Beware Of Apple Bears In Sheep's Clothing

Apple shares have been on a tear this week, up almost $12% thus far. Most of enthusiasm has been a result of the U.S carriers ( T-Mobile U.S., Sprint, AT&T ) putting out very positive initial sales data for the iPhone 7 and the iPhone 7 Plus, followed by a statement from Apple itself, saying that they had already sold out of the iPhone 7 Plus globally.

This surge in Apple has not been caused by any short covering squeeze of any sort but has been driven by actual demand for shares as investors realize that maybe the doom and gloom might have been way overdone. Short interest in Apple is just under 50 million shares as of the last available data from Nasdaq.com.

However, that is not to say that the bears are just going to walk away easily. In addition, you have a bunch of sellsiders who have been playing the "cover your behind" game as well. Those Wall Street analysts are now scrambling to justify their lowered estimates and tepid price targets.

Look at a few of the negatively slanted headlines from just yesterday:

"Apple too far, too fast?"

"Leaked Apple emails say that the company has "Sexist and Toxic" work environment."

" Wells Fargo analyst comments that recent Apple data points might not be as positive as they appear."

The last one is actually laughable given the fact that the analyst that the analyst was lukewarm on the company in the first place and is now trying to justify his ambivalence by scoffing at the recent data.

On the flip side, you have those analysts that were bullish on the stock before the carriers released their statement showing tremendous demand for the new iPhones, who continue to be bullish and a couple of them have also raised their price targets as well since the comments from the carriers.

However, investors need to be on the watch for the bearish analysts in sheep's clothing.

Don't be surprised if we get a few more bearish reports or two from Wall Street, in addition to the usual negatively slanted articles to boot as well.

The new iPhone 7 and 7 Plus will be available today at Apple stores and carrier retail locations in more than 25 countries today. 

Of course, with massive demand for the new phones, a lot of customers might have to be a bit more patient to get their hands on the iPhone 7 and/or iPhone 7 Plus.

If it were me, I would ignore the bearish chatter totally since you now know the games (if you have been paying attention to my articles) these analysts play.

After suffering for more than a year, the good times are finally back for Apple investors.

The Oracle of Omaha will be mighty pleased with his $1 billion investment in Apple.

Good luck with your Apple investments going forward.

(Long aapl, calls)

PS: Tim Cook, your shareholders are still waiting for you to step up and buy 7 or 8 Apple shares with your own money.