S SentinelOne Inc

In a rough week for stocks, Apple Inc. has soared.

Shares in the Cupertino, Calif.-based company rose 12% this week through Thursday, their best four-day streak in more than two years. Apple was the top performer in the Dow Jones Industrial Average on Thursday, and the only stock in the blue-chip index to gain during a selloff Tuesday that sent the Dow industrials down 1.4%.

Apple was the most-active stock in both the Dow industrials and S&P 500 on Thursday, gaining $3.80, or 3.4%, to $115.57. Shares retreated 0.4% in early trading Friday.

Apple's strong week follows a recent stumble. Shares fell almost 5% in the two days after last Wednesday's iPhone 7 unveiling, briefly sliding into negative territory for 2016. Some reviewers said the phone offered only incremental improvements over previous versions, such as better battery life and water resistance, instead of dramatic new features. The removal of the phone's headphone jack was also a polarizing decision.

Early adopters showed up as usual. Apple said it has already sold out of some versions of the new phone since preorders started last week. That came after T-Mobile and Sprint suggested strong demand without giving numbers. Shoppers lined up to buy the new phones Friday.

Several investors and analysts said hints of strong sales were enough to demonstrate the the loyalty of Apple's customers, after iPhone sales fell for two consecutive quarters. Meanwhile, Samsung Electronics Co. is recalling its competing Galaxy Note 7 smartphone because of battery fires.

"This shows that the user base is loyal and wants to upgrade either when new tech comes along or when their new phones wear out," said Jim Tierney, chief investment officer for concentrated U.S. growth at AllianceBernstein Holding LP, who holds Apple shares.

Apple didn't respond to a request for comment.

Technology shares have also been rallying broadly. Tech stocks have soared 11% in the past three months through Thursday, almost twice the gains of any other group. That is also a change from earlier in the year, when a sharp dive in tech highlighted investor concerns about slowing U.S. growth.

Apple has been big driver of those recent gains. Tech is the only S&P 500 sector to rise this month, climbing 1.5% through Thursday as the broader index fell 1.1%. Excluding Apple would cut tech's gain to 0.2%, according to S&P Dow Jones Indices, noting Apple remains the biggest company in the index by market cap. Without Apple, the S&P 500 would be down 1.4% in that period.

Some investors and analysts said Apple still has room to run. The company traded at about 13 times its last 12 months of earnings as of Wednesday's close, compared with almost 20 for the S&P 500, looking like a relative bargain at a time when many investors are concerned about stretched valuations.

RBC Capital Markets analysts led by Amit Daryanani adjusted their target price for the company upward to $120 from $117 a share Thursday, maintaining a rating of "outperform" and saying the current price still offers a good entry point for investors and the company has been a relative oasis in recent market volatility.

RBC said worries remain that innovation is declining at Apple, with new sales driven more by existing owners replacing phones than new customers buying in. But it has attractive valuations, gross margins that are at least stable and a consumer-friendly ecosystem of hardware and software integrated across multiple devices that would be difficult for competitors to replicate.

Write to Aaron Kuriloff at aaron.kuriloff@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 16, 2016 12:35 ET (16:35 GMT)

SentinelOne (NYSE:S)
Historical Stock Chart
From Mar 2024 to Apr 2024

SentinelOne (NYSE:S)
Historical Stock Chart
From Apr 2023 to Apr 2024