AN EVALUATION OF APPLE CORP BUSINESS AND FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE BETWEEN 1 JANUARY 2015 AND 31 DECEMBER 2017

When it comes to electronics, Apple is a multinational powerhouse. The company's success in the manufacture and distribution of cutting-edge technical goods and services allowed it to maintain its dominance. This paper sought to conduct a detailed review of Apple Inc. and an assessment of the company's business and financial results between January 1st, 2015 and December 31st, 2016.

Apple's administration, like that of any other multinational corporation, is obsessed with a number of issues. Concerns vary from rivalry to the company's ability to update the operating system for all of its platforms. The market dominance that Apple was enjoying in the early years is now dwindling. For example, in 2014, the number of consumers who bought a non-iPhone mobile device stood at 1 Billion while in 2015, the number rose to 1.2 Billion (Hoover, np). Reduction in the volumes of sales of the iPhone also remains to be a challenge to Apple. Its management, during the Second Quarter earnings report of 2016 emphasized on how the effects of the global economic trend had negatively affected the consumer’s purchasing power hence the decline in sales. Other related management issues that Apple as a company faces include proper management of the workforce that seeks to produce products that are in demand around the world.

Financial and business performance

In order to analyze the actual performance of a business, figures are keenly checked. Neely (2003) stated that during the first level of analyzing a company, some aspects of performance are captured in the balance sheet and the earnings values (p.12). It’s financial and business performance, over the years however has been on the rise-judging by the revenue earned. For instance, in January 2015, for the financial year ended on 31st December2016, the company posted revenue of 74.6 billion dollars. In 2017, as per the company’s financial year results of the year ended 31st December 2016, the revenue had risen to 78.4 billion dollars while in the preceding year, the figure stood at 75.9 billion dollars. Its fiscal reporting of the year 2015 showed that the company’s value per diluted share remained at $3.06 while in the previous period was at $2.07. Presently, the number is at $3.36. As its CEO, Luca Maestri pointed out, the company’s operating cash flow is 27 billion dollars. In addition, the company returned about 15 billion dollars to investors. Therefore, for the analyzed two years it can be noted that the consistent change in revenue for Apple on average is 67% (Huguet, np).

The business performance of Apple is not so bad either. From its product range, the iPhone recorded the largest share of units sold at around 78,290. Closely following was the iPad at 13,081 units sold. The Mac had the least number of units sold, 5,374. Apple is trying to minimize its losses from 2015 to 2017. For example, its amortization and depreciation expense during the year of 2015 was at 11.26 billion dollars. The company sought to reduce this figure, and in 2016 it fell to $ 10.51 billion. In the year 2017, the figure had decreased to 10.16 billion dollars.

Apple activity is always led by a strategic plan, this means that the way of business will always be straight forward and goal oriented. For example, its fiscal 2015 second quarter guide stipulated a tax rate of 26.3 %.

Conclusion

Apple is the enterprise with a solid market presence. With continued habits, it is obvious that the business will continue to blossom. However, in order to avoid being left behind by competitors such as Google, the company needs to address its weaknesses such as the drop in sales.

References

Hoover J., 2017. Apple Reports Record First Quarter Results. [Online] (updated 2017) Available at: https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2015/01/27Apple-Reports-Record-First-Quarter-Results/ [Accessed Nov. 10, 2017]

Huguet K.,2017. Apple Reports Record First Quarter Results. [Online] (updated 2017) Available at: https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2017/01/apple-reports-record-first-quarter-results/.html [Accessed Nov. 10,2017]

Neely A., 2003. Business Performance Measurement: Theory and Practice. Cambridge University Press