Apple Takes Dow Over 22,000 Mark As Services Business Grows
Apple’s record result yesterday, has seen the Dow Jones Industrial Average shoot above the 22,000 mark for the first time, the tech Company is now valued at A$1,022 billion dollars.
It’s also been confirmed that Apple will launch their new iPhone 8 in September a move that could drive sales even higher in the 4th quarter.
Early yesterday Apple revealed stronger than expected profits and iPhone and iPad sales, sent its shares up 4.7 cent to $157.14.
That offset the declines by half a dozen other companies in the Dow and took Apple’s market valuation to A$1,022bn.
The index, which comprises 30 of the largest US companies including Boeing, Goldman Sachs and McDonald’s, has rallied more than 11 per cent this year, and 20 per cent since the election of Donald Trump in November.
Apple’s latest profit and revenue were better than analysts expected, and the company’s strong sales forecast suggests it is confident the next iPhone will reach the market on time. The technology giant’s stock climbed to an all-time high. Some other tech companies, utilities and industrial firms rose too, and that was just barely enough to take the Standard & Poor’s 500 index higher.
Much of the rest of the market was mixed, and most of the companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange fell. Movie theater companies tumbled after AMC Entertainment said U.S. box-office grosses are sinking.
Apple’s services revenue which was a significant contributor, is gleaned from iTunes, iCloud, Apple Music, Apple Pay, Apple Care and the various App Stores.
Apple’s last four quarters of service revenue total $27.804 billion. That figure puts it in 97th place ahead of Facebook’s entire business at $27.64 billion, and just ahead of Northwestern Mutual’s $27.8 billion
Apple’s services business division’s income has escalated rapidly along with the company’s iPhone sales. In 2016, investment bank Piper Jaffray estimated gross margins on Apple’s services business hovered at 60 percent for fiscal 2015, nearly doubling the percentage gleaned from the company’s hardware —and there is no indication that the gross margin has decreased.