Apple’s stock price has been on a tear lately. Shooting up past $300 like it was nothing, and now about to open today above $315 per share. With Apple’s earnings to be reported after the market closes today, many investors are wondering if it’s too late to get in, or if they should perhaps consider buying some shares before the earnings report comes out.

Analysts are all over the place in terms of expected earnings, as well as total sales numbers on the Apple iPad and iPhone. With the stock already having moved up a tremendous amount in the last few weeks, some experts think that anything besides a complete blowout of expectations will cause the stock to lose some of it’s recent gains.

What would be considered a “complete blowout”? It’s hard to say, however I think that if they can report about $19.5 billion in revenue for the 4th quarter, as compared with their forecast of $18 billion, and an analyst consensus of $18.86 billion, investors will likely continue to jump into the stock, even at the today’s prices. Other important numbers that investors are looking for are the total sales figures of iPad and iPhones. Likely a number around 5 million iPads, and 12 million iPhones will please them. Anything less could be seen as a slight weakness, something that Apple has yet to really show. Either way, despite the numbers we get today, Apple should continue to be a strong investment, with continued innovation, and a PE ratio that is not at all expensive, historically speaking.