THE SPARK: Shares of the world's most valuable public company recovered, climbing beyond broadly higher stock markets Tuesday. Several analysts had encouraged investors to buy Apple stock because of the drop, which knocked 8.8 percent off Apple's stock price.
THE BIG PICTURE: The Cupertino, Calif., company lost about $50 billion of its market capitalization during the 5-day slump. One cloud hovering over the tech giant may have been the U.S. government's accusations that it conspired with major book publishers to raise the price of e-books. Apple denied that accusation on Friday.
But the maker of iPhones and iPads had added back nearly $23 billion by Tuesday afternoon.
Apple's rise and fall affects Wall Street. It is the biggest stock in the Standard & Poor's 500 index - it carries more weight on the index than any other stock - and on the Nasdaq composite index, so the company's moves can drag on or pull up broader stock measures. The S&P gained 1.6 percent in late Tuesday trading, while the Nasdaq added 2 percent.
THE ANALYSIS: Sterne Agee & Leach's Shaw Wu on Tuesday morning maintained a "Buy" rating and $750 price target for Apple, saying that the company remains a top pick and that investors should take advantage of the recent stock price decline.
Baird's William Power echoed that, reiterating his "Outperform" rating and $700 price target on the company's shares.
The highest analyst price prediction on Apple's shares is $1,001, published on April 2. That projection suggests a gain of about 66 percent from Apple's current price.
SHARE ACTION: Apple's stock rose $24.60, or 4.2 percent, to $604.73 in afternoon trading. Shares have surged this year. Even after the slump that culminated on Monday, the stock had risen 43 percent, and 77 percent over the past 12 months. Blowout sales of iPhones and iPads in the holiday quarter, plus the announcement that the company will start paying a dividend this summer and buy back shares, had fueled the stock. Shares peaked at $644 on April 10.
Dividends and stock buybacks return cash to shareholders, which can make a company's shares more appealing.
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