Most Wall Street analysts give Apple stock a buy rating as the company approaches its third-quarter financial report, set for release after market close on Thursday, July 31st.
Trevor Jennewine for The Motley Fool:
Apple is no longer the most valuable company in the world. It ceded the title to Microsoft in May, then slipped behind Nvidia in June. Apple stock has dropped 15% year to date over concerns about tariffs and its artificial intelligence strategy.
Nevertheless, most Wall Street analysts rate Apple stock a buy ahead of its third-quarter financial report… Among 51 analysts, the median target price is $236 per share, which implies 10% upside from the current share price of $214.
Apple will announce financial results for the third quarter of fiscal 2025, which ended in June, after the stock market closes on Thursday, July 31. Forecasts from Wall Street set a relatively low bar for the company. These are the consensus estimates:
• Revenue will increase 3.6% to $88.9 billion.
• Earnings will increase 1.4% to $1.42 per diluted share.Importantly, Apple topped the consensus earnings estimate by an average of 2.5% over the [past four quarters, but shares still fell by an average of 1.2% after the past four reports. That means beating estimates is not sufficient to send the stock higher. Instead, price action following the report is likely to depend on commentary about tariffs and AI.
Finally, pricing data from options contracts currently implies a 3.5% post-earnings move. In that scenario, the stock would close between $207 and $222 on the day after the report.
MacDailyNews Note: Apple is set to release its fiscal third quarter (Q325) earnings report after market close – right around 1:30pm PDT / 4:30pm EDT – on Thursday, July 31st and, as usual, we plan to have those results on our home page as soon as they are released, followed by live notes for Apple’s Q325 conference call with analysts starting at 2:00pm PDT / 5:00pm EDT.
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