Apple Earnings Soar as I Expected

October 21, 2009

Apple (AAPL) really blew away Wall Street with its latest quarterly earnings, posting profits of $1.82 a share on estimates of just $1.43. That's a 28% earnings surprise! Shares took off after this report Monday evening, racing up 8% in two trading days.

This is exactly what I had expected for Apple shares. In a recent appearance on CNBC, I predicted AAPL would post a big earnings surprise and see shares take off as a result. Also, I posted an earnings target of $1.60 for Apple a few days before the company released its quarterly report and reiterated this buy recommendation. It turns out this was a bit too conservative for AAPL, which saw sales soar on strong iPhone and Mac sales, but those of you who listened to my urgent buy recommendation are sitting on a nice profit.

How did I know Apple would post such great earnings? Well, because my Portfolio Grader stock ranking tool identified some important trends. Sales growth was picking up, earnings momentum was growing and analysts kept revising their estimates higher. This all indicated a strong upward pressure on the stock–and I knew it was time to buy before shares took off.

You can check out my free Portfolio Grader stock report on Apple here. And remember, I offer weekly fundamental analysis of about 5,000 stocks on Wall Street through Portfolio Grader. If you want to predict the future earnings performance of YOUR stocks, simply type the tickers into Portfolio Grader and see how they match up … free of charge!