The recent focus of this blog has been on how deeply pessimistic the market has become with respect to Apple. Here is another take on the same theme. The table below compares the four largest tech companies: Apple, Google, Amazon and Facebook. Notice that although Apple still has the largest market value (equity plus debt) that is due in large part to its huge hoard of cash and investments. With respect to operating value, Apple is now well behind Google with Facebook and Amazon nipping at its heels. This is true in spite of the fact that over the last twelve months Apple had before-tax operating income more than 3 times that of Google, 9 times that of Facebook, and 20 times that of Amazon. The market sees a bleak future for Apple indeed. Particularly, when compared to its major competitors.
