tax holiday and let some of these companies repatriate someof that cash. i think they could do a lot of great things with it, and shareholderscould really win from that. who knows what'll happen on that front?! i do think that a lot of people are probablygetting a little bit tired of the, "just wait, we've got a great pipeline talk," becauseyou know what? i'm just not seeing it yet. reeth: been waiting for a long time. appleshares closed down for an eighth straight day yesterday, which might be a non-headline,but it's the headline today. that's the first time this has happened since july 1998. thestock has lost 11% since april 26. in your
mind, it's looking a little cheap. is nowthe time to buy? moser: i think if you're looking for a steadydividend play that you can sleep well at night knowing is in your portfolio, apple is a veryfine stock to own. you have to put into context to try to figure out, how does this stockdouble? it's already a huge company. you need to keep your expectations in check. this isa far different apple than it was five years ago. but, it's a great company that's doinggreat things, and they have a lot of opportunities to take the business in new directions. i wouldn't be backing up the truck on thestock today. i think it's cheap for a reason, and i don't know there's necessarily a catalystthat takes this thing to the moon. but it's
a very high quality business, and again, ithink tim cook has done a very fine job, given the situation. he's not steve jobs, and weall knew that. i think the biggest challenge for him is trying to figure out what the nextinnovations are. and he has a great team there,
3d printing pros and cons,it's just probably taking a little bit moretime than a lot of people feel like they have. reeth: waiting and seeing and hoping and wishingand praying. moser: i still like my iphone. reeth: sure, nothing wrong with that.moser: not at all.
