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To suffer woes which Hope thinks infinite;
To forgive wrongs darker than death or night;
    To defy Power, which seems omnipotent;
To love, and bear; to hope till Hope creates
From its own wreck the thing it contemplates;
    Neither to change, nor falter, nor repent;
This, like thy glory, Titan, is to be
Good, great and joyous, beautiful and free;
This is alone Life; Joy, Empire, and Victory!

—Prometheus Unbound, Shelley

Fiscal 4Q 2011 Final Estimates

AAPL now trading at [$381.32] 8.6 times my forward-looking EPS estimate (6.6x ex-cash). Here are some comparisons with previous periods:

Jul 18, 2011: [at $374.65] 10.8 times my forward-looking EPS estimate (8.6x after excluding cash)
Mar 21, 2011: [at $330.67] 10.5 times my fwd EPS estimate (8.3x ex-cash)
Dec 23, 2010: [at $323.60] 12.9 times my fwd EPS estimate (10.5x after excluding cash)
Oct 02, 2010: [at $282.52] 12.7 times my FY2011 EPS (10.5x after excluding cash)
Jun 30, 2010: [at $251.53] 12.1 times my FY2011 EPS (9.8x after excluding cash)

An alternative long-term valuation metric I introduced in my "Get AAPL for free" post from July, which had Apple's cash balance matching the then current share price within 4.5 to 5 years is maintained, with Apple's cash estimated at $381.16 per share for the quarter ending in June 2016. As I pointed out then, it's a very conservative scenario that does not assume any new product category and now involves even more cautiousness with EPS growth slowing down to 10% by then (was 15%). Just trying to somehow align that base case with the current valuation multiple and its implied market sentiment.

The rest of the details:

3mo ending Sep-2011   Rev($M)   EPS($)
-------------------   -------   ------
Apple guidance         25,000     5.50
Analysts consensus     29,110     7.15
Deagol estimates       32,097     8.75

Here's to the crazy ones

Here's to the crazy ones.

   The misfits.
    The rebels.
     The troublemakers.
      The round pegs in the square holes.
The ones who see things differently.

Apple at record high yet cheap as ever

Ok maybe not as cheap as in 2003...

Still, despite the 20%+, 64+ point run in less than a month to a record all-time intraday high today of $374.65, those buying AAPL at that price are still getting it at a near-record low (recent years) valuation multiple of only 10.8 times my forward-looking EPS estimate (8.6x after excluding cash).

Fiscal 3Q 2011 Final Estimates

3mo ending Jun-2011   Rev($M)   EPS($)
-------------------   -------   ------
Apple guidance         23,000     5.03
Analysts consensus     24,920     5.80
Deagol estimates       26,070     6.62

Get AAPL for free - yet another opinionated valuation analysis

These days there's been endless discussion about AAPL valuation, some as usual focused on Apple and its perceived risks, some scolding everyone for even talking about valuation as it's "evidently" irrelevant, and more recently some more focused on market mechanics and manipulation. There's evidence and theory and some data to back almost any combination of reasons, be that pro or con any specific issue. Precisely because of this, most points of view end up being opinion based. I won't even point you to any article as there's been too many and I don't want to bias your research by picking my favorites (check on the list of links at the right for some of them). Or just Google "AAPL valuation" and filter by "last month" with the search tools on Google's left panel.

So here, to add my take to the "AAPL valuation is nuts" opinionated pool, I've chosen to do it without addressing any of the common issues. Yup, you read that right. I won't talk about management uncertainty or competitive forces or the broader economy or sentiment or market manipulation. There's plenty on all of that elsewhere, and usually (if you're good at parsing trolls) insightful and exhaustive discussion through those articles' comment systems.