Its that time again, and analysts are making the rounds on U.S. financial media touting their expectations for Apple
Let's start with the stock performance. Since the last earnings announcement shares of Apple are up over 20%. You may remember that last earnings were well received and Apple beat earnings per share expectations by $0.04. This sent shares up over 6% on the following day. For the year Apple is up almost 12% and remains in a strong uptrend that technical traders would be nuts to try and short. For the chart readers out there you will likely note the $124 area as the only real resistance in the short term, so this earnings announcement could be critical.
Let's not seem like this is a runaway train though. There have been a few opportunities for the "pullback players" to get their discount as the stock pulled back. The stock has offered two meaningful pullbacks for new bulls to hop on. A 6% pullback, and most recently a 3.5% pullback which brings us to current prices.
On to the company. So the iPhone 7 and 7 plus have been widely reported as selling better than expected in the first few weeks. But, analysts feel like this is already priced into the current pricing. In other words, we all know that the iPhone 7 has been selling sell and those that wanted in because of this have already done so.
As far as the numbers, it is widely believed that Apple will beat most of the streets expectations. The average expectations for Apple are earnings per share of $1.65, and revenue of $46.89 billion. So does that mean that you rush out and buy the stock ahead of earnings? Not so fast.
This could very well be one of those earnings reports where people are more focused on what the guidance is going forward, and not so much about the recent quarter. Why? Well the holiday season is approaching and the next report will tell us how well Apple products sold over the Christmas holiday. It's a real look at how well the iPhone 7 and 7 plus are received by the market.
Now Apple already has a feel for this so if in their guidance they try and lower expectations then many feel that this is their way of hinting at lower sales for the holiday's. Any optimism, or hints of increased production will likely give the stock a boost in the after hours.
