My headline is borrowed from venture capitalist Marc Andreessen, who tweeted the phrase before the latest round of earnings reports, accompanied by a chart labeled “Reality Distorted.”
I’ve adapted and updated his chart to reflect post-earnings PE ratios and added a second factor: Leveraged free cash flow.
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There’s nothing necessarily wrong with Amazon (AMZN), Facebook (FB), or Alphabet (GOOGL). They are well-run companies with room to grow.
Apple (AAPL) is also a well-run company with room to grow. The difference is that Apple has stopped growing, at least for now. Meanwhile, it has a track record of hit products, owns the most valuable segment of every market it’s entered, and is making money faster than it can spend it.
That’s got to be worth something.
For more on Apple, watch:
See also: Apple’s Bizarre Valuation: Something’s Got to Give