Is Apple stock heavily shorted?
Short sellers pounced on Apple as peers like Nvidia Corp., Meta Platforms Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. kept rallying. Apple is the second-most profitable short position this year at $2.4 billion in paper profits, according to data-analytics firm S3 Partners.
Apple is facing a slew of issues, including regulatory scrutiny of its App Store, declining sales in China and investor concerns over its growth prospects. Its fourth-quarter outlook also raised worries due to tepid demand for its handsets and other gadgets. Naturally, short sellers are pouncing.
With its 3-star rating, we believe Apple's stock is fairly valued compared with our long-term fair value estimate of $160 per share. Our valuation implies a fiscal 2024 adjusted price/earnings multiple of 25 times, a fiscal 2024 enterprise value/sales multiple of 7 times, and a fiscal 2024 free cash flow yield of 4%.
As of March 31st, there was short interest totaling 108,780,000 shares, a drop of 1.9% from the previous total of 110,860,000 shares. Changes in short volume can be used to identify positive and negative investor sentiment. Investors that short sell a stock are betting that its price will decline in the future.
| Symbol Symbol | Company Name | Chg% (YTD) |
|---|---|---|
| RILY RILY | B. Riley Financial Inc. | 41.73% |
| ACB ACB | Aurora Cannabis Inc. | 51.20% |
| BMEA BMEA | Biomea Fusion Inc. | -25.83% |
| RNAC RNAC | Cartesian Therapeutics Inc. | 0.18% |
Apple has a conensus rating of Moderate Buy which is based on 16 buy ratings, 10 hold ratings and 2 sell ratings.
The company needs to deal with two sizable challenges: a potential drop in revenue in China and a possible ruling against Google in its antitrust case, the analysts said, referring to a 2020 lawsuit the Justice Department filed against Google.
The sales were done purely for tax purposes. But Buffett said the decision to sell Apple shares was "probably a mistake" during Berkshire's 2021 annual meeting.
After Apple's recent earnings report, 43 analysts projected the company's 2024 revenue to come in at $388.3 billion, similar to the previous 12 months. Predicted earnings per share stood at $6.55, also consistent with last year's results.
Of the 28 analysts covering Apple stock, 15 rate it as a “Strong Buy,” while 3 call it a “Moderate Buy.” Nine more analysts rate it as a “Hold,” while 1 says it's a “Strong Sell.”
Should you buy a heavily shorted stock?
Are you tempted to buy it because everyone else is? It's important to always do your homework, and remember it's never wise to go all in. A stock that's in a short squeeze may still have a long way to climb, and if you don't think the fundamentals support higher prices, then perhaps you should look elsewhere.
This ratio is calculated by dividing the number of shares sold short by the average daily trading volume of the stock. A higher ratio indicates significant short interest. Financial news outlets and investment research platforms often discuss heavily shorted stocks and market trends related to short selling.
If this were to happen, 200 shares would have been sold short even though only 100 shares existed in the float. In this case, the short interest would be 200%. Though a rare occurrence, it is possible that in extreme instances, the number of shares shorted can exceed 100%.
In his early years, Buffett made use of short selling to hedge his long portfolio. He used to go around trying to borrow share certificates from institutions such as college endowments, pay them a small fee and use these holdings as a way of shorting the market.
- What are short squeezes? ...
- The greatest short squeezes of all time. ...
- 1923: Piggly Wiggly short squeeze. ...
- 2008: Volkswagen vs Porsche. ...
- The big short on Herbalife. ...
- 2020: Tesla stock price rally. ...
- 2021: The GameStop surge.
If you short a stock at $10, it can't go lower than zero, so you can't make more than $10 per share on the trade. But there's no ceiling on the stock. You can sell it at $10 and then be forced to buy it back at $20 … or $200 … or $2 million. There is no theoretical limit on how high a stock can go.
Berkshire's most recent 13-F filing disclosing its holdings to the Securities and Exchange Commission showed it sold 10 million shares of Apple, or 1% of its stake, in the final three months of 2023. The conglomerate bought energy stocks including Chevron and Occidental Petroleum, the filing showed.
Apple stock has received a consensus rating of buy. The average rating score is Aaa and is based on 67 buy ratings, 30 hold ratings, and 2 sell ratings. What was the 52-week low for Apple stock? The low in the last 52 weeks of Apple stock was 162.87.
Despite recent headwinds, Apple remains a leader in tech with dominating brand power and immense financial resources. A recent stock dip could be the perfect time to make a long-term investment in its business and profit from its potential over the next decade.
The company has faced repeated hits to its business but has a promising long-term outlook. Apple (AAPL -0.35%) has had a challenging start to 2024, with its shares down 9% year to date. Macroeconomic headwinds caught up with the company last year, which led to four consecutive quarters of revenue declines.
What is Apple stock prediction for 2025?
We expect the stock to reach $237 per share by the end of 2025. End of 2026: We predict that Apple's stock price could further increase to $298, driven by continuing interest rate reductions.
Apple has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from analysts, with roughly two in three rating it as a “Strong Buy” or “Moderate Buy.” AAPL's mean target price of $207.56 is almost 20% higher than yesterday's closing price.
Arthur D.
Contrary to common belief, Tim Cook, Apple's CEO, is not the company's largest individual shareholder. Arthur Levinson is Apple's largest individual shareholder, owning 4.43 million shares as of February 2024.
Buffett began buying Apple in the first quarter of 2016, but there's no way to know exactly what his average share price was. But if you use the highest closing that quarter as a conservative estimate, it means that you would have paid $27.06 per share for Apple.
Beneficial capital allocation. Berkshire owns a 5.9% stake in Apple thanks to its holding of nearly 916 million shares. This massive position provides a financial windfall.
