Apple's stock gaps up to another record after upbeat data on China iPhone sales
Shares of Apple Inc. surged 2.1% in afternoon trading, gapping higher to another record high, amid reports that iPhone sales in China have been stronger than expected. The stock's rally was enough to pace the Dow Jones Industrial Average's gainers. Barron's reported that based on calculations of data published by the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, Apple shipped about 3.2 million iPhones in China in December, up more than 18% from the same month a year ago. Wedbush analyst Dan Ives said that growth rate was about 2 percentage points above his expectation. "Many investors are asking us: Is all the good news baked into shares after an historic upward move over the last year? The answer from our vantage point is a resounding NO," Ives wrote in a research note, as he believes Apple is still in the early part of a "massive" iPhone upgrade cycle. The stock has hit an all-time intraday high of $310.43 earlier in the session. The intraday low was $306.20, leaving a gap in daily price charts between that low and Wednesday's intraday high of $304.44. The stock has was on track for the third record close this year. It has now run up 102% over the past 12 months, while the Dow has advanced 21%.
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