Apple shares surged roughly 3.53% on Friday, closing at $333.02 after closing the prior day at $321.66. This moved the stock closer to recent record highs and pushed its market cap at $4.891 trillion.

Main drivers

Several factors appear to have fueled the move amid a mixed-to-weaker broader market (with pressure on some chip and other tech stocks):

• Analyst support and price target increases: Multiple firms issued positive notes. Robert W. Baird raised its target to $330 from $310 (Outperform). Morgan Stanley lifted its target to $364 from $360 (Overweight), citing expectations that fiscal Q3 results (due July 30) could modestly beat consensus. HSBC upgraded to Buy with a $366 target. These reinforced confidence in Apple’s fundamentals ahead of earnings.

• Apple Intelligence progress in China: Reports of successful regulatory registration/approval for Apple’s generative AI features in China (partnering with local firms such as Alibaba’s Tongyi Qianwen as a core model and Baidu secondarily) boosted sentiment. China remains a key market, and clearer access for on-device AI features is viewed as a meaningful long-term positive for services and hardware demand.

• AI strategy and pre-earnings optimism: Investors continue to favor Apple’s relatively capital-efficient, on-device AI approach (lower data-center spending than many peers). This has helped the stock outperform in recent weeks even as other big tech names face higher capex scrutiny. Anticipation of the July 30 earnings report (consensus roughly around $1.88–$1.89 EPS and ~$109 billion revenue, with solid year-over-year growth expected) added to the buying interest.

Recent product-cycle optimism (including the broader Mac refresh pipeline reported earlier in the week) and Apple’s overall ecosystem strength have provided a supportive backdrop, but today’s jump was more directly tied to the analyst actions, China AI milestone, and earnings positioning.

MacDailyNews Take: Stock moves can reverse quickly, and no single factor is ever the sole cause. Apple has not issued company-specific news today that appears to be the primary catalyst. Earnings on July 30th, whcih we will, as usual cover with live notes, will be Apple’s next major test.

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Bank of America expects Apple to surpass Wall Street expectations when it reports fiscal third-quarter results on July 30, marking Tim Cook’s final earnings call as CEO.

In a note released Monday, BofA analyst Wamsi Mohan maintained a Buy rating on the stock and a $380 price target. The firm is modeling revenue of $109 billion and earnings per share (EPS) of $1.89, comfortably ahead of consensus estimates of $108 billion in revenue and $1.87 in EPS. That would represent approximately 16% year-over-year revenue growth, exceeding Apple’s own guidance range of 14-17%.

Investor attention heading into the report is likely to focus on three key areas: component cost inflation, the durability of gross margins, and the implications of Cook’s departure from the CEO role.

BofA noted that product gross margins are expected to decline sequentially in both the June and September quarters due to the staggered launch schedule of the next iPhone lineup. Pro, Pro Max, and Fold models are slated for September, while the base model and Air are not expected until March. The firm views the near-term margin pressure as “transitory,” forecasting a rebound to 38.5% in the December quarter as the new devices launch at higher prices.

On the services side, BofA projects 14% year-over-year growth in the third quarter. While App Store revenue growth has slowed to 3.2% from 9.8% in the previous quarter, the firm anticipates strength in iCloud and Licensing to more than offset the slowdown.

MacDailyNews Note: Looking further ahead, the bank adopted a more cautious stance for the second half of calendar 2026. It modeled fourth-quarter revenue at $106 billion and EPS at $1.88, below Street forecasts of $114 billion and $2.01, citing potential volatility from the new split iPhone launch cadence.

Despite the tempered longer-term outlook, BofA’s overall message remains positive, reinforcing confidence in Apple’s ability to deliver a solid beat in the upcoming report.

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In Nasdaq trading today, shares of Apple Inc. (AAPL) rose $0.48 to $333.74 to hit a new all-time closing high. Apple’s all-time intraday high was also set today at $334.98.

Apple’s 52-week low stands at $201.50.

Today’s trading volume for AAPL shares was 63,196,563 versus Apple’s average trading volume of 54,686,906 shares.

Apple’s PE Ratio currently stands at 40.40.

Apple currently has a market value of $4.902 trillion, making it the world’s second-most valuable company.

The top five U.S. publicly-traded companies, based on market value:

1. NVIDIA (NVDA) – $4.912T
2. Apple (AAPL) – $4.902T
3. Alphabet (GOOGL) – $4.231T
4. Microsoft (MSFT) – $2.925T
5. Amazon (AMZN) – $2.659T

Selected companies’ current market values:

• Taiwan Semi (TSM): $2.252T
• Tesla (TSLA): $1.488T
• Meta Platforms (META): $1.695T
• Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-A): $1.087T
• Walmart (WMT): $906.425B
• Advanced Micro Devices (AMD): $909.696B
• Intel (INTC): $552.056B
• Cisco (CSCO): $473.938B
• Netflix (NFLX): $310.883B
• SoftBank (SFTBF): $220.206B
• IBM (IBM): $275.786B
• Dell (DELL): $254.787B
• Disney (DIS): $166.045B
• Sony (SONY): $122.428B
• Adobe (ADBE): $90.177B
• Spotify (SPOT): $98.65B
• Nokia (NOK): $69.447B
• Hewlett-Packard (HPQ): $20.961B
• SiriusXM (SIRI): $9.937B
• BlackBerry (BB): $6.06B
• Sonos (SONO): $1.727B
• Liquidmetal (LQMT): $0.181B
• RealNetworks (RNWK) was delisted from U.S. exchanges on December 21, 2022 and is no longer publicly traded.

Apple all-time high (AAPL) via NASDAQ here.

MacDailyNews Take: To the moon, Alice. To the moon!

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In Nasdaq trading today, shares of Apple Inc. (AAPL) rose $5.76 to $333.26 to hit a new all-time closing high. Apple’s all-time intraday high was also set today at $334.68.

Apple’s 52-week low stands at $201.50.

Today’s trading volume for AAPL shares was 59,624,981 versus Apple’s average trading volume of 54,664,537 shares.

Apple’s PE Ratio currently stands at 40.40.

Apple currently has a market value of $4.895 trillion, making it the world’s second-most valuable company.

The top five U.S. publicly-traded companies, based on market value:

1. NVIDIA (NVDA) – $5.023TT
2. Apple (AAPL) – $4.895T
3. Alphabet (GOOGL) – $4.325T
4. Microsoft (MSFT) – $2.980T
5. Amazon (AMZN) – $2.688T

Selected companies’ current market values:

• Taiwan Semi (TSM): $2.109T
• Meta Platforms (META): $1.683T
• Tesla (TSLA): $1.469T
• Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-A): $1.055T
• Walmart (WMT): $913.508B
• Advanced Micro Devices (AMD): $816.833B
• Dell (DELL): $253.543B
• Intel (INTC): $487.421B
• Cisco (CSCO): $431.883B
• Netflix (NFLX): $313.073B
• SoftBank (SFTBF): $223.341B
• IBM (IBM): $206.051B
• Disney (DIS): $173.009B
• Sony (SONY): $124.819B
• Spotify (SPOT): $98.404B
• Adobe (ADBE): $93.544B
• Nokia (NOK): $57.897B
• Hewlett-Packard (HPQ): $22.077B
• SiriusXM (SIRI): $10.54B
• BlackBerry (BB): $5.357B
• Sonos (SONO): $1.679B
• Liquidmetal (LQMT): $0.135B
• RealNetworks (RNWK) was delisted from U.S. exchanges on December 21, 2022 and is no longer publicly traded.

Apple all-time high (AAPL) via NASDAQ here.

MacDailyNews Take: Onward amd upward, Cupertino soldiers!

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The post Apple shares hit new all-time closing and intraday highs appeared first on MacDailyNews.

In Nasdaq trading today, shares of Apple Inc. (AAPL) rose $12.64 to $327.50 to hit a new all-time closing high. Apple’s all-time intraday high was also set today at $328.72.

Apple’s 52-week low stands at $201.50.

Today’s trading volume for AAPL shares was 58,741,821 versus Apple’s average trading volume of 54,375,570 shares.

Apple’s PE Ratio currently stands at 39.70.

Apple currently has a market value of $4.810 trillion, making it the world’s second-most valuable company.

The top five U.S. publicly-traded companies, based on market value:

1. NVIDIA (NVDA) – $5.147T
2. Apple (AAPL) – $4.810T
3. Alphabet (GOOGL) – $4.526T
4. Microsoft (MSFT) – $2.939T
5. Amazon (AMZN) – $2.743T

Selected companies’ current market values:

• Taiwan Semi (TSM): $2.195T
• Meta Platforms (META): $1.667T
• Tesla (TSLA): $1.483T
• Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-A): $1.073T
• Walmart (WMT): $913.03B
• Advanced Micro Devices (AMD): $871.377B
• Intel (INTC): $518.281B
• Cisco (CSCO): $469.977B
• IBM (IBM): $273.502B
• Dell (DELL): $275.78B
• Netflix (NFLX): $310.925B
• SoftBank (SFTBF): $218.098B
• Disney (DIS): $166.688B
• Sony (SONY): $122.34B
• Spotify (SPOT): $99.839B
• Adobe (ADBE): $91.669B
• Nokia (NOK): $65.958B
• Hewlett-Packard (HPQ): $22.653B
• SiriusXM (SIRI): $10.487B
• BlackBerry (BB): $6.286B
• Sonos (SONO): ~$1.98B
• Liquidmetal (LQMT): ~$0.135B
• RealNetworks (RNWK) was delisted from U.S. exchanges on December 21, 2022 and is no longer publicly traded.

Apple all-time high (AAPL) via NASDAQ here.

MacDailyNews Take: Gaudy (yet still woefully undervalued)! To the moon, Alice. To the moon!

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The post Apple shares hit new all-time closing and intraday highs appeared first on MacDailyNews.

In Nasdaq trading today, shares of Apple Inc. (AAPL) rose $1.99 to $317.31 to hit a new all-time closing high. Apple’s all-time intraday high was also set today at $323.45.

Apple’s 52-week low stands at $201.50.

Today’s trading volume for AAPL shares was 41,376,714 versus Apple’s average trading volume of 54,682,654 shares.

Apple’s PE Ratio currently stands at 38.42.

Apple currently has a market value of $4.660 trillion, making it the world’s second-most valuable company.

The top five U.S. publicly-traded companies, based on market value:

1. NVIDIA (NVDA) – $4.930T
2. Apple (AAPL) – $4.660T
3. Alphabet (GOOGL) – $4.302T
4. Microsoft (MSFT) – $2.904T
5. Amazon (AMZN) – $2.660T

Selected companies’ current market values:

• Taiwan Semi (TSM): $2.195T
• SpaceX (SPCX): $1.833T
• Tesla (TSLA): $1.483T
• Meta Platforms (META): $1.667T
• Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-A): $1.073T
• Walmart (WMT): $913.03B
• Advanced Micro Devices (AMD): $871.377B
• Intel (INTC): $518.281B
• Cisco (CSCO): $469.977B
• Netflix (NFLX): $310.925B
• IBM (IBM): $273.502B
• Dell (DELL): $275.78B
• SoftBank (SFTBF): $218.098B
• Disney (DIS): $166.688B
• Sony (SONY): $122.34B
• Spotify (SPOT): $99.839B
• Adobe (ADBE): $91.669B
• Nokia (NOK): $65.958B
• Hewlett-Packard (HPQ): $22.653B
• SiriusXM (SIRI): $10.487B
• BlackBerry (BB): $6.286B
• Sonos (SONO): ~$1.98B
• Liquidmetal (LQMT): ~$0.135B
• RealNetworks (RNWK) was delisted from U.S. exchanges on December 21, 2022 and is no longer publicly traded.

Apple all-time high (AAPL) via NASDAQ here.

MacDailyNews Take: To the moon, Alice. To the moon!

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The post Apple shares hit new all-time closing and intraday highs appeared first on MacDailyNews.

While many Big Tech peers chase high-risk AI growth, Apple stands out for its stability and resilience. The company is projected to grow free cash flow in 2026 — a rarity among its counterparts — positioning its stock as a defensive haven traditionally reserved for consumer staples, utilities, and healthcare names.

Nate Wolf for Barron’s:
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“No one admits they like or want to buy more AAPL,” Mizuho Securities analyst Jordan Klein wrote Friday. “But I get why more folks [are] looking at AAPL as a hedge or long idea.”

“Analysts estimate Meta Platforms, Oracle, and Amazon will have negative free cash flow in 2026 because of their AI investments. Meanwhile, Apple is expected to produce $143 billion in free cash flow, up from $109 billion last year, per FactSet. Its capital expenditures will likely decline in 2026.

“[Apple] has definitely been out of favor, but carries a lot less direct near-term execution risk,” Klein wrote.”

But Apple is one of the few high-profile tech names that isn’t a primary consumer or supplier of AI compute, and that differentiation has value… If Apple’s share price is any indication, plenty of investors want to keep at least some money away from the AI trade.

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MacDailyNews Take: As we wrote back on February 18 when Apple shares closed at $264.11 ($50 per share ago):

Just wait until Apple begins to release Apple Intelligence features underpinned with — but privacy-protected from — Google Gemini and things like Siri begin to actually work as well as, or even better than, people expect them to work in 2026. The sky’s the limit for Apple stock!

‎
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The post Apple emerges as the ultimate defensive play in an AI-driven market appeared first on MacDailyNews.

Apple momentarily surpasses Nvidia to reclaim the title of world’s most valuable company but ends the week at No. 2 on the list.

(via Cult of Mac - Your source for the latest Apple news, rumors, analysis, reviews, how-tos and deals.)