Apple shares reflect new method

The more than 50 percent rise in Apple Computer Inc.'s stock price this year has mirrored the brisk sales of its market-leading iPod digital music player and growth at its retail stores.
In the view of some analysts, the share price's ascent also reflects a transformation in the way investors are willing to value the Cupertino, California-based company, innovator of the first operating system to make personal computers friendly to everyday users.
Once seen as a value play that traded at little above its cash value, Apple's stock is now attracting long-term and momentum investors sold on Chief Executive Steve Jobs' vision of the company as a high-margin style-setter at the hub of an emerging "digital lifestyle."
Momentum investors typically look at trading patterns of stocks and the amount of money flowing into and out of them, while value investors tend to look for companies that are undervalued relative to their competitors.
Reuters - Apple's reinvention transforms stock's valuation