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

Apple (AAPL) closed at $115.81 in the latest trading session, marking a +1.51% move from the prior day. The stock outpaced the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.83%. At the same time, the Dow added 1.2%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.74%.

Coming into today, shares of the maker of iPhones, iPads and other products had lost 14.97% in the past month. In that same time, the Computer and Technology sector lost 5.53%, while the S&P 500 lost 4.83%.

AAPL will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. On that day, AAPL is projected to report earnings of $0.69 per share, which would represent a year-over-year decline of 9.21%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $63.72 billion, down 0.51% from the prior-year quarter.

For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $3.24 per share and revenue of $273 billion, which would represent changes of +9.09% and +4.93%, respectively, from the prior year.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for AAPL should also be noted by investors. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. 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. To benefit from this, we have developed the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model which takes these estimate changes into account and provides an actionable rating system.

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 0.19% higher. AAPL is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

In terms of valuation, AAPL is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 35.24. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 8.63, which means AAPL is trading at a premium to the group.

Also, we should mention that AAPL has a PEG ratio of 3.2. 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. The Computer - Mini computers was holding an average PEG ratio of 3.2 at yesterday's closing price.

The Computer - Mini computers industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 62, putting it in the top 25% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank includes is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. 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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