On Thursday afternoon, when Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s stock touched $389.74, Apple broke that record. With $137.1 billion in cash and marketable securities as of December, Apple’s PE ratio ex-cash hit 5.53. Although the company will almost certainly have increased its cash holdings in the past three months, it’s also expected to report earnings that are lower than the same quarter last year, which will reduce the E in P/E and increase the ratio.
On the other hand, a report by The Wall Street Journal suggests that Goodreads and Apple were in talks on bringing Goodread’s reviews and ratings appear within iTunes’ iBookstore when users searched for a book title. The report cited people familiar with the talks to inform that the talks didn’t reach a conclusion, and when Apple executives tried to reach Goodreads again, it had got close to Amazon which insisted that it stopped talking to other companies.
Last month, Amazon had acquired Goodreads for an undisclosed amount, with intent to integrate book recommendations, complementing reader reviews provided at Amazon.com’s online shop for digital book titles. Since launching in early 2007, Goodreads has grown to boast more than 16 million members and 30,000 book clubs. Features at Goodreads include tracking books read, discovering new titles, and connecting directly with authors.
Coming to stock market performance, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is down more than 26% so far this year to hover at $392.05, AAPL saw its price target cut to $465 from $530 at Barclays this morning, just days before the firm takes its turn in the earnings confessional. The equity’s Schaeffer’s put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) sits at 0.50, confirming calls double puts among the front three-months’ series of options. In fact, this ratio is just 1 percentage point above a yearly nadir, meaning short-term options players have rarely been more bullishly aligned toward AAPL during the last 12 months.