Warren Buffett Sold 750,000 Shares of Apple, But It’s Still His Largest Holding

Please note that this is a sister publication of WallStreetNewsNetwork ( http://WStNN.com ) and eventually everything on this site will be transferred over there.

by Fred Fuld III

Famous investor and multi-billionaire Warren Buffett has sold over 750,000 shares of Apple (AAPL) during the latest reported quarter, however it is still the largest holding in his Berkshire Hathaway (BRKA) (BRKB) stock portfolio.

As a matter of fact, Apple makes up 26% of the Berkshire portfolio. He probably didn’t want to get too overweighted in the stock. He first started buying Apple shares near the beginning of 2016 at an average cost of about 150 per share.

Buffett also dumped shares of another stock, Wells Fargo (WFC). He liquidated over 31 million shares of the company, so now the stock makes up less than 9% of the Berkshire portfolio.

The Oracle of Omaha made no changes to the second and third largest holdings, Bank of America (BAC), and Coca-Cola (KO). Same with the fifth largest, American Express (AXP).

It is interesting to note that the above five mentioned stocks make up over 65% of the total Berkshire Hathaway stock portfolio.

If you want to see a list of all the stocks in Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway stock portfolio, you can go to the following link:

Warren Buffett Berkshire Hathaway Stocks

Disclosure: Author owns AAPL, BRKB, BAC, & KO.

To be sung to the tune of My Favorite Things

New Years 2018 Investment Poem

Facebook and Apple and Netflix and Google
Throw money at them, no need to be frugal
Amazon’s up over fifty percent
It’s probably not just a random event
When my stocks drop
When I lose bad
When I’m feeling mad
I simply remember my favorite trades
And then I don’t feel so sad

Bitcoin and Ether and Litecoin and Ripple
It certainly looks like my money will triple
California will have legalized pot
Which should cause all weed stocks to get very hot
When my stocks drop
When I lose bad
When I’m feeling mad
I simply remember my favorite trades
And then I don’t feel so sad

The stock market indexes have gone very high
Investors made money and that is no lie
The markets have risen nine years in a row
Everyone’s guessing how high it will go
When my stocks drop
When I lose bad
When I’m feeling mad
I simply remember my favorite trades
And then I don’t feel so sad

© 2018 Fred Fuld III, All rights reserved

Trivia: The iPhone Name was Originally Owned by Cisco, Not Apple

Here is a bit of financial trivia for you.  Linksys, a division of Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO), released its iPhone on Monday, December 18, 2006, which was a phone that connects to a home wireless network for making phone calls through the Internet using the Skype service. Skype was originally owned by eBay Inc. (EBAY)at the time and is now owned by Microsoft (MSFT).

It had been anticipated that Apple Computer Corp. (AAPL) would be using the iPhone name back then, but it had been registered by Cisco in 2000. The iPhone trademark is now owned by Apple.

More info about the “first” iPhone release can be found here, an article from bizjournals back in 2006.

Tim Cook & Jesse Jackson Speak at Apple Annual Shareholder Meeting

Rev. Jesse Jackson outside the
Apple (AAPL) Headquarters

The annual shareholder meeting for Apple (AAPL) was held at the Apple Headquarters in Cupertino, California at 9:00 am PT. The meeting was well attended with the main room filled to capacity and the overflow room almost filled.

First, the resolutions were voted upon. The resolutions along with the results were:

1. Election of Directors: All voted in
2. Appointment of Ernst & Young as registered public accountant: Passed
3. Executive compensation: Passed
4. Employee Stock Plan: Passed
5. Net-Zero Greenhouse Gas Emissions: Failed
6. Diversity: Failed
7. Human Rights Review: Failed
8. Shareholder Proxy Access: Failed

Then they moved on to Tim Cook giving a review of operations during the last year. Highlights are:

• 19 acquisitions
• 116,000 employees worldwide
• $50 billion in capital returned to shareholders
• Dividend increases
• Moving forward with diversity
• Education - teaching coding to students in stores
• Looking at equality and equal pay
• All operations in the US now operating on renewable energy, 77% worldwide with 100% goal
• Raising the standards of suppliers

Finally the question and answer period.

The first was a representative from the Electronic Frontier Foundation, who didn't ask a question, but she spoke in support of Tim Cook and Apple Inc. with regards to the privacy issue of the iPhones and the conflict with the FBI.

Rev. Jesse jackson being
interviewed by
FOX, CNBC, and CBS

Second, Reverend Jesse Jackson spoke. First, he talked about how he supported Tim Cook's and Apple's stance against the FBI. He mentioned the historical abuses of privacy by the government. He also complimented Tim Cook on the diversity progress. Finally, he was concerned about the diversity shareholder proposal not passing.

"It will not stop at one phone." ~ Jesse Jackson

Another question was about the concerns of revenues continuing from China considering the country's shaky economic situation. Cook said that Apple got $60 billion in revenues from China last year. He said that the Chinese middle class should increase ten-fold in five years over what it was five years ago, growing from 50 million to 500 million. Four of the five top cell phones in China were iPhones.

Another question was about the growth of sales in India, which was only $1.5 billion in revenues last year. This is because there is no LTE now, but once the infrastructure limit is dealt with, then revenue growth should take place. Cook also mentioned that half the people in India are under the age of 25, and that India is where China was ten years ago.

The new Apple headquarters campus is on target; but may not be ready for next year's annual meeting.

Cook also refused to talk about an Apple electric car.

The following is a brief podcast of Jesse Jackson speaking about Apple's fight with the FBI. Please note that recordings and pictures were not allowed in the shareholder meeting. This recording took place outside with a lot of ambient noise, so unfortunately, the first part of the recording is very hard to hear. It gets better later on in the recording.

Jesse Jackson speaking

Disclosure: Author owns AAPL.

By Stockerblog.com

In Case you Missed the News on Apple

Apple (AAPL) just reported earnings today. Here is the quick summary:

7 for 1 stock split
Earnings beat estimates
Revenues beat estimates
Dividend increase
Increase in stock buyback
Rumors that the stock may be added to the Dow Jones Industrial Average

The stock is currently up 6.35% in the after-market.

How to Get an iPhone 5C for Half Price

Are you thinking about getting an Apple (AAPL) iPhone 5C but thinking of holding off because of the price? Then how does fifty bucks sound? You can get a brand new iPhone 5C from Best Buy (BBY) as long as you sign up for a two year contract.

This offer is only available until October 7, according to Business Insider. Also, there is no discount on the iPhone 5S.

Here is how it works. You buy the phone for $100, but they give you a $50 gift card at time of purchase that you can immediately use towards your purchase.

Famous Apple Computer Garage of Steve Jobs Becoming Historical Landmark

Many major Silicon Valley companies were started in garages. Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard started up Hewlett Packard (HPQ) in a Palo Alto, California one-car garage. When Google (GOOG) was incorporated, the company was located in Susan Wojcicki's garage in Menlo Park, California. She was a friend of Larry Page and Sergey Brin. And of course, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak's Apple (AAPL) was founded in the garage of the parents of Jobs.

Now this famous garage, and the house it is connected to, is under review by the City of Los Altos in California to become a historical landmark. The house, which is located at 2066 Crist Drive, is the house that Jobs grew up in.

The Los Altos Planning Commission reviewed the 26 page Historic Property Evaluation on September 23. According to the evaluation, the property should be considered to be in a historical context because it is the birthplace of Apple computers. As a reference, it gave the book Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson.

The evaluation stated:

"The subject property is associated with the development of the first Apple computers in Silicon Valley. ... the very first 50 Apple 1 computers were assembled for Paul Terrell's Byte Shop by Steve Jobs, Patricia Jobs, Steve Wozniak, Daniel Kottke, and Elizabeth Holmes and then sold for $500 from the said property 2066 Crist Drive."

and it also mentioned that the original owners of the property were Paul and Clara Jobs, the foster parents of Steve Jobs.

If you want to see a picture of the first Apple computer (basically just a motherboard) and a copy of the original Apple Computer Partnership Agreement, you should take a look at the 26 page document, with can be found at WallStreetNewsNetwork.com as one of the files in its repository. The document also has an early photograph, a copy of the withdrawal from the partnership of Ronald Wayne, and much more.

You can get the document at the following location:

 Steve Jobs House at WallStreetNewsNetwork.com

The Latest Penny Stock Promotion: This One is Scary!!!

Every day, I receive dozens of spam emails in some of my varied email accounts. They are usually promoting some stock that trades anywhere from a penny to a dollar, and sometimes even less than a penny!

They all seem to have the same style, and similar headline like "This one is on the move" or "This stock will make you rich." Most (if not all) of these seem to be pump-and-dump schemes.
However, I just received a new one today, that kind of scares me. Check it out. The subject line in the email is:

My new pick could literally DOUBLE YOUR MONEY OR MORE!  
OK, now read the content of the message:

Apple (Nasdaq:A-A-P-L) has shown its latter-day iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C, which have not affected the investors. Nevertheless, we got to hear about a secret newly-designed product, which is developed in Cupertino (the Headquarter of Apple). Everyone will have interest in this newcomer (throughout a year, it will be put in use by all the people). Today, it's high time to get hold of the Apple's stocks. These securities will go up in price very soon.

Has Apple (AAPL) fallen to the level (figuratively) of a penny stock and a pump-and-dump?

Disclosure: Author owns AAPL.

Review of the Jobs Movie: Will There Be a Jobs 2 Movie?

I finally got a chance to see the Jobs movie, starring Ashton Kutcher as Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple (AAPL). I thought the movie was well done and covered a lot of historical information about the founding and history of Apple Computer, along with the rise and fall and rise again of Steve Jobs.

Anyone who has read the book Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson knows that there is an extensive amount of information about Steve Jobs that could have been included in the movie, but the book is over 650 pages long, and if everything in the book was put into the movie, the movie would have been 20 hours instead of two hours.

Kutcher did a fantastic job portraying Jobs, getting down the Jobs walk, talk, and look. Dermot Mulroney as Mike Markkula, and Josh Gad as Steve Wozniak, were also outstanding.

There were a couple issues in the movie. I wouldn't call them flaws, but I would consider them incidents that were left out that prevented a clear picture of other issues. A perfect example is when Jobs discovers that Microsoft (MSFT) had 'stolen' the graphical user interface with drop-down menus, then proceeds to give Bill Gates a severe tongue-thrashing over the phone. What wasn't mentioned in the movie was the fact that back in 1997, Bill Gates agreed to bail out Apple to the tune of a $150 million investment and even agreed to develop Microsoft Office for the Mac.

I realize the movie can include only so much, but this bail out by Gates and Microsoft shouldn't have been left out.

By the way, Steve and Steve got the idea for a GUI operating system, icons, and even the mouse from Xerox, which were developed for Xerox's Star computer, long before the Macintosh. These ideas were later put into the the Mac OS.

The movie ended at the time the iPod was announced. I'm wondering if there is going to be a Jobs 2.

Anyway, if you are looking for a great way to spend a couple hours, I highly recommend Jobs. And if you haven't read Steve Jobs, I recommend it also. (It makes a great gift for Apple fans.)

Has Apple Dropped the Ball: Samsung has Just Released the Galaxy Gear Smartwatch

Normally, Apple (AAPL) is the first to come out with innovative technological products. But it seems to be behind now. Where is Steve Jobs when we need him?

Samsung has just announced the Galaxy Gear Smartwatch at the IFA technology tradeshow in Berlin. Check it out in the video below:

How to Turn Your Apple iPad into a '3D Printer'

Check out this video of a German salesman of Apple (AAPL) iPads. He turns the iPad into a '3D printer' in order to make a sale. You don't have to speak or understand German to know what's going on. This is a very, very cool video and is not that long.

Quotations from Tim Cook at Apple Annual Meeting

Tim Cook gave an interesting presentation at the Apple Inc. (AAPL) Annual Meeting today.

"Apple's revenue growth is greater than Google (GOOG), Microsoft (MSFT), Dell (DELL), Hewlett Packard (HPQ), Lenovo (LNVGY), and RIMM (RIMM) combined."

"Apple generated $13 billion in profit for the latest quarter, one billion a week."

"On Black Friday, more iPads were sold than all Android devices combined."

"The 700 million smartphone market is expected to double by 2016."

"Apple is doing $10 billion in China, more than any other US tech company."

"Over 50% of the buyers of iPads were the buyers' first Apple product purchase."

In response to question about losing market share to Samsung/Androids, "We don't have our heads stuck up ... stuck in the sand."

"Apple is building a new campus on 175 acres nearby. The property currently has 26 buildings amounting to 2.7 million square feet. The plans are to bulldoze all buildings and building one brand new building of 2.8 million square feet. Goal is completion in 2006. Currently, 80% of the property is asphalt and concrete. That will all change with lots of park land."

"Apple uses 100% renewable energy sources, most produced on site."

"Apple has trained over a million people in China about human rights."

"I still think that David Einhorn's proposal was a silly side show."

In response to a question about the iPad Mini cannibalizing the iPad, "If we don't cannibalize it, someone else will. We take a long view of it; win a customer for life."

"Apple owns the largest solar farm of any commercial company in the world."

"Apple has removed toxics from its products and is surprised that more tech companies haven't followed suit."

"95% of Fortune 500 companies use iPhones and iPads."

How to Toss Your Cookies on Your Apple iPhone

Although the Apple (AAPL) iPhone has a lot of competition, it is still selling like hotcakes. Since there are lots of new iPhone users, I thought it would be helpful for them to know how to toss their cookies on their Apple iPhone; in other words, empty the Safari cookies and cache. If you use Safari a lot on your iPhone, maybe it is time to clear out your history, cache, and cookies.

Here is how you do it:
1. Click on the Settings icon.
2. Scroll down and click on Safari.
3. At the bottom of the Safari page, you will see Clear History, Clear Cookies, and Clear Cache.
4. Click on each one of these. It will asked 'Are you sure?', then click Clear.

Here are more Top 18 Apple iPhone Tips.

And here are more iPhone Tips, especially for stock traders.

By Stockerblog.com

Steve Jobs

If you have not read the book Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson, you need to read it. Even if you are a Microsoft (MSFT) Windows person and not an Apple (AAPL), Mac person. Even if you use a Research In Motion (RIMM) BlackBerry, instead of an iPhone. You need to read this book.

It is not just the historical information, which is very, very extensive, going back to the grandparents of Jobs and continues to almost his death. It is not just the fascinating trivia about Jobs, including the drugs, the feet soaking in toilets, the veganism, and how he once turned into a carrot (you have to read the book!). By the way, there is a ton of trivia, and I really don't want to give any more of it away.

What makes this book great is the combination of a psychoanalysis of Jobs combined with an evolutionary business analysis of Apple, Inc. and its founder. One of the key elements of the book, at least in the first part, is the interaction and relationship between Jobs and Steve Wozniak. They are complete opposites in numerous ways, physically, mentally, emotionally, philosophically, behaviorally, yet they worked together so well and complimented each other almost perfectly.

This business and financial side of Apple was significantly covered in the book, but probably just as interesting, if not more so, is the personal side of Jobs and all the major players in his life. And what a life.

Here is a guy who basically created his own market, his own Industry. He is responsible for providing employment to over 60,000 people directly, and hundreds of thousands of workers indirectly. He has made millionaires out of thousands and thousands of employees and investors. Not bad for a dollar-a-year man.

Isaacson has done his homework for this book, not only through interviews of Jobs, but also his co-workers, staff, family, friends, and even enemies. The research is extensively annotated at the end. The book even includes over 20 pictures. This tome is over 600 pages long, perfect for summer reading, vacation reading, or just one-chapter-a-night-before-you-go-to-bed reading. It is even available as a Steve Jobs Kindle book. If you are looking for a book as a gift, either for a friend, family member, or even yourself, Steve Jobs is the book worth getting.