“To those who study technical stock charts, Apple Inc. looks broken,” Rodrigo Campos and Poornima Gupta report for Reuters. “Even though it is widely viewed to be undervalued after hitting an 11-month low this week and nine out of 10 brokerages recommend that investors buy or hold the stock, Apple shareholders could still be in for more rough times if technical strategists are right.”

“They note that trading charts show few price points where investors can expect clusters of buying to support Apple’s shares,” Campos and Gupta report. “For example, the stock’s medium-term momentum, based on its 50-day rate of acceleration, has been on a downward slope since March, but has not hit over-sold levels.”

Campos and Gupta report, “Apple has a chance to turn things around when it reports results for the December quarter on January 23… If Apple can substantially beat Wall Street’s subdued expectations, that would go a long way towards restoring confidence in the near term. It is not enough for Apple to just meet targets – that could cause shares to fall further in the short term, some analysts say.”

“Analysts on average estimate Apple’s fiscal first-quarter earnings per share at $13.41, down slightly from $13.87 in the year-earlier quarter. Revenue is seen up 18 percent at $54.7 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S,” Campos and Gupta report. “Wall Street estimates Apple sold between 47.5 million and 53 million iPhones, up considerably from the 26.9 million sold in the previous quarter, when the iPhone 5 had not made it to all markets. IPad sales are expected at 23 million to 25 million.”

Read more in the full article here.

[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader "Lynn Weiler" for the heads up.]