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I don't know, Keith. Apple's share price fall certainly was dramatic, and anyone who got in at high prices is surely feeling the pain. But most of the conversation about Apple focuses on the share price and on how much capital you lost if you bought too high.
But I think the under-reported and under-discussed story is about AAPL as a potentially incredible dividend growth stock. True, they just (re)initiated the dividend last year, so there is not much of a track record to rely on. But at today's prices, AAPL is yielding almost 2.3%. Not great, but not too shabby, either. And I'm guessing that a significant raise will be announced this year -- and maybe soon. They are under so much pressure to do something with the giant cash pile, and improving the dividend payout, along with increasing the share buyback program are no-brainers. They generate so much revenue and free cash that they will be able to afford to increase the dividend by reasonable amounts for years to come.
Of course, investing in AAPL for dividend growth is not like taking a position in JNJ or PG. Much more uncertainty and volatility around the share price, and most importantly, about the security of future earnings. But AAPL could turn out to be an excellent DG play in the short to medium term, at least.
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I'm with you on this one, TomK. I'm underwater on my AAPL shares at current prices (though not by much). But I'm not too nervous, for exactly the reasons you state. I think that even if the stock never gets back to $700, I think it will turn out to have been a good income play. But like you say, gotta keep a much closer eye on these shares than on many of my other holdings.
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Apple made a big turn around this past week with the Carl Icahn play. I have been an AAPL investor for the long haul, starting in 2007. I think it's a great company but definately going through some growing pains.
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Hey StockGoddess -- welcome to the forum!
I also own some AAPL, and while everyone is focused on whether it will or can remain a huge growth story, I've been content to sit back and enjoy it as a dividend growth stock. So much hype surrounds this company, and it gets little attention from a DG perspective because the dividend is so new, but they still generate gobs of cash, not to mention the hoard, and have a nice low payout ratio still. I am hopeful that my yield on cost will be excellent in just a few years as they raise the dividend meaningfully.
My average price per share is $499, so I'm just getting back to even with the recent run-up. I guess I should send Carl a thank you note!
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I've considered picking up some AAPL shares as a dividend growth play. Since they have started paying a dividend and have raised it once I think, with all the cash they have they appear to be a solid potential dividend grower going forward.
However, my concern has always been their lack of innovation lately. They make their money from selling the popular trendy items like IPad's and IPhones. As new technology comes out many consumers may move on to the next cool tablet or phone. I think Apple is a good company but the need for innovation scares me. It scares me enough to just stick with the regular boring dividend growth companies like KO, JNJ, WMT that don't need to continually come out with new products.
) tend to love anything Apple do and would happily follow them over a cliff.... which is exactly what they done!! 
