Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s stock had a decent rally after the company made a number of new announcements including the massive buyback, increased dividend, and the company’s historical bond issuance to fund those sizable payouts. Many investors view such large amounts of payouts to shareholders as a sign that the company is maturing and doesn’t have too many exciting projects to invest in.
While that view on corporate strategy might hold true for a number of firms, it doesn’t necessarily hold true for Apple. The company’s fundamental position is solid; however, the dark side of an investment in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) should be carefully studied before committing more capital to acquire Apple shares.
1. Product line
For example, the iPad Mini, which comes at a much lower price point relative to the original one, has been eating away sales from the higher margin iPad, and as a result, Apple’s average selling price for iPads came down by ~$18 per unit.
In addition, the most compelling reason behind the bearish stance towards Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has been the company’s reduced pace of innovation. While, there is no doubt Apple can bring unique products to the market, the company remains tight-lipped about its future product pipeline other than stating that it will launch newer products in the latter half of 2013. Apple’s rival Research In Motion Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) stock fell off a cliff in the past because the company wasn’t innovating rapidly enough.
2. Margins will contract
In the last earnings report of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) the company’s gross margins contracted substantially as expected. And in the next quarter, the company’s CFO guided that the gross margins will come down even more and be in the range of 36%-37%. And the reason behind this guidance was the sizable decrease in the average selling price for the iPhone and to a smaller extent the iPad.
Revenues from the iPhone make up more ~53% of total Apple revenues and the company’s selling price for the iPhone came down almost $30 from the previous quarter. As the company sells older generation iPhones, which have a lower price point, as well as selling more phones in key strategic markets like China, the company’s gross margins will come down even more.
However, large sales volume might offset the comparatively lower margins by bringing in more gross margin dollars. But the company’s huge size limits its ability to grow rapidly, along with increasingly more saturation in smartphone markets especially in the developed countries.
3. Heightened competition
The smartphone industry is increasingly becoming more and more competitive with Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s rivals rapidly bringing newer products to the market. Android-based phones by Samsung have a firm grip in the global market place, and Samsung just did a global launch of its new Samsung Galaxy S4. And the S4 comes with a larger 5 inch screen size and a comparable price point.
The other leading Android player, HTC is also coming to market with its HTC One phone very soon.And also Blackberry’s long awaited Q10 is expected to enter the U.S. market in the coming weeks, after launches in Europe, Canada and some other countries. Blackberry’s Z10 got a mixed reception from customers and carriers, but the Q10 will appeal to core Blackberry users. The BB10 Operating System is a major enhancement with a much better and smoother user interface from earlier versions by the company. And BB10 managed to add more than 100,000 apps as already, and is likely to add a lot more in the coming months as well.
