Apple joining the Dow: What the analysts are saying

A sampling of analysts’ reactions to today’s news. More as they come in.

Gene Munster, Piper Jaffray: Apple over the last couple of years has been a company that gives back to investors, launches hit products and increases its market cap. From that angle today’s news feels like an expected event. But going from the brink of bankruptcy to a Dow Jones Company in less than 20 years? That I would never have predicted, which makes today’s news sweeter and more historical. As for the share price, this is a long term positive. For the everyday investors, being part of the Dow is a validation that Apple will be around for the long haul.

Daniel Ernst, Hudson Square Research: On the one hand its positive in terms of a greater recognition that Apple represents the new economy — the new industrial engine of economic growth. Further the opportunity for greater index driven ownership helps broaden the appeal of the stock. On the other hand it could be argued that its DJIA tech peers, CSCO, IBM, INTC, MSFT are past their prime growth cycles and that is not a favorable comparison for Apple investors. Also, as an aside, with the removal of Telephone from the index (as old school traders would call AT&T – ticker T), the index seems underweight the plumbing of our information economy.

Robert Paul Leitao, Braeburn Group: Adding Apple to the DJIA makes the index more reflective of American industry. It’s a long overdue step. Over time the addition may reduce Apple’s share price volatility while providing a benefit to long-term shareholders by broadening the institutional ownership of the stock.

Neil Cybart, Above Avalon: Apple joining the Dow is noteworthy since the index committee has historically been very cautious about adding technology firms to the index. Many market observers were anticipating this move as it was becoming very difficult to ignore the elephant in the room. While the addition will have little long-term impact on Apple, it is yet another sign of the technology industry’s increasing role in driving global economic growth.

Horace Dediu, Asymco. It took a loong time. I don’t know what they are thinking but I guess the price split was instrumental.

Andy Zaky, Bullish Cross: If Apple had been in the Dow in 2012 when the stock crashed, it would have sent the Dow lower by 2,500 points within a period of like 5-months. If Apple had already split 7-1, on the other hand, it would have only impacted the Dow by around 350 points.

Trip Chowdhry, Global Equities Research: Apple joining Dow is extremely bad for Apple. Joining Dow takes the shine off the Apple and makes it a rotten Apple. Companies in Dow have historically symbolized companies which are boring, have zero innovation, complacent and are inching closer to irrelevance by the day, which is definitely not what Apple is all about. Apple should just refuse to join the Dow Index.