The second and biggest week of third-quarter earnings season heats up Tuesday when Apple, the maker of the iPhone and the world’s most-valuable company, reports its latest quarterly results after the closing bell.
Apple is one of 169 companies in the benchmark Standard & Poor’s 500 stock index that will report results this week, an earnings season that despite its solid start could still end up being the first quarter of contracting profits since the financial crisis in 2009.
Currently S&P 500 profits are forecast to contract 2.8% in the third quarter, and while still negative that is still better than the 4.8% drop seen at the start of the earnings season.
In addition to Apple, Wall Street will get results from major names in tech like Twitter, Comcast, and Biotech.
Apple is the most important of the day as the gadget maker has been lagging the performance of other major tech players since the market bottom Aug. 25. Apple is up 11.1% since the August low, but Google parent Alphabet is up 22.5% and online shopping giant Amazon.com is up 30.6%.
There are three keys to Apple reports later on today:
1. iPhone 6s and 6s Plus sales: "Investors will be waiting with great anticipation to hear how sales of the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus are faring," she told clients in a research note. "Three days after the official launch in late September, Apple sold more than 13 million units in one weekend, a company record."
2. Growth in China: "Much of the company’s success this year can be attributed to China, but can massive growth in that region continue?" Short says. "Earlier this year Apple received approval from Chinese regulators to sell iPhones.
3. Product updates: "Investors will also be looking for updates on several of Apple’s other products (Apple Watch, Apple Pay, Apple Music and Apple TV) this quarter that have recently been launched or are in the process of being launched," Short wrote. "These products are likely going to help Apple reduce its reliance on its iPhone segment which currently dictates around 70% of revenues."
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