Reuters
[Photo Credit: Reuters]
Apple (AAPL.O), opens new tab shares rose about 2% premarket on Friday after upbeat forecasts for the lucrative holiday quarter suggested the latest iPhone 17 models were driving a sales rebound despite delays in shipping to key market China.
While the supply constraints weighed on sales in the fourth quarter, investors remained optimistic as the September launch of the new iPhone lineup helped Apple shares cross above $4 trillion in market capitalization earlier this week, joining Nvidia (NVDA.O), opens new tab and Microsoft (MSFT.O), opens new tab.
The outlook has also helped allay concerns around Apple going slow on the integration of some long-awaited artificial intelligence features even as other tech majors race ahead.
Amazon (AMZN.O), opens new tab and Apple shares are still the worst performers for the year so far among the so-called “Magnificent Seven” group of magacaps, though the e-commerce giant’s stock soared before the bell on Friday on stellar cloud growth in the quarter.
Apple’s stock trades at 33.4 times analysts’ profit expectations, representing a premium to Microsoft’s (MSFT.O), opens new tab 31.7 and Meta Platform’s (META.O), opens new tab 22.3, according to LSEG data.
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