All Eyes on Apple's Earnings Report

$AAPLShares of Apple Inc. rose on Tuesday as investors awaited the company's quarterly earnings report. Apple will release its March quarter results at 5:00 PM EDT (2:00 PM PDT), and Wall Street pushed $AAPL higher to end the day at US$406.13, up $7.46 (+1.87 percent), on strong volume of 17.8 million shares trading hands.

Tuesday's gains followed another winning session on Monday, though the stock is still below its closing price of $426.24 on April 16th. $AAPL took a pounding on April 17th after audio chip maker Cirrus Logic warned that it was taking an inventory charge because, "a decreased forecast for a high volume product as the customer migrates to one of Cirrus Logic's newer components."

Apple is the source of 91 percent of Cirrus Logic's revenues, so Wall Street took the company's warnings to mean that Apple was experiencing a slowdown in iPhone sales. $AAPL dropped 5.5 percent on the Cirrus Logic announcement, and the stock dipped further to close at $390.53 on Friday, April 19th, an 8.4 percent decline sparked by the news.

The stock picked up steam again on Monday, and Tuesday's close meant the stock had recovered 41.6 percent of its selloff as Wall Street awaited Tuesday's earnings report.

Expectations are mixed, with many expecting iPhone sales to disappoint, but overall revenues to be solid. Many headlines have predicted doom and gloom, with The Guardian UK going so far as to say that Apple will report its worst results in 10 years. Everyone else is expecting Apple to post earnings of more than $9 billion and revenues of $41 billion or higher.

*In the interest of full disclosure, the author holds a tiny, almost insignificant share in AAPL stock that was not an influence in the creation of this article.