So far, Apple (AAPL +0.11%) has had a rather lackluster year with a gain of 5% year to date. Compared to the S&P 500's gain of nearly 30%, Apple has underachieved in 2013.
However, the market is a forward-looking mechanism. Apple investors should look for three moves from the company in 2014:
Apple's recently inked deal with NTT DoCoMo and the pending China Mobile deal opens Apple up to Asia Pacific in a big way. NTT DoCoMo has over 60 million subscribers and China Mobile has an astonishing 750 million subscribers. Apple investors should look for increased iPhone sales as a result of these new deals.
Second, with Carl Icahn abandoning his $150 billion buyback demands for a more modest $50 billion total, look for Tim Cook to increase the size of Apple's buyback in 2014.
Finally, look for Apple to possibly introduce a new product category -- a phablet, TV set, or smart watch are possible new products to be on the lookout for in 2014.
In this video, Jamal Carnette talks Apple's 2014 with Evan Niu, CFA.
