Apple’s stock finished at $175.43 on Friday, up $2.44 (+1.41%), close to the 52-week high of $176.39 achieved on May 19, last year.
The tech giant just released its latest financial report for the second fiscal quarter of the 2023 fiscal year (as of March 31), with total sales of $97.3 billion and earnings per share of $2.34; the division’s forecasting is $94.1 billion and $2.18 per share.
Apple said that it will return $90 billion to shareholders through share buybacks and dividends. Strong profits and repurchase announcements helped improve investor confidence in the firm.
The eight top technology stocks significantly contribute to the S&P 500’s 8.1% gain in 2023. According to Dow Jones Market Data, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite gained 21%, marking the highest year-to-date performance since 1991.
Microsoft made a $10 billion investment in OpenAI, the business that created ChatGPT, in January. This represents an increase of 36%. Apple, Alphabet, the parent company of Google, and Amazon.com all had gains of more than 33%.
