Apple's upswing shouldn't be a surprise: analyst

Apple (AAPL) shares continue to reach new highs in part because of its latest iPhone and new subscription services. The tech giant’s stock hit a record high during intra-day trading on Friday.

Since Jan. 1 the stock has climbed almost 49%; shares were trading at $235.35 in afternoon trading Friday. It’s a major rebound after hitting record highs around August of 2018. However, there’s a reason to believe that investors might have overlooked a clue which would have boosted the stock.

“Apple is interesting,” says Alicia Levine, chief strategist at BNY Mellon. “Apple had its bear market last year, and if you look at the Street, most of the analysts do not have a buy on this stock, which traditionally is a setup for a stock moving higher. I think technically this stock looks really good.”

Sevens Report Founder Tom Essaye says the fact that Apple has been rallying could be a good sign for the U.S.-China trade talks.

“If the market were nervous, then all of a sudden things would just fall apart like it did in July – clearly Apple would not be at new highs,” Essaye said on Yahoo Finance’s The First Trade. Essaye went on to say, “People were soured on the stock and they’re doing a nice transition into more of a subscription-based business, moving a little bit away from hardware. It caught people by surprise but I think it generally is a positive anecdotal point on China trade that we get some sort of skinny deal out of it.”

With progress being made in Washington during U.S. China trade talks, there may be more room for Apple’s stock to climb even more.

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