Apple Hits 52-Week High

By Paul Ausick Updated Apr 27, 4:18PM EDT · Published Apr 28, 1:35PM EDT

Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) posted an all-time high of $705.07 in September 2012, shortly after the launch of the iPhone 5. Since then the stock has dropped below $400 a share a couple of times and closed last Friday at $571.57. Just before noon on Monday, shares posted a new 52-week high just shy of $593 a share.

All the good news for investors — increased share buyback, higher dividend, seven-for-one stock split — is a week old now and if anything investors might be expected to be looking for a reason to take profits after the sharp 10% appreciation. What’s up?

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Perhaps it was the deal announced early Monday between Comcast Corp. (NASDAQ: CMCSA) and Charter Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: CHTR). There are rumors that Apple and Comcast have been adding a Comcast channel to a revitalized Apple TV set-top box. Adding some 9 million net Comcast subscribers to Apple TV’s potential audience is no small thing. Such a deal, if in fact there is one being discussed, is still some ways off.

Another possible reason for Monday’s share price jump could be a report from 9to5Mac that Apple is set to announce Tuesday an update to the specs of its MacBook Air laptop. The report said this is not the big upgrade to a thinner model with a Retina display, but a new version of the existing 11- and 13-inch models with the latest Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) Haswell processors. The update is relatively minor refresh that could have been seen by some investors as a bigger deal than it actually is.

Whatever the reason — and there are probably a lot more potential reasons out there — shares rose as much as 3.7% Monday. The stock traded up about 2% in the early afternoon to $583.76, after posting a new high of $592.95. The 52-week low is $388.87.

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About the Author Paul Ausick →

Paul Ausick has been writing for 247Wallst.com for more than a decade. He has written extensively on investing in the energy, defense, and technology sectors. In a previous life, he wrote technical documentation and managed a marketing communications group in Silicon Valley.

He has a bachelor's degree in English from the University of Chicago and now lives in Montana, where he fishes for trout in the summer and stays inside during the winter.