APPLE INC. $119 - Nasdaq symbol AAPL

APPLE INC. $119 (Nasdaq symbol AAPL; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 5.9 billion; Market cap: $702.1 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.9; Dividend yield: 1.6%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.apple.com) continues to profit from strong demand for its iPhone smartphone, which accounts for 56% of its sales. Other products include Mac computers (16%), iPad tablets (13%) and iPod music players and other services (15%).

In its 2014 fiscal year, which ended September 27, 2014, Apple’s earnings rose 6.7%, to $39.5 billion from $37.0 billion in 2013. The company spent $45.0 billion on share buybacks in the past year. As a result, earnings per share gained 13.6%, to $6.45 from $5.68 (all per-share amounts adjusted for a 7-for-1 split in June 2014). Sales rose 7.0%, to $182.8 billion from $170.9 billion.

The company recently launched a new mobile payment system called Apple Pay. This service lets users add credit card information to their phones and use them to make purchases at tap-and-payenabled cash registers and, in some cases, online. To prevent fraud, the phone will confirm the user’s identity with a fingerprint scan.

The company has also developed developed a new touch-screen wristwatch, called the Apple Watch, that can display messages, photos and other information. The device can also monitor and record health and fitness data, such as pulse rates and running distances.

Apple can easily afford to keep investing in new products. It holds cash and investments of $155.2 billion, or $26.46 a share, and its long-term debt is just $29.0 billion.

The company’s earnings will probably rise 19.7%, to $7.72 a share, in fiscal 2015. The stock trades at a moderate 15.0 times that estimate. The $1.88 dividend yields 1.6%. However, Apple’s high reliance on the iPhone adds risk.

Apple is a hold.

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Blue chip stocks are big, well-established, dividend-paying corporations with strong business prospects. These are companies that also have sound management that should be able to make the right moves to keep competing successfully in a changing marketplace.

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Value Stocks

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One of the sweetest and most profitable pleasures of successful investing is to buy high-quality “value stocks” (or stocks that are reasonably priced, if not cheap, in relation to its sales, earnings or assets), then hold on to them as mainstream investors recognize the value and push up the share price.

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