Cramer bets on his birthday that Apple’s next decade could be as successful as its past 10 years

CNBC’s Jim Cramer used his 65th birthday on Monday to illustrate why he always advises investors to buy Apple stock for the long term rather than trade it in the short term.

“Let’s take a 10-year view — because I was 55, 10 years ago — Apple stock was at $27.87. So you may want to trade Apple? I would like over the last 10 years to invest in Apple. And I’m going to make another 10-year bet. I think they’re that good.” Cramer said on “Squawk on the Street.”

The huge gain in Apple from around $28 per share in February 2010 to more than $314 per share at Monday’s open on Wall Street was over 1,000%. Apple is currently the most valuable U.S. company at a $1.4 trillion market cap.

Cramer was suggesting that it would not be out of the question to see Apple stock power ahead in a similar fashion in the next decade.

He later told CNBC producers that it was “fanciful that it could be at $300 — so maybe in another 10 years, it’s equally as fanciful. That it would be a dramatically higher price.”

“The Mad Money” host said that such lofty levels might not be so unbelievable. “I remember when you had Merck and Coca-Cola cross the $100 billion barrier … everyone thought that was just crazy. I don’t want to rule out something that seemed crazy 10-years ago for certain.”

Cramer said the iPhone, first launched in 2007, became ubiquitous over the past 10 years. “This changed the world,” he said, holding up the device. “I think that’s what did it.”

He also reiterated his view that Apple CEO Tim Cook has indeed been innovative, pointing to the success of Apple’s AirPods and the emerging popularity of the Apple Watch, not to mention the growth the tech giant has seen in recent quarters in its services business.

“The guy changed our lives,” he said of Cook, who has been widely praised as being a great operator but not as innovative as his predecessor, the late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs.

How many people are walking around with AirPods in their ears talking to themselves, Cramer asked, rhetorically?

“Tim Cook made us look like we’re nuts, and we pay for it,” he said. “What is he going to come up with next?”

[“source=cnbc”]