The world's most valuable company is now a part of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, as Apple officially became a part of the index at the start of trading on Thursday.
Apple has singled out Greater China—including mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan—as a primary growth center. AppleInsider took a trip to learn more, starting with a week exploring Taiwan followed by a week in Hong Kong and a week in Guangdong Province in the People's Republic of China.
The heads of major hedge funds are so bullish on shares of Apple that they wish they could buy more, but doing so would put them at too great a risk with less diversification.
Apple's chief executive Tim Cook telephoned CNBC financial entertainment star Jim Cramer to congratulate him on ten years of performing his "Mad Money" high energy cable TV show, which injects wild hysterics and physical comedy rage into the generally buttoned down world of financial news.
Riding high the day after detailing a series of new products at its Spring Forward event, Apple's chief executive Tim Cook recapped the company's progress at its annual shareholder meeting on Tuesday, with a particular focus on acquisitions, partnerships and achieving the kind of diversity that reflects the company's growing, global audience of employees and customers.
The latest data from Morgan Stanley suggests Apple is on target to set a new record and sell at least 54 million iPhones in the current quarter, which concludes later this month.
Apple's annual shareholder meeting was held at its corporate campus on Tuesday, and went by largely without any surprises, as the company's board of directors was reelected with near-universal support from shareholders, while other initiatives were rejected.
Analysts on Wall Street came away generally pleased with this week's announcement of Apple Watch launch details, viewing the new platform as a way to extend the company's valuable ecosystem and generate more revenue from high-margin products.
Demand for the iPhone 6 continues to outstrip Apple's ability to keep up with supply, as a new survey from UBS has led the investment firm to increase its projected sales for the March quarter to a whopping 58 million units.
Apple will be added to the Dow Jones Industrial Average later this month, a new major distinction on Wall Street for the world's most valuable company.
Momentum for the Apple Watch will likely take a short time to build driven mostly by apps, one analyst believes, with sales quickly escalating to 10 million units in the holiday 2015 shopping season.
Morgan Stanley showed significant confidence in Apple on Monday, raising their price target to $160 and expressing a belief to investors that the company can continue to grow its business.
Berenberg Bank believes Apple's financial model is too reliant on the iPhone, and has predicted that the company's shares will plummet more than 50 percent to $60 — a price target so extreme that it seems more of a statement than an actual, plausible forecast.
Apple stock hit a new high of $133 at the closing bell on Monday, rocketing up 2.7 percent on the day to grow its market capitalization to just under $775 billion, a number two times larger than second-largest publicly traded U.S. company Exxon Mobil.
Hedge funds, mutual funds, and other large investors continue to make Apple a core component of their portfolios, with over 2,000 individual funds holding shares worth more than $380 billion at the close of 2014, by far the most for any U.S. company.
Apple is set to announce an update to its capital return program in April, and investment firm RBC Capital Markets believes the company could return some $65 billion to investors annually, creating yet another reason to buy into the company's stock.
With the total U.S. car market valued at over $500 billion per year, taking just a 10 percent share would represent a new $50 billion revenue opportunity for Apple, according to one analyst.
Investment firm BMO Capital Markets was the latest to increase its Apple price target this week in the face of the stock's huge gains, which are forecast to continue with the success of the iPhone 6 and upcoming launch of the Apple Watch.
Activist investor Carl Icahn this week once again heaped praise on Apple, saying the company's stock continues to be vastly undervalued and should be trading today at a price of $216.
Investment firm J.P. Morgan on Wednesday revised its estimates to accommodate for the April launch of the Apple Watch, a product it believes will help push shares of AAPL to $145 before the end of 2015.
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Neil Hughes
Daniel Eran Dilger
Katie Marsal
AppleInsider Staff
Mikey Campbell
Sam Oliver
