Apple (AAPL) beats Wall Street’s Earning Estimate by .40 per share, reporting a $1.82 per share results for its’ fiscal forth quarter (ending in September).
The primary driver behind this success story is Apples’ brand, and the consumers who continue to purchase iPhone, iPod -Touch and Macintosh PCs.
“This isn’t just a one-quarter phenomenon, there’s something bigger going on. There’s a paradigm shift from a cell phone, (to) a computer in your pocket. Apple’s going to run away with that and ultimately, the numbers are going to be inching up as we go forward into 2010,” Gene Munster, senior research analyst at Piper Jaffray, told CNBC.
“You know, it proves that even in a challenging economy people are willing to pay for what they perceive to be high quality product and a good value product,” said Cross Research Analyst Shannon Cross.
Our interest in this story is the last quote. “people are willing to pay for what they perceive to be high quality product and a good value product”. Another way to say it would be people are willing to pay for a brand if that brand fulfills its promise at a perceived value. Apple is certainly one of the premier brands fulfilling its’ promise to consumers.
Investment note: If you were smart, and bought Apple stock about a year ago, and sold it today (October 20th), you would have made about a $100 per share. That’s the power of a brand, hard at work.
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