Forbes names Apple December’s ‘stock of the month’

Forbes magazine has named Apple as its December’s ” stock of the month.”

John Beckingham, “The Prudent Speculator,” writes that, though he doesn’t plan to switch his Windows allegiance, he’s always marveled at Apple’s “ability to persevere with the odds so often stacked against its survival.”

In naming Apple as his stock pick of the month, he says the company has done a good job of managing Wall Street expectations, though the bar has been set low.

In defending Apple as his stock pick for December, Beckingham writes: “… we do not expect a return to the glory days of the late 1990s, but Apple’s financial condition looks remarkably similar today as it did back in 1997 when it made its initial appearance as stock of the month. That first recommendation resulted in a 500 percent+ average price appreciation when the last of our shares were sold in late 1999. Today, the balance sheet is pristine, with over $4 billion in cash and short-term investments, equivalent to more than $12 per share. In 1997, Apple had $11 per share in cash on a virtually debt-free balance sheet.”