Note From Kalen: As I am getting ready to buy a new iMac, I feel like this article is appropriate. Apple is seriously taking off these days. After their fairly recent split, and addition to the Dow, it’s obvious that Apple is a solid investment. Here are some more technical details. Enjoy!
Apple Inc (AAPL) is one of the strongest-performing tech stocks on the market, and the company is renowned for innovation, service excellence and high quality products. This multinational high-tech company has its headquarters in California. Apple is traded on the NASDAQ and it is a DJIA component, an S&P 500 company, and a NASDAQ 100 component. Apple Inc was founded in 1976 by Ronald Wayne, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. There are some 453 Apple locations around the world, and the company has reported revenues from 2014 of $182.795 billion, with associated total assets of $231.839 billion. Based on information provided by the company, there are some 98,000 employees as of 2014.
Apple joined the DJIA (Dow Jones Industrial Average) on 19 March 2015. Second only to Samsung Electronics, Apple is one of the world’s ranking technology companies. It is also third in terms of the biggest smartphone producers on the planet and second in terms of total company assets. In March of 2015, apples valuation exceeded $700 billion, the first US company to hit that valuation. Apple has undergone tremendous changes in its structure and focus over the years, enduring periods of decline in regrowth. Between 2007 and 2011, Apple ventured out into the mobile marketing arena and grew company profits exponentially.
Immersive Technology and Ground-Breaking Developments
Things like Apple TV and the iPhone work a resounding success with consumers and the share price of the company reached an all-time high at the time. A watershed moment for Apple occurred in July 2008 when the App Store was launched the line for the sale of third-party apps for iPod Touch devices an iPhone devices. Daily revenues exceeded $1 million, and Steve Jobs intimated that the App Store could be worth billions for the company. The first iPad was launched on 27 January 2010 as a touchscreen OS, similar to the iPhone. This was followed by multiple other iPhone products, iPod Touch products and various software upgrades. Apple continued to innovate with the launch of the iCloud – an online storage medium for multimedia content.
Since Steve Jobs’ passing in 2011, Apple released several products including iPhone 4S and the iPhone 5. Incredible innovations such as Rick the displays and other enhancements were made to the technology, keeping Apple well ahead of its competitors in the technology realm. During the first quarter of 2014, Apple Inc sold more iPhones than ever before with 51 million units. During the same period Apple also sold 26 million iPad devices, and 4.8 million Mac computers. The company maintains its finger on the pulse of innovation with the development of ground-breaking technology – hardware and software all the time. Products like the Apple watch – wearable technology – was launched by Tim Cook on 9 September 2014, for release on 24 April 2015. Apple is also deeply involved in the development of electric vehicle technology, and hopes to have this rolled out within the next four years.
Investing in Apple Stocks
On 8 June 2015 Apple introduced Apple Music. This is an app that allows users to enjoy all of their music from one place. It is a streaming service with 24/7 access to live radio stations broadcasting from around the world. Playlists are available for Android phones, iPhones, Apple TV, Mac computers, PC, iPad an iPod Touch devices. The rollout began on 30 June for 100 countries around the world. Other innovations include new software for iPad, iPod Touch and iPhone devices with iOS 9. The difference between this software and others lies in the multitasking abilities built into it. Greater personalization, interactivity and immersion are possible with this new software. iPad and iPhone users can also access a brand-new news app for all the latest worldwide news for any mobile smartphone or tablet. This fully customized feature offers beautiful layouts and a digital publishing format. In terms of retail innovations, Apple pay makes it much easier for customers to enjoy the convenience of the Apple payment system with more merchants across United States accepting this technology every day. It is safe, secure and private, with no risk of fraud or loss.
In terms of stock price activity, Apple is trading at $125.61 (July 15, 2015), with a 52-week range low of $92.57 per share and a high of $134.54 per share. Based on the current stock price, the company’s market capitalization exceeds $723.6 billion. The price-earnings ratio is 15.61 and the earnings per share is $8.05. Apple Inc has a 3-month average trading volume of 46,306,800. Traders can derive maximum benefit from buying and selling Apple stocks at binary options broker companies like Banc De Binary, which offer a credible trading platform for calling put options on Apple Inc (APL) stock. By trading binary options, there is no need to take physical ownership of stock, since traders are merely speculating on the direction, not size, of future price movements. Binary options trading allows for rapid profits, with expiry times ranging from 60 seconds to several months, even a year.
Analysts Expectations for Apple Stock (AAPL)
On the scale of 1.0 – 5.0, where 1.0 represents a strong buy and 5.0 represents a sell, Apple Inc (AAPL) is listed as 1.9. The company’s price target summary has a mean target price of $148.88, with a high target price of $195 and a low target price of $85. With the exception of Mizuho research firm, all other research rooms throughout 2015 have been bullish in their actions initiated for Apple stock. The research firms include the Maxim Group, FBR Capital, Brean Capital, and Societe Generale. All of these companies initiated actions that were listed between a buy or an outperform ranking.