Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) may have actually got more column inches (if that term still exists?) than tech giant Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL in recent days but that could all change as the iPhone maker reports its second quarter vital statistics.
In the last quarter, the tech giant posted earnings of $2.09, which was 3% above Wall Street expectations, while sales were in line at $52.8bn.
Since then shares have rallied from $145 toward $155 but have levelled off over the last two months.
At the time of writing, Apple shares are up 0.3% to $149.18 each.
iPhone sales in focus..
iPhone sales will be another hot topic when it comes to the third quarter.
Apple shipped 50.8 mln iPhones in the quarter to April 1, down from 51.2 mln shipped in the second quarter of 2016, and tomorrow ianother slowdown in sales is expected to be seen, not least because punters are waiting for the next updated version, earmarked for September.
But as David Madden, analyst at spreadbetter CMC Markets, points out, Apple chief Tim Cook told shareholders in the last results to look beyond ‘greater China’.
"Smart phone users switching to iPhones, and upgrades from existing iPhone users are both at record highs. This tells us that iPhones are still extremely popular in the rest of Apple’s market," says Madden.
Tough competition...
"China and India are countries where Apple faces tough competition from domestic products. This is something the tech giant needs to work on, seeing as smartphone buying has dropped to a nine-year low in North America," he adds.
"Seeing as the smart phone market is reaching saturation in some countries, Apple can reply on upgrades. The company is tipped to have over 300 million iPhones that will be eligible for upgrades later this year."
Madden notes that Apple can afford to keep ploughing money into R&D (research and development) as it is sitting on an enormous cash pile.
It is also waiting for Donald Trump’s administration to bring in new tax laws that will see US companies bring cash back to the country and pay a relatively low tax rate doing so, though Apple could have a long wait on that score, suggests the analyst.
"Apple shares have been in a solid upward trend since May 2016, and they are eyeing the record-high of $156.64. Should we see pullbacks, the stock could find support a $142.20 and $134.49."