Apple Inches Back Toward All-Time High

Technology

Published: April 8, 2016 6:56 am

Last Updated: January 13, 2020 11:01 am

Forgotten among concerns about Apple Inc.’s (NASDAQ: AAPL) drop in share price is that the recent recovery has its shares inching back toward all-time highs. Good news about sales of its new iPhone SE, or a strong quarterly report, could press the stock price high enough to challenge the period from February 2015 to July 2015, when it traded occasionally above $130.

While Apple’s shares are down 14% over the past year, they have recovered 12% in the past three months and traded at $110. That means they trade at the same price as in November 2014, when they then popped above $130 for the first time in February of last year. Three months — that was all it took.

Apple management has set model goals for the quarterly results it is about to release:

Apple is providing the following guidance for its fiscal 2016 second quarter:

revenue between $50 billion and $53 billion

gross margin between 39 percent and 39.5 percent

operating expenses between $6 billion and $6.1 billion

other income/(expense) of $325 million

tax rate of 25.5 percent

The company is notorious for low-balling forecasts, which means revenue could post at the high end of the forecast, or better.