Apple shares to cherry blossom for a branch of reasons

Apple $Apple (AAPL.US)$'s Event Apple will be a focus as it holds its Apple Event on May 7 (10am ET, May 8 12am AEST) which is expected to set the runway for fuelling iPad sales, which Apple forecasts to rise this year (for more watch our video here.)

Apple is positioned well with its hardware and software and the ability to put AI into devices and chips, so hopefully we hear more about that this week. And hopefully we hear more about its strategy and potential partnerships, such as with Google $Alphabet-C (GOOG.US)$.

Investors will want to see Apple maintain last week's 8% share price jump to $183.38 and head higher. What is likely to support this notion, is several factors; China sales are improving and Apple Services keeps growing to new record highs and as mentioned above, Apple is likely to roll out AI integration. Plus Apple is about to undertake a $110 billion buyback, which is the largest in share buyback history. As we wrote, this is not just a win for Apple, but also anyone exposed to the second biggest tech stock via the S&P500 $S&P 500 Index (.SPX.US)$ or Nasdaq 100 $NASDAQ 100 Index (.NDX.US)$.

Another tailwind is that Apple $Apple (AAPL.US)$ is entering an upgrade cycle, which is also supportive of Apple shares heading higher. Apple was upgraded by several investment banks including Goldman Sachs taking its 12-month price target (PT) to $226.00, JP Morgan and Wells Fargo rose their PTs to $225.00, Morgan Stanley rose its PT $216, Bank of America rose its PT $230, and investment manager Wedbush rose its PT to $250.