3 reasons why Apple stock is on fire

Apple’s stock (AAPL) has been on fire, despite concerns about consumer demand and production hiccups in China.

Shares of the iPhone maker stock rose for the 11th straight session on Tuesday. The stock is inching closer to its record high of $182 hit in early January. Shares were down slightly on Wednesday, putting the streak at risk of ending.

The stock is up 12% in the past 11 days. This is the longest winning streak for Apple’s stock since 2003, according to Bloomberg data.

Wedbush tech analyst Dan Ives — a long-time Apple bull — points to several reasons for the stunning advance.

“The focus naturally of the Street has been on the lingering chip shortage for Apple (and every other tech/automotive player), however, the underlying iPhone 13 demand story for Cupertino both domestically and in China is trending ahead of Street expectations in our opinion so far in the March quarter with momentum into the June quarter,” Ives told Yahoo Finance via email. “While the supply chains issues have curtailed some growth (~15 million iPhone units) for Apple over the past few quarters on this massive product cycle playing out across its entire hardware ecosystem, we believe the pent-up demand story is still being underestimated by investors.”

To Ives point, there has been a few concerns on Apple’s near-term growth trajectory.

Nikkei reported this week that Apple is cutting production on the cheaper iPhone SE by 20% amid softening demand in the wake of the Russia-Ukraine war.

Meanwhile, one of Apple’s largest suppliers Foxconn recently halted operations as the Chinese government looks to contain new COVID-19 outbreaks. It’s unclear when operations will restart.

The bulls like Ives have been undeterred, however. Ives adds the company’s strong showing at the Oscars could propel subscriptions for its Apple TV+ business.

Added Ives, “We estimate that today Apple has roughly 25 million paid subscribers on the platform and ~50 million global accounts. This clearly is a fraction of the subs that other streaming stalwarts have on their platform, with Cupertino now trying to figure out their path to growth and streaming ambitions for the next decade with Sunday night marking a historic accomplishment for Apple with its Best Picture victory.”

Brian Sozzi is an editor-at-large and anchor at Yahoo Finance. Follow Sozzi on Twitter @BrianSozzi and on LinkedIn.