Doug Kass shares his views every day on RealMoneyPro. Click here for a real-time look at his insights and musings.

Sis Boom Blah

Originally published Feb. 1 at 12:44 p.m. EDT

I always am in wonderment how the business media highlights the positives (stocks/sectors that are rising TODAY) and de-emphasizes the negatives (often the stocks/sectors that were rising in the recent past but are declining TODAY).

Their memories are short.

Some recent examples are homebuilders, Under Armour (UAA) - Get Report and, even, Goldman Sachs (GS) - Get Report .

They just seem to forget that they were cheerleading the winners and once they are replaced ... there is nary a word.

This phenomemon likely helps to explain the skepticism on the part of individual investors and their propensity to buy ETFs rather than individual stocks.

They just don't know who to believe anymore as they are repeatedly burned!

Position: Short GS.

Reducing My Apple Short Post Results

Originally published Feb. 1 at 8:52 a.m. EDT

I have reduced my Apple (AAPL) - Get Report short to small (for a loss) after the release of earnings.

First-quarter sales and profits were not as weak as feared by some. ASP's rose slightly and the iPhone shipments beat, as did the mix of product, leading to a 5% iPhone sales beat.

Apple reported a stronger-than-expected quarter but the forward guidance was weaker than expected.

On the later point, second-quarter sales guidance was 2.5% under consensus and earnings guidance was nearly 6% below general expectations.

Apple's 2017 estimated earnings per share look to be below the 2015 peak (part of my bearish thesis), but investors clearly are willing to look toward the next iPhone introduction and for a hockey stick to EPS growth in 2018.

As this year's Wall Street EPS forecasts for the company have not changed, the company's valuation consistently has been upgraded over the last six months -- something I had not expected given the maturation of the smart phone business and the arguably non-differentiated (and expensive) Apple offerings.

I remain skeptical of Apple's secular growth prospects.

But, price discipline trumps conviction, so I decided to reduce my short position.

Position: Short AAPL small.

Action Alerts PLUS, which Cramer co-manages as a charitable trust, is long AAPL.