What happened

Although Apple (AAPL -0.57%) stock didn't have one of its most glorious trading sessions in history on Tuesday, it still performed well enough to beat a sleepy market. Investors were weighing several analyst takes on the company and clearly decided it was on the right path. And while not known or necessarily celebrated for its entertainment business, Apple had some good news to report in that sphere.

As a result, the shares crept up by almost 1% on the day, while the S&P 500 index sagged.

So what

Apple is barely over two weeks away from reporting its third-quarter results, and analysts are issuing fresh research notes ahead of this.

Between Monday afternoon and Tuesday market close, three prognosticators weighed in on the tech giant: KeyBanc's John Vinh reduced his price target (although, crucially, he maintained his equivalent of a buy recommendation); Wamsi Mohan from Bank of America reiterated a buy recommendation; and Cowen's Krish Sankar said the company's quarterly figures should meet consensus estimates.

Apple might have been too busy squinting in the limelight to notice. The company happily announced that it has received 52 Emmy nominations for its TV shows, setting a new record for its Apple+ service.

Its comedy series Ted Lasso did well for the second year in a row, garnering 20 nominations. A first-season show, creepy corporate thriller Severance, also did well; it earned nods in 14 categories, including outstanding drama series.

Now what

Those little gold statues are pleasant to win as are positive notices from analysts. But what's really going to count is those quarterly figures; all eyes will be on Apple when it reports on Thursday, July 28.