The FAANG stock to avoid like the plague in October: Appleby Sean Williams
Focusing on a variety of subscription services should minimize the sales lumpiness often associated with major physical product replacement cycles, as well as lift Apple’s operating margin over the long run.
It should also be noted that Apple has an exceptionally loyal customer base and well-recognized brand. The trustworthiness of the Apple brand and its management team is one of the core reasons why billionaire investor Warren Buffett has nearly 47% of Berkshire Hathaway‘s $337 billion investment portfolio tied up in Apple stock.
For instance, iPhone 14 failed to wow consumers or investors. Modest initial sales caused Apple to rethink its plan to boost production last year. Through the first nine months of fiscal 2023 (Apple’s fiscal year ends in late September), iPhone sales are down almost $6.1 billion, relative to the comparable period in fiscal 2022.
It’s a similar story for the remainder of the company’s physical products. Mac sales have been hit hardest (down 24%), while iPad (down 1%) and wearable, home, and accessories (down 3%) sales are modestly lower through nine months.
Apple also looks to be somewhat dropping the ball when it comes to artificial intelligence (AI). In June, the company unveiled its augmented reality device known as the Vision Pro. Apple was expected to deliver 1 million units of this practically $3,500 headset in 2024. However, a report from Financial Times, based on internal sources, now suggests Apple is targeting just 400,000 headsets next year.
But perhaps most damning of all is Apple’s valuation. For more than a half-decade leading up to the end of fiscal 2018, shares of Apple could be purchased for roughly 10 to 15 times forward earnings. What made the company so attractive is that it consistently grew sales by a double-digit percentage.
As of this very moment, Apple isn’t a growth company. Even though its services segment is expanding, revenue declines from all of its physical products are expected to result in a low-single-digit drop in both the company’s sales and profits in fiscal 2023.
Despite this decline, investors are paying 26 times forward earnings. That’s very close to the upper end of Apple’s valuation range over the past decade, and all the more reason to avoid Apple like the plague in October.
Source: The Motley Fool
https://tradesoftheday.com/2023/10/09/1 ... -to-avoid/
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