Tech giant (NASDAQ: AAPL) is scheduled to report its fiscal fourth-quarter results on Thursday. Wall Street will undoubtedly be watching the report closely. After all, the company's approximately $2.7 trillion market cap is big enough to influence major market indexes like the S 500; Apple represents about 7% of the index. So investors will be watching the report for both company-specific insight and to get a window into the overall economy.

While the company's fiscal fourth-quarter financial performance will definitely be important, investors may pay even closer attention to another metric: management's guidance for its fiscal first-quarter revenue. The company's commentary about the important holiday quarter will provide a timely checkup on how Apple's new products are faring with customers, as well as some clues about consumers' willingness to open their wallets this shopping season.

On the surface, tech giant Apple's recent top-line performance has been disappointing. But a close look shows some reasons for investors to be upbeat.

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Source Fool.com