Apple reported a $24 billion profit as its shares jumped to a 9-month high

Apple shares jumped nearly 5% on Friday, hitting a nine-month high after posting their biggest daily gain since November.after quarterly results from the iPhone maker buoyed investors worried about a possible recession.

The rally in Apple shares fueled optimism across Wall Street, helping lift the S&P 500 and Nasdaq more than 1.5% after CEO, Tim Cook said the results will underscore the resilience of corporate earnings in a quarterly reporting season that has so far been less bad than expected.

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“Apple reassured the market by its consistency in execution. Tim Cook has a firm hand on the tiller,” said Jake Dollarhide, of Longbow Asset Management in Tulsa, Oklahoma. “Investors in uncertain times want certainty, and Apple, as well as Microsoft, are as close to certainty as you can get.”

The world’s most valuable company posted lower revenue and profit in the quarter ended April 1, but still beat analysts’ expectations. The results were favored by emerging markets such as India, so managers said that gross profit margins for the current quarter will be better than expected.

Apple’s stock market value rose by more than $100 billion to around $2.7 trillion, extending its lead over Microsoft, the world’s second most valuable company, to $2.3 trillion.

Shares of the Cupertino, California-based company closed at $173.57, posting their biggest daily gain since Nov. 30, approaching the 176 dollars reached in August.

Apple shares have rallied nearly 40% from their January closing low and are now 4.7% below their January 2022 all-time high. By comparison, the S&P 500 is still down 15% from its all-time closing high, also in January 2022.

At least 13 analysts raised their price targets for Apple shares following his report, with the median target rising to $180 from pre-report $170according to Refinitiv data.

Apple: the numbers of your balance

Apple far exceeded market expectations with nearly $95 billion in revenue between January and March, generating $24 billion in net profit.

Sales of its flagship product, the iPhone, slightly up compared to the first quarter of last year, reached US$51.33 billion. They also beat analysts’ forecasts, despite a drop in demand for electronic devices due to inflation.

Its services business (music, entertainment, online storage, payments, etc.) also grew slightly in a year, to nearly $21 billion in the second quarter.

“We’re pleased to have achieved an all-time service record and a second-quarter record for iPhone…Our active device base is at an all-time high,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s chief executive, adding: ” We have record revenue across the entire App Store,” the mobile app store.

Cook also mentioned “more than 975 million paid subscriptions” to brand services. “Apple scored a lot of points in the last quarter,” reacted Dan Ives of Wedbush Securities. The analyst highlighted the advancement of the iPhone that shows that the company “continues to gain market share in China despite the bad economic situation.”