Apple Plans To Open 2nd Eco-Friendly Data Center In Denmark

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is planning to spend $921 million to open a new data center in Denmark that will run entirely on renewable energy, per media reports. The company envisions the new data center to commence operations in the second quarter of 2019.

The planned facility will be located in Aabenraa, and will mark Apple’s second renewable energy-powered data center in Denmark. The company’s first data center in the country is under construction and is expected to initiate operations later this year.

Per Reuters, the newly planned data center will power the company’s online services, including the likes of iTunes Store, App Store, iMessage, Maps and Siri. The facility is expected to serve its customers across Europe.

We believe that Apple’s new data center is a part of its plan to attain 100% renewable energy efficiency. Notably, Apple is one of the many big companies that took up climate change issues head on.

It should be noted that over the past few months, the company has taken several steps to achieve the target. It is worth mentioning that in Feb 2016, the company had issued its first Green Bond of $1.5 billion – the largest Green Bond issued by any U.S. corporation – following the 2015 Paris accord that was adopted on Dec 12, 2015 at the 21st Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

Further, last month, Apple issued a new $1 billion Green Bond to ramp up its renewable energy and environmental efforts. Notably, the company’s second Green Bond issuance came on the heels of President Trump’s decision to withdraw U.S. from the Paris climate agreement, weakening efforts to combat global warming.

Reportedly, proceeds from sale of Apple’s Green Bond are dedicated to financing environmental projects – enhancing energy efficiency in the company’s facilities, products, and supply chain; along with procuring safer raw materials while conserving precious resources. For instance, the Green Bond funded the company’s development of a line of robots called Liam, introduced in 2016, which can quickly disassemble iPhone 6 – up to 1.2 million in a year.

Furthermore, Green Bond funds were allocated to key renewable energy-efficient elements of Apple’s new headquarters in Cupertino, CA – Apple Campus 2. This facility is claimed to be powered by 100 percent renewable energy, with the aid of one of the largest onsite corporate solar energy installations in the world.

Currently, the company sources 96% of its worldwide energy from renewable sources while all of its data centers run on 100% renewable energy.

Zacks Rank and Share Price Movement

At present, Apple carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

We note that the company has outperformed the Zacks categorized Computer Mini industry in the last one year. Its shares have gained 48.9% compared with the industry’s advancement of 46.6%.

Stocks to Consider

Better-ranked stocks in the broader Technology sector include Bridgeline Digital, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLIN) , Bruker Corporation (NASDAQ:BRKR) and Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) . All the three stocks sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank Stocks here.

Bridgeline Digital, Bruker and Cognex have delivered an average positive earnings surprise of 14.55%, 21.08%, and 19.23% in the trailing four quarters, respectively.

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