{
  "id": 18315311,
  "title": "Apple Stock Is Up 22%, but 1 Slowing Business Could Test That Valuation",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/11/05/apple-stock-is-up-22-but-1-slowing-business-could-test-that-valuation",
  "topic": "finance",
  "section": "Finance & Markets",
  "published": "2026-11-05T13:30:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Motley Fool",
    "slug": "motley-fool",
    "url": "https://www.fool.com/investing/2026/11/05/apple-stock-up-22-slowing-business-test-valuation/?source=iedfolrf0000001"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Apple's stock has surged 22% so far in 2023, outpacing the S&P 500's 11% gain. This impressive performance has given the company a valuation of around 38 times earnings. Central to Apple's success has been its robust services sector, which has shown steady growth. However, this growth has recently slowed to 10% year-over-year in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2026, down from 12% the previous quarter. Analysts predict services growth to fall between 8% and 9% in the first quarter of fiscal 2027, attributed to factors like third-party licensing and foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations. Services, which contributed 40% of Apple's gross profit, boast a 76% gross margin, significantly higher than its 39% margin on hardware products. While services were not highlighted as a growth driver in Apple's 2026 annual report, it remains a key profit engine for the company. Despite this slowdown, Apple's overall business appears strong, with revenue increasing 15% to $479 billion in fiscal 2026. The recent iPhone and Mac sales boosts, along with the anticipation of the highly-anticipated foldable iPhone Duo, have analysts expecting the upcoming holiday quarter to be the company's highest revenue quarter yet. However, the stock's premium valuation could be questioned if services growth fails to meet the 8% to 9% forecast.",
  "summary": "Apple stock has outperformed the market this year, but the growth of its services business is slowing.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}