Don't worry about Apple's margins
As the premier retailer with the hottest products heading into the holidays, Apple can demand concessions from its suppliers, so its gross margins will be fine.
By Jim Cramer, TheStreet
The answer: iPhone 4, iPod Touch, iPad. The question: What are the top three toys, according to the Duracell Toy Report that came out Wednesday?
Of course, what people were concerned about when it comes to Apple (AAPL) wasn't the demand side (as this report is a testament). It was the gross margin side, that Apple's gross margins, according to a federal filing last night, might be disappointing.
The filing was picked up and spread around last night like wildfire, as if, at last, the truth came out, and wasn't stated correctly in the quarterly earnings -- as if Apple is just not making as much as we thought.
It dovetailed perfectly with the lackluster action the stock has had compared with cloud computing and entertainment-streaming stocks -- F5 (FFIV), Akamai (AKAM), as of Wednesday night, and Netflix (NFLX) -- all of which have accelerating revenue growth and stable or improving gross margins.
It's all nonsense, as nonsensical as the rumor spread the other day that Apple will buy Netflix.
The truth? Apple is a great story, the best heading into the holiday season. It is both the premier retailer and the retailer with the hottest properties, ones that it owns. I know for a fact that Apple is clamping down and getting better deals from its suppliers simply because it has become too important a customer for them to deny concessions. That alone will raise Apple's gross margins, another piece of info that minimizes this story that was so ballyhooed last night.
The only thing worrisome about Apple is its sheer size and whether it "deserves" to have the second-biggest market cap out there. That's a tough question because, with market valuations on earnings, Apple almost has to have that size if its earnings and cash position are going to be valued for what they give you.
I reiterate that the stock is a buy.
At the time of publication, Cramer was long Apple.
Jim Cramer is co-founder and chairman of TheStreet. He contributes daily market commentary for TheStreet's sites and serves as an adviser to the company's CEO.
Click here to follow Cramer's trades for his Charitable Trust.
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