Apple (AAPL) Dips More Than Broader Markets: What You Should Know

Apple (AAPL) closed the most recent trading day at $133.11, moving -1.28% from the previous trading session. This move lagged the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.68%.

Coming into today, shares of the maker of iPhones, iPads and other products had gained 11.81% in the past month. In that same time, the Computer and Technology sector gained 9.54%, while the S&P 500 gained 6.62%.

AAPL will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release, which is expected to be April 28, 2021. The company is expected to report EPS of $0.99, up 54.69% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $77.62 billion, up 33.11% from the prior-year quarter.

For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $4.50 per share and revenue of $337.41 billion, which would represent changes of +37.2% and +22.91%, respectively, from the prior year.

Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for AAPL. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. 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.

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. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.37% higher within the past month. AAPL currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Digging into valuation, AAPL currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 29.83. This represents a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 21.22.

Also, we should mention that AAPL has a PEG ratio of 2.39. 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. The Computer - Mini computers industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 1.84 as of yesterday's close.

The Computer - Mini computers industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 110, which puts it in the top 44% 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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