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When we spoke on Wednesday, I mentioned that I'd show you the best way to play Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) in light of its upcoming earnings announcement on May 2.
What I didn't tell you, though, is that your best profit opportunity's actually got nothing to do with earnings at all.
In fact, you could make the most on Apple by waiting until this date…
Four Reasons Why It's More Lucrative to Take a Longer-Term Approach to Apple Stock
I've said before that I'm an Apple guy. I have the smartphone and laptop, among other products, and have been pleased with them for some time.
But aside from my personal fondness for Apple, there are both fundamental and technical reasons why it's far more lucrative to take profits by Dec. 31 than to get in and out ahead of or shortly after earnings come out.
And these are the top four…
1. The iPhone 8
For the first time in three years, Apple will be releasing a new iPhone design sometime in early September. The new design will also possibly include a fingerprint reader embedded into the display. Now this isn't confirmed, but images of the schematics that were leaked a couple days ago seem to agree with this speculation.
There is also the likelihood that it'll include a dual lens 3D selfie camera (under the screen and invisible to the user).
And I believe that, as long as it comes to fruition, the iPhone 8 could be unlike any other smartphone in the market – which is good news for the stock (I'll get to that in a minute).
2. Project Titan
Guess who's listed on the California Department of Motor Vehicles website as an approved autonomous vehicle tester? That's right – this iPhone company.
No matter how strange it may look seeing Apple listed on the website alongside companies like Tesla, Nissan, and Subaru, it's there. In fact, they've already started hiring Tesla employees to work on this project, called "Project Titan."
3. Its Services Business
Credit Suisse recently predicted that Apple's services business (which includes the iTunes Store, the TV App Store, Apple Pay, and Apple Music) will double within the next three years.
And I agree.
As of this February, Apple's services business accounts for 9% of revenue, at $7.2 billion. Not only is that an 18% increase from the same time last year – it's also a quarterly record. Apple has also said that it plans on doubling the services side of the business by 2020 and believes this segment could increase its revenue to $50 billion by then.
4. The Stock (AAPL)
Between Trump's presidential victory last November and now, AAPL has been in a healthy uptrend. It's broken new highs and is one of the leading components that's helped the PowerShares QQQ ETF (Nasdaq: QQQ) reach new highs as well. AAPL's weighting in QQQ is at around 12% right now – almost double that of Microsoft Corp. (N…
About the Author
Tom Gentile, options trading specialist for Money Map Press, is widely known as America's No. 1 Pattern Trader thanks to his nearly 30 years of experience spotting lucrative patterns in options trading. Tom has taught over 300,000 traders his option trading secrets in a variety of settings, including seminars and workshops. He's also a bestselling author of eight books and training courses.