After consolidating at 153.00 levels in the week ended in May 26, Apple will likely keep the upward momentum in the coming session with minimal points of fluctuations. With the recent establishment of business relationship with Nokia (HE:NOKIA) and the great anticipation for the WorldWide Developers Conference (WWBC) 2017, the stock has received considerable optimism from the investors.
WWDC Keynote
The tech giant confirmed in its latest press release that the WWBC for this year will be held on the 5th of June plus it will be live streamed, making it available even for those who do not have a developer account.
In the said conference, market speculators are eyeing for the launch of the new Apple software and the newest versions of iOs, macOS, tvOS, and watchOS. Apple may release an upgraded version of the MacBook Air to add to its MacBook series and notebook could actually have more powerful processors and internal updates.
Making the event even more exciting and to watch out for, the debut of its 10.5 iPad Pro with a bigger display may also come out together with the upgrade of its Apple Siri speaker.
In the same event last year, Apple released its iOS 10 with additional features such as Apple Music, all – new design for Maps, Photos. The watchOS and tvOS also had their respective upgrades. As expected, Siri makes its debut on the desktop with macOS Sierra and Apple Pay comes to the web during that day.
Nokia and Apple
Surprising the market, these tech companies settled all litigation related to their intellectual property dispute and agreed a multi-year patent license. From being adversaries in court, Apple and Nokia met halfway to become business partners working for the benefit of the customers.
According to the official statement by Apple in its website, “Under a business collaboration agreement, Nokia will be providing certain network infrastructure product and services to Apple. Apple will resume carrying Nokia digital health products (formerly under the Withings brand) in Apple retail and online stores, and Apple and Nokia are exploring future collaboration in digital health initiatives. Regular summits between top Nokia and Apple executives will ensure that the relationship works effectively and to the benefit of both parties and their customers.”
“The value of the agreement will be reflected partially as patent licensing net sales in Nokia Technologies and partially as net sales in other Nokia business groups. Nokia will follow its existing practices for disclosing patent licensing revenue in its quarterly announcements and expects that revenues for the agreement will start to be recognized in the second quarter of 2017, including an element of non-recurring catch-up revenue.”
Stock Performance
Last Friday, Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL). was flat $153.87 after ticking at $153.53 in the pre-market session. During Thursday’s overnight session, the stock managed to settle at 153.71, considering the strong opening at 154.15.
In a wider perspective, the stock was still considered bullish given its current range, from 150.00 to 154.00 levels. The multinational technology company based in Cupertino, California was still ahead of the game in terms of market capitalization. Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) ended the previous week with $688.26 billion while Microsoft’s market cap stood only at $544.15 billion. After surpassing the $700 billion mark, Apple has a current market cap of $805.03 billion.
For the third quarter of 2017, Apple forecasted revenue to be around $43.5 billion and $45.5 billion after its $52.9 billion and quarterly earnings per diluted share of $2.10 from the preceding quarter. The tech juggernaut also expects its gross revenue to be between 37.5 percent and 38.5 percent while its operating expenses are anticipated to come between $6.6 billion and $6.7 billion.