Bullish Options Trade Targets ~5% Upside in Apple (AAPL) Ahead of Earnings Announcement AMC -Susquehanna

Apple (AAPL) PT Raised to $130 at Deutsche Bank Following 2Q

Deutsche Bank raised its price target on Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) to $130.00 (from $125.00) while maintaining a Hold rating.... More

BMO Capital Reiterates Outperform on Apple (AAPL) Following Mixed 2Q

BMO Capital reiterated an Outperform rating and $160.00 price target on Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) following the company's 2Q earnings report. Apple reported mixed results for both headline and underlying numbers. Revenue and EPS were $52.9 billion and $2.10, compared with the consensus estimates for $53.0 billion and... More

Apple (AAPL) 30-day call option implied volatility of 21 compares to volatility of 19 from a month into Q2

Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) 30-day call option implied volatility of 21 compares to volatility of 19 from a month

Wall St. eyes Apple and Facebook to fuel new leg of tech rally

By Noel Randewich

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) and Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) may expand their already outsized share of U.S. technology revenue when they report their earnings this week, as investors look for evidence to justify this year's U.S. stock market rally.

The two are the last of the top five U.S. tech companies by market value to release their quarterly results, following reports from Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL), Microsoft (NASDAQ:... More

Apple (AAPL) May weekly 148 straddle priced for movement of 3.4% into Q2, compared to 4.5% into October

Apple (AAPL) May weekly 148 straddle priced for movement of 3.4% into Q2, compared to movement of 4.5% in October of 2016 for Q4

Despite record highs, fund managers globally remain underweight Apple

By David Randall

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Active stock fund managers around the world are holding the lowest percentage of Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) shares in their portfolios when compared to the iPhone maker's overall weighting in indexes, even as the shares hit record highs, according to a research note by investment bank UBS late Monday.

The current positioning by investors suggests Apple stock has room to run as portfolio managers chase performance. This should give Apple more fuel even after it rallied 56.4 percent in the 12 months leading up to Monday's... More

Apple (AAPL) call put ratio 1.56 calls to 1 put as weekly volatility increases as shares near record high into Q2 EPS

Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) May weekly call option implied volatility is at 48, May is at 25, June and July is at 20, September is at 19; compared to its 52-week range of 14 to 33 into the expected release of Q2 today after the market close.

Active options: AMD AAPL FB TWTR BAC MSFT TSLA AMZN NVDA FTR F VRX MU BABA

Active options: AMD AAPL FB TWTR BAC MSFT TSLA AMZN NVDA FTR F VRX MU BABA

Wall Street edges up on heavy earnings day; Fed on tap

By Lewis Krauskopf

(Reuters) - Wall Street edged higher on Tuesday as gains for the tech and industrial sectors countered weakness in auto and energy stocks and investors digested a heavy day of earnings reports.

Ford (NYSE: F) shares dropped 4.4 percent and General Motors (NYSE: GM) fell 2.9 percent, as major automakers posted declines in U.S. new vehicle sales for April.

After the market closed, Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) shares fell more than 1 percent after the company reported a surprise drop in... More

Wells Fargo Says To Expect A Solid Report From Apple (AAPL)

Wells Fargo maintains Market Perform on Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL).

Analyst Maynard Um expects Apple to report a solid quarter but sees risks to his next quarter estimates.

"...we believe AAPL's higher than normal warranty accrual (absorbed by two other 1x gains... More

Apple (AAPL) May weekly 147 straddle priced for movement of 3.4% into Q2 EPS

Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) May weekly 147 straddle priced for movement of 3.4% into Q2 EPS

Options expected to have increasing volume

Options expected to have increasing volume: AAPL COH MDLZ AMD ANGI THC HCA TXRH

Apple (AAPL) May weekly 146 straddle priced for movement of 3.4% into Q2 EPS

Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) May weekly 146 straddle priced for movement of 3.4% into Q2 EPS

Active options: AAPL FB BAC AMD TWTR TSLA AMZN NFLX MSFT X MU INTC

Active options: AAPL FB BAC AMD TWTR TSLA AMZN NFLX MSFT X MU INTC

Apple (AAPL) Investors Await a Minimum 10% Dividend Hike, $25-$35B Repurchase Addition and News on Repatriation

In addition to earnings on Tuesday (05/02), Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) is expected to raise its dividend and stock repurchase plan.

Since reintroducing the dividend in 2012, Apple has raised its dividend each year for the past four years and this year would make it five. On average the company's dividend hike has been around 11%, with the highest raise 15% in 2013 and the lowest of 8% in 2014. If Apple again raises its... More

Drexel Hamilton Reiterates Buy Rating and $185 PT on Apple (AAPL) Ahead of F2Q Report; 'Seasonal Doldrums but Capital, Valuation & iPhone 8 to Support'

Drexel Hamilton reiterates Buy rating and $185 price target on Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) ahead of the company's 2017 fiscal second quarter result.

Analyst Brian White suggests the company remains underappreciated by the market, offering sales expectations of $53.6B during a seasonally light March period-end, as... More

Evercore ISI Sees Analog Devices (ADI) Possibly Losing Apple (AAPL) Business, Texas Instruments (TXN) To Relatively Outperform

Analog Devices (NASDAQ: ADI) shares are volatile Monday morning as Evercore ISI analyst CJ Muse releases commentary noting ADI appears likely to lose Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) business in OLED phone in 2017 compared with Muse's estimate for... More

Active options: AAPL FB TWTR BAC AMZN MSFT AMD

Active options: AAPL FB TWTR BAC AMZN MSFT AMD

U.S. factory activity slows; inflation pressures subside

By Lucia Mutikani

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. factory activity slowed in April while consumer spending was unchanged in March and a key inflation measure recorded its first monthly drop since 2001, but economists still expect an interest rate increase in June as the labor market tightens.

The weak reports on Monday came ahead of the Federal Reserve's two-day policy meeting on Tuesday. Economists said policymakers were likely to view the raft of soft data as temporary. The U.S. central bank is not expected to raise interest rates at the end of the meeting on Wednesday.

Apple, tech lift Wall Street as Nasdaq sets record

By Lewis Krauskopf

(Reuters) - Wall Street climbed on Monday, boosted by gains in Apple and other big tech stocks that more than offset weak economic data and pushed the Nasdaq Composite to another record high.

Apple shares (NASDAQ: AAPL) jumped 2 percent and set a record high, supporting the three major Wall Street indexes. The iPhone maker is due to report its results on Tuesday.

The S&P 500 technology index , the best performing major group this year, gained 0.9 percent, with big tech names including Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT),... More

Apple (AAPL) volatility increases as shares near record high into Q1 EPS and outlook

Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) May weekly call option implied volatility is at 33, May is at 22, July is at 18, September is at 18; compared to its 52-week range of 14 to 33 into the expected release of Q1 on May 2.

Cowen Reiterates Outperform Rating and $155 PT on Apple (AAPL) Ahead of FQ2 Report; 'Better iPhone ASP on Continued Strong Shift Toward 7+'

Cowen reiterates Outperform rating and $155 price target on Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) ahead of the company's 2017 fiscal second quarter report.

Analyst notes revenues and EPS estimates for the company at $53B/$2.02 with upside to $54.6B/$2.14 on better iPhone ASP, while commodity and component price... More

Qualcomm (QCOM) Says Apple (AAPL) Continues to Improperly Interfere with Agreements with Contract Manufacturers

Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ: QCOM) today announced that it has been informed by Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) that Apple is withholding payments to its contract manufacturers for the royalties those contract manufacturers owe under their licenses with Qualcomm for sales... More

Options expected to have increasing volume

Options expected to have increasing volume: AAPL CVS FB TWTR FIT UPS MDLZ

Wall Street gains buoy stocks in light May Day trading; oil falls

By Rodrigo Campos

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Shares of the largest U.S. companies hit record highs on Monday, lifting Wall Street and a gauge of key world equity indexes, while data on U.S. drilling and output kept downward pressure on oil prices.

Global trading was light, with some markets in Europe and Latin America closed for the May Day holiday, while Japan was open overnight during a shortened trading week.

Data showed U.S. manufacturing activity slowed in April while consumer spending was unchanged in March and a key inflation measure recorded its first monthly... More

Qualcomm (QCOM) PT Lowered to $55 at RBC Capital

RBC Capital lowered its price target on Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM) to $55.00 (from $60.00) while maintaining a Sector Perform rating.

Analyst Amit Daryanani comments in a weekend note to clients that Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) will... More

Apple, Tesla ask California to change proposed self-driving car test policy

By David Shepardson

(Reuters) - Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) urged California to toughen up its proposed policy on testing self-driving cars, a move that would result in more public data that could help Apple catch up to rivals in the self-driving space by giving it a better window into their strengths and weaknesses.

In a letter made public on Friday, Apple suggested a series of changes to the draft policy that is under development and said it looks forward to working with California and others "so that rapid technology development may... More

Apple (AAPL) asks California to make changes in its proposed self-driving car testing policies - Reuters, citing company letter

Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) asks California to make changes in its proposed self-driving car testing policies - Reuters, citing company letter.

Foxconn plans U.S. investment, plans not finalized: Chairman Gou

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Foxconn, the world's largest contract electronic manufacturer and a major Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) supplier, is planning an investment in the United States but has not finalized its plans, said Chairman Terry Gou as he exited the White House on Friday.

Qualcomm (QCOM) Lowers Guidance, Says Apple Continues to Improperly Interfere with Agreements

Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ: QCOM) today announced that it has been informed by Apple Inc. that Apple is withholding payments to its contract manufacturers for the royalties those contract manufacturers owe under their licenses with Qualcomm for sales during the quarter ended March 31, 2017. Apple has indicated it will continue this behavior until its dispute with Qualcomm is resolved.

"Apple is improperly interfering with Qualcomm's long-standing agreements with Qualcomm's licensees," said Don Rosenberg, executive vice president and general counsel of Qualcomm. "These license agreements remain valid and enforceable. While Apple has acknowledged that... More

Apple (AAPL) call put ratio open interest 1.25 calls to 1 put into Q2 EPS and outlook

Apple (AAPL) call put ratio open interest 1.25 calls to 1 put into Q2 EPS and outlook on May 2. Average open interest call put ratio is 1.24 calls to 1 put.

Apple (AAPL) volatility increases as shares near record high into Q2 EPS and outlook

Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) May weekly call option implied volatility is at 32, May is at 22, June is a 19; compared to its 52-week range of 13 to 29 into Q2.

Foxconn plans 'capital-intensive' U.S. investment-Chairman Gou

By Ayesha Rascoe and J.R. Wu

WASHINGTON/TAIPEI (Reuters) - Foxconn , the world's largest contract electronics manufacturer and a major Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) supplier, is planning a "capital-intensive" investment in the United States, Chairman Terry Gou said as he exited the White House on Friday.

Formally known as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co, Foxconn operates large manufacturing facilities in China, which is a base for its assembly of Apple's iPhones. The Taiwan-based company has been eyeing U.S. investments for some time.

President Donald Trump has made... More