Apple Surpasses Nvidia as the Most Popular Stock on Zacks.com: Time to Buy AAPL?

For obvious reasons, surrounding its dominance in artificial intelligence, Nvidia NVDA) has typically been the most popular trending stock on Zacks.com, but has been surpassed by Apple AAPL) for the top spot among most searched for stocks.

Zacks Investment Research Overview

If you're not familiar, the Zacks Rank harnesses the trend of earnings estimate revisions, which is considered the most powerful force impacting stock prices. This short-term rating system serves as a timeliness indicator for stocks over the next 1-3 months, ranging from a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), which typically indicates a very positive trend of EPS revisions, to a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell), which usually suggests a notable decline in EPS revisions.

Below you can see the 1-5 ranking system and the average annualized return for each rating tier.

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Style Scores (Trading Indicators)

In addition, Zacks’ research presents a complementary set of “Style Scores” indicators to use alongside the Zacks Rank, allowing users to better focus on the stocks that best fit their personal trading or investment style.

Within each Score, stocks are graded into five groups using the classic A-F grading scale. The scores are based on the trading styles of Value, Growth, and Momentum. There's also a VGM Score ('V' for Value, 'G' for Growth, and 'M' for Momentum), which combines the weighted average of the individual Style Scores into an overall score.

Industry Rank

Lastly, studies have shown that 50% of a stock's price movement can be attributed to its industry, so the Zacks Industry Rank assigns a percentage rating to what is currently broken down into over 240 Zacks subindustries.

The industry with the best average Zacks Rank would be considered the top industry (1 out of 244). Of course, this doesn’t mean you can just pick any stock in a top group and expect to make money, but it does underscore the importance of sticking with the best industries. In fact, empirical research has shown that investing in an average stock in a strong industry is likely to outperform a great stock in a poor industry.

Apple Stock Overview & Recent News

Stock Price: $252

Recent Stock Performance: Year to date, Apple shares are down 7% in the first three months of 2026, but are still up 14% over the last year.

Apple designs, manufactures, and markets smartphones, personal computers, tablets, wearables, and accessories, and offers a broad portfolio of services. The company operates on a 52- or 53-week fiscal year ending on the last Saturday of September and is headquartered in Cupertino, California. Sales channels include brick-and-mortar and online stores, third-party carriers and retailers, and direct sales to enterprises, educational institutions, and governments.

What may be drawing investors' interest to the tech giant is that yesterday Apple announced that it will be rolling out Apple Business in April, a new all-in-one platform that allows companies to manage devices and reach more customers:

"Apple Business combines built-in mobile device management, business email and calendar services with custom domain support, and a powerful new option to reach local customers".

Tracking Apple’s EPS Revisions

Apple's annual earnings are currently expected to increase 12.6% in fiscal 2026 to $8.40 per share. More intriguing, FY27 EPS is projected to rise another 10.4% to $9.27. However, despite trending higher over the last quarter, it’s noteworthy that FY26 and FY27 EPS revisions are slightly down in the last thirty days from estimates of $8.41 and $9.29, respectively.

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Apple’s Style Scores

Apple checks a “D” score for Value, an “A” score for Growth, and a “C” score for Momentum. Apple stock has an overall “B” VGM Style Scores grade for the combination of Value, Growth, and Momentum.

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Apple’s Industry Rank

Apple belongs to the Zacks Computer-Micro Computers Industry, which is currently in the top 28% of over 240 Zacks industries. This industry includes other innovative hardware and operating system companies like Dell Technologies DELL) and HP Inc. HPQ).

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Bottom Line

For now, Apple stock lands a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Apple’s growth trajectory and durable tech ecosystem remain appealing to investors, being one of the world’s renowned global brands that has a loyal customer base. While the slight retraction in EPS revisions isn’t overly concerning, there could be better buying opportunities ahead.

As the most searched for stock on Zacks.com, investors are surely eager to see if analysts will start to raise their revenue expectations for Apple AAPL) and, most importantly, their EPS revisions, following the announcement of its Apple Business platform.

Radical New Technology Could Hand Investors Huge Gains

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Apple Inc. (AAPL): Free Stock Analysis Report

HP Inc. (HPQ): Free Stock Analysis Report

Dell Technologies Inc. (DELL): Free Stock Analysis Report

NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA): Free Stock Analysis Report

This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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