Apple Inc. (AAPL), Google Inc (GOOG): Man, Was That Terrible Advice! I’m Giving it to You Again

Back in September, I made a bold statement.  I called Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) the “King,” and laid out my argument that the company would continue to dominate the mobile computing world, and that it was the “buy now” investment over Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG), which I labeled the “buy later” stock.  Here’s how that worked out:

AAPL data by YCharts

I managed to make my prediction somewhere very near the all-time high for Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) shares, and we all know what’s happened since then.  But before we talk about what this all means for investors today, let’s see what we can learn.  A few points:

This is a prime example of how trying to play the short-term can go very badly

My recommendation was based on the long-term, and that hasn’t changed

Lastly, this is precisely why it’s best to “ease” into any investment, buying in parts, versus trying to “time” the market or go all-in at once

So where are we now?

Interestingly enough, I’d say in the same place.  Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) continues to be essentially the same cash-generating monster that makes products consumers love.  The only two real differences are that it’s larger than it was six months ago, and the share price has gone from what I considered a fair valuation, to insanely cheap by nearly any measure.

Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG), on the other hand, has seen its share price (and its valuation) go higher. The stock has made a nice run up over $820 per share in recent weeks, and it could keep going. It’s worth mentioning that I’ve bought shares of Google since the first article, and I plan to add more over time.  But as much as anything, my thesis is tied to the fact that Google is willing to push boundaries outside of mobile and web-based search, in ways that could redefine how we interface with, and use the mobile Web.

Another table for perspective:

AAPL Forward PE Ratio data by YCharts