Since its launch out of a garage in 1976, Apple Inc. had transformed from a computer-manufacturing company to the undisputed leader in diversified consumer electronics and media. Unparalleled financial performance along almost every metric followed, and in September 2018, Apple’s market capitalization topped $1 trillion, the first time a US publicly traded company reached that mark. Using the company’s financial statements, this case provides a longitudinal view of Apple over 2003–2018. Using these data, students can perform a variety of financial analyses in order to assess how Apple has evolved over time. These include computations of traditional analysis metrics (e.g., ROE and gross margin), but also critical valuation inputs (e.g., free cash flow and implied terminal growth). This case is used at Darden in the second-year Financial Statement Analysis course. It would also be suitable in earlier accounting and finance courses, and even executive education programs, wherein the objective is to review financial statements and discuss critical financial metrics.
