Apple Just Became the World’s Most Valuable Company. Should You Buy Before July 30 Earnings?
Apple just reclaimed the title of world's most valuable company, and with earnings on July 30, investors face a critical question about whether the momentum behind its record Services growth and fresh buyback can survive scrutiny.
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Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL | AAPL Price Prediction) enters its July 30 earnings report with eight consecutive EPS beats and its strongest revenue growth in years. The business recently became the most valuable company on Earth, overtaking Nvidia. A new $100 billion buyback, record Services revenue, and management’s outlook for 14% to 17% June-quarter growth give investors 3 clear reasons to watch the stock.
Reason #1: Apple Just Authorized Another $100 Billion Buyback
Apple’s board just authorized a fresh $100 billion share repurchase program and lifted the dividend 4% to $0.27 per share. In the March Q2 quarter alone, the company returned $15 billion to shareholders, including $11 billion in buybacks that retired 42 million shares. Since the program’s inception, Apple has returned over $1 trillion to shareholders.
Reason #2: Revenue Growth Is Accelerating
Second, growth is accelerating. Q2 FY26 revenue climbed 16.6% year over year to $111.18 billion, with iPhone revenue up 22% on the iPhone 17 launch. Services set another all-time record at $30.98 billion, carrying a 76.7% gross margin against a 2.5 billion-device installed base. This gives Apple a recurring, high-margin income stream investors pay a premium for.
Reason #3: July 30 Q3 Earnings Could Extend the Momentum
Third, management guided for this quarter to see 14-17% revenue growth and gross margin of 47.5-48.5%. Prediction markets assign an 81% probability to iPhone revenue clearing $52 billion in this quarter.
The Big Advantage Apple Has Over Alphabet
Alphabet’s (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Q2 2026 free cash flow was negative $5.86 billion after capital expenditures hit $44.92 billion, and the company’s stock buyback program was suspended in Q2 2026. Alphabet raised roughly $70 billion in combined debt and equity to fund its AI compute.
On the other hand, Apple has been able to sit out the massive AI infrastructure spending that many other Mag-7 stocks are participating in. While Alphabet and others issue debt and equity, Apple continues to buy back stock.
China Has Become a Growth Engine Again
China remains an important risk, but Apple’s recent results point toward renewed strength rather than deterioration. Greater China revenue reached a record $20.50 billion in the March quarter, rising 28%, while first-half regional growth reached 33%.
Apple now combines accelerating revenue, record high-margin Services sales, and a fresh $100 billion buyback. The July 30 report will show whether that momentum can continue through the June quarter and support another year of substantial shareholder returns.
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Thomas Richmond is a financial writer and content strategist with 5+ years of experience covering stocks and financial markets. He has published over 250 articles focused on individual stock analysis, helping investors better understand business fundamentals, stock valuations, and long-term opportunities.
Thomas previously served as a Content Lead at TIKR, a stock research platform, where he helped scale the company’s blog to hundreds of articles per month and contributed to a weekly newsletter reaching more than 100,000 investors.
He specializes in breaking down complex companies into clear, actionable insights for everyday investors, with a focus on fundamentals-driven research.
His work has also been featured on platforms including Seeking Alpha and Sure Dividend.
Outside of work, Thomas enjoys weight lifting and soccer.
