Are APPLE Trouble fading?
$Apple(AAPL)$ stock closed at a record high of $286.19 on Tuesday, just a day after the head of the company’s artificial intelligence effortsretired from the company. Apple shares have risen for seven straight days, their longest winning streak since May.
The stock’s success suggests investors have moved on from the disappointing launch of Apple Intelligence and the continuing questions surrounding the company’s AI efforts, capped by the departure of AI chief John Giannandrea.
As is usually the case for Apple, iPhone sales matter most. The stock is up 16% since Oct. 10, as positive reports began to mount about the sale of Apple’s new iPhone 17 lineup. Aside from , which has had a good run of AI news, Apple is the best performing Magnificent Seven stock during that period. It’s also beaten the index by 12 percentage points.
Over the past four years, iPhone sales have grown 7% or less, including 4.2% in fiscal 2025, which ended this past September. But the iPhone 17 lineup, which went on sale in the fall, seems to have changed the trend. Recent data from research firms, including Counterpoint, suggests iPhone sales growth has returned to double digits.
Wall Street analysts are forecasting iPhone sales growth of 11% in the first quarter, the all-important holiday gift-giving season.
Sure enough, Apple shares are once again trading on the topics that have always mattered most to the market: device sales, a huge and loyal base of users, growth in the company’s services business, and a cash return program that is about to reach an all-time total of $1 trillion.
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