“Shares of technology giant Apple (AAPL) have been reprimanded severely by the stock market over the past six months. Traders drooled with a utopian passion until one day last September when ardor suddenly cooled,” Richard Finger writes for Forbes. “At one point, down over 40 percent from a $705 high, AAPL has since made a nice rally from its March 4 bottom… The most creative company with the planet’s most innovative products that have touched hundreds of millions of lives, if one credits all the dour news, is limping badly. Targeted for irrelevance, apparently there is no more growth to be had for this aged dog. If I covered up all the above names you might think I was talking about Microsoft.”
Finger writes, “Some facts tend to get in the way of all this negativity. For the full year 2012 Apple shipped 136.8 million handsets worldwide representing a 46.9 percent increase over 2011. For the holiday season fourth quarter of 2012 Apple’s smartphone shipments came in at 47.8 million-up from 37 million units in Q4 of 2011, a very respectable rise of 29 percent. Apple’s overall market share went up in 2012 to 25.1 percent from 18.8 percent in 2011 – over a one third improvement. In 2012 Apple shipped 65.7 million tablets in a total marketplace of 124.9 million for a 52.6 percent share. IDC recently revised tablet forecasts for 2013 to a total of 191 million units with Apple slated to sell 87.8 million reducing projected market share to 46percent. Pushing 87.8 million units out the door in 2013 would represent a 33.6 percent increase over 2012 numbers.”
Finger writes, “Apple is growing and will continue to do so. I’ve discussed only two products so far. Don’t forget about the ubiquitous Macs. No, desktops are not dead yet. There are iPods and iTunes to consider. Rumors swirl that this will be the year of the iWatch and the Apple Television. A cheaper low-frills iPhone for emerging markets will most likely be added to the arsenal as well. In short It is a company with a lot of weapons that can hit winners from anywhere on the court… While there are some good analysts, most have never had the experience running so much as a convenience store, and, as such, lose focus on the larger landscape, their minds’ eyes suffering from tunnel vision and myopia. Apple is way undervalued at these levels.”
Much more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Fred Mertz” for the heads up.]