Steve Jobs: Innovator and Leader

Today is a tragic day.  Apple, Inc announced that their co-founder, Steve Jobs, has passed away.  I would be hard pressed to find a person in America who hasn't used a product created by Mr. Jobs.  From the iMac to the iPod to the iPad, Steve Jobs has touched all of our lives, and he will never be forgotten. 

Will Apple be the same without Steve Jobs?  We can take a look at the history of AAPL by looking here.  AAPL has been one of the most successful stocks out there in the last 10 years, but can it continue?

People may be worried that the stock price will be down big tomorrow because of this announcement, but I do not think so.  I believe that this news is already baked into the price.  AAPL is trading at a forward looking P/E of 11.62.  This is a ridiculously low P/E for a growth company like AAPL.  Generally, the higher the growth, the higher the P/E multiple.  Amazon, Inc. trades at a 66.11 P/E, and Amazon grows at a slower rate than AAPL.  Intuitively, this makes no sense, and I would expect AAPL's P/E to rise in the near future.

I have a price target of $500 for AAPL by December of 2012, and given the current price of the stock, I would be surprised if that isn't attained.

Disclosure: I am long AAPL.  I have no position in AMZN