Apple (AAPL) Stock Price Forecast: Apple Inc always worth taking a bite! Ex dividend on Feb 5

• Apple (AAPL) released excellent results on Wednesday, Jan 27, beating expectations.
• AAPL received multiple analyst upgrades after results.
• Apple shares will trade ex-dividend this week on Feb 5.

Apple (AAPL) announced a stellar set of results last week, taking most analysts by surprise and most investors too. iPhone sales, Apple watch and Apple services all came in well ahead of expectations with China being a huge boost. Revenue in China rose 57% year on year.

Apple Inc News: AAPL blowout results for Q1 

Earnings per share (EPS) was $1.68, comfortably beating analyst expectations of $1.41 per share. Revenues broke $100 billion, a record for Apple (AAPL). CFO Luca Maestri said that “December quarter business performance was fueled by double-digit growth in each product category, which drove all-time revenue records in each of our geographic segments and an all-time high for our installed base of active devices.”

iPhone domination

Sales of Apple's signature product, the iPhone, increased by 17% and accounted for nearly 60% of all Apple's revenues. 

Some may see this as over-reliance on one product, but the iPhone is unlikely to suffer any time soon. The newest version, the iPhone 12 was launched late in 2020. 

With the increased rollout of superfast 5G globally, sales of mobile phones and iPhones should continue to see strong growth. The iPhone 12 is 5G ready. 

Growing pains

The only negative so far is the continuing growing pains of Apple TV. It is unclear whether Apple is fully committed to the streaming service as it offers year-long free trials with purchases of certain new Apple products and so far has yet to make a serious dent on industry leaders Netflix (NFLX) and Disney. The streaming business is becoming increasingly competitive, Apple (AAPL) has hordes of cash so, maybe in the future, it will have to eye acquisitions if it wants to remain competitive and grow in this space. 

The upgrades just keep coming

On the back of the record-breaking results, analysts rushed to upgrade AAPL. Morgan Stanley increased its price target for Apple (AAPL) to $164. Wedbush increased its price target to $175. Raymond James increased its price target to $160 and Needham increased its price target for Apple (AAPL) to $170. Deutsche Bank upped its AAPL price target to $160. In total, on January 28, (the day after results) 10 Wall Street analysts increased their price target for Apple (AAPL).

Shares of Apple (AAPL) hit an all-time high of $145.09 prior to results and finished the week down over 8% as profit-taking hit the stock as well as general broader market worries. Shares in Apple (AAPL) are still up over 70% over the last 12 months.

Apple (AAPL) technical analysis

Apple shares still meet the classic criteria for an uptrend, a series of higher highs and higher lows. But shares fell back to the trendline support last Friday, which needs to hold to keep the uptrend in place. More concerning for the uptrend is the lack of new confirming highs in either the RSI or MACD. $125.34 is now key support for the current bullish trend.

 

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