By
Godfrey Benjamin
April 23rd, 2024
With the coronavirus pandemic in full swing, gauging its impact on the economy is pointless at the moment. However, Apple will sail through the ongoing crisis, an analyst says, predicting a “bright future” for the tech giant. Year-to-date, AAPL stock lost 8%.
There is no way of telling how much damage the outbreak of coronavirus would incur on the global economy: according to Bloomberg estimates, based on the spread of the virus and estimated shocks to supply chains around the world—the loss of the global output may amount to a whopping $2.7 trillion. But certain companies, for example, Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL), seemed to be better equipped to weather the storm. It was said by Loup Ventures Managing Partner Gene Munster. “Apple is among the best-positioned major tech companies when we turn the corner,” Munster said in a note to investors on Monday, suggesting that the company will have the “brightest” future of all tech giants out there, outperforming all of its FAANG peers.
Judging by preexisting trends, the analyst said, the demand for iPhone maker’s services and products is expected to rise in the long-term.
Those trends include 5G-based device upgrades; original content brought by Apple TV+ service and increasing share in streaming content; software service which will “continue to penetrate” an increasing number of industries; wearable for data collection; and augmented reality as “the next major computing platform.”
“There’s a prevailing belief among Apple investors that FY21 will be a bounceback year,” Munster underlined, noting that the firm now expects revenue growth of 12% in 2021, compared to a drop of 5% in 2020. GAAP earnings per share rise is seen as even more “powerful:” 32% jump in 2021, compared to a drop of 4% in 2020.
Apple (AAPL) Performance
What’s behind the analyst’s belief are Apple’s rock-solid numbers reported in the previous earnings release, more precisely its firm net cash position which—despite heavy stock buybacks of $67.1 billion in 2019—currently stands at $99 billion, trailing only Google’s parent company Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOG).
He, however, cautioned against “overly optimistic bounce back” for Apple, describing the Street’s full-year 2021 estimates as “still too high” at $300 billion, putting yearly revenue for the next year at $277 billion and $15.12 in GAAP EPS.
The outbreak of the pandemic, which has forced Apple to shut all of its retail locations indefinitely and has since affected nearly two million people worldwide, led the Cupertino-based company to downgrade its earnings guidance for the second quarter of the current fiscal year, putting it in the range between $63–$67 billion. Year-to-date, Apple (AAPL) stock has plunged over 8% due to the coronavirus crisis.
Today in the pre-market, AAPL stock seems to be slightly down. Its price has fallen by 0.45 % to $266.78. On Thursday, the last trading day last week, Apple (AAPL) stock was 0.72% up.
Apple is slated to release its second-quarter earnings on April 30, with average revenue estimates currently standing at 56.62 billion, going as high up as 66.34 billion.