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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 $178.18, moving +0.35% from the previous trading session. The stock outpaced the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.14%. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 0.22%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 0.09%.

Heading into today, shares of the maker of iPhones, iPads and other products had lost 0.23% over the past month, lagging the Computer and Technology sector's gain of 0.07% and outpacing the S&P 500's loss of 1.27% in that time.

Apple will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. In that report, analysts expect Apple to post earnings of $1.39 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 7.75%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $88.99 billion, down 1.28% from the prior-year quarter.

AAPL's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $6.05 per share and revenue of $382.78 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of -0.98% and -2.93%, respectively.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for Apple 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.

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 0.02% lower. Apple is holding a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now.

Digging into valuation, Apple currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 29.37. This valuation marks a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 11.86.

Meanwhile, AAPL's PEG ratio is currently 2.59. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. The Computer - Mini computers was holding an average PEG ratio of 2.59 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 197, putting it in the bottom 22% 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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