Apple (AAPL) closed the most recent trading day at $180.95, moving +0.48% from the previous trading session. This change lagged the S&P 500’s 1.45% gain on the day. At the same time, the Dow added 2.12%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 5.41%.
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Coming into today, shares of the maker of iPhones, iPads and other products had gained 8.63% in the past month. In that same time, the Computer and Technology sector gained 10.26%, while the S&P 500 gained 1.53%.
Apple will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. In that report, analysts expect Apple to post earnings of $1.18 per share. This would mark a year-over-year decline of 1.67%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $81.11 billion, down 2.23% from the prior-year quarter.
For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $5.99 per share and revenue of $384.49 billion, which would represent changes of -1.96% and -2.5%, respectively, from the prior year.
Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for Apple. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company’s business and profitability.
Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. We developed the Zacks Rank to capitalize on this phenomenon. Our system takes these estimate changes into account and delivers a clear, actionable rating model.
Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 0.32% lower. Apple is currently a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
Investors should also note Apple’s current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 30.05. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 8.83, which means Apple is trading at a premium to the group.
Also, we should mention that AAPL has a PEG ratio of 2.4. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock’s expected earnings growth rate. AAPL’s industry had an average PEG ratio of 2.4 as of yesterday’s close.
The Computer – Mini computers industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 194, which puts it in the bottom 24% of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our individual industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
Be sure to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and many more, on Zacks.com.