Are you a day trader? If so, this report may not be of any use. But the recent decline in Apple’s share price is just making its stock an even more compelling long-term investment.

Way back on July 22, following Apple Inc.’s AAPL, +3.03% announcement of a very strong third quarter, I said long-term investors were looking at a “golden opportunity” to buy the stock. The share price was down 4% that day, and has fallen 13% since.

So did I make a bad call? According to some readers, the answer is “yes.” Then again, the call was made based on Apple’s continued stellar sales growth, the stock’s low relative valuation and the decline in the share count. It wasn’t meant to be a short-term trade.

Here are just a few amazing numbers from the fiscal third quarter:

Quarterly sales grew by 33% from a year earlier.

Earnings grew by 38%.

Earnings per share grew by 45%, because stock buybacks caused the diluted share count to decline by 5% from a year earlier.

Sales in China grew by grew by 112% to $13 billion.

The concerns that have sent the stock down include the possibility of a slowing growth rate in China as the economy slows and Apple faces heavy competition from local manufacturers, including Xiaomi and Huawei Technology Co. Ltd. There was also the company’s fiscal fourth-quarter sales guidance of $49 billion to $51 billion, which was below the consensus estimate at the time.

A lack of detail about Apple Watch sales added to the pressure.

The reaction has been sharp with headlines screaming about how much market value the world’s largest company (by market capitalization) has lost, and even arguing that a further decline of Apple’s stock could push down the entire U.S. stock market.

Brett Arends made a strong case that the backlash against Apple has gotten plain silly, and dug into the numbers to show just how cheap the company’s shares are.

Apple’s stock closed at $115.40 Wednesday and was trading for 12.7 times the consensus fiscal 2015 EPS estimate of $9.20, among analysts polled by FactSet. That compares to a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.7 times for the S&P 500 SPX, -1.15% , which is expected by S&P Capital IQ to show 7.9% EPS growth for the most recent quarter (excluding the Energy sector). That pales in comparison to Apple’s 45% EPS increase.

Let’s punch a few holes in arguments against Apple:

The company is so big, its growth can only slow from here.

“I think that is a valid concern,” said David Meier, portfolio manager of Motley Fool Funds, during an interview on Thursday. “But if you look at the data, the sales of the iPhone, all through the different revisions, that curve continues to go up and to the right. Yes there are fluctuations. But people love the iPhone. The mobile phone market is still moving toward smartphones and Apple has the best product.”

(Meier disclosed that he personally holds Apple shares, and that Motley Fool’s mutual funds also held them as of March 31, their most recent reporting date.)

The reality is that people have said this before. Remember when Apple’s stock fell 39% from an unadjusted pre-split closing high of $702.10 on Sept. 19, 2012 through a closing low of $428.85 on May 25, 2013? There was tremendous concern that Apple would lose smartphone market share to phones running Google Inc.’s GOOG, -1.97% Android operating system.

Instead, the smartphone market kept growing, lifting both boats, especially Apple’s. The shares roared back, as you can see on this chart:

FactSet

The stock’s previous fall and recovery don’t mean the same pattern will take place now, but it does show that the shares have recovered from a pretty bad panic.

iPhone demand can’t hold up

FBR analyst Daniel Ives reckons that “27% is the key number” for Apple, as he considers how well the company will do through the end of the year. That’s the percentage of iPhone users who have upgraded to the iPhone 6 or iPhone 6 Plus.

The low percentage of upgrades, so far, is “a dynamic that we think should continue to play out with the expected release of the iPhone 6s/6s Plus in the fall, leading to what we estimate will be 71% penetration (assuming a flat [price]) by the end of next year,” said Ives.

So there’s plenty of potential for another year of significant sales increases, even before the expected launch of the iPhone 7 in the fall of 2016.

Growth in China can’t hold up

Yes, that 112% year-over-year growth rate in China was incredible. Maybe this pace cannot hold up, but surely a lower double-digit growth pace in the world’s largest emerging market would be meaningful.

“Apple has figured out a way to work within the Chinese system and they are being successful. There’s a lot of competition in China. but Apple is the aspirational product. People are willing to shell out the money for it, and they end up loving it. There will be fluctuations in any market, and China is no different,” Meier said.

iPad sales are sliding

They sure are. Sales for the iPad, which is now superfluous for so many users in light of the large iPhone 6 screens, declined 18% to $10.93 billion during the fiscal third quarter. Then again, total revenue was still up 33% to $49.61 billion.

A brighter story for Apple was that sales of the Mac were up 9% to $4.80 billion. That does not make up for the iPad sales decline --increasing iPhone sales did that. But no other company is growing PC sales like Apple is.

An investment, not a day trade

All in all, Apple still looks like a long-term winner for long-term investors because of its continued run of amazing sales growth, customers’ willingness to pay premium prices for its products, the company’s success in distributing its products in China, and its compelling low price valuation.

Ives of FBR reiterated his outperform rating and $175 price target for Apple’s stock on Thursday. That implies growth of 52% over the next 12 months from Wednesday’s close.

Among 52 analysts polled by FactSet, 37 rate Apple the equivalent of a buy, while 12 have neutral ratings and just two recommend selling the shares. The consensus price target for the stock is $145.91, for implied upside of 26% for the next 12 months.