How Apple Stock Recovers To $250
Apple Stock experienced significant volatility over the past five trading sessions, dropping 23% following President Donald Trump's announcement of broad tariffs affecting over 100 countries. However, shares jumped 15% on Thursday after the tariffs were temporarily suspended for 90 days. Despite the rebound, Apple stock is still trading about 20% below the peak of approximately $250 reached earlier this year.
We estimate that Apple's earnings could decline by 30% in a worst-case scenario. Nonetheless, Apple has consistently demonstrated agility in pricing, effective supply chain management, and strong partnerships, which could soften the blow from tariffs and help push its stock back to the $250 levels seen earlier this year.
While the tariffs could significantly impact Apple, we believe there are several strategies to reduce their effect.
Even with these mitigation strategies, Apple's U.S. margins might shrink by around 10% in the short term. However, the stock may still prove resilient. The U.S. makes up about 25%-30% of Apple's total revenue and has been one of its slower-growing regions. Continued growth in emerging markets such as India and Southeast Asia could provide some assurance to investors.
Additionally, Apple is widely seen as a defensive stock, often outperforming during market downturns. For example, during the 2022 inflation shock, AAPL shares dropped 31.3% compared to a 25.4% fall for the S&P 500. In the early stages of the Covid-19 crisis, AAPL fell 31.4%, versus a 33.9% decline for the S&P 500. However, the current drop is about twice as steep as the S&P's, suggesting potential for a rebound as conditions stabilize and Apple fine-tunes its operations.
Apple has overcome major challenges before and emerged stronger. Though the near-term outlook remains tough, the company's robust product ecosystem and sound financials provide a firm base for recovery.
Markets can remain irrational for extended periods, especially in times of heightened fear. For patient, long-term investors, the recent pullback in AAPL stock could be an opportunity. Those who are less comfortable with volatility may benefit from a hedged strategy or broader diversification, such as the Trefis Reinforced Value Portfolio, which has outperformed its all-cap benchmark (a mix of the S&P 500, S&P mid-cap, and Russell 2000 indices). Consulting a seasoned financial advisor can also be beneficial during market downturns. Staying calm and strategic during volatile times is often key to building long-term wealth.
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Tom's Guide
27 minutes ago
- Tom's Guide
5 apps I use to turn my iPad into the ultimate workstation
I've been a journalist for 15 years or so, and ever since Apple launched the iPad I've been aching to ditch my laptop and travel with just a tablet. To be honest, ideally I could just do all my work from the smartphone I carry in my pocket all day. And you basically can, if (like me) you work with text for a living and you're willing to splurge on a pair of fancy AR glasses and a nice Bluetooth keyboard. But as a journalist I don't have the scratch for that kind of luxury. Luckily, I can afford to outfit my iPad with a few apps that make it basically just as useful as my laptop without spending an arm and a leg. If you, like me, dream of ditching your bulky work laptop and working from just an iPad, have a look at this list of the top 5 iPad apps I use to get work done on the go. Okay, maybe this is kind of cheating, but I like to keep a good app on my iPad that I can use to remotely connect to my PC at home whenever I need to pull something from it or use it for something. There are a few options on the Apple App Store, but I went with Jump Desktop ($14.99) because it works with both Windows and Mac PCs (and I regularly review both) and supports both RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol) and VNC (Virtual Network Computing) protocols for connecting to your PC. Heck, if you really want to feel alive you can connect to both a Windows and Mac PC at the same time and use them both in split-screen mode on your iPad Pro. I also like that Jump Connect seems to support all the features of my iPad's Magic Keyboard without any issues, and it offers virtual mouse support (as well as real mouse support, if you connect one) via gestures on the iPad. Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips. While it doesn't work well for, say, streaming a PC game to your iPad, I have tried moving files around and streaming movies and music through Jump Connect and it's pretty good if your home and mobile connections are strong. I also appreciate that setting up the client on your PC is easy, and you don't have to deal with router settings if you don't want to. Download Jump Desktop ($14.99) You may have seen Things crop up in the iPad App Store now and again since it's won two Apple Design Awards, but since it costs $20 to use you may not have taken the plunge. I didn't either for a long time, but when I finally did I was hooked. At its core, Things is basically just a fancy to-do list app, but it works in all the exact ways I want it to without bothering me with extraneous clutter. You start by building to-do lists in various areas of your life you denote (work, family, friends etc), and you complete to-dos while working towards major projects. What really charms me about Things is how easy it is to quickly get to grips with these layers and start working it into your daily life. I love that I can just forward an email to my Things address to automatically add it as a to-do, for example, and you can use your iPad's Share function to create to-dos from within other apps. Plus, Things comes with Widgets you can drop on your iPad home screen to keep track of key projects and tasks. While I wish it was a little cheaper, I figure it pays for itself after a year of keeping me on track. Download Things 3 ($19.99) Your mileage may vary here, but I prefer to keep Microsoft Word on my iPad and rely on it for all my writing and editing needs. Since that's my job and my colleagues and freelancers regularly send Word files to me for review, having a version of the app on my iPad frees me up to work from anywhere. And while I sometimes wish I had a full laptop keyboard to type on instead of my little Magic Keyboard, the silver lining is that when I'm editing in Word I can hold the tablet in a comfortable position instead of craning my neck down at a laptop screen. 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Time Business News
an hour ago
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Japan used to be a tech giant. Why is it stuck with fax machines and ink stamps?
Japan's Tech Paradox: Futuristic Aesthetics vs. Outdated Realities: In movies like 'Akira' and 'Ghost in the Shell,' intelligent robots and holograms populate a futuristic Japan, and neon-lit skyscrapers and the city's famed bullet train system come to mind. But there's a more mundane side of Japan that you won't find anywhere in these cyberpunk films. It involves personalized ink stamps, floppy disks, and fax machines—relics that have long since disappeared in other advanced nations but have stubbornly persisted in Japan. The delay in digital technology and subsequent bureaucracy are, for everyday residents, at best inconvenient, and at worst make you want to tear your hair out. 'Japanese banks are portals to hell,' one Facebook user wrote in a local expat group. 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Many had never used file-sharing services or video tools like Zoom before, making it difficult for them to adjust to working and attending school remotely. In one mind-boggling case in 2022, a Japanese town accidentally wired the entirety of its Covid relief fund – about 46.3 million yen ($322,000) – to just one man's bank account. The confusion stemmed from the bank being given both a floppy disk of information and a paper request form – but by the time authorities realized their error, the man had already gambled away most of the funds, according to NHK. For anyone under 35, a floppy disk is a magnetic memory strip encased in plastic that is physically inserted into a computer. Each one typically stores up to 1.44 MB of data, which is less than the size of an average iPhone photo. The situation became so bad that Takuya Hirai, who would become the country's Minister of Digital Transformation in 2021, once referred to the country's response to the pandemic as a 'digital defeat.' According to Coopersmith, a 'combination of fear and opportunity' led to the birth of the Digital Agency, a division tasked with bringing Japan up to speed. Created in 2021, it launched a series of initiatives including rolling out a smart version of Japan's social security card and pushing for more cloud-based infrastructure. Last July, the Digital Agency finally declared victory in its 'war on floppy disks,' eliminating the disks across all government systems – a mammoth effort that required scrapping more than 1,000 regulations governing their use. But there were growing pains, too. Local media reported that the government once asked the public for their thoughts on the metaverse through a complicated process that required downloading an Excel spreadsheet, entering your information, and sending the document back to the ministry via email. 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According to Goto, the number of businesses seeking the services of NRI consultants 'has definitely been rising year by year,' particularly over the past five years. As a result, the NRI consultants are in high demand. And for good reason: for years, Japanese companies outsourced their IT needs, meaning they now lack the in-house skills to fully digitize. A sign for cashless payments outside a shop in the trendy Omotesando district of Tokyo. He stated, 'Fundamentally, they want to improve the efficiency of their operations, and I believe they want to actively adopt digital technologies as a means of survival.' 'In the end, Japan's population will continue to fall, so increasing productivity is essential.' According to local media, the Digital Agency's plan to eliminate fax machines within the government received 400 formal objections from various ministries in 2021. There may be resistance in certain pockets. Things like the hanko seal – which are rooted in tradition and custom, and which some parents gift to their children when they come of age – may be harder to phase out given their cultural significance. According to Kawai, the rate of progress is also influenced by the Digital Agency's willingness to push for regulatory reform and the degree to which lawmakers will give digitization top priority when creating future budgets. Additionally, new technologies are advancing rapidly in other regions of the world, and Japan is playing catch-up with shifting targets. Coopersmith stated, 'This is going to be an ongoing challenge because the digital technologies of 2025 will be different from those of 2030, 2035.' But experts are optimistic. Kawai projects that Japan could catch up to some Western peers in five to ten years at this rate. Finally, there is a public demand for it, as more and more businesses are offering new online services and accepting cashless payments. 'People are generally eager to digitize for sure,' said Kawai. 'I'm sure that young people, or the general public, prefer to digitize as fast as possible.' Blogger Profile: Name: Usama Arshad Website link: TIME BUSINESS NEWS
Tom's Guide
an hour ago
- Tom's Guide
Buying your kid their first phone? Do these 5 things first
For parents, the decision to get your child their first cell phone comes with a lot of questions. There are a handful of logistical hurdles to clear, such as choosing a kid-friendly phone and then making sure they have coverage on one of the best family cell phone just as important is what comes next — setting the ground rules for how your kid uses their new phone and how you plan to enforce them. Guidelines for device usage are crucial for a variety of reasons. They allow you and your child to set and maintain healthy boundaries around issues like screen time, ensuring that phones don't get in the way of homework and other activities or lead to detrimental effects on sleep or mental health. Clear rules also help keep kids safe, protecting their privacy and limiting riskier interactions on social media or in other online spaces. Parents can also help enforce rules governing phone use at school. 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You don't necessarily need to start with the latest iPhones or Android devices — flip phones and 'dumb' phones allow your child to ease in with basic functions like calling and texting if they're not quite ready for social media and other apps available on smartphones. 'Think critically together about what are the minimum necessary apps to be able to achieve what you might need from a practical standpoint,' Munzer said. Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips. "Expect and accept the bumps along the way. They're natural parts of learning, not signs of failure." While you're deciding on a device, you should begin discussing the rules and expectations for phone use with your child. Experts say this conversation should be collaborative, ongoing, and age-specific, as younger kids will have different needs from older teens, and these rules should also be adjusted over time. Common Sense Media, a nonprofit that provides guidance on media use for children, has a helpful guide with age-by-age considerations, while the Center of Excellence on Social Media and Youth Mental Health has a list of conversation starters and prompts for parents. 'Expect and accept the bumps along the way,' said Jill Murphy, Common Sense Media's chief content officer: 'They're natural parts of learning, not signs of failure. The key is maintaining open dialogue and adjusting your approach as your child grows or situations change.' Parents should discuss rules for texting, calling, taking photos and videos, downloading and using apps (including games and social media), and posting online. Munzer also recommends that parents discuss their own challenges with device usage and get their child's or teen's input. Don't just talk about the rules for phone use and the consequences for breaking said rules — write them down. A family media agreement or family media plan is a contract you can refer back to that helps create transparency, understanding, and accountability. Munzer advises that all family members should be included in this process, as kids and teens are more likely to develop healthy phone behaviors if these are modeled by parents. The agreement may cover topics like screen time limits, privacy guidelines, and in what circumstances parents can or will review device activity — an important consideration for building and maintaining trust with your child. If and when kids do violate guidelines laid out in the agreement, parents should address these concerns promptly and calmly. Help your child understand the purpose of the rules you've set, and use natural consequences that have a logical connection to the violation — for example, limiting certain access to an app rather than taking away the phone. If your child has a smartphone, there are many on-device and third-party parental controls you can employ for everything from limiting screen time and app downloads to monitoring what kids are seeing and sending. On iOS, Screen Time includes settings to restrict explicit content, purchases, and downloads, as well as control access to specific settings and features. On Android, Family Link provides similar parental controls ranging from global and individual app time limits to content filters to device location notifications. The best parental control apps can augment those on-device settings, too. Parents can disable in-app purchases and require approval for new downloads and should also enforce settings to protect your child's privacy and security: Murphy advises parents to implement all privacy protections available on their child's device and in apps; they should also ensure that any accounts — including social media — are child- or teen-specific. (Accounts for minors typically have built-in restrictions.) School rules for phone use may be different than those at home, but you should consult and incorporate them into your family media agreement. This includes both your child's personal device as well as tablets or computers provided by the school. If the school communicates phone-related concerns or you notice excessive phone use during school hours, address these issues promptly using the guidelines in your plan. Giving your child or teen their first phone is an important step for building healthy media and digital device habits. Thoughtful planning and ongoing communication can help ease this transition for the entire family.
