At the time of this writing, Apple stock is up by 42.37% year-to-date, crushing the S&P 500’s 11% gain and was considering as the most traded stock in 2014. Considering the company’s size, the gain is quite impressive. Apart from being the most-traded stock, Apple was also a favorite among retail investors when it comes to buying and holding a stock.
Since Apple started selling iPhones in 2007, there has been no stopping the company’s growth. At that time, the stock was $12 (adjusted for stock splits), and now it’s well over $100. 2014 was a year of rapidly growing and constantly changing for Apple. Indeed, the tech giant offered to its consumers a variety of new and attractive products that have propelled the stock on the top of the best tech stocks in the world. Here are the most significative ones:
- IOS 8: Apple demonstrated by finally allowing new widgets (in the center of notifications) in its OS. New features such as the integration of Shazam in Siri, rapid response to SMS and iMessages, the Accelerated video mode and so on, were inaugurated in the new iPhone software. Moreover, the Apple Pay, the company’s new mobile payment service, allows users to pay for purchases with their cell phones instead of physically present credit or debit cards.
- Iphone 6 and 6plus: Equipped with a larger screen, the iPhone beats all records of sales; roughly 40 million iPhone sold to date, including 10 million pre-orders, and a few weeks later, 20 million just for China.
- Apple Watch: To bring 2014 to a spectacular close, Apple has unveiled what the Apple Watch will look like in 2015. It is planning to issued it in the first quarter of 2015. According to Apple Watch overview, “every aspect of the product is designed for precisely when you use it and where you wear it”. Moreover, it is has “an incredibly precise timepiece”, is equipped with the Apple Pay, and few more incredible options.
- The Beats Acquisition: Apple announced in May 2014 the acquisition of the successful music technology company Beats Electronics and the music streaming service Beats Music.
- $56 Billion Spent On Stock Buybacks In 2014: it was estimated that Apple had spent $56 billion on repurchasing stock in fiscal 2014. Apple has been the biggest buyback spender of 2014 among the S&P 500.
To conclude, we can look back on the year 2014 as avery successful one and hopping that Apple will continue on its present path in 2015.
