Apple, the world’s most valuable company, has been the subject of negative chatter in recent weeks heading into quarterly results due Thursday.
"Right now, the overall sentiment of Apple on the Street is a negative "groupthink mentality" heading into the print that we view as very disconnected from the current iPhone 15 growth we see in the field based on our recent checks and trip to Asia that gives us a high level of confidence in owning Apple at these levels" said Dan Ives, analyst at Wedbush Securities, in a note to clients.
Recent reports noted sales of the new iPhone are falling short in China compared to the iPhone 14, according to Bloomberg, citing research firm GFK. China is the second-largest market for Apple after the U.S.
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Ives is expecting CEO Tim Cook, who traveled the U.S. and the world to debut the new phone in September, will deliver positive comments around China. He also estimates at least 100 million iPhones in the region are eligible for an upgrade.
Apple is expected to report profit growth of nearly 8% to $1.39 per share vs. $1.29 earned in the same period a year ago, while revenue may dip to $89.2 billion vs. $90.15 billon, as tracked by Refinitiv.
Earlier this week, Apple rolled out upgrades to Macs with little fanfare including a 24-inch iMac and an all-new MacBook Pro. The event, dubbed ‘Apple’s Scary Fast Special Event' was strategically filmed with an iPhone 15 pro max.
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Wednesday Goldman Sachs released its November "U.S. conviction list" which maintained Apple as one of the firm’s top stock picks citing "Sustained Services expansion story enabled by growing installed base." The price target is $213 per share. The tech-giant has been on the list for 153 days.
Apple shares have gained 34% this year outperforming both the Nasdaq Composite and S&P 500's gains of 25% and 10%, respectively.
In June, Apple became the first U.S. company to hit $3 trillion in market value, through Wednesday it has slipped to $2.7 trillion, slightly ahead of Microsoft’s $2.6 trillion.
