AAPL again

Then , a year ago, and now charts as usual;

aapl feb 21 2015 saapl feb 2016

A year ago we predicted the stock was about to, or had already, peaked at about $128/9. It did go fractionally higher after that, three times in fact, but it would have been an excellent exit point saving you about 28% of your money. (When you talk to your neighbour etc. etc….. you know the routine).

Our first target was $92. It has briefly traded at $91.80, overlapping the top of wave 3. So now the question is where from here. Down. Down to about $70, at least. One technique that is easier to implement than than the rounding top which requires a circle, is to simple assume that things go down at the same rate they went up. That is easy to construct as per the chart on the right, $70 by Aug./Sept. The reason is simple as well. We are going into the year of the monkey and China is now Apple’s largest customer. Monkey see, monkey do! There will be tons of similar products competing with AAPL. They will therefore have to stay at the forefront of innovation which is getting increasingly harder to do, particularly in a market that is starting to get a little saturated, so “growth” will suffer. In the meantime margins will be compressed. The stock is excessively over-owned, particularly by large funds, hedge funds and the like.

Then there is that 200 bln. pile of cash sitting out there somewhere. It is a lot less and if you look at their balance sheet borrowings and deferred taxes they are almost as large, so this does not mean a lot other than that they are doing all they can to defer repatriation of profits.

FCX update

The usual then, Jan 11, 2016 and now charts;

fcx jan 11 2016fcx feb 7 2016

We were a few days early and a dollar too high, but had you bought it around $4.50 you would still be up almost 25%. We are not at all sure that this is the final bottom but looking at the chart a little closer, it is possible to count the waves in such a way that we were only at the end of wave 3 of this wave and still have 4 and 5 to go (shown in blue). Again we are not sure but it is a possibility.

Furthermore, as first waves in a new bull market tend to be retraced almost entirely there should not be much lost if you step aside at, say $7 or so, and wait it out.

SW, Sierra Wireless, update

SW feb 6 2016

This one we got wrong. It looked as if a 5 wave sequence was complete back in Nov. at around $19. In retrospect the action from that point on has the looks of a triangle. Given its size it does not fit well with the notion that it is a 4th wave in the 5th. More likely it is a 4th of the entire move. It has already travelled far enough but could continue to the trend line at around $14. By that time it will have lost 76%. If this is going to be a much larger A-B-C than that is already more than enough and the thing should bounce.

Alternatively, if the count is completely wrong, then we are probably looking at a double zig-zag correction which should in any case be complete not far from here.

The fundamentals were mixed with a larger top line but also a larger loss, but not one of large proportions. Stocks normally do not fly straight into the ground at this speed and normally there is a good bounce before the crash, if that is going to happen. It is now more of a buy then it was a few weeks ago.

MG, Magna update

The usual then , 12th May 2015, and now charts;

mg may 12 2015 smg feb 6 2016

Roughly a year ago we were toying with the idea that we were looking at a series of 4-5 at the top, indicating that the end was, at the very least, near. We advised that one should bail.

In retrospect we suspect, but still are not sure, that this may be a diagonal, almost always a 5th wave and therefore near the end. The difference is not entirely academic as the diagonal or wedge has a clear minimum target of $40 and we are not even there yet.

In any event, if you live in the Newmarket/Aurora area and are talking to your neighbour, you can tell him that you sold the stock at $68 following this blog and have saved 1/3 of your money since then. If he asks you if the blog is expensive, just tell him it is for free, at least for now.

Magna has had declining oil and a rising US$ going for it. It has more cash than debt and its payout ratio is below 20%. There is nothing not to like, even the HQ in Aurora look more like a replica of Versailles than your typical auto company factory box. But it is in a cyclical business. Ultimately we do expect it to go below $40, perhaps as far as $20.

And then there is that sure kiss of death;

A number of brokerages have recently commented on MG. TD Securities upgraded Magna International from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from C$59.00 to C$57.00 in a report on Friday, November 6th. RBC Capital lifted their target price on Magna International from C$88.00 to C$91.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 15th.

Did they forget the silly mantra of the industry, “you cannot time the market”?