Apple (AAPL) ended the recent trading session at $274.11, demonstrating a -1.5% change from the preceding day's closing price. This change lagged the S&P 500's 0.16% loss on the day. Elsewhere, the Dow saw a downswing of 0.09%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq depreciated by 0.59%.
Shares of the maker of iPhones, iPads and other products have appreciated by 2.15% over the course of the past month, outperforming the Computer and Technology sector's loss of 0.43%, and the S&P 500's loss of 0.21%.
Investors will be eagerly watching for the performance of Apple in its upcoming earnings disclosure. The company's earnings per share (EPS) are projected to be $2.65, reflecting a 10.42% increase from the same quarter last year. In the meantime, our current consensus estimate forecasts the revenue to be $137.46 billion, indicating a 10.59% growth compared to the corresponding quarter of the prior year.
AAPL's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $8.12 per share and revenue of $450.6 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +8.85% and +8.28%, respectively.
Investors should also take note of any recent adjustments to analyst estimates for Apple. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the business and profitability.
Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. To exploit this, we've formed the Zacks Rank, a quantitative model that includes these estimate changes and presents a viable rating system.
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. Over the last 30 days, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.32% higher. Apple is holding a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now.
Looking at valuation, Apple is presently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 34.26. This signifies a premium in comparison to the average Forward P/E of 12.07 for its industry.
It is also worth noting that AAPL currently has a PEG ratio of 2.6. The PEG ratio is akin to the commonly utilized P/E ratio, but this measure also incorporates the company's anticipated earnings growth rate. The Computer - Micro Computers industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 1.7 as of yesterday's close.
The Computer - Micro 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 22% 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.
You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on Zacks.com.
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Apple Inc. (AAPL): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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