Five smart Apple charts

Asymco's Horace Dediu has mastered the art of the eye-opening AAPL graphic

Click to enlarge. Source: asymco

Among the rarefied group of amateur analysts who follow Apple's (AAPL) financial movements like a obsessed fan tracking a favorite band, Horace Dediu is a rock star. In the six months since he has been posting his thoughts and analysis on asymco.com, he's attracted a small but influential following, including many past winners of our quarterly Analysts Smackdowns. In his debut effort -- our Q3 2010 contest -- he finished first. See here.

An app developer and former market analyst for Nokia (NOK), Dediu writes dispatches that are terse and ironic, sometimes at the expense of clarity. His Aug. 1 entry begins: "As despondency over Apple's 75% earnings growth rate continues, it's time to revisit the historic P/E in contrast to growth for the company's earnings."

His graphics, however, are a revelation, each highlighting some vital but largely overlooked aspect of Apple business. We've picked five of our favorites, starting with the "Sales by Product" graph above -- as pretty a picture as we've seen of Apple's explosive growth over the past five years. More below the fold.

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Posted in: Analysts, Apple, asymco.com, Daring Fireball, Horace Dediu, John Gruber, Quarterly earnings, Smackdown

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  The MORE

  Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Apr 20, 2010 7:13 PM ET
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