Last November I wrote Chasing Value: Apple's Great, but This Stock Is Better! with the audacity to state "...the potential to beat Apple's prospects by 33 to 1 -- now that is amazing!"

Yes you read that correctly. I still believe a dollar invested in EZCorp (EZPW) will earn 33 times that of a dollar invested in America's sweetheart Apple Inc (AAPL). Of course anyone can make any proclamations that they want. Few dare as I have to post the results when they are not favorable as I have over the past five years.

Today however, I will not be swallowing my pride as EZCorp, a leading pawn shop and cash advance company, has indeed out performed the tremendously successful Apple since the original story. It is worth mentioning to those that would point to Apple's ten-year run that EZPW was the better stock over the long haul as well.

Prognosticators the world over are throwing in their 2 cents about "my pal Warren's" next market moves; especially since he announced last week that his trigger finger was itchy. When Warren Buffett, chairman of Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A and BRK.B) speaks, investors listen.

On Wednesday March 2, this investor threw in his two cents worth (see:Serious Money: What Should Warren Buffett Do Next?) discussing possible acquisitions. Since all the "pro's", I use the term loosely, have had a say I thought I would give readers a chance to express some of their ideas too.

Apple Inc. (AAPL) has had tremendous success with its App store, and it is once again approaching a major milestone as the company's stock continues to soar and set yet another 52-week high today.

Apple stock closed the day at its new 52-week high of $348.48, up 0.8% on the day.

One month ago I stuck my neck out a ways by making the statement that EZCorp (EZPW) was a superior investment to the current market darling Apple Inc. (AAPL). Furthermore that was not the limit of my claim, I wrote it was 33 to 1 better -- that's a lot. Since I am a glutton for punishment, I always post my good and bad calls.

I will be following this idea for one, three, six, and 12 months, if reader interest remains, to see how things progress. EZCorp is one of my 2009 and 2010 stock pick winners and I will be sticking with it in 2011, as well. See Chasing Value: 2011 Stock Picks -- The Journey Begins.

Investors are running scared again and that always means that stock bargains are not far behind. Apple Inc. (AAPL) dropped another $5.87 Tuesday, landing at $239.93, and another 8 cents was lost after-hours. For most of the year I have felt that Apple was not cheap and was not going to hit $300 per share, contrary to almost anyone else with a voice. Now I feel it is worth watching as things might get silly to the downside.

Apple rose to a high of $279.01 before pulling back 14%. That is not enough of a margin of safety for me, but it has become interesting again. It clearly has earned a spot on my watch list.

Government debt is expanding -- again! At the same time corporate coffers are overflowing some $1.6 trillion with reserve capital, not counting financial institutions. In some instances they have more money than any state in the Union and most small countries. Chasing Value: Apple's Holding $48 Billion -- For What?

Here's a shocker -- personal savings continues to increase. When the (false) economy was booming valuations for everything were spiraling out of control, leverage was extreme, and the savings rate was next to nothing. Everyone wanted to join the party and most people stayed at the party to long, which did not end well. The savings rate has not been so high in a decade as people reduce their debt and streamline their personal budgets.

Are folks afraid to invest in EZCORP (EZPW)? Perhaps they are, because the stock has not moved even though the metrics improve every time I check. On July 23, EZCORP reported a year-over-year net income rise of 39%. That is, after reporting similar gains the year before.

The metrics are so strong I can't imagine why the company has not made the front page of every investment journal -- but it hasn't. EZCORP has a market-beating P/E of 10.75 (forward 8.55) and very little debt. It's earning a ROE of 19.55%, ROA of 18.75%, and a ROIC of 19.18%. Is there something evil going on here I that I've missed?

Shares of tech giant Apple Inc. (AAPL) rose to a new all-time high Tuesday afternoon after the company posted a 90% increase in profit for its fiscal second quarter, spurred by strong sales of its popular iPhone.

Heading into the earnings report, analysts had forecast $2.45 per share, but Apple shattered those estimates by posting $3.33 a share for the quarter. During the same period last year, the company reported earnings of $1.79 per share.

This summer, Apple Inc. (AAPL)'s iPhone and iPad are going to have a feature that iPhone users have been dying to see since the phone hit the market in 2007... the ability to multitask.

The iPhone took the world by storm when it was released, and each time Apple releases a new model of the popular smart phone consumers line up and wait for hours, and in some cases days, to get their hands on the new Apple iPhone. While the phone is one of the most popular phones on the market today, there are a couple of issues with them, and the inability to multitask ranks up at the top of list of features that iPhone users have wanted.

If there is anything that makes me think we could be close to a market bottom, it is all the people that have gone off the deep end thinking the world may be coming to an end.

For the time being highly leveraged debt obligations seem to have come to an end. Large independent investment banks may have come to an end for now. The idea of a balanced budget may have come to an end a long time ago. However, the world is not coming to an end.

If anybody out there thinks that the times we live in come close to the Dark Ages, the American Revolution, the Civil War, World Wars I or II, or the Great Depression, then they are wimps who know nothing about history or true misery.

There are few topics as popular on BloggingStocks as Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL), one of the original eight we focused on. In the past 52 weeks, the stock has fallen from a high of $202.96 to a recent low of $79.14 amid the greatest market turmoil in 80 years.

Everyone has finally agreed that we are in the midst of a severe recession, and Wall Street has punished Apple, the inventive high flying growth story, because of fears that a slowdown in consumer spending will stall its market expansion.

Black Fridays promise aside, the market is in a wait and see mode. In the meantime, after five consecutive trading days in the upward direction, Apples shares closed Friday in a shortened trading day at $92.67, down for the day but notably off its earlier lows.

A sixth up day was too much to hope for as the market is down, and Apple hit a Monday low of $89.00

So what now? Is the growth story over? I think that for those who have an interest in owning this stock, now is the time to buy. Given a P/E of 17 and a reported $27 in cash and no debt, could there be a better time? I think not.

On October 3, the shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) dropped below the $100 mark for the first time since May 2007. In fact, the stock dropped last Friday to a new 52-week low of $85, representing a 19-month nadir for the iPhone parent. Today, this price plunge served as the catalyst for a valuation-based upgrade from Bernstein.

In a note to clients, Bernstein boosted its rating on AAPL from Market Perform to Outperform, and said that its "longer-term growth story remains intact." Analyst A.M. Sacconaghi added, "Investors appear to be valuing Apple on an earnings multiple, rather than on cash flow, which fundamentally undervalues the company given the huge deferred revenue growth associated with the iPhone."

Specifically, the brokerage firm estimates that the iPhone itself could add between $2.25 and $3.40 per share to cash flow above earnings in fiscal 2009.

However, following the stock's recent free-fall down the charts, Bernstein was forced to trim its price target on AAPL from $175 to $135. Credit Suisse followed suit, slashing its price target on the equity from $200 to $135. Despite today's gain of about 7% amid a massive rally in U.S. stocks, Apple shares could be vulnerable to more price-target cuts during the near term. Thomson Financial pegs the average 12-month price target at $176.33, a lofty premium of 82% to Friday's close at $96.80.

Elizabeth Harrow is an analyst and financial writer in the research department at Schaeffer's Investment Research. She is featured in the video series Schaeffer's Daily Q&A on SchaeffersResearch.com.

While Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) has had relatively smooth going in Europe introducing the iPhone, things are apparently less so in China (and Russia) where it is being reported: China Mobile to Buy Out iPhone in China.

The negotiations between China Mobile Ltd (NYSE: CHL) have led to many compromises on the part of Apple. To get the deal done it agreed to have no more sharing from toll revenues of cooperative carriers, and the Wi-Fi function of the multimedia smartphone is to be deleted.

Although it has been widely reported the Chinese anxiously want to sell iPhones to their hundreds of millions of potential customers -- something Apple has been vigorously pursuing -- it took several rounds of negotiations after which Apple got the short end of the stick.

Just one more company bending to the will of the Chinese. I wonder how long it will be before they reverse engineer the phone using Apple as another pawn in the game of technology transfer? I wonder if there is anything that should or can be done about it?

I'm sure after all is said and done Apple got the best deal it could. I just hope it works out as well as it envisioned.

Sheldon Liber is the CEO of a small private investment company and the principal for design and research at an architecture & planning firm. He writes the columns Chasing Value and Serious Money. Disclosure: I do not own shares of AAPL.

If Barack Obama is receiving advice from "my pal Warren" then he must not be listening. There is no way that Warren Buffett, the national debt hawk, would support Obama's stupid idea of giving another $1,000 back to every family in America. It is reported that he would pay for this by creating a windfall profit tax on oil companies.

This give-away program is an attempt to buy votes plain and simple. It would add to the national debt, discourage oil companies from investing and worse it would handicap American companies more than others and mortgage more of our children's futures.

The last thing the people of the United States need is more deficit spending. If we did tax oil companies, which I am against, I would only support using the funds for expanding education, research and development in science and engineering with the goal of maintaining our waning leadership in technology.

Well, things played out as I thought and Apple, Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) closed on Friday August 1, 2008 at a price of $156.66 and opened pennies down today. I will be the first one to admit that a few of my calls have been terrible, but this one was right on target.

Quoting from one of last years posts, "However, I thought Apple might be worth up to $150 and a month later was willing to consider $160 and that is where I stood." So I'm on record pegging the stock between $150 and $160. Having made the call on the money I will now tell the world that a lot of this game is luck, but that is all I thought it was worth.

Why two rights? One of our brighter commentors, Beltway Greg had pegged Apple around $200 a year out and it made the number in December 2007 long before even he thought it might and I gave him credit at the time. I was looking farther out and as the current price evidences I was correct also. But what's wrong with this picture? When I wrote, I tried to figure what I thought the stock was worth as did Greg.