HondaReport.com - In or out? The market is crazy

It was a year ago, almost, when I realized that Apple Inc. is the stock deity of the new millenium. Now that the stock price of AAPL has since increased 140%, the question has to be asked: Is it too late to buy in?

Until about four years ago, I didn't have an inkling about Apple products. The iPod was about to come out and I was still using PCs. They sucked. They froze up. (Thank you, Microsoft Windows. Not.)

So I've used a PowerBook ever since and the result is a happy, happy, happy customer. Sure, it costed me more than a cheap laptop, but how do you measure the hassle and headache of the constant problems.

I actually liked Apple so much that I bought what few shares I could a few months ago when it was hovering in the low 90s. Overpriced, naysayers said. But I thought, this is one of the best growth companies in the world. The iPhone was coming soon enough, which (to me) virtually guaranteed a rise to $125 per share by June.

I was right. Despite doubts about the release date of the iPhone, doubts about CEO Steve Jobs situation with backended company stock options, Apple has destroyed all doubters. Today, AAPL traded at 120, an all-time high. The growth figures and sales numbers justify the price, whether we like the company or not.

So I wonder, should I even bother going in right now? Chances are that a lot of traders will jump ship on the day the iPhone finally gets released. That would be a timely situation.

And what if the market corrects? Even with mammoth liquidity worldwide — even the Chinese are putting their well-saved yuan (50% savings rate) into stocks instead of dead-end savings accounts (5%) — nothing ever goes up on a straight line.

I think a correction happens sometime this summer. It has to. Logic dictates this. By then, though, AAPL could be at 130. Maybe 140. Possibly 150.

It's not an easy time to invest, but it's always worth studying. If not AAPL, then my other A- candidates: Baidu (BIDU), Google (GOOG), Spartan Motors (SPAR) and Crocs (CROX).