Apple Vs Dell; The Anthropic IPO -- September 12, 2026

Locator: 51714APPLE.

Updates

September 12, 2026: I simply do not have time to post all the information that AI can provide. 

I will provide links where I can but I'm not sure the links work. Apple and Dell are now direct competitors for LDC / AI infrastructure at the enterprise level. Apple and Dell are perhaps the leaders in this particular area, and if not, will likely be the leaders sooner than later. I asked the question. The answer at this link: https://share.google/aimode/3dayD4qEDmwHDwNLP. 

Again, it's absolutely fascinating and again, I'm not sure the link works; it works for me; some extended family members tell me it does not work for them. 

If I am correct, that may help account for AAPL's incredible run-up in share price this past week, and a P/E of 38 which I have not seen in recent memory (the past twenty years?) if my memory serves me. Generally, AAPL's P/E runs about 28 - 34, seldom getting above 32, and every talking head on CNBC seems to repeat the mantra that a "30-P/E is very expensive." I think I've heard that for the past ten years. See disclaimer. 

Some say the run-up in the share price of AAPL was this: investors see AAPL as a safe haven during this period of semiconductor (hardware) vs software. I have trouble believing that considering how much the mainstream business media seems to dislike Apple as an investment. At least that's my "take." I'm usually wrong, but it's a starting point.

September 12, 2026: after the huge run-up this past week, I was curious about Apple's revenues for latest quarter and estimates for next quarter (ending September 30, 2026). The current P/E for AAPL is 38 -- the highest I think I've seen in recent memory. 

The September quarter will NOT include revenue from any of the new models recently announced, and earnings could be affected by a) supply chain issues; b) folks putting off purchases until new products are available; and, c) folks putting off purchases pending holiday gift-buying. It's possible folks took advantage of all the sales prior to new models being announced at the beginning of the school year. The Mac Mini sales are a huge mystery.

Original Post 

Fascinating story. 

Link here.  The link: https://share.google/aimode/WJmBLUJnWzLFvCnNk. 

It has an "https" URL so it should work but when I share it with some of my extended family members they say they can't open it. I don't know.

This link may only work for me. I don't know. I'm trying to share the link with all but it seems "sketchy," if that's the right word.  

I was curious because I was curious. how Dell stole the non-Apple laptop / desktop away from IBM and HP.  

Dell (DELL NYSE) market cap: $360 billion.

Apple (AAPL NASDAQ) market cap: $4.85 trillion.

Wow, I wasn't looking. I see that AAPL has surged in the past few months. 

Being announced over night two data points: link here. The link: https://share.google/aimode/UUnnLaYPRQPmB3J8f. Again, it has an "https" URL so it should work but feedback suggests it does not work for all. Don't understand. 

• Anthropic's IPO is getting closer and closer though delayed until October; rumor
• Jensen Huang says he will be a $10-billion anchor investor in the IPO; fact (he said it, link here).

Quick: Anthropic's "full name" is Anthropic PBC. What does the "PBC" mean and how does that affect its business strategy??? 

The reason Anthropic shows up on a blog about Dell: Anthropic will have to duplicate what Dell did some years ago. 

By market cap, the trillion-dollar club:

• #1: NVDA
• the #2 race: AAPL vs GOOG 

The full list (which is already out-of-date) after this week's run for AAPL was from AI yesterday:

Top Ten Trillion-Dollar Companies

Nvidia (NVDA): ~$5.1 trillion  (at close, Sept 11, 2026: $5.26 trillion)
Alphabet (GOOG/GOOGL): ~$4.47 trillion (at close, Sept 11, 2026: $4.31 trillion)
Apple (AAPL): ~$4.38 trillion (at close, Sept 11, 2026: $4.58 trillion)
Microsoft (MSFT): ~$2.82 trillion
Amazon (AMZN): ~$2.63 trillion
Space Exploration Technologies (SPCX): ~$2.43 trillion
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSM): ~$2.1 trillion
Broadcom (AVGO): ~$1.96 trillion
Meta Platforms (META): ~$1.47 trillion
Micron Technology (MU): ~$1.28 trillion

 ************************************************
Top Ten From Evan This Morning -- September 12, 2026

********************************
Disclaimer

Briefly: 

I am inappropriately exuberant about the Bakken and I am often well out front of my headlights. I am often appropriately accused of hyperbole when it comes to the Bakken.

I am inappropriately exuberant about the US economy and the US market.

I am also inappropriately exuberant about all things Apple.

See disclaimer. This is not an investment site. 

Disclaimer: this is not an investment site. Do not make any investment, financial, job, career, travel, or relationship decisions based on what you read here or think you may have read here. All my posts are done quickly: there will be content and typographical errors. If something appears wrong, it probably is. Feel free to fact check everything.

If anything on any of my posts is important to you, go to the source. If/when I find typographical / content errors, I will correct them. 

Reminder: I am inappropriately exuberant about the Bakken, US economy, and the US market.

I am also inappropriately exuberant about all things Apple. 

And now, Nvidia, also. I am also inappropriately exuberant about all things Nvidia. Nvidia is a metonym for AI and/or the sixth industrial revolution. 

I've now added Broadcom to the disclaimer. I am also inappropriately exuberant about all things Broadcom. Now, I've added Amazon. And QCOM.

Longer version here.

Apple -- AAPL -- Chart Of The Day -- September 12, 2026

Locator: 51720APPLE.

I think this is one of the most important questions an investor can explore today: Are the new products and the new chips that Apple is rolling out this year (2026 and 2027) optimized for any one chatbot? 

With which AI in the news (Gemini, OpenAI, Grok, Anthropic, etc.) is Apple most closely related? In other words, exactly with what large AI names is Apple most closely aligned? There are then many rabbit holes one can go down. The next question: Geminin uses predominantly what chips and what operating system? The weekend is just getting started!

The chart of the day:

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Apple Vs Dell

This is being re-posted because the AI links below are incredible; many are of  the "TLDR" nature. And, again, I'm not sure if the links work. Some of my extended family members say they cannot access the links. On my ten-year-old (?) iPad Pro, the links work incredibly well. Just saying. And, no, I'm not buying a new iPad Pro any time soon.

See disclaimer. 

Updates

September 12, 2026: I simply do not have time to post all the information that AI can provide. 

I will provide links where I can but I'm not sure the links work. Apple and Dell are now direct competitors for LDC / AI infrastructure at the enterprise level. Apple and Dell are perhaps the leaders in this particular area, and if not, will likely be the leaders sooner than later. I asked the question. The answer at this link: https://share.google/aimode/3dayD4qEDmwHDwNLP. 

Again, it's absolutely fascinating and again, I'm not sure the link works; it works for me; some extended family members tell me it does not work for them. 

If I am correct, that may help account for AAPL's incredible run-up in share price this past week, and a P/E of 38 which I have not seen in recent memory (the past twenty years?) if my memory serves me. Generally, AAPL's P/E runs about 28 - 34, seldom getting above 32, and every talking head on CNBC seems to repeat the mantra that a "30-P/E is very expensive." I think I've heard that for the past ten years. See disclaimer. 

Some say the run-up in the share price of AAPL was this: investors see AAPL as a safe haven during this period of semiconductor (hardware) vs software. I have trouble believing that considering how much the mainstream business media seems to dislike Apple as an investment. At least that's my "take." I'm usually wrong, but it's a starting point.

September 12, 2026: after the huge run-up this past week, I was curious about Apple's revenues for latest quarter and estimates for next quarter (ending September 30, 2026). The current P/E for AAPL is 38 -- the highest I think I've seen in recent memory. 

The September quarter will NOT include revenue from any of the new models recently announced, and earnings could be affected by a) supply chain issues; b) folks putting off purchases until new products are available; and, c) folks putting off purchases pending holiday gift-buying. It's possible folks took advantage of all the sales prior to new models being announced at the beginning of the school year. The Mac Mini sales are a huge mystery.

Original Post 

Fascinating story. 

Link here.  The link: https://share.google/aimode/WJmBLUJnWzLFvCnNk. 

It has an "https" URL so it should work but when I share it with some of my extended family members they say they can't open it. I don't know.

This link may only work for me. I don't know. I'm trying to share the link with all but it seems "sketchy," if that's the right word.  

I was curious because I was curious. how Dell stole the non-Apple laptop / desktop away from IBM and HP.  

Dell (DELL NYSE) market cap: $360 billion.

Apple (AAPL NASDAQ) market cap: $4.85 trillion.

Wow, I wasn't looking. I see that AAPL has surged in the past few months. 

Being announced over night two data points: link here. The link: https://share.google/aimode/UUnnLaYPRQPmB3J8f. Again, it has an "https" URL so it should work but feedback suggests it does not work for all. Don't understand. 

• Anthropic's IPO is getting closer and closer though delayed until October; rumor
• Jensen Huang says he will be a $10-billion anchor investor in the IPO; fact (he said it, link here).

Quick: Anthropic's "full name" is Anthropic PBC. What does the "PBC" mean and how does that affect its business strategy??? 

The reason Anthropic shows up on a blog about Dell: Anthropic will have to duplicate what Dell did some years ago. 

By market cap, the trillion-dollar club:

• #1: NVDA
• the #2 race: AAPL vs GOOG 

The full list (which is already out-of-date) after this week's run for AAPL was from AI yesterday:

Top Ten Trillion-Dollar Companies

Nvidia (NVDA): ~$5.1 trillion  (at close, Sept 11, 2026: $5.26 trillion)
Alphabet (GOOG/GOOGL): ~$4.47 trillion (at close, Sept 11, 2026: $4.31 trillion)
Apple (AAPL): ~$4.38 trillion (at close, Sept 11, 2026: $4.58 trillion)
Microsoft (MSFT): ~$2.82 trillion
Amazon (AMZN): ~$2.63 trillion
Space Exploration Technologies (SPCX): ~$2.43 trillion
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSM): ~$2.1 trillion
Broadcom (AVGO): ~$1.96 trillion
Meta Platforms (META): ~$1.47 trillion
Micron Technology (MU): ~$1.28 trillion
AMD: $1 trillion -- for the first time, Monday, September 21, 2026 

 ************************************************
Top Ten From Evan This Morning -- September 12, 2026

********************************
Disclaimer

Briefly: 

I am inappropriately exuberant about the Bakken and I am often well out front of my headlights. I am often appropriately accused of hyperbole when it comes to the Bakken.

I am inappropriately exuberant about the US economy and the US market.

I am also inappropriately exuberant about all things Apple.

See disclaimer. This is not an investment site. 

Disclaimer: this is not an investment site. Do not make any investment, financial, job, career, travel, or relationship decisions based on what you read here or think you may have read here. All my posts are done quickly: there will be content and typographical errors. If something appears wrong, it probably is. Feel free to fact check everything.

If anything on any of my posts is important to you, go to the source. If/when I find typographical / content errors, I will correct them. 

Reminder: I am inappropriately exuberant about the Bakken, US economy, and the US market.

I am also inappropriately exuberant about all things Apple. 

And now, Nvidia, also. I am also inappropriately exuberant about all things Nvidia. Nvidia is a metonym for AI and/or the sixth industrial revolution. 

I've now added Broadcom to the disclaimer. I am also inappropriately exuberant about all things Broadcom. Now, I've added Amazon. And QCOM.

Longer version here.

Mid-Year Review -- June, 2023

Locator: 44852INV. 

Investing

The most under-reported story this past year: Nvidia

• May, 2023: Nvidia joins the $1-trillion club
• pivots from gaming (Covid-19 lockdown) to AI

trillion-dollar club

• only eight on the list;
• now:
• #5: Saudi Aramco
• #6: Nvidia
• next year (2024):
• #4 Nvidia
• #6: Saudi Aramco
• Meta does not move up the list, ever
• Tesla could falter short term
  
• of the trillion-dollar clubs, 
• only a few are integrated vertically (AAPL) 
• at least two highly dependent on ads
• cloud services a major component of at least three
• one is an outlier on so many levels
• the darling of Wall Street and many mom-and-pop investors, this company has a market cap well less than $1 trillion; resting on laurels and legacy companies; thinks differently, and lately, wrongly
  
• high point, March 25, 2022, has since dropped back; without AAPL, would have been dismal for investors
• replaces bonds in 60/40 investing model
• the next six trillion-dollar club members but could take years; when one looks at this list, it demonstrates just how dominant AAPL -- at $3 trillion -- is; in fact, companies now in $1-trillion club will lap the following:
  
• two oil companies: CVX $300B), XOM ($400B)
  
• one bank: JPM ($400B)
  
• one Big Pharm: AstraZeneca
• one is a lithium play: Rio Tinto
• one is seen as a brick-and-mortar retailer: Walmart, currently $400 billion
• note: BRK is not on the list
  

Tech

The most under-reported story this decade: the fourth industrial revolution

Biggest advancement in user interfaces: spatial computing (AAPL)

• Apple owns it
• META doesn't have it
• GOOG: dropped
• probably another decade before we see it in full bloom
• alpha generation: will use it
• beta generation: will grow up with it

EVs

the universal supercharger plug: Tesla NACS

• Tesla owns it
• all other supercharging networks will fold by 2025
  

transition: adoption of EVs will not unfold as expected

• RIDE: darling of Wall Street declared bankruptcy
• #1 global brand: 2Q23 deliveries to be announced shortly; will provide clearer picture
• more and more, EVs seen for elites; very, very expensive
• once one has an EV, one thinks about re-charging 24/7; the issue lives in one's mind rent-free
• we should start seeing stories on repeat buyers; used EVs for sale: won't be a pretty picture
• for 90% of Americans, switching to an EV is a bridge too far

Renewable Energy

Solar, wind: works, at least in sunny, windy states with lots of land; incredibly expensive

• Texas: relentless 100+ heat streak in early summer, 2023; unprecedented; electricity demand hit all-time records;
• ERCOT: grid held; at great expense; spot costs jumped from $5 / MW to $5,000 / MW
• luck or good planning? wind and solar gods favored Texas in June
• solar
  
• Texas: 25° 50' N to 36° 30' N (36° north to 26° south)
• California: northern border: 38.8375; San Diego, 32.7157 ((40° north to 33° south)
• wind
• Texas: consistent and perfect "speed"
• from the Gulf of Mexico to the Plains, Texas is home to three of the windiest cities in the United States. These cities average winds ranging from 12 MPH to over 13 MPH throughout the year, with higher winds recorded during periodic thunderstorms, hurricanes, and other seasonal storms.
• California: varies across the state; 
• off-shore best opportunity; on-shore, will not exceed Iowa's production
• most under-reported wind story: as blades become more efficient, failure rate increases
  

Geo-Politics

Ukraine: Wagner group a bigger story than most realize

• yes, a flash in the pan, but
• will have major effect on US intel (CIA) operations
• US CIA failure --> increased support for Ukraine

China: won't invade Taiwan in 2023 (or 2024, or 2025, or 2026, or 2027)

US Supreme Court

Tectonic

Warren Court: 1953 - 1969 -- most liberal court in US history,

• 15 years, 261 days
• I was born: 1951; high school graduate, 1969 -- most fascinating overlap of dates for me personally

Roberts Court: 2005 - present

• 18 years and counting; in good health and only 68 years old; appears much youngeer
• President Biden: 80 years old; could die in office of natural causes; more likely cognitive decline ends career;
• will be seen by historians as most conservative court in US history
• only major misstep: Obamacare
• will beecome most divisive court

COVID-19

autumn, 2023: will it re-surface as a news story?
seasonal flu: whatever happened to seasonal flu?

Global Economies

$25 trilion: it's lonely at the top. Spend some time at the link; many, many story lines (see below)
graphic: this chart is way out dated; the gaps have become even greater

• Nigeria makes the graphic; Russia doesn't

Graphics:

Friday's Energy News And Tweets -- January 8, 2016

Locator: 10010SAUDIMISTAKE.

 

Updates

December 2, 2023: some suggest Saudi might try it again.

July 3, 2016: Kuwait to raise $15 billion in cash to cover deficits.

January 12, 2016: Harold Hamm says the same thing -- Saudi Arabia made a trillion-dollar mistake. 

There's growing evidence that Saudi Arabia's attempt to flood the crude market at a time of oversupply and concerns about weakening demand is not working, American oil billionaire Harold Hamm said Tuesday.

"We're in a predatory pricing environment. That's what's happened. The Saudis turned 1.8 million barrels on, and basically their intent was to drown us. But they've not got that done. It's been a monumental mistake for them, I might add, a trillion- dollar mistake."

Hamm cited speculation that Saudi Aramco, the state-owned oil giant, may sell at least part of its operations in an initial public offering.

"They're having to sell part of their business to keep doing what they are doing," he said, referring to the refusal by the Saudis to cut production. "They're having to sustain a country. We're sustaining companies here. We cut capex and quit spending money. And ride it out."

Pressure may be mounting on Saudi Arabia from fellow OPEC members, as crude prices continued to trade around 12-year lows Tuesday morning. Nigeria's oil minister said a couple members of OPEC have requested an emergency meeting. But other members said the group won't be gathering to talk about oil prices before their next scheduled meeting in June.

Also this January 8, 2016, article at Forbes.

Original Post

 

OPEC's trillion-dollar miscalculation, reported in Forbes. After reviewing the past year's events, and looking at an alternate strategy, the writer concludes:

Would that strategy have cost them market share? Sure, a small amount. But assume they then pumped 34.5 million bpd at $80/bbl. That’s just over a trillion dollars in annual revenue. If instead they pump 36.5 million bpd at $35/bbl — which is actually more than they are getting as I write this — that’s $466 billion in annual revenues.

The annual difference in those scenarios is $541 billion. OPEC already lost out on that much in 2015 from the sharp drop in prices. If prices remain at these levels for most of this year, the foregone revenue for OPEC in 2015 and 2016 will easily top $1 trillion since that November 2014 meeting.

Was this a miscalculation on the Saudis’ part, or is there a deeper strategy at play? I firmly believe they failed to anticipate how sharply oil prices would drop. I think they believed that oil prices could fall somewhat below $75/bbl for a short period of time, and that would be enough to bankrupt a lot of the shale oil companies and allow OPEC to recapture market share.

Instead, the shale oil producers slashed costs, and while some producers have gone bankrupt — and other bankruptcies are undoubtedly on the way — shale oil production has proven to be much more resilient than the Saudis and OPEC expected.

At that time, the Saudis argued that it didn’t make sense for them to cut production. The highest-cost producers, they argued, should be the ones to cut. It is true that defending oil prices by cutting production — the strategy favored by Iran, Nigeria, and Venezuela — would have propped up these high-cost producers. But the shale oil boom was going to run its course and probably peak in a few years. OPEC still controls 1.2 trillion barrels of proved oil reserves — 72% of the world’s total. Thus, unless they expected shale oil production to continue to expand by millions of barrels per day every year, the group could have tightened up production as needed to maintain much higher margins on a shrinking market share. They would have higher revenues today, knowing they would capture back market share as the world’s non-OPEC reserves depleted.

Their strategy may yet pay off though. If they can keep enough marginal production sidelined over time, this period of financial difficulty could enable them to recapture higher margins in the future. If they are able to realize $10/bbl more for their remaining reserves as a result of the current strategy, then their pain will be worth it (for them) in the long run.

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Saudi Crude Oil Surge! Not So Fast!

Remember all that talk about increased crude oil imports in December (John Kemp tweets -- I'll look for the posts later), we now have October EIA data.

After a couple of reports that Saudi Arabian imports surged near the end of the year, John Kemp is tweeting now that Saudi Arabia imports in late November/early December "moderated."

Saudi Arabia crude oil imports into US, October, 2015, data updated. Imports from Saudi Arabia remain near historic lows (remember, Saudi has a huge refinery along the US gulf coast they must supply (I believe that refinery has a daily capacity of 800,000 bopd); columns below are monthly, January through December; most recent data, October, 2015:

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The drop in 2008 - 2009 coincides with a deep recession and the beginning of the Bakken boom. Current Saudi imports compare with the lows in 2008 - 2009.

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Winners And Losers

Crude oil imports into the US from various sources, May, 2015 vs October, 2015 (numbers rounded monthly):

• All countries: a decrease from 294 million bbls to 273 million (delta, 22 million bbls) 
• OPEC: a decrease from 97 million bbls to 90 million bbls (delta, 7 million bbls)
• Saudi Arabia, a loser: from 38 million bbls to 30 million bbls (delta, 8 million bbls)
• Iraq, a winner: from 9 million bbls to 12 million bbls, a 30% increase from May to October
• Venezuela, fairly stable, from 28 million bbls to 25 million bbls, but fairly wide monthly variation
• Canada: monthly variability; but 110 million bbls in May; 105 million bbls in October
• Colombia, a huge loser: from 17 million bbls in May, down to 7 million bbls in October
• Mexico: monthly variability, but 21 million bbls in May, up a bit to 23 million bbls in October

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For The Archives

Forbes.

With the extension of the tax benefits, wind and solar projects started before year’s end will qualify for a 2.3 cents per kilowatt hour production tax credit. It will gradually diminish through 2019. Wind and solar projects could opt instead to take a 30 percent investment tax credit that reduces their federal taxes dollar-for-dollar by what they put into the project. The main difference is that the solar production tax credit will phase out at the end of 2022.

Intermittent:

While green energy has a lot of public appeal, it is still intermittent in nature. And that has put the grid’s traffic cops in an untenable position. They are the ones whose job it is to schedule the flow of electricity on the lines. Their task is to maintain that reliability with the lowest-priced fuels.

Because neither the wind nor sun blows or shines on demand, they need to be firmed up with other easily “dispatchable” forms of generation. That creates two distinct issues:

The first is that the back-up power is not free and the second is that if coal plants are “cycled” up and down, they release more pollutants per unit of output than if they ran full steam ahead.

Today -- AMD Hits $1-Trillion Market Cap For First Time -- September 21, 2026

Locator: 51794AMD.

AMD: at the close today -- $615.  

I first started a position in AMD when AMD's CEO was on the front cover of Barron's, June 19, 2019. AMD was trading for about $32 / share that day.

AMD: at the close today -- $615.  

The $1-trillion club:

Top Ten Trillion-Dollar Companies

Nvidia (NVDA): ~$5.1 trillion  (at close, Sept 11, 2026: $5.26 trillion)
Alphabet (GOOG/GOOGL): ~$4.47 trillion (at close, Sept 11, 2026: $4.31 trillion)
Apple (AAPL): ~$4.38 trillion (at close, Sept 11, 2026: $4.58 trillion)
Microsoft (MSFT): ~$2.82 trillion
Amazon (AMZN): ~$2.63 trillion
Space Exploration Technologies (SPCX): ~$2.43 trillion
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSM): ~$2.1 trillion
Broadcom (AVGO): ~$1.96 trillion
Meta Platforms (META): ~$1.47 trillion
Micron Technology (MU): ~$1.28 trillion
AMD: $1 trillion -- for the first time, Monday, September 21, 2026 

 

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AI Spending