Apple is among the largest companies in the world, with a broad portfolio of hardware and software products targeted at consumers and businesses. Apple’s iPhone makes up a majority of the firm sales, and Apple’s other products like Mac, iPad, and Watch are designed around the iPhone as the focal point of an expansive software ecosystem. Apple has progressively worked to add new applications, like streaming video, subscription bundles, and augmented reality. The firm designs its own software and semiconductors while working with subcontractors like Foxconn and TSMC to build its products and chips. Slightly less than half of Apple’s sales come directly through its flagship stores, with a majority of sales coming indirectly through partnerships and distribution.

Innovation may be hard to define but, to borrow from former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart, you know it when you see it. The United States economy is full of innovation. It has to be. Manufacturing industries that dominated the economy decades ago - textiles, televisions, even automobiles, to a large degree - have moved overseas, where costs are lower. Yet the U.S. economy is at its largest point in history and still growing. If U.S. corporations weren't innovating, creating new products and services, and moving into new markets and applications, the domestic economy would be contracting, not expanding, and capital would not be flooding into the country. Particularly at this juncture of the market and economic cycles, when uncertainty is high due to high inflation and rising interest rates, we look to innovative companies to navigate the challenges. At Argus, a 90-year-old independent research firm that has innovated a time or two in its long history, we have focused on four types of innovative companies: Industry Disruptors; First to Market; New Product Specialists; and Product & Process Perfectors. Here are some examples of companies, featured in our Innovation Theme Model Portfolio.

Apple manufactures smartphones, tablets, PCs, software, and peripherals for a worldwide customer base. Its products include Mac desktop and mobile PCs, iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and various consumer products, including AirPods, Beats headphones, and Apple TV. Apple services include App Store, iTunes, iCloud, Apple TV+, Apple Arcade, Apple Music, Apple Pay, and more.

U.S. stocks rose on Thursday ahead of the April jobs report due out on Friday. Apple (AAPL) rose 6% after hours when it announced a $110 billion stock buyback plan. The two-year Treasury yield fell to 4.889% while the 10-year yield was down to 4.58%. The Dow was up 0.9%, the S&P 500 gained 0.9% and the Nasdaq rose 1.5%. Crude oil traded above $79 per barrel and gold rose $3 to $2313 per ounce.