Though it’s spent much of the year lurching up and down the chart, with January to April seeing the stock bounce between $155 and $180, Apple nevertheless found its way higher and higher.
Since the surge that greeted its second quarter figures at the start of May – more on that below – the stock has somewhat stabilised, moving in a narrower band between $182 to an all-time peak of 194. Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) now sits at a current trading price of $192.89.
There was a lot to like in that aforementioned Q2 update, with Apple beating on most major metrics. Revenue rose 15.5% to $61.1 billion, besting the $60.82 billion forecast, despite the fact iPhone unit sales fell short of the 52.54 million expected at 52.2 million sold.
Adjusted earnings per share, meanwhile, shot up 30% to $2.73, 6 cents ahead of estimates, with a 16% hike to the dividend to 73 cents. The cherry on top? The announcement of a massive $100 billion share buyback.
Heading into Tuesday’s statement, and Apple’s third quarter revenue guidance was between $51.5 billion to $53.5 billion back in May, marking a 15.6% increase at the mid-point. According to Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS), iPhone sales are expected to come in around 39.8 million, against the 41 million shifted in Q3 2017, with a gross margin between 38% and 38.5%.
There may also be significant focus on the firm’s burgeoning services – i.e. things like App Store and Apple Music – division, which is forecast to see a 31% surge year-on-year to $9.6 billion, an acceleration on 2017’s 22% rise.
Apple Inc has a consensus rating of ‘Buy’ alongside an average target price of $210.31.
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