Shares of Club holding Apple (AAPL) stabilized Monday, a day before the tech giant’s annual September product-launch event. Now, the question is whether there will be enough investor enthusiasm when Wall Street gets a peek at the iPhone 15 to overcome concerns about China that slammed the stock last week. Prior to reports that Beijing is moving to ban government employees from using iPhones and other foreign-branded devices at work, things had been looking up for Apple’s stock. While it took a brief hit on quarterly earnings in August, the stock then surged more than 9% from the middle of last month through Sept. 5. Historically, the run-up to the iPhone maker’s annual product event — set to be held on Tuesday — has been bullish for shares. That’s been especially so since 2016 when Apple began to consistently outperform the S & P 500 . Looking at historical data since 2016 from the 10 trading sessions before the annual product event and then through year-end, here’s how Apple has performed each year. Apple’s historical performance Apple traded flat in 2016 leading up to the media event, when the company announced the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus. The stock then jumped 6.96% following the event, through end of 2016. In 2017, shares edged 0.37% lower during the 10 days leading up to the September product launch, before surging 5.19% to year-end. But 2018 saw the stock climb 0.61% in the 10-day run-up to the event, before then plunging 28.6% thereafter, through the remainder of the year. On the release of the iPhone 11, Apple shot up 4.9% in the 10 days leading up to the Sept. 2019 event, and then went on to run 35.5% higher through year-end. The company surged 6.14% ahead of the 2020 event, before climbing 9.5% higher through the end of the year. In 2021, in the wake of the market-rattling Covid-19 pandemic, the tech giant declined 3.21% over the 10 days leading up to its event. Still, the company went on to surge 19.88% following the event, through the remainder of the year. Last year, Apple notched massive gains and surged 13.64% over the 10-day period into the event. Later, the tech giant stumbled 16.69% after the event through the end of 2022. AAPL mountain 2016-01-01 Apple Inc. (AAPL) performance year-to-date This year’s launch event, for the iPhone 15, has been dubbed “Wonderlust” by the company and is set to include a presentation by CEO Tim Cook from Apple’s headquarters in Cupertino, California. But the recent news around China has made Tuesday’s expected iPhone 15 launch an even more highly anticipated media circus than usual. Although Apple lost $200 billion in market value during a two-day losing streak last week, many on Wall Street see this as an overreaction. The stock has since pared some of those losses. Wedbush Securities called last week’s sell-off “way overblown,” adding that Apple “has seen massive share gains in [China’s] smartphone market.” Elsewhere, Goldman Sachs estimated a potential Chinese government ban on iPhone use by state employees represents about 7.5% of China’s employed population, with an implied 1% impact on Apple’s revenue. For his part, Jim Cramer continues to stand by the Club’s “own it, don’t trade it” view on Apple. “If I really felt like a disaster was coming, I would suspend,” he said of Apple last week, while noting that his reporting confirmed Chinese consumers are still “buying Apple like crazy.” (Jim Cramer’s Charitable Trust is long AAPL. See here for a full list of the stocks.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust’s portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB. NO SPECIFIC OUTCOME OR PROFIT IS GUARANTEED.
Apple CEO Tim Cook speaks during Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) at the Apple Park campus in Cupertino, California, on June 5, 2023.
Josh Edelson | AFP | Getty Images
Shares of Club holding Apple (AAPL) stabilized Monday, a day before the tech giant’s annual September product-launch event. Now, the question is whether there will be enough investor enthusiasm when Wall Street gets a peek at the iPhone 15 to overcome concerns about China that slammed the stock last week.