Topic: Growth Stocks

APPLE INC. $575 – Nasdaq symbol AAPL

APPLE INC. $575 (Nasdaq symbol AAPL; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 935.1 million; Market cap: $537.7 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.8; Dividend yield: 1.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.apple.com) is now the largest publicly traded company in the world based on market cap, thanks to the huge success of its mobile devices, such as the iPhone smartphone and the iPad tablet computer. These products are also attracting more attention to Apple’s Mac desktop and laptop computers.

In its 2012 second quarter, which ended March 31, 2012, the company sold 11.8 million iPads, up 151.3% from a year earlier. iPhone sales jumped 88.0%, to 35.1 million units. That’s partly because the company recently signed new deals that let more Chinese wireless carriers sell the device.

Apple also sold 6.8% more Mac computers. However, sales of iPod music players fell 14.9%, as iPod users continued to upgrade to iPhones.

The higher sales volumes pushed up Apple’s revenue by 58.9%, to $39.2 billion from $24.7 billion a year earlier. Earnings jumped 94.1%, to $11.6 billion, or $12.30 a share, from $6.0 billion, or $6.40 a share.

The company spent $841 million (or 2.1% of its revenue) on research in the quarter. That’s up 44.8% from $581 million (or 2.4% of revenue) a year earlier. This spending lets Apple keep improving its main products and creating new ones. For example, the company is now rumoured to be developing a TV set. That would make it easier for users to download movies from Apple’s iTunes online store.

The stock trades at just 12.3 times the $46.91 a share that Apple will likely earn in fiscal 2012. The company will also soon start paying a quarterly dividend of $2.65 a share, for a 1.8% annualized yield. Apple is a buy.

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