Apple Healthcare Could Be a Healthy Investment Story
Apple Inc.'s (AAPL) push into healthcare might not be getting the attention it deserves from the market.
Shares of the phone manufacturer and services company are rallying nicely again on Wednesday, building the stock to an almost 3% rebound to kick off 2019.
The solid day of trading comes directly after Tim Cook's conversation with Jim Cramer on Mad Money, wherein the Apple CEO highlighted the company's health and wellness efforts.
"We've gotten into healthcare more and more through the Watch and through other things that we've created with ResearchKit and CareKit and putting your medical records on the iPhone, this is a huge deal," Cook commented. "Apple's most-important contribution to mankind has been in health."
The comments follow the company's hiring of numerous physicians across disciplines late in 2018, signaling the company's interest in expanding its nascent EKG and heart rhythm monitor efforts even further to address overall health.
The hiring of doctors and experts could work to assuage concerns from the medical industry over the possible unintended consequence of hypochondriac consumers burdening cardiology units.
An expansion could mean big dollar signs, as the multi-billion-dollar market size for cardiac rhythm and medical device market alone could seriously bolster Apple's bottom line.
"Increasing incidences of cardiac disorders and rise in older population are significantly impacting the growth of the interventional cardiology market," a report from BIS research notes. "As a result, several conglomerate companies are making strenuous efforts by innovating new products or redesigning existing devices to attain better process efficiency."
Contributing to this market with heart monitors that are not only accurate, but also more fashionable than existing monitors, Apple could see its watch sales soar among baby boomers.
"The timing of Apple's push into healthcare really matches up nicely with the aging baby boomer generation, which is a massive generation and is now entering the stage in their lives where 24/7 heart monitors and fall detection are a real consideration," Action Alerts Plus research analyst Zev Fima told Real Money. "People are worried about the spending drop-off that could occur as this generation ages, however, this is one area where we could see a real ramp in spending simply because its fast becoming a necessity in their daily lives."
He argued that the stock is simply not getting enough credit for the company's push into this profitable industry and demographic.
Apple is currently the largest weighting in the Action Alerts portfolio apart from cash, marking a nearly 100% return from when the portfolio added that position.
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