My Personal Holdings: Apple Inc. – September 2015 Update

I am often asked if I utilize the methods I teach here on ModernGraham, and the answer is yes.  I fully believe that Benjamin Graham’s methodology can be used in the market today, especially after taking time to analyze each one of his ideas and modernize it as needed.  The ModernGraham method can be a great way to narrow down investment opportunities to the strongest companies, and then a little bit of further research can help one determine in which companies to invest.

This series of posts looks at each of my personal holdings, putting them through a full ModernGraham valuation and adding a level of further research to provide rationale as to why I selected the company for my portfolio.  Here’s a page with more information about my portfolio, including my thoughts and goals on asset allocation and an overview of my current holdings.

The first step in my analysis is to put the company through a full ModernGraham valuation.  For readers who may be new to the site, here on ModernGraham I cover the full S&P 500, putting each company through an individual valuation like this every quarter if it qualifies for either the Defensive Investor or Enterprising Investor, or every year if it does not qualify for either investor type.

ModernGraham Valuation

Benjamin Graham taught that Intelligent Investors must do a thorough fundamental analysis of investment opportunities to determine their intrinsic value and inherent risk.  This is best done by utilizing a systematic approach to analysis that will provide investors with a sense of how a specific company compares to another company or by reviewing the 10 Most Undervalued Companies for the Defensive Investor – August 2015.  By using the ModernGraham method one can review a company’s historical accomplishments and determine an intrinsic value that can be compared across industries.  What follows is a stock analysis showing a specific look at how Apple Inc. (AAPL) fares in the ModernGraham valuation model.