Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is sure to be one of the stocks that investors will closely watch this year having enjoyed an impressive rally last year. One investor who remains unconcerned about the company’s upside potential, is Castle Rock Co-Founder, Martin Shafer. During an interview, CNBC, Shafer reiterated that Apple Pay should be one of the driving force behind the stock this year at the back of new products being unveiled.
A move into new products and services has always been the ideal business model for the Cupertino-based company, which Shafer believes should be more than enough in propelling the stock even higher. Despite resentment on the usage of Apple Pay by merchants, Shafer remains confident that the product will turn out well in terms of returns and market share.
“They are the most valuable company in the world because they make products that people love, people love the ecosystem. The knocks on Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) are that it is just a hardware company, it is just a product company. Their App store made $15 billion last year was up 50%, iTunes is $10 billion. If you don’t love Apple Pay is because you haven’t used it, I think it is going to be huge,” said Mr. Shafer.
Apple is turning out to be a force to reckon with in the software space with its iOS platform continuing to gain market share against Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s Android. The increase in market share on the software side of the business has mostly been attributed to an increase in the sale of iPhones. The iWatch release later in the year is another product that should give Apple additional optionof gaining more market share on the hardware side of the business.
Shafer also quashed concerns that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) might be lagging behind in terms of innovation, reiterating the company is on track to develop even better products.
“The thing with Apple is they don’t talk about what they are going to do. […] Fifty thousand people can be working on a product at Apple and never make to the outside. So, I don’t know exactly what they are going to do but if what they have done in the past is any indication of what they are going to do in the future. They are going to come up with great products,” said Mr. Shafer.
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