Looking up the ticker with the regulator···
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Looking up the ticker with the regulator···
0s · usually 20–30 seconds for a cold read
Apple Inc.
Rule-based classification of fundamentals against the sector. Not a price forecast and not investment advice.
Strong business, analyst optimism unconfirmed
3 of 5 met · composite in line with peers
Business quality, valuation against the sector, and position in the 52-week range — whether they line up or not.
Strong fundamentals
Profitability
3/4
Debt & liquidity
3/3
Efficiency
2/2
Profitability is the clearest strength here: ROE of 171.4% runs +441% above the sector median, ROIC of 96.7% sits +223% above it, and operating margin of 32.0% edges out the sector median by +9% — an F-Score of 8/9 out of 8 confirms that these returns rest on improving fundamentals rather than accounting noise. Growth is a different story: revenue grew 6.4% year over year against a sector median of 11.8%, trailing by -45%. The P/B of 62.8× stands +561% above the sector median 9.5×, a premium that consensus appears to justify with an optimistic earnings path — yet the market models faster EPS expansion than the realized three-year CAGR in SEC filings supports, a gap the forward-axis composite of 43/100 reflects. The beat rate over eight quarters is strong, so execution has been consistent, but the forward PEG reads as stretched.
| Ticker | Name | F-Score | ROE | Revenue YoY | Op. margin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AAPL | Apple Inc. | 8/9 | 171% | +6% |
Quarter-by-quarter classification · a retrospective read by the current logic · not a price forecast
Rule-based classification of fundamentals against the sector. Not a price forecast and not investment advice. The method did not see these quarters in real time; this is the current logic applied to past reports.
The market prices in earnings growth; analyst sentiment is steady; has mostly beaten consensus.
Price against next year's expected earnings. The forward P/E already carries analyst optimism — read it alongside the “Versus consensus” line.
A forward P/E below the current one means the market expects earnings to grow; above it, to fall. The historical growth is realized figures from SEC filings, not a forecast.
The three-month change in the share of positive analyst ratings. This is sentiment, not an earnings-estimate revision, and not a call to act.
When Apple reports on July 30, track operating margin against the current 29.2% and check whether ROE holds above the sector median. The F-Score profitability sub-score sits at 3/4, so watch for any shift in net income or asset efficiency that could move that flag.
Pull Apple's most recent 10-K on SEC EDGAR and focus on management's discussion of capital return programs, given the P/B of 9.51x — 6.6x above the sector median. Also check the risk factors section for disclosures tied to the current ratio of 1.36, which sits 34% below the sector median.
From the alphabetical same-sector table in section 06, pick two or three companies yourself and line up a single metric — operating margin or ROIC — against Apple's 29.2% and 30.0% respectively. No company in that table is ranked; the exercise is to place Apple's figures in a broader sector context on the measure you find most relevant.
Steps you can check yourself, based on the figures in this brief.
Piotroski F-Score: nine binary tests of financial strength from the annual report. A ✓ marks a test passed, a dot (·) a test failed.
Over 4 years: +20%-11%+9%-9%
Over 4 years: 0.760.760.640.54
Over 4 years: +8%-3%+2%+6%
The context on the right shows how each figure compares with the sector median. The trend below tracks the change over recent fiscal years.
Beat consensus in 8 of 8 recent quarters — the company clears estimates regularly (consensus is often set conservatively).
Last quarter's EPS against consensus, plus the estimated date of the next report.
| 32% |
| ACN | Accenture | 4/9 | 26% | +7% | 15% |
| ADBE | Adobe | 7/9 | 55% | +11% | 37% |
| AMAT | Applied Materials | 6/9 | 36% | +4% | 29% |
| AMD | Advanced Micro Devices | 7/9 | 7% | +34% | 11% |
| AVGO | Broadcom | 8/9 | 43% | +24% | 40% |
| CRM | Salesforce | 7/9 | 12% | +10% | 20% |
| CSCO | Cisco | 8/9 | 22% | +5% | 21% |
| IBM | IBM | 6/9 | 35% | +8% | — |
| INTC | Intel | 6/9 | -0% | -0% | -4% |
| INTU | Intuit | 8/9 | 20% | +16% | 26% |
| MSFT | Microsoft | 6/9 | 33% | +15% | 46% |
| NOW | ServiceNow | 3/9 | 15% | +21% | 14% |
| NVDA | NVIDIA | 3/9 | 101% | +65% | 60% |
| ORCL | Oracle | 4/9 | 54% | +17% | 31% |
| TXN | Texas Instruments | 7/9 | 30% | +13% | 34% |
A sample of 16 companies in the sector including the target, alphabetical, unranked. Data from the latest SEC annual reports.
Rule-based classification of fundamentals against the sector. Not a price forecast and not investment advice.
A simplified retrospective read: no analyst forecast (not available historically); the source is the annual report as of the date, so neighbouring quarters can rest on the same data. Quarters with the same classification in a row are merged into one row — each row is one change in the read, not a separate quarter. One ticker is an illustration of the classification logic, not statistics. How we calculate →
The last few quarters are recent context, not a fixed rate. Consensus for near quarters is set low, so companies clear it routinely; over long horizons the forecasts run the other way, too high.
A description of what the market and analysts expect. Not a price forecast and not investment advice. Analyst forecasts run systematically optimistic over long horizons — read them with that discount.