2015				2014				2013				2012				2011
Net sales		$	233,715			$	182,795			$	170,910			$	156,508			$	108,249
Net income		$	53,394			$	39,510			$	37,037			$	41,733			$	25,922
Earnings per share:
Basic		$	9.28			$	6.49			$	5.72			$	6.38			$	4.01
Diluted		$	9.22			$	6.45			$	5.68			$	6.31			$	3.95
Cash dividends declared per share		$	1.98			$	1.82			$	1.64			$	0.38			$	0
Shares used in computing earnings per share:
Basic			5,753,421				6,085,572				6,477,320				6,543,726				6,469,806
Diluted			5,793,069				6,122,663				6,521,634				6,617,483				6,556,514
Total cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities		$	205,666			$	155,239			$	146,761			$	121,251			$	81,570
Total assets		$	290,479			$	231,839			$	207,000			$	176,064			$	116,371
Commercial paper		$	8,499			$	6,308			$	0			$	0			$	0
Total term debt (2)		$	55,963			$	28,987			$	16,960			$	0			$	0
Other long-term obligations (1)		$	33,427			$	24,826			$	20,208			$	16,664			$	10,100
Total liabilities		$	171,124			$	120,292			$	83,451			$	57,854			$	39,756
Total shareholders equity		$	119,355			$	111,547			$	123,549			$	118,210			$	76,615

The above figure of "Apple's 2015 10-K report" retrieved from http://investor.apple.com/financials.cfm (p.22), which constitutes the financial data for the past 5 years:(you can download this report from the above-mantioned website).

Please answer the following questions:

a) If you want to do forecasting for 3 or 5 years, do you prefer the TREND method? what are its advantages?

b) Write a brief statement as to why Apple's Board of Directors should be confident in these forecasts (for 3, 5, and 10-years).