Apple is a much different company now than it was at this time a year ago — at least in the eyes of Wall Street.
In the months leading up to the iPhone 5 launch last Sept. 12, analysts speculated that Apple's stock was on its way to hitting $1,000 and that the company might be the first with a $1 trillion market valuation. For the first few days after the launch event, Apple did indeed seem headed in that direction: the stock hit $700 a share for the first time less than a week later and its market cap topped $650 billion.
See also: How Apple's Long Product Delay Is Shaking Up Businesses
Then things started to head in the wrong direction. Opening weekend sales for the iPhone 5 came in lower than some analysts had expected, and multiple reports chalked it up to supply problems limiting Apple's ability to ship enough devices to meet demand.
Apple quickly gave up its gains from the iPhone 5 launch and eventually saw its stock spiral downwards due to a mix of supply concerns, executive shake-ups, software blunders, the increased strength of competitors like Samsung and Google and a growing sense that Apple might not have another breakthrough product up its sleeve.
When the stock market opened Tuesday morning, Apple's stock hovered at just above $500 a share and its market cap was $459 billion. By comparison, the company's market cap was $627 billion on the day of the iPhone 5 launch event and hit a high of $656 billion the day the iPhone 5 was released, according to data provided to Mashable by FactSet.

AAPL Market Cap data by YCharts
Based on many rumors, Apple probably won't release any new breakthrough products at Tuesday's event, though it should introduce a vastly redesigned operating system and a new, lower-cost iPhone model. The big news, as far as investors are concerned, may not be the hardware or software so much as the pricing and distribution.
Apple may have finally secured deals with the largest carriers in China and Japan to sell the iPhone. If the rumored low-cost model is priced at a low enough cost, Apple may be able to offset its declining market share in global smartphone shipments and perhaps appease Wall Street.
Ultimately, however, it's important to remember that this is just the first of supposed multiple Apple product events in the coming months. After nearly a year of silence from the company on the product front, consumers and investors are eager to hear what — if anything — new it has to show.
Image: Justin Sullivan/Getty