Zacks Equity Research
Fri, June 4, 2021, 11:45 AM
In the latest trading session, Apple (AAPL) closed at $125.89, marking a +1.9% move from the previous day. The stock outpaced the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.88%.
Heading into today, shares of the maker of iPhones, iPads and other products had lost 4.78% over the past month, lagging the Computer and Technology sector's loss of 0.94% and the S&P 500's gain of 0.15% in that time.
Investors will be hoping for strength from AAPL as it approaches its next earnings release. In that report, analysts expect AAPL to post earnings of $0.99 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 52.31%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $72.1 billion, up 20.8% from the prior-year quarter.
For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $5.17 per share and revenue of $353.04 billion, which would represent changes of +57.62% and +28.6%, respectively, from the prior year.
Any recent changes to analyst estimates for AAPL should also be noted by investors. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.
Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. 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 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. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 1.36% higher. AAPL is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).
Digging into valuation, AAPL currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 23.88. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 16.68, so we one might conclude that AAPL is trading at a premium comparatively.
It is also worth noting that AAPL currently has a PEG ratio of 1.91. 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. AAPL's industry had an average PEG ratio of 1.2 as of yesterday's close.
