Apple earnings: Millennials buying the dip ahead of Q3 results

Apple CEO Tim CookStephen Lam/Getty Images

• Apple will report its third-quarter results after Thursday’s closing bell.
• Shares have fell as much as 11.5% from their October 3 peak as the Nasdaq witnessed its heaviest selling since the financial crisis.
• Investors on Robinhood, a free-trading app popular among younger traders, have been snapping up shares.
• Watch Apple trade live.

Apple is set to report its third-quarter earnings after Thursday’s closing bell and investors on Robinhood, a no-fee trading app popular among younger traders, are buying the stock’s dip ahead of the results. 

The smartphone giant faced a brutal sell-off in October, when the tech-heavy Nasdaq index tumbled 9.2%, posting its worst month since the financial crisis. During the selling, Apple dropped as much as 11.5% from its record peak of $233.47 set on October 3. While shares have rebounded a bit, they are still 6.4% below their all-time high. 

And while the market began to take a turn for the worst in early October, Robinhood investors waited until October 10 to begin buying shares. According to Robinhood data tracked by Business Insider, more than 6,000 users have added Apple shares over the past three weeks. A total of 185,208 Robinhood investors currently hold the stock, making it the second most-popular stock on the app, just below Ford.

It has been a memorable year for Apple, which became the first publicly traded US company to hit a $1 trillion valuation. Since crossing the milestone, Apple announced a slew of new iPhones including the iPhone XS, Apple Watch 4, and an updated iPad Pro. 

And in a recent note sent out to clients, Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives said the tech giant has the chance to be a $1.5 trillion behemoth based on his analysis of “the monetization potential of its unparalleled consumer installed base over the coming years coupled by further multiple expansion around the services business.”

When Apple’s results are released after the bell on Thursday, traders will be paying close attention to whether the company’s fundamentals can support a continuing boost. So far among FAANG companies that have already reported, Facebook and Amazon both warned of a potential slowdown ahead. 

Apple is expected to earn an adjusted $2.78 a share on revenue of $61.4 billion, according to analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Their average price target is $237.60 — 8% above where shares are trading on Thursday.

Apple was up 27% this year.

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