Three Reasons to Bet on Apple Inc. (AAPL) This Week

3. Apple could surprise investors on the upside.
As bad as things have been, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has actually beaten Wall Street’s bottom-line projections in the past two quarters after coming up short in the two prior periods.

It’s hard to argue that momentum is in Apple’s favor — especially after the weak guidance it provided after its fiscal second quarter report in April — but there’s already at least one encouraging sign for Apple’s prospects.

Verizon reported last week, and it had some good news for Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL). A healthy 3.9 million of the 7.5 million smartphones it activated were iPhones. Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) didn’t reveal how many of those were iPhone 5 units, but it’s still a good omen to see more than half of its activations come from Apple phones. Yes, 52% of the total isn’t as strong as the 56% tally during the prior quarter, but this was also the same period that Samsung’s Galaxy S4 was supposed to eat Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s lunch.

It didn’t.

There may also be some incremental magic from new carriers. T MOBILE US INC (NYSE:TMUS) announced that it would finally begin stocking the iPhone in March. T MOBILE US INC (NYSE:TMUS) is doing things a bit differently. It doesn’t subsidize the price of the device, but sells the iPhone on monthly installment plans combined with wireless plans that add up to less than what most of the larger carriers charge for their subsidized devices.

This is the country’s fourth-largest carrier, but if reports of the iPhone making up roughly 30% of T MOBILE US INC (NYSE:TMUS)’s activations hold up, we’re talking about a healthy incremental boost.

Could there be another surprise in the works? Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) isn’t the type to tip its hand, so investors aren’t likely to get any clear indications on iWatch, full-blown Apple HDTVs, or any potential new offerings during the call. However, with the stock lagging the market since late last year, it wouldn’t be a surprise if Apple is more forthcoming about its growth catalysts.

In short, you probably don’t want to be betting against Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) tomorrow afternoon.

The article 3 Reasons to Bet on Apple This Week originally appeared on Fool.com.

Longtime Fool contributor Rick Munarriz has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Apple. The Motley Fool owns shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL).

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