What happened
Apple (AAPL 0.01%) is joining in Monday's stock market sell-off. As investors respond to broader pessimism about the global rebound in new coronavirus cases, the tech giant's share price fell by a little more than 3% in early trading -- and that slide largely persisted throughout the session. As of 2:15 p.m. EDT, Apple stock remained down by 2.8%.
Image source: Getty Images.
So what
The pandemic is one problem for Apple. Stock market analysts are another.
In twin notes Monday morning previewing the upcoming earnings release for Apple's fiscal third quarter, analysts at Deutsche Bank said they see "strong momentum across all of its businesses," and expect Apple to beat consensus estimates. That said, the analysts admitted that Apple is dealing with component shortages for its Macs and iPads that could dent results. In a note covered by TheFly.com, Deutsche seemed to hold out the most hope that 5G iPhone sales could save the quarter.
At the same time, however, analysts at investment bank Bernstein suggested that any beat by Apple might be only "modest" in size. Bernstein is hoping that Apple will keep market enthusiasm going by commenting on its fourth-quarter expectations, but warned that the company is more likely to give investors only vague guidelines rather than numerical guidance for the period.
Now what
So what should investors be looking for when Apple releases its Q3 numbers on July 28? On the one hand, both the top and bottom lines are expected to grow, with sales forecast to rise 22% year over year to $72.9 billion, and earnings up perhaps as much as 56% to $1 per share.
On the other hand, with investors already anticipating such strong growth numbers, it could be hard for Apple to exceed expectations. Hopefully, even a modest beat will be enough to keep investors happy.
