In the world of corporate juggernauts, nothing quite compares to the success and consumer popularity of Apple (
AAPL).
Sure, that’s a bold statement to say. But, consider some of the financial statistics Apple has earned over the years. Apple’s earnings as of January of this year gave the company a market cap of $640 billion.
That’s more than the GDP of all but 25 countries in the world. Apple has enough cash on hand (
roughly $178 billion, as reported in the media in January) to buy IBM at IBM’s current market cap. Apple also has enough cash on hand to buy Ford, GM and Tesla and still have money leftover in the bank.
It’s doubtful that Apple has plans to purchase any major car manufacturers in the near future. However, Apple has been in the news recently for other reasons. The company has in fact been in the news quite a bit lately.
That’s because
April 24th was the official release date of Apple’s new Apple Watch. This was the day that Apple began accepting pre-orders of their Watch. The Apple Watch is now available to buy online. However, it’s expected that opportunity to buy the Watch in stores won’t be available until June this year.
How is the Apple Watch doing in these early stages of the release?
On the media front, the Apple Watch has garnered some pretty positive reviews (reviews such as those found
here and
here), despite those who were dubious as to the Watch’s functionality.
Tech analysts have been tempted to compare the release of Apple Watch with the release of the iPhone. In making this comparison, it’s encouraging to see that analysts have come out speaking favorably about the Apple Watch. Admittedly, the Apple Watch doesn’t have many apps to go along with it yet (for the simple reason that there hasn’t been enough time to build these apps). Nonetheless, those covering the Apple Watch have expressed confidence in the Watch’s acceptance, both with consumers
and app developers.
Parmy Olson, a writer at
Forbes, had this
to say on May 8th about the Apple Watch and its eventual acceptance:
Yet here’s a little historical perspective that suggests the Apple Watch won’t take nearly as long as the iPhone did to catch on: it appears to be well on track to outpace the iPhone in year-one sales.
Put aside the comments made by the media and tech analysts. What really matters is Apple Watch’s sales.
How has Apple Watch sold since its April 24
th release date several weeks ago?
Although Apple has not provided any sales figures yet, media coverage has stated that Apple Watch sales are set to outpace the iPhone in first year sales. Estimates of pre-orders of the Apple Watch have surpassed
2.3 million units, which is a strong number to say the least.
All this is very good news for Apple. Moreover, these numbers should come as somewhat of a relief for the company. After all, the Apple Watch represents the company’s first brand-new product in five years and, more poignantly, the first new product since the passing of Steve Jobs.
Apple Watch and the strength of its launch should also add further buoyancy to Apple stock.
Kavan Klein is a
stock trader who runs
Trade with Kavan, an online stock-trading platform that provides investors strategies on trading large cap stocks. Besides pointing out Apple Watch’s recent success, Trade with Kavan’s Kavan Klein also highlights a number of other recent news items in Apple’s favor.
Kavan Klein: “There was some doubt as to whether Apple Watch would really catch consumer attention. But, based on the pre-order figures, the Apple Watch may be just as popular as the iPhone or the iPod, which is great for Apple stock.”
Trade with Kavan’s Kavan Klein continues, “But there’s other recent items that also should be figured into
stock projections. For example, Apple’s current talks with Alibaba (
BABA) to bring Apple Pay to China. That will be very big news if that
deal is reached. It was also reported by Apple in April that for the first time, the company
sold more iPhones in China than in the United States. All to say, if these kinds of trends continue, I think even more analysts will be upgrading their Apple ratings.”
Some consider
Apple’s stock to still be very cheap. The question is, if Apple has another hot product on its hands and if it closes a deal with Alibaba, how long will that be the case?