Merck, McDonalds, Microsoft, Boeing, Coca Cola, Dupont and AT&T are among the bellwether companies reporting earnings next week, but when the markets close today, all eyes will be on Apple.
Wall Street blows hot and cold on Cupertino, but this year Apple’s shares have been on fire. The stock has rocketed more than 120 per cent since January, outpacing the Dow by nearly nine to one and leaving analysts scrambling to keep up.
Nearly all have adjusted their estimates in advance of today’s report, some rather dramatically (one of them raised his price target from $70 a share to $250 in the space of seven months).
With the stock hovering within 10 points of its all-time high ($202 per share), the question for many traders is whether it has much further to go — which is one of the reasons they’ll be closely watching today’s earnings report.