Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) stock trended on Monday after Raymond James reinstated a Market Perform rating on the company.

What To Know: According to Investing.com, Raymond James resumed coverage of Apple with a Market Perform rating, citing strong fundamentals and improving product cycles while noting that the current valuation already reflects those positives.

The firm said Apple’s stock is trading near its 52-week high of $288.62, with the company valued at approximately $4.02 trillion. Raymond James said Apple’s leadership in consumer hardware, its ecosystem, and services remains intact, supported by a highly sticky value proposition, but added that these strengths are already well understood by investors.

Raymond James said Apple’s valuation limits near-term upside potential, pointing to InvestingPro data that showed the stock trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.52 and a PEG ratio of 1.58. The firm said these metrics indicated the stock was trading above its Fair Value estimate.

The research note also highlighted Apple’s financial strength, with a perfect Piotroski Score of 9. However, Raymond James said Apple’s broad user base of roughly 2.4 billion makes incremental gains from future technology upgrade cycles more difficult to achieve and less impactful on overall results.

Raymond James acknowledged Apple’s recent share gains tied to the relative success of the iPhone 17 refresh cycle, which it said could drive more than $217 billion in calendar-year 2025 revenue.

Despite this, the firm said it remains on the sidelines, citing Apple’s valuation trading several turns above its five-year average price-to-earnings ratio.

The firm also noted Apple generated $416.16 billion in revenue over the past 12 months, representing 6.43% revenue growth during that period.

AAPL Price Action: Apple shares closed down 1.38% lower at $267.26, according to data from Benzinga Pro.

See Also:
• Maduro Down, Drone Stocks Up After Venezuela Mission

Image via Shutterstock