Apple stock surged higher Friday on expectations that the consumer electronics giant will be exempt from U.S. tariffs after appeasing President Trump with its hefty domestic spending plan.
On the stock market today, Apple stock rose 4.2% to close at 229.35.
Apple has risen for three straight trading sessions. The gains came on news that it is hiking its domestic investment in U.S. manufacturing, by $100 billion, to a total $600 billion over the next four years. Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook made the formal announcement at the White House with President Donald Trump late Wednesday.
With the advance on Friday, Apple stock climbed above its 200-day moving average line for the first time since March 10. It cleared its 50-day line on Wednesday.
Also Friday, Apple's chipmaker, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, announced that its sales in the month of July rose 22.5% from June and 25.8% from a year earlier. Analysts say TSMC likely got a boost from production of chips for Apple's upcoming iPhone 17 as well as continued demand for AI server chips.
"Apple's stock has reacted nicely to tariff news, but we see focus starting to move toward new products and systematic increases in value for iPhones that drives growth for the next 3+ years," Melius Research analyst Ben Reitzes said in a client note Friday.
Apple Stock Nabs Price-Target Hike
Reitzes reiterated his buy rating on Apple stock and raised his price target to 260 from 240.
After the tariff issue was seemingly resolved, the next big issue hanging over Apple stock is whether a federal court judge will strike down its lucrative deal with Alphabet. That agreement makes Google the default search engine on iPhones.
Elsewhere on Friday, Wedbush Securities analyst Daniel Ives maintained his buy rating on Apple stock with a 12-month price target of 270.
"This was a big week for Cook to play nice in the sandbox with the Trump administration and commit to more U.S. manufacturing investments," Ives said in a client note. "This helped remove some of the tensions between Apple and the Trump administration and importantly should now remove much of the tariff uncertainty with exemptions as Apple navigates a very complex China and India manufacturing process."
The biggest uncertainty with Apple now is how the company will address the artificial intelligence megatrend, Ives said. He said Apple has an "invisible AI strategy" for now.
Follow Patrick Seitz on X at @IBD_PSeitz for more stories on consumer technology, software and semiconductor stocks.
