Apple regained the first place as the world leader in smartphones.
The iPhone maker shipped nearly 80 million devices in the fourth quarter, according to Gartner, outperforming all other smartphone companies, including Samsung and Microsoft. He reclaimed that number one spot for the first time since 2016.
What is not at the top? Its stock price. The stock fell 9% in the past month, trailing the tech sector and the larger S&P 500.
“It’s in the penalty box here in the short term,” Ari Wald, head of technical analysis for Oppenheimer, told CNBC’s “Trading Nation” Monday.
He said the stock may have been unfairly punished due to a global semiconductor shortage that could squeeze margins. However, he said the company may be in a better position to meet higher costs than its competitors, coming out of the shortage in a stronger position than others.
“We would look for the stock to stabilize at around $ 120 of support. This is where the stock started to climb in December, and ultimately sets the stage for a resumption of this longer term uptrend.” , said Wald.
Apple closed at $ 126 on Monday. The stock is expected to fall further 5% to reach this level.
Katie Stockton, managing partner at Fairlead Strategies, said the upward momentum could be exhausted after Apple’s surge.
“It has shown upward leadership for the broader market in 2019 and 2020,” she said in the same interview. “It’s gone up over 80% in those two years, so the outperformance suggests maybe now it’s tiring. I think people are feeling the price may be near full, and because of that, they look for opportunities elsewhere that they think are more exciting. “
Like Wald, Stockton sees only short-term weakness before the stock continues to climb.
“It’s a long term uptrend. It still has that long term momentum behind it, so ultimately I think we would like to look for a buying opportunity. I just don’t feel like it is within reach yet,” said Stockton.
She identifies a level of support below Wald’s target – $ 110 per share. It would take a further 13% drop to reach this level.
Apple will hold its annual meeting of shareholders on Tuesday.
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