What happened
Apple (AAPL 0.36%) stock beat the market Thursday morning, rising 3% by noon ET compared to a 0.2% increase in the S&P 500. The boost erased some of shareholders' recent losses, and the tech giant is beating the market so far in 2022. Yet the stock is still down roughly 10% since early January.
Thursday's uptick came as investors gained confidence about its fiscal second-quarter earnings report, due out in just a few hours.
Image source: Getty Images.
So what
Meta Platforms announced before the market opened that user growth had continued into early 2022. The social media giant also projected a brighter earnings outlook ahead despite pressures on its advertising business. That good news helped push other tech giants higher, including Apple.
Apple steps up to the earnings plate just after the market closes today. Expectations are high heading into that announcement, mainly thanks to the company's steady drumbeat of popular product refreshes in the iPhone, Mac, iPad, and MacBook lines. Rival Microsoft announced robust demand for its PC and software products earlier this week.
Now what
CEO Tim Cook and his team will likely highlight similarly strong demand later on Thursday. Apple might hint at new revenue strategies, too, including a rumored subscription selling approach in its hardware business. In any case, the iPhone maker should announce head-turning sales, earnings, and cash flow through early 2022.
Apple might even issue a bullish outlook for the current quarter if supply chain issues aren't posing too much of a problem. Those optimistic factors have investors feeling more positive about this growth stock ahead of its earnings report later on Thursday.
