Market Update (NASDAQ:AAPL): Microsoft’s Bill Gates says Apple should help the FBI with iPhone: FT

[at MarketWatch] – Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates said technology companies such as Apple Inc. should aid law enforcement in specific cases involving terrorism. The comments, made by Gates during an interview with … Read more on this. Apple Inc. (AAPL) , valued at $528.56B, began trading this morning at $96.40. Today, shares have traded between $95.09 and $96.50 per share and has traded between $92.00 and $134.54 over the past year. Apple (AAPL) shares are currently priced at 10.67x this year’s forecasted earnings, which makes them relatively expensive compared to the industry ’s 5.51x earnings multiple for the same period. And for dividend hunters, the company pays shareholders $2.08 per share annually in dividends, yielding 2.17%. 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 $0.46 sequential decrease. The full-year EPS estimate is $9.08 which would be a $0.14 worse than last year’s full-year earnings. The quarterly earnings estimate is based on a consensus revenue forecast of the current quarter of $52.04 Billion. If realized, that would be a 10.29% decrease over the year-ago quarter. Recently, BofA/Merrill upgraded AAPL from Neutral to Buy (Jan 12, 2016). Previously, Mizuho upgraded AAPL from Neutral to Buy. When considering if the stock is under or overvalued, the average price target is $135.92, which is 41.00% above where the stock opened this morning. See more in (NASDAQ:AAPL) Similar Articles: Market Update: Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) – More analysts join the herd cutting Apple iPhone estimates Company Update: Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) – Apple Loop: iPhone 6S Plus Reviews, Embarrassing Bugs Stop iPhone Updates, The Many Secrets Of iOS 9 Market Update (NASDAQ:AAPL): Apple Introduces iPhone 6s & iPhone 6s Plus