Apple (AAPL) shares surged following the Democratic Party's midterm election victory, with investors anticipating increased regulatory scrutiny over AI infrastructure spending. The tech giant's stock rose 5.3% on Wednesday and gained an additional 0.9% in pre-market trading on Thursday. Analyst Amit Daryanani of Evercore ISI highlighted two key reasons for Apple's potential benefit from the election results. First, Apple is seen as a relatively defensive investment amid political and regulatory uncertainty. Second, the company could benefit from moderating memory chip costs if the Democratic victory slows AI data center expansion.
Daryanani noted that Apple's earnings are more tied to iPhone sales, pricing, and services growth rather than large-scale data center construction. The company reported strong fourth-quarter fiscal 2026 results, with iPhone sales up 17.5% year over year and Mac revenues surging 23.7%. However, rising memory costs remain a concern, with Apple expecting further increases in the December quarter and beyond. Greater scrutiny of AI infrastructure investments could ease pricing pressures across the semiconductor supply chain.
Apple currently has an average brokerage recommendation of 2.04 on a scale of 1 to 5, with 21 Strong Buy and 3 Buy recommendations out of 42. The average price target for Apple is $337.02, with the stock trading above this at $349.51 as of market close on Nov. 4. Investors seeking exposure to Apple may consider ETFs such as Global X PureCap MSCI Information Technology ETF (GXPT), iShares U.S. Technology ETF (IYW), and Vanguard Information Technology ETF (VGT), among others.