Apple Gets Its Mojo Back After a Shaky Start to 2023

tech.hindustantimes.com:

After a shaky start to the year, Apple Inc.'s stock has once again reclaimed the mantle of the go-to investment in Big Tech, even winning support from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. after years in which the brokerage refrained from recommending the shares.

The Cupertino, California-based giant has risen about 15% in 2023 and is on course for the biggest quarterly gain in more than a year. The stock is outperforming fellow mega-cap technology companies like Microsoft Corp., Alphabet Inc. and Amazon. com Inc.

Concerns about an imminent drop in demand for Apple's pricey computers and iPhones, along with supply bottlenecks, have dissipated. Goldman this week turned bullish on the stock for the first time in almost six years, after being mostly on the sidelines as the stock more than quadrupled in value.

“Apple's strong balance sheet, talented team, and innovation capabilities could be viewed by investors as a safe place to park equity exposure,” said David Waddell, chief investment strategist at Waddell and Associates.

Rewind to December and the picture looked gloomy: A fresh wave of Covid infections in China led to its key assembly partner shutting down production of iPhones in the run up to Apple's biggest quarter. The stock slumped to a 19-month low in early January and the company's market value dipped below $2 trillion for the first time since March 2021.

The Federal Reserve's series of interest rate increases also was crimping shares of all highly valued technology companies while sparking concern that the economy would tip into recession, hurting sales of computers and phones.

Now the factory is back online, supply chain snarls have dissipated and demand seems to be holding up.

Apple also is seeing limited impact from economic