Apple Hits Near-Record High, While Chip Stocks Face Pullback Risk After Massive Rally

The CNBC Halftime Report panel spent its May 1, 2026, show wrestling with two big questions that tech investors are asking:

1. Is Apple’s current valuation sustainable?
2. Have chip stocks run too far, too fast?

Apple: A 34x Forward Multiple Versus a 23x Decade Average

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL | AAPL Price Prediction) closed the session within 1% of a new record high, trading at $280.14 after a 9.59% April rally. The Halftime panel’s debate centered on a stretched forward P/E of 34x against a 10-year average of 23x.

The bull case rests on the $111.184 billion March quarter, which Tim Cook called “our best March quarter ever, with revenue of $111.2 billion and double-digit growth across every geographic segment.” Services hit a record, gross margins ran at 49.3%, and China revenue rebounded 28%. The board authorized a $100 billion buyback, detailed in the 8-K filed April 30.

One caller defending the multiple said, “This isn’t just a stock. This is the zeitgeist of the modern consumer.” Another argued that “the iPhone sales being a little bit light, usually that controls the entire narrative. And the fact that that took a backseat to everything else is just incredibly exciting.”

One of the most interesting points about Apple today is the company’s capital efficiency. While hyperscaler peers have poured a combined $700 billion into CapEx, Apple’s annual CapEx sits at roughly $6 billion, which affords the company more capital to fund its buyback. For those who are bearish on AI CapEx spending, Apple has been extremely conscious with their spend. Some might argue this will put them at a competitive disadvantage in the long term, but for now, the company’s capital isn’t being spent on projects with questionable returns.

Chips: Nvidia Stock at $199, Down From a $213 Record

The host bridged to the topic of chips with a warning: “At some point, momentum runs out of gas, or at least you need to take a prolonged sit-down before you get up and run again.” Semiconductor names gained 60-70% in a single month.

NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA) trades at $199, down from a $213 record, with a market cap of $4.85 trillion and a forward P/E of 26. Fiscal Q4 produced $68.13 billion in revenue, up 73.2% year over year, with Q1 FY27 guidance of roughly $78.0 billion.

One caller said the pullback puts the entry “right in front of your face.” Another pushed back, arguing competition from Alphabet’s TPUs and Amazon’s Trainium means Nvidia faces “real competition for the first time.” That is a thesis shift worth flagging, especially with Jensen Huang positioning Grace Blackwell as “the king of inference today.”

The Same Question, Two Forms

The Apple valuation debate and the chip pullback both point to the same underlying question: can leadership continue at these levels, or does the market need a pause? With both companies still near record highs, the question is whether industry-dominating performance is already fully priced in.