Apple (AAPL) Gains But Lags Market: What You Should Know
Apple (AAPL) closed at $179.38 in the latest trading session, marking a +0.05% move from the prior day. The stock lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.14%. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 0.25%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, lost 0.33%.
Prior to today's trading, shares of the maker of iPhones, iPads and other products had gained 8.46% over the past month. This has outpaced the Computer and Technology sector's gain of 2.85% and the S&P 500's gain of 4.32% in that time.
Investors will be hoping for strength from Apple as it approaches its next earnings release. In that report, analysts expect Apple to post earnings of $1.89 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 12.5%. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $118.36 billion, up 6.21% from the year-ago period.
AAPL's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $5.82 per share and revenue of $385.33 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +3.74% and +5.33%, respectively.
It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for Apple. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.
Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. 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.
The Zacks Rank system ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell). It has a remarkable, outside-audited track record of success, with #1 stocks delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 0.89% higher. Apple is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).
Valuation is also important, so investors should note that Apple has a Forward P/E ratio of 30.79 right now. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 19.96, so we one might conclude that Apple is trading at a premium comparatively.
Also, we should mention that AAPL has a PEG ratio of 2.46. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company's expected earnings growth rate into account. AAPL's industry had an average PEG ratio of 2.04 as of yesterday's close.
The Computer - Mini computers industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 71, putting it in the top 28% of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our 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.
Make sure to utilize Zacks.com to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and more, in the coming trading sessions.
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