Apple (AAPL) Outpaces Stock Market Gains: What You Should Know

Apple (AAPL) closed the most recent trading day at $139.96, moving +1.96% from the previous trading session. This move outpaced the S&P 500’s daily gain of 0.75%.

Prior to today’s trading, shares of the maker of iPhones, iPads and other products had gained 11.18% over the past month. This has outpaced the Computer and Technology sector’s gain of 7.17% and the S&P 500’s gain of 3.52% in that time.

Investors will be hoping for strength from AAPL as it approaches its next earnings release, which is expected to be July 27, 2021. In that report, analysts expect AAPL to post earnings of $0.99 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 52.31%. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $72.75 billion, up 21.88% from the year-ago period.

For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $5.18 per share and revenue of $355.93 billion, which would represent changes of +57.93% and +29.66%, respectively, from the prior year.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for AAPL. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company’s business outlook.

Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, actionable rating system.

The Zacks Rank system, which ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 0.11% higher. AAPL is holding a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy) right now.

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that AAPL has a Forward P/E ratio of 27.02 right now. This represents a premium compared to its industry’s average Forward P/E of 18.19.

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Meanwhile, AAPL’s PEG ratio is currently 2.16. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company’s expected earnings growth rate. The Computer – Mini computers industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 1.26 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 23, putting it in the top 10% 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.

To follow AAPL in the coming trading sessions, be sure to utilize Zacks.com.

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