Welcome back! I hope you all enjoyed your break.
This week, we begin looking into individual companies to understand some of the marketing and financial variables that contribute to a company’s economic success. Our first pick, Apple Inc.
Over the last decade, Apple has provided investors/owners with over a 700% return on their original investment. During the same time period, the Dow Jones Industrial Average reported 0% growth. (The Dow is an average used to measure the performance of 30 large US companies representing industries that determine economic performance in the United States). However, you needed to wait until 2005 to see the stock outperform the Dow and explode into a high growth stock. An amazing story and a great investment!
Let’s look into some of the factors that have contributed to Apple’s stock recent success. If you are in my Marketing class, find Apple’s target market and the bases and descriptors used to segment its market(s). Remember that it is possible for a company to market the same or different products to multiple segments.
If you are in my Intro to Business class, look into Apple’s Income Statement. Look for revenue and profit growth over the last ten years. Can you find any trends? Look into Apple’s Owner’s Equity account, how is the company financed? (Hint: Debt vs. Equity). Note: we will be covering “Understanding Financial Information and Accounting” in class over the next two weeks; therefore, don’t attempt to answer this blog post until March 30th.
Don’t forget to do research and cite your sources. Good luck!
Based on what I researched, Apple is a unique company that pretty much targets everyone who can afford their products. The have something for every single age group and its always something unique and useful. They seem to use music as a form of targeting people as well because every electronic they come out with allows you to store thousands of songs, create play lists and even watch music videos. For example, their new invention, the iPad, can do pretty much anything from watching movies and playing games to reading books and newspapers, the variety of things you can do with their products attracts consumers from all ages.
Looking at Apple’s chart you can see that Apple has been a very profitable company, according to Yahoo Finance, Apple went from $8.25 in November 2000 to $235 in March 2010. Looking at the statistics you can predict that Apple would be a good investment because of the numbers shown in the key statistic such as return on equity 31.9%, the quarterly revenue growth 32% quarterly earning growth 49.8%. Most of Yahoo’s Star Analysts rate it a 5 star company and 36/42 analysts said it was ether a strong buy or a good buy.
Apple has seen an important growth over the last decade, but Apple started seeing a real growth around the year 2005. According to yahoo finance, Apple has 46.71B (billion) of revenues from last year. Apple has no debt this means they have more cash to spend .Apple also has a quarterly earning growth of 49.80%. By looking at Apple chart, we see a remarkable growth. Because of Apple interesting services, people will keep buying it and the company will keep generating more benefits over the years.
Apple Inc has a very good company. They just advertised a new gadget called the IPAD. They make there products avaiable to all ages. There can products can be expenses but afforable to everyone. Apple creates a variety of there products. There gross profit has increased since 2000. Years ago mac computers sold out fast now apple ipods and iphones are the main thing now. They did a wonderful job advertisting and targeting the market
After taking a look at Yahoo Finance you can see that Apple has made e lot of profit in the last couple of years. Apple is a company that has no debt but a lot of equity.The prices of their stocks have been increasing lately, especially after the release of their new gadget, the IPad. The products that Apple sells, target a wide market. If you look at their chart, you can notice a steady increase, which has resulted in a remarkable growth in the company throughout the years that has been generating a lot of profit.
When you look at the website, you see a very distinct type of person that Apple tries to target. They try to target people who don’t mind spending a little extra for a product that blows their minds away. When you watch their commercials, you see how they compare PC’s and Mac’s. Mac’s look more relaxed and down to earth when compared to markets. Also, the Mac’s look a lot younger, while the PC’s are in suits and look worn out and old. They defiantly know how to go about targeting their market.
Apple’s success is based on their target market. They do not just have one “type” of person they try to sell to. They attempt to appeal to everyone. Whether it is a busy business man, or a at home mom, they make their gadgets “user friendly” for everyone to use. We see 7 year old kids and 68 year old people with iPods and iPhones. Not many companies could do this. But Apple presents themselves in a likable and friendly way.
According to CNN Money.com Apple’s tech leader said it sold 300,000 of its Ipad tablet computers on Saturday and that users downloaded over one million apps from the company’s App store and over 250,000 ebooks from its iBookstore. Shares of Apple (AAPL,fortune 500) gained 1%Monday. Wow how quickly, the numbers are amazing I believe that Apple bases its sales apon todays latest market, searching for what the today customer wants,along with what todays economy needs. With all the hustle and bustle that is going on in the world today, the average nana even has a facebook, so I believe that Apple is not only trying to apply to one specific group. I think they are surveying all and trying to bring the latest technology to all and by doing so they are a success. The numbers prove this without question.