Apple is looking to give its holiday sales a boost, but not by focusing squarely on the typical retail consumer. Apparently, the iPhone makers is offering discounts to businesses for its MacBook Pro product.
The move comes amid broad market weakness for big tech. The Nasdaq 100 is down close to 30% for the year and has been suffering for most of 2022 thanks to inflation fears tamping down prospects for growth.
The U.S. Federal Reserve continues to tighten the screw on monetary policy with more rate hikes expected. As such, many big tech firms are lowering their outlooks on the prospect that more rate hikes will eat into corporate profits.
Given this, there are two simple ways to react in the current market environment: cuts costs or bolster profits. Many big tech firms have already done the former, implementing mass layoffs amid the broad tech weakness.
It’s a stark contrast from big tech’s reign during the pandemic as social distancing measures forced a heavier reliance on technology, making them the darlings of a stock market that hit all sectors negatively except tech. Now, inflation is forcing big tech firms to sing a different tune that’s less than melodic to investors’ ears.
Still, firms like Apple are finding ways to extract more revenue in a tough market, such as the discounts on MacBook Pros.
“Apple is offering a rare opportunity for businesses to buy MacBook Pro models in bulk at a steep discount. According to a new report from Bloomberg, businesses looking to buy the newest 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro can get as much as 10% off their purchase,” a 9 to 5 Mac article said. “The promo comes as Apple battles a forecasted drop in Mac revenue in the important holiday quarter.”
Still the Apple of Investors’ Eyes?
Even with big tech’s weakness, Apple is one of those companies that’s hard to count out even during a tough market environment. Bullish investors can trust that the company will continue to find ways to increase revenue, even if it means resorting to sales moves that run counter to previous actions, such as its latest MacBook Pro discounts.
“Again, this is a rare promotion for Apple, but it comes as the company warned investors of a ‘substantial’ drop in Mac revenue for the holiday quarter compared to last year,” the 9 to 5 Mac article added. “For context, Apple reported Mac revenue of $10.85 billion for Q1 2022, a new record and an increase of 25% year-over-year.”
Bullish on Apple heading into 2023? Traders can give single-stock exchange traded funds (ETFs) a look. One fund to consider is the Direxion Daily AAPL Bull 1.5X (AAPU), which seeks daily investment results equal to 150% of the performance of the common shares of Apple, Inc.
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