Jim Cramer: Times Have Changed For Apple

Apple used to be a stock that you could buy into every dip without fear, but times have changed, Jim Cramer said Wednesday.

Issues that the “Mad Money” host never cared about when Steve Jobs was alive—like the recent chatter about weak tablet sales and concern over demand for the iPhone 4S—now can’t be easily dismissed, he said.

That’s because when Jobs was alive, Cramer knew there would always be terrific buying opportunities ahead of the “next big thing.”

“I want to be able to say that the plans put in place by Steve Jobs, perhaps America’s greatest industrialist, are so amazing that you can back up the truck in every hiccup for years to come,” Cramer said. “[But] I can’t dismiss these minute Apple data-points as irrelevant anymore. These days, it would just be too glib.”

Therefore, Apple no longer a given. And right now he's waiting to buy because he thinks better prices are coming.

“That doesn’t make Apple a sell—not even close,” Cramer added. “Just recognize that complacency should never be a strategy when it comes to stocks, even the terrific stock that is Apple, and that there may come a time where it should not be bought until it comes down appreciably from where it sits right now.”

Call Cramer: 1-800-743-CNBC

When this story was published, Cramer's charitable trust owned Apple.

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