How Apple Inc.’s WWDC Announcements Will Affect AAPL Stock

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Remember all the times experts have exclaimed the age of growth was over for Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)? This week, Apple held its annual Worldwide Developer’s Conference and reminded everyone that size isn’t necessarily a hindrance to growth.

How Apple Inc.'s WWDC Announcements Will Affect AAPL Stock

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In fact, Apple’s smartphone dominance lies the perfect foundation for the company to win tech’s next frontier — something that was quite obvious during WWDC.

Let’s take a look at a few announcements from the event and how they might play for Apple stock.

Apple Upgrades Its Product Mix

At the conference, Apple iOS 11, a new home speaker dubbed “HomePod,” a larger iPad Pro, new iMacs, more refined Watch features and ARKit for developers.

In fact, when Apple releases iOS 11, it will immediately become the largest development platform for AR apps. That’s the incumbency factor I was talking about. Augmented reality is generating hype in the tech world for good reason. While it’s been hyped before, we didn’t have the computer power to support AR and VR like we do now.

And with all the big players — Apple, Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB), Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL, NASDAQ:GOOG), Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) — in addition to startups honing in on the space, you can bet it’s real.

While some tech bloggers felt the new iMac proved Apple doesn’t know what to do with that product line, I’m excited about the debut, largely because of price point.

Margins are getting tough in the competitive world of smartphones, but this $5,000 “supercomputer,” as many are calling it, could be the perfect big-ticket item for the serious users Apple targeted in its earlier days.

I like having a ubiquitous product like iPhone that continues to innovate mixed with a high-end product (dubbed the most powerful Mac ever) aiming for a more niche, expensive market.

Apple’s Still Making More and More Chips

At the same time, Apple has been gradually making more and more of its own chips, which gives it more control over the devices. The company is supposedly working on a processor specifically dedicated to AI-related tasks, for instance.

This also speaks to the power of a giant like Apple. It can afford to poach talent and technology from smaller chip players, and can afford to invest in making its own processors. That’s not the case for everyone.

All in all, I’m pleased with Apple, especially after WWDC 2017. While many of these developments may be already built into the stock price (remember, AAPL stock has gained over 56% over the past 12 months), I think it’s worth it.

Apple is an incumbent tech beast that’s still pushing the ball forward, posting double-digit growth, and also rewards investors with a 1.6% dividend — not bad after the stellar run just mentioned.

WWDC 2017 was another feather in Apple’s cap.

Hilary Kramer is the editor of GameChangers, Breakout Stocks, High Octane Trader, Absolute Capital Return and Value Authority. She is an accomplished investment specialist and market strategist with more than 25 years of experience in portfolio management, equity research, trading, and risk management. She has extensive expertise in global financial management, asset allocation, investment banking and private equity ventures, and is regularly sought after to provide her analysis on Bloomberg, CNBC, Fox Business Network and other media.


Article printed from InvestorPlace Media, https://investorplace.com/2017/06/how-apple-inc-s-wwdc-announcements-will-affect-aapl-stock/.

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