On April 11, Apple's stock price rose 4.3% to 175.04 US dollars, and the market capitalization increased by 112 billion US dollars in a single day. This is Apple's best performing day since May 5, 2023.
The Zhitong Finance App learned that on April 11, Apple (AAPL.US) stock price rose 4.3% to 175.04 US dollars, and the market capitalization increased by 112 billion US dollars in a single day. This is Apple's best performing day since May 5, 2023.
As Apple's quarterly performance relative to the S&P 500 comes out of its worst quarterly level in more than 10 years, traders are looking for signs that the worst may be over.
While Apple's stock price rose, technology stocks, especially artificial intelligence stocks, performed strongly, and the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 1.77%. On the news, there is no shortage of positive voices from Wall Street analysts who are bucking the trend. As J.P. Morgan analysts wrote, hedge fund investors' sentiment on Apple stock is improving, in part due to its recent stock decline. Apple's stock price has fallen by more than 5% so far this year. At the beginning of the month, some technical analysts said that the stock was hovering at a level where it might be bought on dips. This lag may make Apple seem cheap compared to other big tech companies.
Despite some negative trends in iPhone sales in China, and recent reports that its automobile manufacturing and other projects have been cancelled, J.P. Morgan analyst Samik Chatterjee said that its stock price will benefit from current lower valuations and breakthroughs in artificial intelligence progress.
The bank predicts that the 2026 iPhone sales cycle will be strong due to upcoming artificial intelligence features. Apple CEO Tim Cook recently told investors that an artificial intelligence announcement is expected later this year. This is expected to happen during Apple's Global Developers Conference in June.
Chatterjee also wrote, “Hedge fund investors are increasingly concerned about opportunities in the AI upgrade cycle, but the uncertainty remains whether the upgrade cycle will begin with the iPhone 16 in September 2024 or the iPhone 17 starting in September 2025.”
It is worth mentioning that recently, Evercore ISI analysts also said that Apple's latest research report shows that when the tech giant solves inference problems on devices that can achieve the iPhone's “supercycle,” it will become a “winner in artificial intelligence.”
Furthermore, Bank of America analyst Wamsi Mohan said in the latest report released on Thursday that Wall Street has once again underestimated Apple's long-term gross margin potential in products and services. The bank expects the gross margin of the Apple product segment to rise by about 180 basis points in the next few years, and the gross margin of the service segment to rise by about 150 basis points. Apple's use of its own internal modem can increase the product's gross margin by 110 basis points, and the iPhone's gross margin is expected to increase by 160 basis points. Not only that, but Apple can also reduce costs by creating its own data center chips and using its own chips in data centers
Also, according to a recent report, Apple is also preparing new Mac laptops and desktops, which use the next generation of “M4 chips” that emphasize artificial intelligence. Apple declined to comment on the report. The current generation of Apple chips is called M3.