Apple is an excellent company. But is it an excellent stock to buy today?

Today I wanted to buy more Apple shares. I use its products every day, I enjoy using them, and investing in the company again seemed fairly natural. Before doing so, however, I looked at the numbers. I wanted to understand whether the price was reasonable relative to the earnings Apple generates and those it might generate in the future. Being a satisfied customer is a good reason to keep buying its products, but I need something more before buying its shares.

The price I started from was 336.13 dollars per share, the closing price on 18 September 2026. At that price I can buy a small part of Apple and participate in its future performance. How worthwhile that is also depends on how much growth I am already paying for today. So I tried to organise the figures and compare them with those of other large companies, without claiming to predict where the stock will be in a month.

Why I still like the company

In the third quarter of fiscal 2026, which ended on 27 June, Apple reported 109.4 billion dollars in revenue, 16% more than in the same period a year earlier. Diluted earnings per share were 2.02 dollars, up 29%. Put simply, this is the share of profit attributable to each share, calculated by also taking into account instruments that could become additional shares and reduce that allocation. It is not an amount automatically paid to shareholders: profits can also remain within the business.

The gross margin reached 50.1%. This means that for every 100 dollars of revenue, Apple retains around 50 after subtracting the cost of the products and services sold. Other items still have to be paid from that amount, such as research, selling and administrative expenses, and taxes. However, one detail needs consideration: Apple reports that tariff refunds improved the gross margin by around 2 percentage points and earnings per share by 0.11 dollars. These are strong results, but this part of the benefit should not automatically be regarded as repeatable every quarter.

Beyond the results, the way Apple products work together matters to me. People using several devices and services from the same brand may find switching inconvenient: they have to transfer data, change habits, and perhaps give up features they are used to. These costs (financial, but above all practical) help retain customers over time. This is one reason I continue to appreciate the company. The next step is understanding how much the market is asking me to pay to own a part of it.

The price made me pause

To get my bearings I used the P/E, short for Price/Earnings ratio: the share price is divided by earnings per share. The result shows how much you pay for every dollar of earnings. The forward version uses analysts’ estimates of future earnings, so these are figures that may be revised and are not guaranteed. The figure I consulted for Apple is 36.51: that means paying around 36.5 dollars for every dollar of expected annual earnings.

To understand whether that was high or low, I compared it with other large technology companies and the S&P 500, the index comprising around 500 large companies listed in the United States. Here are the figures I found.

Company multiples observed on 21 September 2026 on Stock Analysis, using S&P Global Market Intelligence data. S&P 500 figure as of 18 September 2026 from Yardeni Research. The comparison is indicative: sources may use different forecast periods and calculation methods.

Apple has the highest ratio among the companies considered. That gave me pause, but it is not enough to say it is too expensive or that Nvidia, for example, is automatically better value. The companies have different businesses, risks and growth prospects. It can make sense to pay more for earnings considered more reliable or likely to grow faster. The table tells me how much I am paying for estimated earnings; on its own, it does not tell me which stock will deliver the highest return.

In my case, seeing that gap led me to demand more. To buy more Apple shares, I need to be sufficiently convinced that its future performance will justify the price. Familiarity with the brand alone does not answer that question.

Earnings can grow while the share price falls

This is the point that made me think hardest. You might assume that if a company keeps earning more, its share price must necessarily rise too. However, the price depends both on earnings and on how much investors are willing to pay for them. To explain this, I use an example with invented figures, which is not a forecast for Apple.

Imagine a company with expected annual earnings of 10 dollars per share. If the market values it at 36.5 times those earnings, its price is:

Suppose expected annual earnings subsequently rise to 12 dollars, an increase of 20%. If investors are meanwhile willing to pay only 25 times those earnings, the price becomes:

Expected earnings have grown by 20%, but the price has fallen from 365 to 300 dollars, around 17.8% lower. This is known as multiple compression: the market assigns a lower price to every dollar of earnings. In this example I consider only the change in price, excluding dividends, costs and taxes. This is the risk I bear in mind when assessing Apple: the company could continue to perform well and my purchase could still produce a disappointing result if I had paid too much for the initial expectations.

Another way to interpret that price

I also looked at the inverse of the P/E, called the earnings yield. It is obtained by dividing earnings per share by the price and helps express the same relationship as a percentage:

In practice, every 100 dollars invested at that valuation corresponds to around 2.74 dollars of estimated annual company earnings. This is not interest Apple promises to pay me, and it is not a forecast of the stock’s return. For the S&P 500, using 18.9 as the P/E, the ratio is around 5.29%. I cannot conclude that the index will deliver almost twice the return: growth, risks, composition and calculation methods differ. The comparison helps me understand the price of the earnings I am buying.

What about artificial intelligence?

Artificial intelligence, often abbreviated to AI, also enters the picture. Apple has a potential advantage: it can offer new features to a very large number of people already using its devices. If those features are useful, they could make the products more appealing, encourage new purchases or support paid services. I therefore understand why this possibility might contribute to expectations for the stock.

However, it remains to be seen how much this will translate into additional revenue and earnings, and at what cost. To me, saying that a company will do something with AI is not yet a sufficient answer to the question of price. I must also ask how much of the possible benefit the market is already taking for granted. I can recognise an opportunity without feeling compelled to buy it immediately.

Why I decided not to buy

In the end, I decided not to buy more Apple shares at the current price. I started with the intention of increasing my position, but after looking at the numbers I was not convinced enough to put more money into it. I still like the company; what does not sufficiently convince me is the relationship between the asking price and the future performance I would have to rely on.

I have not proved that Apple must fall, and I am not saying that anyone buying it today is necessarily making a mistake. Establishing a precise price would require more detailed assumptions about growth and risks, which this reflection does not claim to settle. I needed to make a decision about my portfolio and, given the factors I considered, I preferred not to increase my position. My initial desire to buy did not oblige me to do so.

The stock could rise after this decision. I accept that: I will not capture every opportunity, and I do not want to buy solely for fear of missing a rally. I can reconsider Apple if its price or earnings outlook changes. Today, knowing why I decided to pause is enough, even though tomorrow I will keep using its products as before.

Apple share price refers to the closing price on 18 September 2026; multiples checked on 21 September 2026. Earnings estimates may change. Company data: Apple, Q3 FY2026 results. Market sources: Stock Analysis and Yardeni Research, linked below.