Apple shares are trading just below all‑time highs today as investors weigh rare layoffs in the company’s sales force, fresh privacy and anti‑scam crackdowns in Europe and Asia, and new reporting on who might one day replace CEO Tim Cook.
Updated: November 25, 2025
Key takeaways for AAPL today
- Share price & valuation: Apple stock is trading around $279 per share, up roughly 1% over the last 24 hours, giving the company a market value of about $4.08 trillion and a trailing P/E ratio near 37. [1]
- Performance vs the market: Over the past three months, AAPL has climbed about 21%, beating the Dow’s roughly 2% gain over the same period and sitting near the top of its 52‑week range ($168.96–$283.78). [2]
- Operational news: Apple has cut dozens of sales roles worldwide in a rare restructuring of its enterprise, education and government sales teams, despite reporting record revenue. [3]
- Regulatory pressure: Authorities in Poland have opened a new antitrust probe into Apple’s App Tracking Transparency privacy rules, while Singapore has ordered Apple and Google to curb government‑spoofing scams on their messaging platforms. [4]
- Leadership & sentiment: A widely read Wall Street Journal feature (syndicated via Mint) lays out four internal contenders to eventually succeed Tim Cook, and social‑media discussions tracked by QuiverQuant focus on Apple’s $4T valuation, AI strategy and insider selling. [5]
Below is a deeper look at what’s moving Apple stock today and what it could mean for investors.
Apple stock price today: trading near record highs
As of today’s session, Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) is changing hands at roughly $279.29 per share. That’s about 1.2% higher over the past 24 hours and up around 4.5% over the last week, according to real‑time data from eToro’s Apple market page. [6]
Key intraday and valuation metrics:
- Day’s range: approximately $273–$280
- 52‑week range: about $168.96–$283.78
- Market cap: roughly $4.08 trillion
- Trailing P/E (TTM): about 36.9–37.0
- TTM EPS: around $7.4–$7.5 per share
- Revenue (last fiscal year): ≈ $416 billion [7]
Barchart’s latest Apple deep‑dive highlights how strong the recent run has been. Over the last three months, the stock gained roughly 21.2%, versus about 2.3% for the Dow Jones Industrial Average, and is up around 10% year‑to‑date and 20% over the past year, outpacing the index on both time frames. [8]
Technically, Apple has been trading above both its 50‑day and 200‑day moving averages since early August, a classic confirmation of an ongoing uptrend. [9]
From a valuation standpoint:
- Multiple data providers put Apple’s trailing P/E around 36–37, above its recent average but still below the peak levels seen in late 2024. [10]
- GuruFocus notes that Apple’s P/E, price‑to‑sales (~9.9x) and price‑to‑book (above 50x) are all toward the top of their 10‑year ranges, underscoring how much optimism is already priced in. [11]
In other words, Apple today trades like a premium, defensive megacap growth stock: very profitable, still growing, but with a valuation that leaves less room for major disappointments.
Rare layoffs hit Apple’s global sales teams
One of the most talked‑about corporate headlines around Apple today is a rare round of layoffs.
Reports from Bloomberg, MacRumors, ABP Live and other outlets say Apple has eliminated dozens of roles across its global sales division, targeting staff who sell to large businesses, schools and government agencies as well as employees at the company’s briefing centers that host big‑ticket clients. [12]
Key details:
- Affected employees include account managers for enterprise, education and government, plus staff in key briefing centers that stage high‑touch product demos. [13]
- Some long‑tenured managers with 20–30 years at Apple are reported to be among those impacted. [14]
- Employees were notified over the past couple of weeks and have until January 20, 2026 to find another role inside Apple before severance packages kick in. [15]
- Apple’s statement framed the move as a targeted reorganization rather than a broad downsizing: the company says it is “making some changes” to its sales team to “connect with even more customers”, and that affected staff can apply for other open roles. [16]
ABP Live notes that this reshuffle comes despite Apple recently reporting quarterly revenue of about $102.5 billion, up roughly 8% year‑on‑year, underscoring that the cuts are about efficiency and channel strategy, not crisis‑driven cost‑cutting. [17]
Several analyses suggest Apple is pushing more enterprise and public‑sector sales through third‑party partners, which can lower fixed salary costs and add flexibility but may dilute direct control over large customers. [18]
Investor takeaway:
- The scale of the layoffs is small relative to Apple’s ~166,000 employees, but it’s symbolically important because Apple almost never resorts to staff cuts. [19]
- Strategically, investors may see it as a margin‑protecting move—optimizing sales overhead at a time when hardware cycles can be uneven and services growth is crucial.
- The risk is more subtle: morale in affected teams, and the possibility that relying more on partners could introduce execution risk in complex enterprise deals.
Privacy and anti‑scam pressure: Poland and Singapore step in
Poland’s antitrust probe into App Tracking Transparency
Poland’s competition regulator UOKiK announced today that it has opened an antitrust investigation into Apple’s App Tracking Transparency (ATT) and related privacy rules on iOS and iPadOS. [20]
According to UOKiK’s official statement and related reporting:
- Regulators are examining whether Apple’s privacy framework restricts competition in the mobile advertising market, particularly by limiting how third‑party apps and publishers can collect user data for personalized ads, while Apple’s own advertising business may face fewer constraints. [21]
- Authorities are also looking at whether Apple misled users about the level of privacy they receive under ATT. [22]
Technology outlet 9to5Mac argues that the accusation of misleading users appears to stem from a misunderstanding of how ATT works, and highlights Apple’s position that the feature is designed primarily to give users more control over tracking, not to advantage Apple’s own ad products. [23]
For now, the probe is in its early stages. But it:
- Adds to a growing list of competition and privacy investigations Apple faces in Europe. [24]
- Keeps Apple’s ad‑business ambitions under regulatory scrutiny just as the company leans more on services and advertising for growth.
Singapore orders Apple and Google to curb ‘gov.sg’ spoofing
Separately, Singapore’s police and home affairs ministry have ordered Apple and Alphabet’s Google to introduce measures on iMessage and Google Messages to stop scammers impersonating government agencies. [25]
Under directives issued via the Online Criminal Harms Act:
- Apple and Google must block or filter accounts and group chats that mimic official government IDs like “gov.sg” by the end of November. [26]
- The platforms are required to change how unknown senders’ names are displayed, making impersonation more obvious. [27]
- Failure to comply could lead to fines of up to S$1 million (roughly $770,000). [28]
- Authorities say both companies have indicated they will comply. [29]
For Apple, the direct financial impact of the Singapore order is likely modest, but it fits a broader pattern: governments increasingly expect platform owners to proactively detect and block fraud, raising compliance costs and potential liability.
CEO succession: four names in the frame after Tim Cook
A Wall Street Journal feature, widely shared and re‑reported by outlets such as Mint, has pushed Apple’s long‑term succession plan into the spotlight. [30]
The piece stresses that Tim Cook, now 65, has signaled no desire to step down, and Apple has no mandatory retirement age for executives. Still, investors and analysts are keenly watching the bench of potential successors. [31]
According to the article, four senior Apple executives are seen as leading internal contenders:
- John Ternus (50) – Hardware
- Senior hardware engineering chief responsible for all Apple devices, including the iPhone and Mac.
- Helped oversee the move to Apple silicon in Macs, a major performance and efficiency win. [32]
- Craig Federighi (56) – Software & AI
- Heads software engineering across Apple’s operating systems, and is one of the most public‑facing executives at developer events.
- Has been given expanded responsibility for AI efforts, including trying to close the gap between Siri and newer conversational AI platforms. [33]
- Eddy Cue (61) – Services
- Long‑time leader of Apple’s booming services business, from the App Store to Apple Music and TV+.
- Known as a key dealmaker, handling major content and distribution partnerships. [34]
- Greg “Joz” Joswiak (61) – Marketing
- The company’s marketing chief and a familiar face at iPhone launches.
- Plays a central role in shaping Apple’s brand narrative and has also helped address public questions around Apple’s AI roadmap. [35]
QuiverQuant’s social‑media sentiment tracking notes that the story has fueled speculation that Apple might be exploring a future CEO transition, though there is no indication of an imminent change, and Apple hasn’t commented. [36]
Investor takeaway: succession talk tends to increase long‑term focus on management depth and culture, but with Cook still firmly in place and Apple performing well, this is more about planning and optics than near‑term stock risk.
$4 trillion Apple in an AI‑driven market
Apple became only the third company in history to cross the $4 trillion market‑cap mark in late October, joining Nvidia and Microsoft in this ultra‑elite club, according to Bloomberg and Forbes coverage. [37]
Recent coverage highlights a few key points:
- iPhone 17 demand: Data cited by Reuters shows the iPhone 17 series has outperformed the iPhone 16 line in early sales in both China and the US, helping fuel Apple’s recent leg higher. [38]
- Services strength: Barchart notes that Apple’s high‑margin services segment continues to expand, providing recurring revenue that makes the company more resilient during hardware slowdowns. [39]
- Alphabet breathing down Apple’s neck: Alphabet’s stock has surged this month, lifting its value close to $3.9 trillion and narrowing the gap with Apple to less than $200 billion—its tightest race in years. [40]
At the same time, opinion pieces from outlets like 24/7 Wall St argue that Apple may hold up better than some AI high‑flyers if the current AI mania cools, precisely because it combines: [41]
- Enormous free‑cash‑flow generation,
- A sticky device and services ecosystem, and
- A more measured approach to AI investment that may avoid some of the most speculative excesses.
QuiverQuant’s digest of chatter on X (formerly Twitter) shows investors split between those who see Apple’s $4T valuation as justified by its stability and cash flows, and those who worry it signals froth in mega‑cap tech. [42]
Wall Street’s view: growth, but priced for perfection
Analyst and quant screens today consistently show Apple as a “Moderate Buy”:
- Barchart reports a Moderate Buy consensus from around 40 analysts with a mean price target near $285, implying a few percent upside from current levels. [43]
- eToro’s aggregated analyst view also shows a Moderate Buy, with an average 12‑month target around $296, a high‑single‑digit percentage above today’s price. [44]
On the earnings side, Zacks’ latest note on Apple (via Finviz) highlights: [45]
- Current‑quarter EPS estimate: about $2.65, up roughly 10% from the year‑ago period.
- Full‑year EPS estimate: around $8.16, suggesting ~9% year‑on‑year growth.
- Estimate revisions: Consensus EPS projections have been raised over the last 30 days, a constructive sign in Zacks’ framework.
Meanwhile, GuruFocus and other valuation tools flag that Apple’s P/E near 37 and price‑to‑sales near 10 are at or near historical highs, implying that much of that expected earnings growth is already reflected in the share price. [46]
Institutional and insider activity also show a mixed but active picture:
- A recent MarketBeat note says Cardinal Point Capital boosted its Apple stake by more than 500% in Q2, while several large asset managers, including Vanguard and Goldman Sachs units, also added shares—helping keep institutional ownership around two‑thirds of the float. [47]
- Other filings from firms like Moloney Securities Asset Management show smaller reductions in AAPL holdings, while some members of the U.S. Congress, including Rep. Lisa McClain, have disclosed Apple stock sales in recent months. [48]
- QuiverQuant data indicates insiders have mostly sold rather than bought shares over the last six months, which is not unusual for a mega‑cap tech name at record highs but is still worth tracking. [49]
What today’s news means for Apple investors
For current and prospective Apple shareholders, the news flow around AAPL today clusters into three big themes:
- Execution & efficiency
- The sales‑team layoffs show Apple is willing to trim and reorganize even during record revenue periods to keep margins healthy and adapt its go‑to‑market strategy.
- That may support profitability in the medium term, especially if more volume can flow through lower‑cost third‑party channels, but investors should watch for any impact on large enterprise and government relationships. [50]
- Regulatory overhang
- The Polish antitrust probe into App Tracking Transparency, combined with Singapore’s anti‑scam directives, reinforces that Apple’s control over its platforms and data is under increasing global scrutiny. [51]
- These actions may not significantly change Apple’s near‑term earnings forecast, but they add to the risk backdrop for its growing advertising and payments businesses.
- High expectations baked into a premium valuation
- With a P/E near 37, a $4T+ market cap and shares trading near the top of their 52‑week range, Apple is clearly priced as a blue‑chip winner. [52]
- Analyst targets mostly cluster just above the current price, leaving limited upside unless Apple can beat earnings expectations or surprise on new AI‑driven products and services. [53]
Put simply, Apple stock today looks like a high‑quality, high‑expectations story:
- The business remains exceptionally strong, with iPhone 17, services, and massive buybacks underpinning earnings. [54]
- But after a powerful rally and a wave of regulatory attention, AAPL’s risk‑reward profile increasingly depends on continued flawless execution—and on regulators stopping short of forcing big changes to Apple’s ad and platform model.
As always, this overview is for information and news purposes only and is not personalized investment advice. Anyone considering trading or investing in Apple should factor in their own risk tolerance, time horizon and portfolio needs, and, ideally, consult a qualified financial adviser.
References
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