Apple released its financial report for the third quarter of 2026. Although revenue and profit hit record highs for the same period, the fourth quarter results guidance fell significantly lower than market expectations. Despite the good performance of fundamental data, rising cost pressure and a slowdown in the growth rate of the service business have made the current high valuation of Apple lack strong support for short-term performance. The recent stock price correction reflects the market's repricing of the difference in expectations. Apple's gross margin for the third quarter exceeded expectations, mainly due to a one-time tariff rebate dividend of about 2 percentage points; after removing this factor, the underlying gross margin returned to normal, and profit quality was discounted. At the same time, although the company's service business revenue set a record, the growth rate fell back to 12%, falling short of market expectations of 14% to 16%, weakening the core logic behind maintaining high valuations to a certain extent. Looking ahead to the fourth quarter, the prices of components such as processors and memory chips will remain high. Coupled with exchange rate fluctuations that may cause a drag, the company gave a revenue growth rate of only 9% to 11%, far lower than the market's unanimous expectation of more than 12%. Apple's management transition has brought about strategic uncertainty. The pace of commercialization and implementation of end-side AI is slow, and the hardware innovation cycle has yet to form a strong impetus. Currently, Apple's price-earnings ratio is 35 times higher. There is no new growth catalyst in the short term, so we need to be wary of the risk of fluctuations in the valuation digestion process. Apple's core value in the medium to long term still depends on the effectiveness of AI implementation and the resilience of gross margin.

Apple released its financial report for the third quarter of 2026. Although revenue and profit hit record highs for the same period, the fourth quarter results guidance fell significantly lower than market expectations. Despite the good performance of fundamental data, rising cost pressure and a slowdown in the growth rate of the service business have made the current high valuation of Apple lack strong support for short-term performance. The recent stock price correction reflects the market's repricing of the difference in expectations. Apple's gross margin for the third quarter exceeded expectations, mainly due to a one-time tariff rebate dividend of about 2 percentage points; after removing this factor, the underlying gross margin returned to normal, and profit quality was discounted. At the same time, although the company's service business revenue set a record, the growth rate fell back to 12%, falling short of market expectations of 14% to 16%, weakening the core logic behind maintaining high valuations to a certain extent. Looking ahead to the fourth quarter, the prices of components such as processors and memory chips will remain high. Coupled with exchange rate fluctuations that may cause a drag, the company gave a revenue growth rate of only 9% to 11%, far lower than the market's unanimous expectation of more than 12%. Apple's management transition has brought about strategic uncertainty. The pace of commercialization and implementation of end-side AI is slow, and the hardware innovation cycle has yet to form a strong impetus. Currently, Apple's price-earnings ratio is 35 times higher. There is no new growth catalyst in the short term, so we need to be wary of the risk of fluctuations in the valuation digestion process. Apple's core value in the medium to long term still depends on the effectiveness of AI implementation and the resilience of gross margin.