Key Takeaways
- Apple stock dropped last month due to production issues at the Foxconn factory in Zhengzhou, China. This hangup led to additional delays around the holiday season.
- Apple is still the largest publicly traded company in the world with a market cap of $2.09 trillion.
- There are still many macroeconomic factors impacting major companies and the tech industry. With that said, rumors are swirling that Apple will release a new product category in 2023 in the form of a new AR/VR headset.
- Analysts predict that the company’s stock should go up in 2023.
Strong iPhone and Mac computer sales led to Apple reporting a record quarterly revenue of $90.1 billion during a time when many other companies had softer earnings due to the macroeconomic issues impacting the entire world. While Apple was in the news last month due to issues with factory closures in China that caused product delivery delays, there’s some significant news that could change the trajectory of the tech giant in 2023.
Since Apple is the largest company in the world, we decided to look at stock predictions for the next few years to see what the financial outlook is looking like.
How’s Apple performing financially?
Before we look at Apple stock predictions and what’s next for the company, we have to address the present-day situation by looking at their recent financial performance. Apple was able to beat Wall Street’s targets when they announced the financial results for the fiscal fourth quarter of 2022 late on Oct. 27. Apple stock jumped about 7.6% during the next trading session the following day based on these positive financial results.
The company reported a record quarterly revenue of $90.1 billion during a challenging time in the economy where consumers are cautious about spending money due to the fears of rate hikes leading to a full-blown recession.
Here are some financial highlights from the period that ended on Sept. 24:
- Annual revenue for the fiscal year 2022 was $394.3 billion, which is up 8% year over year.
- On an annual basis, Apple’s earnings went up 4%, and sales shot up 8%.
- iPhone revenue went up 10% year over year in the fourth quarter to $42.6 billion.
- Smartphones made up 47% of Apple’s total sales during the quarter.
- The board of directors approved a cash dividend of $0.23 per share, payable on Nov. 10.
What made these financial results even more impressive was that other large companies had to report lower earnings due to market conditions. However, it’s worth noting that Apple warned of a possible slower holiday season. The next earnings report from Apple won’t be coming out until sometime in late January.
Apple stock opened at $134.35 on Dec. 22, which means that stock is currently down about 27% for the year as many major companies have seen shares drop due to macroeconomic factors. Apple’s stock has a 52-week high of $182.94 and a low of $129.04, with analysts expecting it to hit $176.45 within a year.
Recent news surrounding Apple
Here’s some recent news that could impact Apple’s stock price in the near future.
Factory delays in China
We covered the Apple factory delays problem last month as it came out that Foxconn, the Chinese iPhone supplier, had been facing production issues with workers arguing with management regarding payments. The COVID-19 lockdown in the area also impacted the workers and production at the factory. Analysts had predicted that these issues would lead to a declined output of anywhere from 5% to 10%, with Bloomberg reporting that there could be a shortage of up to 6 million iPhone Pro units.
Self-driving cars have been delayed until 2026
A few weeks ago, Apple revealed that Project Titan had a delayed target date of some time in 2026 and that they would be scaling back the self-driving car production. Apparently, the major issue with this ambitious project is that the technology just isn’t ready yet. Though Apple self-driving EV vehicles have been discussed for years, and it doesn’t appear they’ll be hitting the market anytime soon.
Antitrust fines in Europe
It came out that the Paris Commercial Court fined Apple 1 million euros for abusive commercial clauses imposed on French app developers for them to access the popular App Store. While this figure is not even a speeding ticket for a company worth trillions of dollars, it has opened eyes to Apple’s practices when it comes to the exclusive App Store. The company charges developers a 30% commission. With a new EU law coming into place in 2024, Apple will have to loosen its grip on the App Store, and there are worries that this lucrative income stream could be reduced.
What’s next for Apple?
As we head into 2023, there are a few key things that we’ll be paying attention to that could possibly significantly impact the stock price for Apple.
Economic uncertainty
Every major global company has felt the impact of soaring inflation and rate hikes that have led to a volatile consumer market. As many folks brace themselves for a possible recession in the next year, it’s not uncommon to see companies reporting lower-than-expected earnings. We can’t write about any major tech companies without discussing the reality of the economic situation globally.
Service revenue has been increasing
Even though Apple brings in most of its revenue from selling its popular products, the services business segment has been growing lately. For the fiscal year 2022, which ended on Sept. 24, 2022, Apple reported that revenue from services reached $78 billion, which is an increase of 14% year over year. It’s also expected that the company will increase its revenue from services if certain new offerings are added next year. New augmented reality technology would come with additional service options for customers that would generate additional revenue.
Major new products should be coming at some point in 2023
Apple hasn’t created a new major product category since they introduced the Apple Watch back in April 2015. This is why Apple’s rumored mixed-reality headset has been discussed, as there are whispers that this could be hitting the market in late 2023. It has been reported that this headset would have a mix of augmented reality and virtual reality that would allow users to become immersed in the all-digital environment for movies and gaming.
It came out that mass shipments of this headset have been delayed until the second part of 2023 due to undisclosed software-related issues. Many analysts believe that this mixed-reality headset would be the precursor to the mass marketing of smart glasses.
Analysts are naturally very bullish about this idea, as this could be a real game changer. Some analysts feel the company could move 500,000 units at $2,000 a piece next year.
The iPhone 15 could have an entirely new design
The next obvious product is the updated version of the popular handset product. Leaks have shown that there could be a major rehaul of the phone with an improved camera system. There are whispers that the phone could use a revolutionary sensor from Sony.
Many positive signs indicate Apple’s stock price will increase in the next few years despite the minor setbacks they have faced lately due to regulatory and production issues.
Apple stock predictions
Analysts are calling Apple stock a buy for 2023, with predictions ranging all over the place. Here are some of the analyst predictions that we found:
- John Donovan, an analyst from Loop Capital Markets, considers the stock a buy with a price target of $180 per share due to a major product launch around late 2023.
- Amit Daryanani has a price target of $190 for Apple stock as he feels there will be a minimal impact from Apple allowing third-party stores in Europe.
- Jim Suva, a tech analyst from Citi, sees Apple stock reaching $175 as he believes that the current market value doesn’t factor in the launch of the new AR/VR headset in 2023 and other major launches that are expected to happen.
While it’s clear that many analysts believe that Apple stock will go up in 2023 after a forgettable year in 2022, we can’t ignore the possibility of a recession being declared in 2023. When the economy slows down enough for an official recession to be declared, there’s no telling how long this would go on and what the consequences could be.
How should you be investing?
Supply chain issues and soaring inflation have both continued to hurt many companies as consumers are nervous about a possible recession in 2023. Companies have either reported lower earnings than expected or they’ve braced investors for a slower holiday season than usual. This makes it even more difficult to figure out how to invest your money because there’s no telling how the economy will respond to the aggressive rate hikes.
For a simpler approach, you can review Q.ai’s Inflation Kit or Emerging Tech Kit. Q.ai takes the guesswork out of investing by using artificial intelligence to scour the market for the best investments for all risk tolerances and economic situations. Then, it bundles them into Investment Kits that make investing more straightforward and strategic, all done for you. Additionally, you can activate Portfolio Protection anytime to help protect your gains and reduce losses, no matter what industry you invest in.
Bottom Line
In a clear sign of the times, even the largest company in the world has seen its shares drop by over 25% during a challenging year for the stock market. We will continue to monitor how the situation plays out with Apple as the company faces the same macroeconomic headwinds that every other major global player has to deal with.
Some analysts feel that the regulatory issues with the App Store have been overblown and that even though the services revenue has dropped in 2022, it should go up in 2023. We will have to stay tuned to see when the new products are announced.
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Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/qai/2022/12/28/apple-stock-predictions-2023-to-2025/