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Apple (AAPL) Gains But Lags Market: What You Should Know

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In the latest trading session, Apple (AAPL - Free Report) closed at $181.71, marking a +0.44% move from the previous day. This move lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.7%. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 0.58%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 0.69%.

Heading into today, shares of the maker of iPhones, iPads and other products had gained 5.86% over the past month, outpacing the Computer and Technology sector's gain of 3.68% and the S&P 500's gain of 1.95% in that time.

Investors will be hoping for strength from AAPL as it approaches its next earnings release. On that day, AAPL is projected to report earnings of $2.38 per share, which would represent a year-over-year decline of 12.82%. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $57.60 billion, down 5.79% from the year-ago period.

AAPL's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $11.38 per share and revenue of $254.49 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of -4.45% and -4.18%, respectively.

Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for AAPL. 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.

Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. We developed the Zacks Rank to capitalize on this phenomenon. Our system takes these estimate changes into account and delivers a clear, actionable rating model.

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. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.05% lower within the past month. AAPL is holding a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now.

Looking at its valuation, AAPL is holding a Forward P/E ratio of 15.89. This represents a discount compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 16.88.

Investors should also note that AAPL has a PEG ratio of 1.85 right now. 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 2.43 at yesterday's closing price.

The Computer - Mini computers industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 48, which puts it in the top 19% 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.

Be sure to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and many more, on Zacks.com.


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