Apple: Will Fundamentals Speak Louder than Analysts?

Sometimes, it’s nice to just look at the numbers. The standard warning is that good fundamentals don’t always lead to growth — which is fair — but good fundamentals are tautologically, well, good. After all, it’s tremendously unlikely that a stock with bad fundamentals will outperform on the chart.

In that spirit, let’s take a look at a company with ostensibly good fundamentals that proves the exception: Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL). The stock’s downtrend has continued pretty much unabated for six months and is entering old-hat territory. One of the most prominent questions surfacing in the the torrent of conversation that surrounds the stock: are the markets ignoring good fundamentals?

Looking at the mean analyst price target of $624.36, the answer could be yes. This target represents an enormous upside of 45.76 percent, and it’s not based on nothing. Analysts have been making a lot of edits to their sales, revenue, and earnings predictions over the past few months, but only the most pessimistic bears are not expecting Apple to eventually break for higher ground. The fundamentals are just too good…