In This Article:
For Immediate Release
Chicago, IL –August 3, 2018 – Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: Apple AAPL, Amazon AMZN and Alphabet GOOGL.
Here are highlights from Thursday’s Analyst Blog:
Apple Reaches $1 Trillion Milestone
Investors have pondered for years what the first trillion-dollar company in the US would be. On Thursday, the conversation was put to rest as Apple reached the milestone, over 42 years since its storied inception.
Apple was pushed over the edge by a strong earnings report that saw flat iPhone sales but a significant boost in services revenue. Apple posted $2.34 in earnings per share, crushing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 17 cents and surging 40.4% year-over-year, reaching a new June record. Revenues for the quarter stood at $53.3 billion, surpassing our estimate of $52.34 billion and increasing 17% from the year-ago quarter.
Although Apple sold only a few hundred more iPhones than it did a year ago, segment revenues were 20% higher. This was thanks to a 19.5% boost in the average selling price of an iPhone to $724 during the quarter. CEO Tim Cook noted on a call with analysts that the premium-priced iPhone X was the firm’s best-selling model since its launch last year.
Investors were reassured by a new all-time best performance in Apple’s services segment, which includes revenues from the app store, Apple Music, AppleCare, Apple Pay, and licensing, along with other services. The segment soared 31% year-over-year to reach $9.55 billion in revenue, beating our estimate and accounting for 17.9% of total sales.
To reach $1 trillion in market cap, Apple shares initially needed to hit $203.45. However, the target changed to $207.05 as stock buybacks bumped the threshold higher. Apple would briefly reach this point in afternoon trading Thursday before ticking back down. Apple had opened at $200.58, down 0.5% from Wednesday’s closing price of $201.50.
Apple currently sits at a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
Moving forward, investor eyes will be on Amazon and Alphabet as the next big names to reach the trillion-dollar mark. Both firms have been on a spree of solid earnings reports, and boast market caps of above $880 billion and $860 billion, respectively.
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