As Apple Hits All-Time High, What Takes It Higher?

By Douglas A. McIntyre Published Jul 16, 7:10AM EDT

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As Apple Hits All-Time High, What Takes It Higher? — © PhillDanze / iStock Editorial via Getty Images

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Now that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL | AAPL Price Prediction) stock has come back and hit an all-time high, what takes it higher?
Are its problems in China behind it? Will the launch of the iPhone 16 provide a boost?

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) shares hit an all-time high of $237.23, partly due to optimistic reports from research firms Loop and Morgan Stanley. Both rate Apple as a “buy” and have price targets as high as $300. The price is a relief for shareholders who watched the stock struggle earlier in the year, primarily because of sales in China and worries too few consumers would upgrade from the iPhone 14 to the iPhone 15. Now that Apple has come back, what takes it higher?

First, Apple reports earnings on August 1. The company needs to be better than the same quarter last year, which showed weakness in iPhone sales and China revenue. In the prior quarter, total revenue dropped 4% to $90.8 billion. Greater China sales fell from $17.8 billion in the year-ago quarter to $16.4 billion. iPhone revenue declined from $51.3 billion to $46 billion. Although non-hardware sales are improving, more is needed to compensate for iPhone problems, and that is unlikely to happen.

Apple also needs to demonstrate that its problems in China are behind it. Some research shows that its market share rebounded from early in the year. Yet, it still needs to beat figures from local smartphone companies like Oppo.

The launch of the iPhone 16 in September is the most significant catalyst for a further increase in the share price. Apple has announced it will have several advanced artificial intelligence features. However, it is still being determined what those are for consumer demand to be exceptionally high in September and October. Worries about the iPhone 16 will fall away if those rise sharply.

Apple’s shares have upside. Now management needs to perform.

Be sure to grab a copy of our “The Next Nvidia” report if you are looking for more great stock ideas.

About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.