Market Update (NASDAQ:AAPL): Protecting Our Semi-Privacy After The Department Of Justice Apple iPhone Hack

[at Forbes] – The Department of Justice-sponsored unlocking of the Apple iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino murderers without Apple’s help reaffirmed that an overly encryption-based cybersecurity emphasis remains misdirected. It’s always been true that “getting to unbreakable is impossible,” as Apple now says. Until the hack, debate among cyber-libertarians and law-and-order Read more on this. Apple Inc. (AAPL) , with a current market cap of $609.29B, opened this morning at $110.22. Today’s price range has been between $109.20 and $110.50 per share with its 52-week range being $92.00 to $134.54. AAPL shares are currently priced at 12.12x this year’s forecasted earnings, which makes them relatively expensive compared to the industry’s 7.63x earnings multiple for the same period. And for passive income investors, the company pays shareholders $2.08 per share annually in dividends, yielding 1.89%. In a review of the consensus earnings estimate this quarter, 37 sell-side analysts are looking at $2.00 per share, which would be $0.33 worse than the year-ago quarter and a $0.37 sequential decrease. Investors should also note that the full-year EPS estimate of $9.06 is a $0.16 setback when compared to the previous year’s annual results. The quarterly earnings estimate is predicated on a consensus revenue forecast of $52.02 Billion. If reported, that would be a 10.33% decrease over the year-ago quarter. Recently, Needham Initiated AAPL at Strong Buy (Apr 6, 2016). Previously, Cowen upgraded AAPL from Market Perform to Outperform. The average price target for AAPL shares by the analysts covering it is $134.21, which is 21.77% above where the stock opened. See more in (NASDAQ:AAPL) Similar Articles: Stock Update: Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) – Will Qualcomm Lose Out on Apple’s iPhone? (QCOM, AAPL) Market Update (NASDAQ:AAPL): Microsoft’s Bill Gates says Apple should help the FBI with iPhone: FT Market Update: Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) – More analysts join the herd cutting Apple iPhone estimates