Apple stock posted its best weekly gain since 2020 after Cook's visit to the White House

Apple shares rose 13% this week, the best result for the company's stock in more than five years, wrote CNBC. Investor optimism was triggered by the visit of the company's head Tim Cook to the White House for the sake of announcing Apple's major investment in the US economy. At that meeting, Trump announced that he would impose 100 percent duties on chip imports, but Apple probably won't be affected.

On Friday, August 8, Apple securities rose 4.2% to $229.35 per share, the highest closing price since March 7. The growth of securities for the entire trading week reached 13%, which was their best result since July 2020. Apple's market capitalization has added more than $400 billion over the past five trading sessions to reach $3.4 trillion, reports CNBC. It is now the third most valuable company in the world after Nvidia and Microsoft.

Apple shares made a significant contribution to the growth of the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite indices. The index of high-tech companies during trading on Friday updated the historical maximum and closed at a record high of 21,450.02 points, adding almost 1% for the day. The broad market index strengthened 0.8% for the day and ended the day at 6,389.45 points, just one step away from a new record at the close, wrote CNBC. The Dow Jones Industrial Average blue-chip index rose 0.47% - to 44,175.61 points.

In an Aug. 6 meeting at the White House, Apple CEO Tim Cook and U.S. President Donald Trump announced the company's plans to spend $100 billion over four years on purchases from U.S. companies and suppliers. The iPhone maker's decision to buy more U.S. chips drew approval from Trump, who has previously expressed displeasure that Apple assembles its devices, including the iPhone, in places other than the United States.

At the same meeting, Trump announced that the U.S. would impose duties of 100 percent on imports of all chips from abroad. But he said the levies would not apply to companies that have pledged to manufacture semiconductors in the US or are already building infrastructure. Trump cited Apple as an example of such a business.

Trump's duties and their likely hit to Apple's profitability have investors worried. In late July, the company warned of the risk of more than $1 billion in additional costs due to import duties in the current quarter if conditions don't change.

The White House meeting came two weeks after the release of its June quarterly report, in which Apple reported a 10% rise in revenue and a 13% increase in iPhone sales.

"Apple and Tim Cook have shown a master class in managing uncertainty after months of pressure over potential problems over duties," quotes CNBC note by JPMorgan analyst Samik Chatterjee. He reiterated an "above market" rating on Apple's stock (Overweight) on Friday.

Wedbush analyst Dan Ives wrote ironically that Apple may be experiencing a "BlackBerry moment" due to lagging behind in artificial intelligence, writes MarketWatch. The analyst worries that Apple is just like BlackBerry in its time, "resting on its laurels" while Silicon Valley is caught up in the AI wave. That revolution is now being led by Alphabet and Microsoft, "focused on monetizing the biggest tech trend of the last 40 years," while Apple is "sitting on a park bench, sipping lemonade and watching these technological innovations change the world," Ives wrote.

At the same time, Wedbush analyst notes that Apple has a competitive advantage - "the world's largest consumer base", including 2.4 billion active iOS devices and 1.5 billion iPhones worldwide. However, he believes the company is not utilizing this asset to its full potential.

"It's absolutely clear that AI innovation is not happening inside [Apple Park headquarters] - the lack of innovation and the constant drain of AI talent is testament to that," Ives wrote.

According to data from MarketWatch, of the 49 analysts tracking the iPhone maker's securities, 32 of them recommend buying its stock (Buy and Overweight ratings), 15 advise holding it in a portfolio (Hold) and two recommend selling it (Sell).

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor