Wall Street is very optimistic about Apple's prospects. The Nasdaq composite index had a bad start in 2022, but it can't blame apple (AAPL), the most influential component of the index. Since the beginning of this year, the weight of the NASDAQ index has fallen by about 50%. The NASDAQ is a market capitalization weighted index, so the component stocks with the largest market capitalization have the greatest impact on the trend of the index. However, apple, the technology stock with the largest market capitalization in the Nasdaq, did not lead the decline. Apple, with a market value of nearly $3 trillion, is the largest listed company in the world and the largest component stock in the NASDAQ. As of the closing of last Friday (February 18), Apple's share price had fallen by 6% this year, indicating that Apple's relatively outperforming market actually brought some support to the NASDAQ. There are several main reasons behind the overall decline of technology stocks. One of the main reasons is that in the face of high inflation, the Federal Reserve will soon start to raise interest rates and tighten monetary policy, which has stimulated the rise of long-term bond yields to a certain extent. Last Tuesday (February 15), the benchmark 10-year Treasury yield broke through 2% again. Last week, it broke through this key level for the first time since 2019. Compared with other stocks, rising bond yields put greater pressure on the valuation of technology stocks. Many technology stocks in the NASDAQ fell. According to FactSet, the share prices of dozens of smaller technology companies in the index have fallen by more than 60% this year. Netflix (NFlx) and Facebook parent meta platform (FB) fell by about 35%. Changing business trends also contributed to the decline in technology stocks. Netflix grew rapidly during the epidemic, but its growth rate began to decline as people gradually moved out of the home isolation mode. Meta's recent financial report was lower than expected, and its market value evaporated by more than a quarter in one day. The company's advertising business is facing resistance, and the phenomenon of users abandoning its platform has also aroused investors' concerns. By contrast, Apple seems to win a lot. The company's recent financial report shows that both revenue and profit are much higher than Wall Street's expectations. The market reacted very positively to Apple's financial report. The rise of stock price after the financial report was the main reason to boost stock index futures. Compared with the NASDAQ index entering the correction range, Apple's decline so far this year is closer to the 5.5% decline of the Dow Jones industrial average. In addition, Apple has outperformed most other technology giants. Microsoft (MSFT), alphabet (Google) and Amazon (AMZN) have fallen 14%, 10% and 8% respectively this year. Wall Street is also optimistic about Apple's prospects. Analysts at Tigress, an investment bank, reiterated Apple's "buy" rating and raised the target price to $210, which means there is about 26% room for the share price to rise. Tigress's analyst team said: "strong product demand, the launch of new products, the accelerated growth of service business revenue and the ability to deal with supply chain challenges will help Apple's performance create brilliance in the new year." Analysts believe that Apple's record quarterly revenue proves that customer demand is still very strong, and the company's progress in the payment field is another growth point. "Driven by innovation and the ability to create cash flow, apple is in a leading position in the industry and has a strong brand. The company's profits will continue to grow and continue to create value for shareholders. We think Apple's share price will rise further," Tigress's analysts said (Xinhua News Agency)