I don't think apple can be a short right now. It can be a stock you want to sell or hold if you are long. It can even be a stock you want to buy. But it can't, in my opinion, be a short. Never short a stock just because you think it is too high. Don't even short it because you think it will surely drop in price. You need more than that for a good short candidate.
A stock that has a long history of trading in a regular, cyclical pattern can be shorted at the tops of cycles assuming there are not extenuating circumstances to suggest this time will be different. But apple does not fit here.
Another type of excellent short candidate is one that has been recently pumped by Barrons to buy time for the big investors to exit gracefully, but when checked out shows seriously weak fundamentals,e.g., high debt, declining revenues, increasing losses, or facing potentially huge losses, failing brand name, loss of market share, very bad news on the horizon, etc. In "short", you need really dismal prospects, and getting worse, and you need to be one of the first to recognize it. For example, you find out that GM just had to pay nearly a million dollars to Fiat to exit from a deal that would have allowed Fiat to sell itself to GM. You check out GM's debt situation and sales and other fundamentals and discover that GM is a sinking ship with a clogged bilge pump.. Barron's comes up with a glowing account of GM's bright future. Wait for the "Barron's Bounce", then SHORT!
Apple does not fit here. Do not short Apple. Again, just an opinion. Now you could short Apple and make a million, but that would not make me wrong and you right. It would make you darn lucky however!
What I have written here does not apply to very short term trading of course.
A stock that has a long history of trading in a regular, cyclical pattern can be shorted at the tops of cycles assuming there are not extenuating circumstances to suggest this time will be different. But apple does not fit here.
Another type of excellent short candidate is one that has been recently pumped by Barrons to buy time for the big investors to exit gracefully, but when checked out shows seriously weak fundamentals,e.g., high debt, declining revenues, increasing losses, or facing potentially huge losses, failing brand name, loss of market share, very bad news on the horizon, etc. In "short", you need really dismal prospects, and getting worse, and you need to be one of the first to recognize it. For example, you find out that GM just had to pay nearly a million dollars to Fiat to exit from a deal that would have allowed Fiat to sell itself to GM. You check out GM's debt situation and sales and other fundamentals and discover that GM is a sinking ship with a clogged bilge pump.. Barron's comes up with a glowing account of GM's bright future. Wait for the "Barron's Bounce", then SHORT!
Apple does not fit here. Do not short Apple. Again, just an opinion. Now you could short Apple and make a million, but that would not make me wrong and you right. It would make you darn lucky however!
What I have written here does not apply to very short term trading of course.
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