write an equity research report on Apple Inc. (AAPL) which is similar in style and format to reports written by equity analysts.

1. Executive Summary

• Brief overview of the business, industry, and recent performance.
• Recommendation (Buy, Hold, or Sell) with a concise rationale.

2. Investment Thesis / Investment Description

• Discuss the key reasons for the recommendation.
• Highlight their competitive advantages, growth prospects, and potential catalysts.
• Back up your recommendation with key rationales: merits and concerns. You need to make sure the recommendation and the rationales are consistent.

3. Company Overview / Business Description

• Detailed description of the business model, products/services, and market position.
• Information about management, corporate governance, and key executives.
• Description of business model, e.g. how the firm makes profit, where are the main sources of revenues and costs.

4. Industry Analysis / Competitive Positioning

• Overview of the industry in which the company operates.
• Market trends, growth drivers, and competitive landscape.
• Overview of the market, market shares of key players and selected firm, recent trends in the past 5 years. The competitive strategies of selected firm, the market positioning of the firm and the key players along this dimension.

5. Financial Analysis

• Historical financial performance (revenue, profit margins, etc.).
• Projections for future financials based on modeling (e.g., revenue growth, EBITDA, etc.).
• Tabulate the important financial ratios (grouped in categories, e.g. profitability, liquidity, efficiency, leverage, etc) using the historical financials for the last 5 years. The assumptions and detailed forecast should be reported in an appendix.

6. Valuation

• Valuation methods (relative valuation approach, comparable company analysis, etc.).
• For example, several multiples can be used, Price-to Earnings (P/E), Price-to-Book value of equity (P/B) and Price-to-Sales (P/S) and Price-to-Free Cash Flow (P/FCF). At least two valuation multiples must be used.
• Target price calculation and sensitivity analysis.

7. Risks

• Identify risks specific to Company (e.g., regulatory, competitive, operational).
• Mitigation strategies.

8. Conclusion

• Include a valuation and a recommendation of the selected stock in the analysis which are supported by both qualitative and quantitative analysis.
• Recap of the recommendation and key points.
• Final thoughts on the company investment potential.
• Summarizing the key risks
• Ownership and disclosure of material conflicts of interest