24/7 Wall St. – Stocktwits Market Trends: After earnings, which direction does Apple go? (AAPL, T)

In the midst of this earnings season, all eyes are on Apple which reports today after the market close. There are a number of resident Apple experts on StockTwits, many of whom share the opinion that nothing matters today until its earnings are announced and fully digested.

AT&T, the exclusive U.S. service provider for Apple’s iPhone, posted better-than-expected earnings this morning. A large number of folks on StockTwits are looking to it for insight into Apple’s results. The significant point of interest here is that AT&T activated 1.6 million 3G iPhones during Q1 09.   According to Piper Jaffray analysts, that suggests a total of 3.7 million iPhones in the March quarter.

Apple’s stock has been on a tear recently.  As we noted, its recent low close was $83.11 on March 9, so shares have railed just under 50% since then.  It would seem safe to say that the market has fairly bullish expectations.  Further, many accuse Apple of sandbagging its guidance. This suggests there is added pressure to beat estimates. It is probably safe to say that if Apple misses, watch out below.

A consensus building in the StockTwits feed today is that Apple will hit or beat earnings.  Despite this fact, it will likely sell off on the news given the huge run-up in the stock. Nevertheless, many remain bullish long-term.

All of this data and insight can be gleaned from the StockTwit’s Apple Stream. A few of the great comments regarding Apple from this morning’s chatter are below.

howardlindzon: Apr. 22 at 9:59 AM also re $aapl the media is focused on MAC slowdown when all that matters is iphones and app store numbers so FOCUS if you must trade it.

Dasan: Apr. 22 at 10:04 AM $T iPhone activitations implies uside to street cons 3.0M $AAPL iPhones

SteveBirenberg: Apr. 22 at 10:06 AM Morning weakness being bought again. Bullish. $T looks good. Clean EPS beat. iPhone working. Probably a good read through to $AAPL iPhone.

fromedome: Apr. 22 at 10:18 AM @howardlindzon iPhone shipments nice, but sub. accounting limits impact. Gross margin (and GM guidance) more impt I think. Thoughts? $AAPL

cordial: Apr. 22 at 10:23 AM $AAPL report to be ahead of expectations, strength in iPhone’s and Touches offset by weakness in Mac’s. Guidance conservative as normal.

A_F: Apr. 22 at 10:26 AM $AAPL to 132 on earnings -iphone carrier wins/hints of new product/smart phone mrkt exploding …EARNINGS will be the minor component

2HK: Apr. 22 at 10:27 AM @StockTwits apple beats the street on higher iphone sales and sells off on the news $aapl

rgruia: Apr. 22 at 10:35 AM Key question: how many iPhones did $AAPL ship globally in the Q? Prob. 3.3-3.7 million. We will find out later today Apple iPhone

BenjiGoldberg: Apr. 22 at 11:17 AM @aiki14 funny because as long as I’ve been watching $AAPL earnings day always means a big drop in stock price, despite profits

nyc_mom: Apr. 22 at 11:03 AM @kevinseattle $AAPL goes up $3-7 unless a Jobs’ bombshell is perceived (rightly or wrongly) by analysts

AppleInvestor: Apr. 22 at 12:09 PM @mpgtrader Yes, and right now investors are easily spooked. So unless$AAPL earnings are beyond blowout, they’ll print black candle tomorrow

By Ash Allen & Levi Boyd

Market comments provided by Stocktwits