Apple Inc. has been surging for the past few months, regularly setting new all-time highs as the company has been successfully rolling out a host of new additions to its hardware and software lines. The latest high-water mark came on Thursday, when shares jumped 2 percent in a single day and reached $113.20. Apple is the most valuable company in the world with a market cap of $662.2 billion.
The growth was largely in response to an optimistic report from financial services firm UBS, which raised its target price for Apple to $125 per share after confirming its staying power in the massive Chinese market, where the company has an 84 percent customer retention rate. Also on Thursday, Apple paid out its dividend of 47 cents per share.
On the same day, Taiwanese publication DigiTimes reported that Apple has put in orders to its Asian suppliers for enough system chips to make 30 to 40 million Apple Watches. This news comes some 10 days after the transcript of an internal video message leaked revealing that the company is targeting a spring release date for the much-hyped device.
Estimates on the performance of Apple's first wearable device vary wildly. The day after its September unveiling, Fortune magazine surveyed market analysts and got projections ranging from 10 to 60 million sales in 2015.
Apple is riding an unprecedented wave of anticipation with its ongoing product rollout. Specialized IT consultants can give support and training to help clients make the most of the growing possibilities that the new additions provide.
