Apple Stock Eyes Big Gains After Beat-and-Raise

AAPL could today mark its first weekly win in five

Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) reported a top- and bottom-line beat for its fiscal first quarter after yesterday’s close. The tech giant also shared a strong sales growth outlook, pointing to recovering iPhone sales amid the rollout of artificial intelligence (AI) features. No fewer than 14 analysts lifted their price targets, including Goldman Sachs to $294 from $280.

Coming into today, 15 of the 36 analysts covering Apple stock still rate it a tepid “hold” or worse. This means there’s still plenty of room for upgrades amongst the brokerage bunch.

AAPL is up 4.2% to trade at $247.60 in premarket trading. Should gains hold, the equity will mark its fourth win in the last five days, and notch their best day since June. The shares are also on track for their first weekly gain in five as they extend a bounce off $220 and boast a 28.8% year-over-year lead.

While calls still outpace puts in the options pits, options traders have been more bearish than usual of late. At the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), the equity’s 50-day call/put volume ratio sits higher than 80% of annual readings. An unwinding of this pessimism could boost AAPL.

It’s worth noting the security has a history of exceeding volatility expectations, as evidenced by its Schaeffer’s Volatility Scorecard (SVS) rating of 77 out of 100. In simpler terms, now may be a good time to weigh in on Apple stock’s next more with options.