Is Apple a Must Own Stock in 2022?
The market has witnessed significant sell-offs in many growth stocks over the last several weeks. These sell-offs were driven by many different factors including slowing growth in stay-at-home stocks, lingering fears of inflation, and tax harvesting. As a result, valuation multiples have compressed, making it challenging for investors to navigate which stocks may be worth exploring for 2022. Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) stock is up nearly 40% year to date, handily topping the S&P 500's return of 28%. But as demand for the iPhone 13 wanes and the company's market capitalization climbs higher, whether to hold onto Apple stock or sell in the new year is a tough decision for investors.
As of the time of this article, Apple is the largest company in the world by market capitalization, closing in on a valuation of $3 trillion. For the fiscal quarter ended Sept. 25, Apple reported 29% revenue growth year over year. The company generated 33% growth on the product side of the business driven by strong iPhone sales, and also reported 26% growth in services while wearables grew 13% year over year. What may be even more impressive than its revenue growth is the amount of cash that Apple generates; the company's trailing-12-month free cash flow is $93 billion.
Apple is commanding strong growth across its entire suite of revenue streams from services, wearables, and other hardware products. Although the long-term prospects for Apple appear strong, investors recently learned that the Federal Reserve will begin to taper asset purchases in an effort to combat inflation, and it is likely that 2022 will come with multiple rate hikes.
Source Fool.com
