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

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Apple (AAPL - Free Report) closed the most recent trading day at $203.77, moving +1.08% from the previous trading session. The stock outpaced the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.63%. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 0.68%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 0.64%.

Coming into today, shares of the maker of iPhones, iPads and other products had lost 9.91% in the past month. In that same time, the Computer and Technology sector lost 6.93%, while the S&P 500 lost 4.95%.

AAPL will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release, which is expected to be February 7, 2019. On that day, AAPL is projected to report earnings of $4.76 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 22.37%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $91.74 billion, up 3.91% from the year-ago period.

Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $13.25 per share and revenue of $278.45 billion. These totals would mark changes of +11.25% and +4.84%, respectively, from last year.

It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for AAPL. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.

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.

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 0.06% lower. AAPL is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Investors should also note AAPL's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 15.21. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 16.86, which means AAPL is trading at a discount to the group.

Meanwhile, AAPL's PEG ratio is currently 1.46. 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 1.59 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 108, putting it in the top 42% 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.

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


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