Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) saw its stock surge on Friday to an all-time high on Friday backed by the prevailing optimism surrounding iPhone 11 demand as well as the upcoming launch of its planned streaming service, Apple TV+. Coupled with renewed hopes that a U.S-Chines trade deal could be progressing, Apple’s ended up eclipsing Microsoft as the world’s most highly valued company with a market cap of $1.07 trillion.
Shares of the tech giant jumped by 2.7%, closing the day at $236.21 per share. This was sufficient to put Apple above its tech rival Microsoft, which ended the day with a market valuation of $1.066 trillion in comparison. In response, analysts have become even more bullish on the tech stock.
“With the official launch of Apple TV+ just a few weeks away on November 1 the Street’s focus is around gauging the consumer appetite for another content provider with Apple officially entering the ring with the likes of Netflix, Disney, and Hulu among others,” said Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives in a note to clients on Friday, where he raised his target price for Apple from $245 to $265 per share and raised his rating to outperform. He also expressed his confidence in Apple’s planned launch of the Apple TV+ scheduled in early November. “In our opinion with an installed base of ~900 million active iPhones worldwide we believe Apple has an opportunity to gain 100 million consumers on the streaming front in the next 3-4 years.”
Other analysts, such as Canaccord Genuity analyst Michael Walkley, also raised their price targets on the company’s stock. Current, Walkey has a $260 price target on Apple, citing strong initial anticipated demand for iPhone 11’s.
Apple became the first American company to reach a market capitalization of $1 trillion before a significant selloff in 2018 saw it lose almost 40% of its market value. Since then, however, Apple has seen its stock rise by over 48% so far this year, which would put it on track to have its best year since 2010. Its all-time best year extends back to 1998 when the stock jumped by 211.9%.
Investors also will need to pay attention to Apple’s scheduled Q4 financial results, which are expected to be released October 30th. While Apple now is trading at its all-time high, it’s up to individual investors to decide whether that means they should buy shares in the company now or wait until a future selloff before buying in.
Apple Company Profile
Apple designs a wide variety of consumer electronic devices, including smartphones (iPhone), tablets (iPad), PCs (Mac), smartwatches (Apple Watch), and TV boxes (Apple TV), among others. The iPhone makes up the majority of Apple’s total revenue. In addition, Apple offers its customers a variety of services such as Apple Music, iCloud, Apple Care and Apple Pay, among others.
Apple’s products run internally developed software and semiconductors, and the firm is well known for its integration of hardware, software and services. Apple’s products are distributed online as well as through company-owned stores and third-party retailers. The company generates about 40% of its revenue from the Americas, with the remainder earned internationally. – Warrior Trading News
