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Photograph by Eric Thayer/Getty Images
Apple
played a significant role in Monday’s historic rally. Shares of the iPhone maker soared 9.3%, the stock’s largest one-day move in more than 11 years.
The $24.45 per share gain contributed 172 points to the
Dow Jones Industrial Average’s
1,296 point gain. Apple (ticker: AAPL) closed the day at $298.91, after trading as high as $301.44 during the day’s session. The stock peaked at $327.20 on Feb. 12.
Apple’s rally boosted the company’s market value by $111 billion—that’s just slightly shy of the current valuation of
IBM
(IBM). Apple’s market capitalization now stands at $1.3 trillion.
Apple shares have been under pressure since the company’s mid-February announcement that it no longer expects to reach its previous March quarter revenue guidance of $63 billion to $67 billion, due to a combination of coronavirus-related supply chain and demand issues in China.
While Apple’s warning spurred Wall Street analysts to cut their sales estimates for the March quarter—the consensus forecast has dropped to about $61 billion—many analysts think that Apple is only seeing demand delays, rather than demand destruction, with no fundamental changes to the company’s long-term outlook.
As Barron’s reported, Oppenheimer raised its rating on Apple stock on Monday—after a 16.5% drop from Feb. 12 through last Friday’s close—arguing the stock had become too cheap.
Write to Eric J. Savitz at [email protected]
