Analyst Note Pushes Apple Stock Out of Sell-Off Slump

Most analysts give Apple a positive outlook

Despite the continuing uncertainty surrounding Wall Street lead by coronavirus concerns, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is up 2.6% at $280.32 today. The broad market sell-off last week had AAPL shares down 12.7% last week, but the big tech company is coming out this week okay, largely due Oppenheimer upgrading the shares to "outperform." According to the analyst in coverage, "Apple's strong balance sheet offers tremendous flexibility to keep supply chain nimble" and Apple will prove "more resilient than competitive products in uncertain times." Heading in to today, eighteen of the 21 analysts in coverage were bullish on AAPL, with fourteen sporting a "strong buy."

AAPL stock has outperformed the S&P 500 Index (SPX) by around 10% during the last two months. Not only are the shares the top Dow stock this morning, but last week's sell-off appears to have found support at the shares' 160-day moving average. And longer-term, the equity remains up almost 60% in the last 12 months.

Apple is looking call-heavy in the options pits. Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) is 0.85, which ranks in the low 16th percentile of its annual range. This indicates that short-term options players have rarely been more call-heavy during the last 12 months.

Plus, Apple's Schaeffer's Volatility Scorecard (SVS) sits high at 99, showing that AAPL's stock has tended to exceed option traders' volatility expectations during the past year, a good thing for option buyers.