Apple could see further upside after rising 24 percent year to date, and adding about as many points to the as the three next biggest contributors — Facebook, Amazon and Philip Morris — combined.
Apple has contributed 11 percent of the S&P 500's gains this year, according to S&P Dow Jones Indices senior index analyst Howard Silverblatt. Specifically, the S&P 500 would be up less than 5 percent this year without the contribution from the tech giant.
"It's going to run. It's going to continue to move higher," David Seaburg, head of sales trading at Cowen and Co., said Friday on CNBC's "Trading Nation," adding that analysts' numbers are generally too low, and he believes that expectations for the company will continue to be ramped up.
Specifically, Seaburg pointed to the expected launch later this year of the new iPhone, and noting China's demand in particular is going to be "off the charts" for the new phone.
"I think money can continue to gravitate into this stock, I think it's $155/ $160," he said Friday, adding too that he believes it is trading at a discount relative to the overall market.
In terms of sentiment, investors have indeed become more bullish, said Stacey Gilbert, head of derivatives strategy at Susquehanna. People have not stayed away from the stock because they think the runup is done, in Gilbert's eyes.
"We continue to see positioning for the upside here. I think Apple's a pretty interesting name from just … the tech sector as a whole, that sentiment continues to be bullish," she said on "Trading Nation," adding that the potential for profit repatriation under the Trump administration would be a catalyst for more upside.
