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TechApple

By the numbers: Apple, Google, Facebook, Amazon

By
Philip Elmer-DeWitt
Philip Elmer-DeWitt
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By
Philip Elmer-DeWitt
Philip Elmer-DeWitt
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May 4, 2015, 1:29 PM ET
Source: Merckel
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The attached charts, generated for Fortune by a reader who calls himself Merckel, is one of series he’s submitted to us over the years.

His point is always the same: When compared with the other three horsemen of tech by such measures as cash flow, return on assets, brand value, earnings growth, dividends and cash holdings, Apple seems grossly undervalued.

The contrast with Amazon is particularly striking.

In fact, if you do the math — multiplying Amazon’s earnings per share by its price to earnings to get the price per share — the math blows up.

“Lacking any trailing earnings, Amazon has no P/E ratio,” says Merckel. “The denominator is zero. Amazon’s stock price is 100% based on the future hope that it will generate earnings to justify its current valuation.”

Screen Shot 2015-05-04 at 9.03.02 AM

Click to enlarge.

Follow Philip Elmer-DeWitt on Twitter at @philiped. Read his Apple (AAPL) coverage at fortune.com/ped or subscribe via his RSS feed.

About the Author
By Philip Elmer-DeWitt
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