Six years ago, President Trump bragged that he sold his Apple stock. If he had held onto it, his money would have more than quadrupled. (AAPL)

January 28, 2020

Six years ago, President Trump bragged that he sold his Apple stock. If he had held onto it, his money would have more than quadrupled. (AAPL)

Donald Trump visits Apple Austin plant

Apple reported quarterly earnings that blew away Wall Street expectations on Tuesday.
Six years ago to the day, a pre-presidential Donald Trump said on Twitter that he sold his Apple shares, complaining about the fact that the company at the time didn't sell an iPhone with a smaller screen.
Assuming Apple's post-earnings stock gains holds through the open of the markets on Wednesday, its price will have gone up 356% from the day of Trump's tweet in 2014.
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Apple's stock price has surged to unprecedented heights of late, and Tuesday's earnings blowout looks likely to keep its shares rallying.

The iPhone maker has climbed from strength to strength over the past six years. That's especially the case over the past year: Apple shares have climbed 103% in the last 12 months, and are up more than 7% in January alone.

One telling sign of Apple's impressive growth over the past few years is a tweet from Donald Trump, back in the days before his presidency. Exactly six years ago, Trump took a bearish view of Apple's stock, and said he'd sold his shares in the company.

His reason: the iPhone did not offer a large screen size at the time.

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
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 28, 2014

Apple's stock fell as much as 8% in after hours trading on that day in 2014, following Apple's quarterly earnings results.

We have no idea when Trump purchased his Apple shares and what his cost basis was, but it's possible that he made a smart trade — in the short term.

Of course, had Trump taken a longer term view and held on to his Apple stock, the president would now be holding an asset worth considerably more. Assuming that Tuesday's post-earnings bump in Apple shares holds through the open of the markets on Wednesday, Apple stock price will have increased by 356% since the day of Trump's 2014 tweet, when Apple shares closed at $70.77 (adjusted for dividends and splits).

Take a look at Apple's stock rally over the years:

Apple stock Jan 28

Closer ties between Apple and Trump

When Apple announced a larger screen size in the next iteration of its iPhone back in 2014, Trump took the credit for that decision. "I'll bet if I didn't harass Apple for the last 2 years about the large screen iPhone, they wouldn't have done it—but it bends & breaks!" he tweeted.

In the years since, the company has continued to feature in the president's tweets. Just this October, President Trump tweeted a complaint against the iPhone's Swipe feature just this October. "To Tim: The Button on the IPhone was FAR better than the Swipe!" the tweet said.

But Trump now has a closer relationship with Apple's management. As the costs of manufacturing Apple products amid a trade war with China have risen, Apple CEO Tim Cook has developed a personal rapport with the president. Cook's efforts appear to have so far had an impact - back in August, the president said he pays close attention to Cook's opinions because the famously-diplomatic CEO calls him directly.

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