Take a bite of this stock

The stock market’s plunge has left many investors reeling, but for those with some cash and a long-term mindset, it’s a great opportunity to buy. Consider Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL). While it’s likely to see a sales slump due to production challenges and store closures related to the coronavirus, its future is far from bleak.

The iphone maker has built a formidable business that isn’t highly dependent on product sales: services, which can help offset losses that Apple’s hardware business takes from the coronavirus crisis. Including revenue from the App Store, Apple Music, Apple Pay, icloud, Applecare, Apple TV Plus and other services, Apple’s services segment recently accounted for about 14% of total revenue and sported a much fatter profit margin.

In Apple’s most recent quarter, services revenue increased 17% year-over-year, with record performance in cloud services, music, payments, the App Store and Applecare. Also impressive is its growth in subscriptions across its own native apps and third-party apps: Apple’s paid subscriptions totaled 480 million at the end of its first quarter of fiscal 2020, up 33% year-over-year.

Importantly, this services business is supported by an installed base of 1.5 billion active devices (up 100 million from the year-ago quarter) — and these users will continue to spend money on services amid the coronavirus pandemic. (The Motley Fool owns shares of and has recommended Apple.)