Apple Storms Back: 47% Surge Wipes Out 2025 Losses in Spectacular Rebound
Tech giant Apple just pulled off one of the most dramatic corporate comebacks of the decade—erasing an entire year's losses in a single explosive rally.
The 47% surge
That's right—forty-seven percent. The number speaks for itself. While Wall Street analysts were busy downgrading projections, Apple's stock quietly assembled a recovery that left every skeptic scrambling.
No new product launches. No groundbreaking announcements. Just pure market momentum catching everyone off guard.
Tim Cook's stealth rally
The rebound happened with almost surgical precision. While other tech stocks wobbled, Apple sliced through resistance levels like a hot knife through butter. No fancy explanations needed—sometimes the market just corrects itself.
What the charts don't show
Behind the percentages lies a deeper story about investor psychology. When a behemoth like Apple moves this decisively, it's not just about fundamentals—it's about sentiment shifting at scale.
Of course, the finance bros will claim they saw it coming all along. Funny how their crystal balls only work in hindsight.
Apple lags behind AI giants as momentum builds
Even with this recovery, Apple hasn’t caught up to its tech rivals. The Nasdaq 100 has already grown 17% in 2025, while companies with a bigger stake in artificial intelligence are moving much faster. Nvidia, Alphabet, and Meta have all soared over 30%, and Microsoft is up more than 20%. Apple, despite the bounce, still trails these names and lacks the AI narrative that’s driving most of the year’s big tech stock moves.
But analysts aren’t writing off Apple yet. There’s a new story building, and it’s all about the iPhone 17. It launched on Friday and early sales are 10% to 15% higher than last year’s iPhone 16 over the same time period. Production for base and Pro models is also being ramped up by roughly 20%, based on recent checks in Asian factories.
The performance gap might start to shrink soon if Apple manages to unlock more demand in China. Dan Ives, a well-known analyst at Wedbush, just raised his price target on Apple from $270 to $310, calling for a 26% upside from Friday’s close. That’s currently the highest target on Wall Street, based on FactSet numbers.
Analysts eye iPhone upgrade wave and China boost
Dan believes the market is missing what he calls a “major upgrade wave,” since around 315 million out of 1.5 billion iPhone users haven’t bought a new device in four years, and that backlog is now unlocking thanks to design tweaks and fresh hardware.
He wrote, “The Street is clearly underestimating this iPhone cycle in our view, and it’s a Ryder Cup Bethpage moment for Cook and Cupertino after a few years of disappointing growth years.”
That said, China remains a question mark. Sales in the region are expected to pick up, but the iPhone Air, Apple’s eSIM-only model, is still delayed there. Dan noted the delay, saying, “While iPhone Air is delayed in China… we expect this to be resolved over the coming month.” He sees China as a key piece of Apple’s iPhone 17 cycle and thinks the company has a chance to flip recent losses into real gains if it fixes the rollout issues soon.
Dan’s Optimism lines up with the general view on Wall Street. Out of all the analysts covering Apple, 32 currently have a strong buy or buy rating, making up roughly two-thirds of coverage, based on LSEG data.
Still, the numbers don’t lie. Apple shares climbed nearly 1% in premarket trading, but the stock is down almost 2% for the year, despite the rebound. The company’s challenge now is simple: keep this recovery going while catching up to the AI-fueled tech rally happening around it.
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