Former President Donald Trump is no stranger to being outspoken and sharing his opinions on a range of topics. A study showed that Trump once tweeted 5,293 times in a 12-month period, ranking first among world leaders.
While Trump is not currently allowed on Twitter, one rant about a leading technology company could have cost him some serious profits.
What Happened: Even before becoming president, Trump shared his thoughts on numerous companies, using Twitter as his outlet. His opinion on Apple Inc AAPL in 2014 turned out to be poor trading advice, as the company's stock has increased substantially since Trump sold his shares.
In 2014, Trump tweeted about his frustration that Apple iPhones did not have larger screens.
Trump said Samsung phones had a much better size and that Apple needed to go to a larger screen, or it would see its sales take a hit to its rival.
In a move to show his frustration, Trump tweeted on Jan. 28, 2014, that he sold his shares of Apple.
“I predicted Apple’s stock fall based on their dumb refusal to give the option of a larger iPhone screen like Samsung. I sold my Apple stock,” Trump tweeted.
Related Link: Apple Weathers Macro Uncertainties To Post Q4 Earnings Beat
Apple Stock Performance: Apple shares were trading at $451.92 the morning of Jan. 28, 2014.
A $1,000 investment could have purchased 2.21 shares of Apple at the time of Trump’s tweet.
Since that time, shares were split 7-for-1 in 2014 and 4-for-1 in 2020. The 2.21 shares of Apple would be 61.88 shares today.
The $1,000 investment would be worth $8,562.95 today, based on a price of $138.38 for Apple shares at the time of writing.
Investors would have enjoyed a return of 756.3% over the last 8.75 years, going against the advice and action of the former president. This represents an average annual return of 86.4, significantly beating the average return of leading stock market indexes over the same time period.
Photo: Courtesy of Gage Skidmore on flickr
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