Apple Inc. (AAPL, Financial) got off to a slow start in 2013. As the months passed by Apple started getting into the groove slowly, performing better with each passing day. In fact, one can say that it has been a bullish year end for Apple. The last three months of this financial year has seen Apple go up by almost 16%. Considering the fact that the iPhone maker hadn’t been performing well in the beginning, ending the year with such figures isn’t a bad thing after all. So far this year, the company has only yielded 6% but has continued to pay dividends which caught the investors’ attention. Some investors though are planning to sell Apple off as they think that the tech giant won’t be bouncing back anytime soon. I’d advise these investors to wait and think before making a move.
Apple will eventually bounce back and it isn’t long when we’d find the company on its way to the highs in the 700s. This is evident in the way the company has performed in the last few months of this year. The company has shown a consistent earnings pattern in 2013. This apart, the company has announced a lot of new releases for 2014 and has seen a brilliant business growth in China. All these factors indicate that the company is sure to be performing well in 2014. Some experts have suggested ways by which the company can hit the right notes. Let us go through each of these:
Avoiding Frequent Share repurchase and buybacks:
Apple has in the past and several times so, gone for frequent repurchase and buyback policies. The experts suggest that if the tech giant cuts down on the number of times it goes for these policies might help the company perform better in the new year. This might not be a very necessary step but the experts feel would definitely help the company a great deal. This would leave the company with a lot of liquid cash which can be used for many important purposes as also for various business development programs. This step would also increase the return to shareholders and needless to say would attract investment.
Growth In All The Business Quarters:
The company must look towards achieving growth in all of their businesses. The analysts expect Apple to keep its stronghold on its smartphone, tablet and music aspects of the business. The company has shown astounding growth rates in all of these facets this year. So the analysts are expecting it to keep performing this way in 2014 as well.
iTunes radio is likely to be a enormous success as it continues to grow internationally and continues to add listeners. The ecosystem effect of one device introducing the consumer to another device is in full swing, and the integration between Apple's devices has never been more efficient than it is right now. Also the China Mobile deal has finally happened and the analysts are expecting the company to make use of this opportunity to go for expansion policies in China too.
We know that the PC market has been on a consistent decline over the last one year and in spite of this fact Mac continued to grow. Mac is expected to consistently gun for the PC market. The customers are going to find this growth in 2014 as well.
Aside from iTunes Radio - Apple continues to monetize and dominate the music market. As 2014 approaches, the iTunes Store and Apple's foray into not only music, but TV shows and movies, is going to continue to be a large source of revenue for them.
New launches:
Having its foot set firmly on almost all the sectors of consumer electronics, the company will be looking forward to foray into the television market. The company has two options: they can either upgrade and continue to run with the Apple TV product that they have, or the company can go the route of manufacturing their own TVs. In 2014, they're going to have stiff competition from Google and even products like Microsoft's Xbox One. We also have the iWatch, slated to be out towards the end of 2014.
To Conclude:
The analysts are predicting a great 2014 for Apple and are also predicting that the company will witness another 10 to 20% appreciation in Apple stock at the least in 2014.
In addition to this appreciation, the company will continue to pay its dividends and continue to buy back its stock per the plan that it had put into place in 2013. The company is sure going to please the investors in 2014 and with all the plans in place it is hardly a doubt that by mid-2014 we’d find the stocks of the company raging once again to high prices. With this I’d encourage the investors to put their money on Apple as it is going to be a prized possession in 2014.
