Apple's stock fell 7.35% the day after its last report (source: Yahoo Finance, Apple price history), even though sales and profit beat forecasts (source: CNBC, July 30, 2026). What sank it was the outlook, as Apple guided to slower growth for the September quarter, blaming currency moves and shortages of parts (source: CNBC, July 30, 2026).
Since then the shares have more than made up the loss, closing at $348.91 on October 29, close to their 52-week high (source: Yahoo Finance, Apple price history). So the next report tests whether record iPhone demand can outrun rising memory costs, now that one-off tariff refunds are fading from the margin. It is also the first call led by John Ternus, who took over from Tim Cook as chief executive on September 1.
When does Apple report Q4 FY2026 earnings?
Apple reports its fiscal fourth-quarter 2026 results after the US market closes on Monday, November 2, 2026. Its conference call starts at 5PM ET, which is 10PM UTC, with Ternus and chief financial officer Kevan Parekh (source: 9to5Mac, October 6, 2026). The results themselves usually land at about 4.30PM ET (source: MacDailyNews, October 7, 2026).
Two details make this date unusual. First, it falls on a Monday, while Apple's last four reports all came on a Thursday (source: Wall Street Horizon, Apple earnings calendar). Second, US daylight saving time ends on Sunday, November 1, the day before. ET moves from UTC−4 to UTC−5, so every time in UTC is one hour later than it was for Apple's July report. July's results arrived at 8.30PM UTC, so this time expect them at about 9.30PM UTC.
The same times in ET and UTC:
Time zone | Results (approximately) | Conference call |
|---|---|---|
ET | 4.30PM Mon | 5PM Mon |
UTC | 9.30PM Mon | 10PM Mon |
Some previews still quote the times as PDT and EDT, the summer labels. Those are out of date for November 2. The October 2026 earnings season page shows where Apple sits in the season, and how earnings season works explains the calendar behind it.
What Apple told the market to expect
Apple does not print a forecast in its results release but gives one on the call. On July 30, Parekh said September-quarter revenue should grow 9% to 11% from a year earlier (source: Investing.com, Apple Q3 2026 call transcript). On last year's $102.5 billion, that is about $111.7 billion to $113.7 billion, our calculation (source: Apple, October 30, 2025).
The rest of the outlook, from the same call:
Currency: a sequential headwind of about 2.5 percentage points to growth.
Supply: parts shortages, whose impact Apple expects to "increase significantly sequentially."
iPhone: revenue growth in the mid-teens, held back by currency and supply.
Services: growth "largely similar" to the June quarter, once the 2.5-point currency drag is removed.
Gross margin: 47% to 48%, including about 1 percentage point from tariff refunds (source: Investing.com, Apple Q3 2026 call transcript).
Operating expenses: $19.1 billion to $19.4 billion, with a tax rate of about 16.5%.
That tariff-refund line matters, because the June quarter's 50.1% gross margin included about 2 points from refunds, and its $2.02 of earnings per share (EPS) included 11 cents (source: Apple, July 30, 2026). Strip the refunds out and the margin falls from about 48% in June to about 46% to 47% in September. That is below the 47.2% Apple made a year earlier, on the figures in Apple's own release (source: Apple, October 30, 2025).
Apple Q4 FY2026 earnings preview: What analysts expect
Analysts expect sales near the top of Apple's range. The Zacks consensus is EPS of $1.98, up 7.0% from $1.85 a year ago (source: Nasdaq, Apple earnings forecast). The revenue consensus compiled by 24/7 Wall St. is $113.4 billion, up 10.6% (source: 24/7 Wall St., October 26, 2026).
Q4 FY2026 forecast | Q3 FY2026 actual | Q4 FY2025 actual | |
|---|---|---|---|
Revenue | $113.4 billion (consensus) | $109.4 billion | $102.5 billion |
Revenue growth | 9% to 11% (Apple) | 16% | 8% |
Gross margin | 47% to 48% (Apple) | 50.1% | 47.2% |
EPS | $1.98 (Zacks) | $2.02 | $1.85 |
iPhone revenue | Mid-teens growth (Apple) | $54.3 billion | $49.0 billion |
Services revenue | Not given in dollars | $30.7 billion | $28.8 billion |
The June-quarter figures come from Apple's July release (source: Apple, July 30, 2026), and those for a year ago from its October 2025 release (source: Apple, October 30, 2025). Apple reports gross profit rather than a margin, so the margins are gross profit divided by sales. Mid-teens iPhone growth on last year's $49.0 billion would mean roughly $56 billion.
What will move Apple stock after the report
July's report showed the pattern: sales and EPS beat, but the stock fell on the outlook. So the reaction tends to hinge on the guidance for the December quarter and on what management says about costs, and those arrive on the call, not in the release.
iPhone supply, prices and timing
iPhone revenue grew 22% in the June quarter, to $54.3 billion, against $53.9 billion expected by analysts polled by LSEG (source: CNBC, July 30, 2026). The question now is supply, not demand. Apple raised prices across much of its hardware line in late June, and the iPhone 18 Pro models also cost more (source: 9to5Mac, October 6, 2026). This is the first full quarter with those prices.
The timing is awkward too. The quarter ran from June 28 to September 26, and the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max went on sale on September 18, so only about nine days of their sales are in it (source: MacDailyNews, October 7, 2026). The iPhone Duo went on sale on October 23, which puts it in the December quarter (source: MacDailyNews, October 7, 2026). Online pre-orders for the $1,999 foldable sold out within minutes (source: 24/7 Wall St., October 26, 2026).
Memory costs and the margin
Cook called memory pricing "a 100-year flood" on his last call (source: Investing.com, Apple Q3 2026 call transcript). He said Apple expects "to pay even higher memory costs" and sees market prices rising beyond September, partly offset by inventory and cheaper non-memory parts (source: CNBC, July 30, 2026). Watch whether the margin lands inside the 47% to 48% range, and what Apple guides for December once the tariff refunds are smaller still.
Services
Services revenue rose 12% to $30.7 billion, short of the $31.2 billion LSEG consensus (source: CNBC, July 30, 2026). 9to5Mac tied part of the slowdown to weaker mobile gaming and to changes in how the App Store does business in several markets (source: 9to5Mac, July 31, 2026). Services carry a higher margin than hardware, so their growth rate feeds straight into profit.
Greater China
Sales in Greater China jumped 22% in the June quarter, to $18.8 billion (source: Apple, July 30, 2026). In the September quarter of 2025 they fell 3.6%, to $14.5 billion (source: Apple, October 30, 2025). That low base makes China one of the cleaner reads on iPhone demand this time.
Ternus and the December-quarter outlook
Ternus said little on Cook's last call, and Cook said Ternus "will lead these calls going forward" (source: CNBC, July 30, 2026). Apple usually gives its December-quarter guidance on this call. With the iPhone Duo and the full iPhone 18 cycle in that quarter, it may matter more than the September numbers.
How Apple stock moved after its last four reports
Three of Apple's last four post-earnings moves stayed within about 3% either way, and the biggest of them was April's 3.24% gain (source: Yahoo Finance, Apple price history). Then July's weaker outlook brought a 7.35% fall in a single session, more than twice the size of any of the three before it.
Report | Apple shares, next session (Nasdaq) | BloFin perpetual, 24 hours | Bitcoin, same 24 hours |
|---|---|---|---|
Q4 FY2025, October 30, 2025 | −0.38% | Not yet listed | +3.09% |
Q1 FY2026, January 29, 2026 | +0.46% | Not yet listed | −0.37% |
Q2 FY2026, April 30, 2026 | +3.24% | +3.18% | +2.54% |
Q3 FY2026, July 30, 2026 | −7.35% | −7.36% | −2.83% |
Nasdaq moves are close-to-close (source: Yahoo Finance, Apple price history). BloFin and bitcoin figures run from 4PM ET on the report day to 4PM ET the next day (source: BloFin price data). BloFin listed the AAPLUSDT Perpetual on April 6, 2026, so it has no figure for the two earlier reports. Bitcoin went its own way in two of the four windows, and Apple stock and bitcoin correlation looks at the link over longer periods.
The stock closed at $348.91 on October 29, less than 1% below its 52-week high of $351.73, and was up about 28.3% for the year (source: Yahoo Finance, Apple price history). The Microsoft Q1 FY2027 earnings preview and the Amazon Q3 2026 earnings preview cover the two big tech reports in the week before.
If you want to follow the reaction on BloFin, the AAPLUSDT Perpetual tracks Apple shares, and tokenized Apple, AAPLX, trades on spot.
What July's report looked like on BloFin, hour by hour
The 24-hour figure hides how fast the move came. On July 30, the AAPLUSDT Perpetual stood at $333.75 at 4PM ET, when Nasdaq closed (source: BloFin price data). It was 4.5% lower by 5PM ET and 6.4% lower by 6PM ET, and it was still 6.1% down at 8PM ET.
So most of the drop happened within two hours of the results, long before Nasdaq reopened.
The slide did not stop there. By 9AM ET the next morning the perpetual was 7.5% lower, and in the afternoon its hourly close bottomed at $301.09, down 9.8%. It then recovered to finish 7.4% down at 4PM ET. On Nasdaq, Apple opened 8.6% below its previous close (source: Yahoo Finance, Apple price history).
Two things stand out for traders. About 70% of the perpetual's volume in the 24 hours after the close traded before 9AM ET (source: BloFin price data). And tokenized AAPLX was much thinner overnight: its hourly volume between midnight and 7AM ET was only 2% to 3% of its last regular-hour volume (source: BloFin price data). A thin market can mean wider spreads when you most want to trade.
Trading Apple's report on BloFin
BloFin's TradFi markets offer two ways to hold Apple through the report: the AAPLUSDT Perpetual, with up to 20x leverage, and AAPLX on spot. The perpetual follows US market hours, which become 2.30PM to 9PM UTC on weekdays once daylight saving time ends (source: BloFin, stock futures trading hours).
Outside those hours, trading "may be limited to reduce-only orders." Apple's results land 30 minutes after that window shuts, so you may be able to close a position on report night but not open one. Spot and perpetual futures sets out the difference between owning AAPLX and trading the perpetual.
Whatever you can or cannot trade, an open position keeps moving with the price. Say you hold a 2,500 USDT long on the Apple perpetual at 5x leverage, backed by 500 USDT of margin. A repeat of July's 7.36% fall would cost about 184 USDT by 4PM ET the next day, more than a third of your margin. At July's low point, the loss would have been about 245 USDT, close to half. At 10x on the same margin, that low would have wiped out nearly all of it, and the position would likely have been liquidated before the price got there. Leverage and liquidation shows how that math works, and event risk in crypto covers how to plan around scheduled news.
Looking to trade Apple? To get started, you'll need to first create a BloFin account, fund your account with cryptocurrency, and navigate to the AAPLUSDT Perpetual or AAPLX on spot.
Frequently asked questions
What time will Apple earnings come out?
Apple's results reached the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) at 4.30PM ET for each of its last four reports, including January's, which fell in winter time like this one (source: SEC EDGAR, Apple filings). On November 2 that means about 9.30PM UTC. The full annual report, the 10-K, has followed the next morning in each of the last two years: last year's was filed at about 6AM ET on October 31. The webcast replay stays online for about two weeks (source: Apple, July 30, 2026).
Is Apple expected to beat earnings?
The seven estimates behind the Zacks consensus run from $1.96 to $2.00 a share, and over the past four weeks one analyst raised a forecast while none cut one (source: Nasdaq, Apple earnings forecast). By CNBC's count, Apple had topped both revenue and earnings estimates for 13 straight quarters going into July, and July's report beat again (source: CNBC, July 30, 2026). In April, Apple beat the LSEG consensus with $2.01 against $1.95 (source: CNBC, April 30, 2026).
Does Apple pay a dividend?
Yes, Apple pays 27 cents a share each quarter, after raising it 4% in April, when it also added $100 billion to its buyback plan (source: CNBC, April 30, 2026). In the first nine months of its fiscal year it spent $62.1 billion on buybacks and $11.8 billion on dividends (source: Apple, July 30, 2026). The AAPLUSDT Perpetual carries no right to dividends (source: BloFin, stock futures trading hours). Does Apple stock pay dividends covers the history.
When will Apple report Q1 FY2027 earnings?
Apple has not set a date. Wall Street Horizon's inferred date is January 28, 2027, a Thursday after the close (source: Wall Street Horizon, Apple earnings calendar). That quarter covers the holiday season and the first full months of the iPhone Duo. Zacks puts December-quarter EPS at $2.88 (source: Nasdaq, Apple earnings forecast), and the revenue consensus is $153.4 billion (source: 24/7 Wall St., October 26, 2026).
Who is Apple's CEO now?
John Ternus became chief executive on September 1, 2026, after the board appointed him on April 17. He was 50 when appointed, joined Apple in 2001 and ran hardware engineering as a senior vice president from 2021. Tim Cook became executive chair, and former chair Art Levinson became lead independent director (source: Apple, April 20, 2026). Apple earnings reports explained covers how to read the release itself.
Researched and written by the BloFin Academy editorial team with AI-assisted drafting. All facts independently verified. Sources include Apple's SEC filings and releases, Zacks via Nasdaq, LSEG via CNBC, 24/7 Wall St., the Investing.com call transcript, 9to5Mac, MacDailyNews, Wall Street Horizon, Yahoo Finance and BloFin, current as of October 30, 2026.
Nothing in this article constitutes financial advice, and nothing in it is a recommendation to buy, sell or hold Apple shares, AAPLX, the AAPLUSDT Perpetual or any crypto asset. Apple reports after the US close, when the stock perpetual may be limited to reduce-only orders, and the stock has moved as much as 7.35% in a day after recent reports. A leveraged position can be liquidated and lose all the margin behind it, and a stop-loss can fill well past its price on a gap. BloFin services are not available in restricted locations, including the United States. Past performance does not indicate future results. Do your own research and consider your risk tolerance before you trade on BloFin.