As Apple rises so does at&t fall
Why am I suddenly reminded of the old Jerry Reed song She Got The Goldmine (I Got The Shaft) when looking at the recent stock prices for at&t and Apple Inc?
At close of business Monday July 2, 2007 (the first full trading day after the iPhone release) Apple stock closed at $121.26 and at&t stock closed at $41.49. That was as low as Apple was going to go and as high as at&t has made it.
Disclaimer: at&t did declare a dividend of $0.355 per share on July 6, 2007 and stocks are known to drop after a dividend is declared.
Stock Prices at Close post-iPhone
| Date | Apple stock | at&t stock |
| 29-Jun-07 | $122.04 | $41.14 |
| 2-Jul-07 | $121.26 | $41.49 |
| 3-Jul-07 | $127.17 | $41.14 |
| 4-Jul-07 | no data | $40.60 |
| 5-Jul-07 | $132.75 | $40.66 |
| 6-Jul-07 | $132.30 | $40.66 |
| 9-Jul-07 | $130.33 | $40.49 |
| 10-Jul-07 | $132.35 | $39.50 |
* prices are for adjusted close at end of day. The price may have been higher or lower during daily trading.
As we learned in the past when Engadget posted (false) negative news about Apple and the iPhone a news story can have a short term impact on the stock price. We saw this play out again on Tuesday July 10, 2007 when rumors of an iPhone Nano surfaced. Apple stock flew up to a high of $134.50 on that news and did not fall back for about two hours!
Stock Tip
With at&t gaining no real market benefit from the iPhone I’m going to go out on a limb and suggest that the stock may have hit its year end target early. I sold a good amount of at&t stock when it hit $36 because I thought it would not hit $40 until the end of the year and I wanted to move my money into a stock with better bang for my buck. When I sold those stocks Apple was just shy of $90 per share. Every two and one-half shares of at&t stock I sold I converted into one share of Apple stock. With Apple gaining about $45 per share since then I have made out like a bandit!
It’s not too late for you. There is still some money to be made from Apple stock but you will likely not see the record gains of the past six months repeated in the near future. It might get as high as $150 per share by year end but I’ll probably sell it if it hits $140 and begins to flatline there.
As for at&t stock? I’m setting a year end target of $44 for that one. Yes, I’m sticking with the Apple stock.
I used to own apple, but sold it a while ago.
In Canada right now I like Husky Energy.