The US-China trade war continues to rage on, but contrary to a common belief, it may not have affected everyone equally. According to recent reports, the trade war may have actually provided some unforeseen benefits to Apple, among some other companies.
One such firm is also Cupertino, a Calif-based firm that announced its earnings this Wednesday. According to the company’s statement, its earnings grew by $13.69 billion in the fiscal fourth quarter, as its revenue went up by 18% when compared to last year. That brings its total revenue to $64 billion, which led to an immediate rally of the company’s shares.
Apple itself managed to earn $11.1 billion in revenue in the region known as Greater China, as the demand for its iPhone 11 surged rapidly. The iPhone was on sale for only around 11 days in a three-month period that ended earlier this year, in September.
The unforeseen situation led the Goldman Sachs analysts to investigate the matter, and the results indicate that the sales in China have increased in expectation of tariffs that will arrive on December 15th.
At the same time, Chinese buyers may be expecting increased sales tax or some other form of retaliation from the authorities if they wait too long before purchasing Apple’s products. Meanwhile, recent reports also state that Beijing hesitated to give in on some of the bigger stumbling blocks to trade between the United States and China. The reason for this is the fact that President Trump was shown to be extremely unpredictable, and that he could potentially decide to go back on any deal that might be made.
The two countries have been working on a trade agreement, and earlier in October, they agreed to the framework’s ‘phase one.’ The two moved close to actually coming to an official agreement when Beijing reneged.
As for Apple’s report, Goldman Sachs called it positive, with a note that the stock seems to be trading with expectations of a strong product cycle, ahead of time. The price of the share went up from $165 to $188, although this is still nearly 25% lower than the shares’ price on Thursday. From a yearly perspective, however, Apple’s shares have risen by 54% in 2019.
