Apple rises ahead of third quarter earnings

Thomson Reuters

Apple CEO Tim Cook attends the China Development Forum in Beijing

Apple shares are rising as the company prepares to release its earnings after the markets close on Tuesday.

The technology company is expected to post GAAP earnings of $1.57 per share and revenue of $44.94 billion, according to data from Bloomberg.

Apple's share price was rising slightly on Tuesday by 0.20% to $149.05.

Sales of the iPhone are going to be closely watched. Investors will want to see if customers are putting off upgrading to wait for the new iPhone 8.

In the third quarter last year, Apple sold 40.4 million phones and brought in $42.2 billion in revenue.

Many investors are expecting the new iPhone to start a "super cycle" of upgrades. The new model is rumored to have the first new design since the iPhone 6 with a screen that fills most of the front of the phone. The new screen is reportedly causing production issues, though: The technology required to put the company's fingerprint sensor behind the new OLED screen has proven difficult to perfect and is expected to set the phone's launch back by about a month.

Besides the iPhone, investors will be looking at the growth of the company's services business. The company has placed an increasing importance on the growth of its businesses coming from services like Apple Music and the iOS App Store.

The company is expected to talk about its plans in China, where Apple is having troubles growing its market share. Dramatic legal disputes with one of Apple's largest chip providers, Qualcomm, could be discussed on the earnings call. President Donald Trump also recently announced via Twitter that Foxconn, one of Apple's largest manufacturing partners, would be opening several plants in the US.

Apple is up 28.36% this year and is currently trading at $148.97.

Click here to watch Apple's stock price move in real time...

Markets Insider