Apple Stock May Be Peaking After Hitting New All-Time Highs

• Apple (AAPL) demonstrates strong technical momentum, recently setting new all-time highs.
• Shares are up nearly 40% over the past year.
• AAPL maintains a 100% “Buy” technical opinion from Barchart.
• Despite exceptional profitability and momentum, AAPL’s rich valuation and uneven growth outlook suggest the stock may be nearing a peak. 

Today’s Featured Stock

Valued at $4.98 trillion, Apple’s (AAPL) business primarily runs around its flagship iPhone. However, the Services portfolio that includes cloud services, App store, Apple Music, AppleCare, Apple Pay, and other solutions has become a cash cow. Moreover, non-iPhone devices like Apple Watch and AirPods have gained significant traction

What I’m Watching

I found today’s Chart of the Day by using Barchart’s powerful screening functions to sort for stocks with the highest technical buy signals and superior current momentum. I then used Barchart’s Flipcharts feature to review the charts for consistent price appreciation. AAPL checks those boxes. The Trend Seeker issued a new “Buy” signal on Sept. 10. The stock has gained 5.26% since that signal.

Barchart’s Technical Indicators for Apple

Editor’s Note: The technical indicators below are updated live during the session every 20 minutes and can therefore change each day as the market fluctuates. The indicator numbers shown below therefore may not match what you see live on the Barchart.com website when you read this report. These technical indicators form the Barchart Opinion on a particular stock.

Apple hit an all-time high of $348.15 on Oct. 13.

• Apple has a Weighted Alpha of 37.90.
• AAPL has a 100% “Buy” opinion from Barchart.
• The stock has gained 38.74% over the past 52 weeks.
• Apple has its Trend Seeker “Buy” signal intact.
• The stock recently traded at $341.92 with a 50-day moving average of $324.44.
• AAPL had 7 highs and gained 3.2% in the last month.
• 60-month beta of 1.07
• Relative Strength Index (RSI) is at 61.08.
• There’s a technical support level around $338.62.

Don’t Forget the Fundamentals

• $4.98 trillion market capitalization.
• 39.6x trailing price-earnings ratio.
• Dividend yield of 0.31%.
• Revenue is expected to grow 14.91% this year and another 10.54% next year.
• Earnings are estimated to increase by 18.38% this year and an additional 8.59% next year.

Analyst and Investor Sentiment on Apple

• Wall Street analysts followed by Barchart give the stock 20 “Strong Buy,” 3 “Moderate Buy,” 14 “Hold,” 1 “Moderate Sell,” and 2 “Strong Sell” opinions with price targets from $240 to $400.
• Value Line rates the stock “Above Average” with price targets from $350 to $470.
• Morningstar thinks the stock is 17% overvalued.
• CFRA’s MarketScope rates the stock as “Buy” with a price target of $380.
• 2,910,000 investors are following the stock on Seeking Alpha, which rates it as a “Hold.”
• TipRanks’ analysts have a consensus of $338.31, which is close to yesterday’s close.
• Short interest is 0.96% of the float with 0.53 days to cover the float.

The Bottom Line on Apple

The stock is supported by exceptional profitability and stock momentum, but the stock’s rich valuation and uneven growth outlook might mean the peak is near.

Additional disclosure: The Barchart Chart of the Day highlights stocks that are experiencing exceptional current price appreciation. They are not intended to be buy recommendations as these stocks are extremely volatile and speculative. Should you decide to add one of these stocks to your investment portfolio, it is highly suggested you follow a predetermined diversification and moving stop loss discipline that is consistent with your personal investment risk tolerance.

On the date of publication, Jim Van Meerten had a position in: AAPL . All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. For more information please view the Barchart Disclosure Policy here.