Dear Apple Stock Fans, Mark Your Calendars for October 28

Apple (AAPL), the Cupertino-based tech giant, is perhaps the most popular tech brand that has ever existed. Yet, the iPhone maker has rarely held two marquee events in a single month in its history. That is exactly what is going to happen this month, with the company announcing its second event in Los Angeles with an intriguing tagline of “Pro and tell.”

A Touchscreen MacBook Maybe?

In the event, Apple is expected to launch its first-ever touchscreen version of its MacBook Pro laptops along with a new iMac and iPad Mini. Moreover, any hint towards the iPhone 19 Pro models cannot be ruled out, or even an iPhone Duo Pro, although the latter seems a bit far-fetched considering the company is struggling to meet the demand for its newest form-factor iPhones, with delivery times extended to January next year. The iPhone Duo goes on sale this Friday.

Meanwhile, if new CEO John Ternus wanted to make a splash in his initial days, he certainly did. Granted, all this planning may have been in the works before he took the helm of the hottest job in tech; Ternus has signaled that under him, Apple will be known for its products, first and foremost. Notably, the product focus will not just be on iPhones, as evidenced by the fact that under the de facto design chief of the company, Apple expanded its product line-up with the HomeView smart-home hub and other Siri-powered home devices. This also aligns with several media reports indicating that Ternus wants Apple to introduce products more frequently, reduce organizational layers, and give engineering teams greater influence.

Where the iPhones come into sole focus, though, for Ternus is in terms of AI. At the company's “Surprise and Shine” event last month, Ternus presented the iPhone as the natural center of Apple's AI ecosystem, arguing that consumers do not necessarily need an entirely new category of AI hardware. Instead, Apple can use the iPhone's processing power, cameras, microphones, connectivity, and existing user relationships to make AI useful in everyday life.

With this, Ternus is trying to position Apple as a user's central AI device, focusing on three things: personal context, on-device processing with a safety angle, and integration with the wider Apple ecosystem. However, Ternus is not closing doors to collaboration. In fact, it recently joined hands with a company it has had several disagreements with historically: Meta (META).

On Oct. 15, Apple and Meta announced a partnership that will see Meta's Muse Spark Open model used in Apple's Mac Studio computers, using Apple Silicon and the MLX machine-learning framework. Meta's model has 816 billion total parameters, with 42 billion active parameters.

Thus, Ternus's public remarks indicate that he wants AI to become an integral part of the Apple experience. The Meta collaboration provides an early example of his willingness to work with external AI developers, while his September comments establish privacy and the iPhone as central pillars of his product philosophy. It is too early, however, to conclude that he has fundamentally changed Apple's AI strategy or that these developments will translate into material financial gains in the near term, and it will depend on the company not faltering in execution.

Valued at a market cap of about $5 trillion, AAPL stock is up 26% on a year-to-date (YTD) basis. A modest dividend yield of 0.31% is also offered.

Apple's Powerful Q3

Apple delivered an outstanding third quarter as the tech giant beat expectations on both revenue and earnings while generating record operating cash flows. Total revenue rose 16% year-over-year (YoY) to $109.4 billion. iPhone sales increased 22% to $54.3 billion during the period. Mac sales advanced 29% to $10.4 billion; iPad revenue declined 6% to $6.2 billion, and the Wearables, Home and Accessories segment grew 7% to $7.9 billion. The Services segment contributed $30.7 billion, reflecting a 12% YoY rise. Although Mac results were strong, it will be worth watching the performance in the current quarter now that recent price increases are fully in place.

Gross margins moved past the 50% mark compared with 46.5% in the year-earlier period. Earnings per share rose 29% YoY to $2.02, exceeding the consensus estimate of $1.89 and marking the ninth consecutive quarter in which Apple beat profit forecasts.

This level of consistency is notable, yet some investors continue to focus on the company’s artificial intelligence strategy. Apple appears to have made solid progress in that area with the newest version of Siri AI.

Cash from operating activities for the nine months ended June 27, 2026, reached $117 billion, up from $81.8 billion in the comparable prior-year period. The company ended the quarter with $39.5 billion in cash, well above its short-term debt balance of $11 billion.

However, in terms of valuations with respect to the industry, AAPL stock is trading at overvalued levels. Its forward P/E, P/S, and P/CF of 38.83, 10.47, and 33.45 are all above the sector medians of 21.49, 3.25, and 19.95, respectively.

Analyst Opinion on AAPL Stock

Overall, analysts appear cautiously optimistic about AAPL stock, giving it a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating. The mean target price has already been surpassed, while the high target price of $400 denotes a potential upside of 16% from current levels. Out of the 40 analysts covering the stock, 19 have a “Strong Buy” rating, three have a “Moderate Buy” rating, 15 have a “Hold” rating, one has a “Moderate Sell” rating, and two have a “Strong Sell” rating.

On the date of publication, Pathikrit Bose did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. For more information please view the Barchart Disclosure Policy here.