apple earnings

There's always plenty to chew on in an Apple earnings report, but here are the seven numbers that investors should keep in mind as they assess the tech rock star's blowout quarter.

There's never a dull moment on Wall Street, especially now that 2012 is rolling into its first earnings season. Let's go over some of the items that will help shape this week, among them: railroad stocks, Apple, Netflix, the maker of infant formula Enfamil, Starbucks and McDonald's.

No one likes being late to a party, especially one where the first ones there get the best party favors. The Apple party started long ago, and it's stock has crushed that of its rivals over the past decade -- but does that mean it's too late to join the festivities?

Apple has had a great few weeks of sales with the iPhone 4S, but somehow, it's latest quarterly report sent the stock down nearly 6%. The new CEO blamed the rumor mill for cutting into last quarters iPhone sales, but the real issue may have been more a matter of timing.

It's been awfully quiet on the earnings front in recent weeks, and there's a reason: This is the time of year when accountants are nailing down the financials for the fiscal quarters that ended in September. Later this week, the conference calls will begin trickling in, and then it will be a deluge of quarterly reports until early November.

Apple shares are trading near their all-time high of $422.86, but most analysts expect them to go much higher. Forty-six analysts tracked by Thomson/First Call have a median price target of $500 -- an approximately 20% rise -- and the most optimistic among them forecasts the stock will hit $666 -- about 60% higher than it trades now.

There's no such thing as a summertime lull when earnings season is upon us. Even if you don't feel like alerting the "sell in May and go away" camp of investors, there are plenty of headlines to be written about. Here are five things that will shape the way the market acts in the week ahead.

Apple announced its quarterly earnings Tuesday, and -- big surprise -- they were stellar. But one numbers not discussed much was the more than $76 billion Apple holds on its balance sheet. That figure is only going to grow, and the company still has given no sign of having figured out what to do with the money.

Despite no new iPhone, Apple continues to post record-shattering numbers.

Apple Inc.'s (AAPL) results trumped expectations for yet another quarter, with iPhone and iPad sales setting new records. Its stock surged $23.22, or 6.2 percent, to $400.07 in extended trading after the results came out Tuesday. Net income in the fiscal third quarter, which ended in June, was...