Apple (AAPL) Bulls Are Charging Again, While Schlumberger, Starbucks and American Express Are Making Earnings Moves of their Own

It looks like the week is set to end on a positive note, as U.S stocks are rallying again today alongside oil prices. The Dow is up by triple digits on hopes of stimulus in the Euro zone and Japan. In this article we’ll take a look at why Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is trending and what’s driving Schlumberger Limited. (NYSE:SLB), Intuitive Surgical, Inc. (NASDAQ:ISRG), Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX) and American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) in varying directions today.

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Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) bulls are roaring again. Although the new iPhone 7 is not set to be released for another six or seven months, analysts are already crunching the numbers to try and guess how high the new smartphone could push the stock. Gene Munster, senior research analyst at Piper Jaffray, believes the stock is a buy and expects it to surge by as much as 50% during the next six months, based on previous cycles related to the release of past iPhone versions. Apple shares have crossed the $100 threshold today, gaining over 4% today.

Although Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is one of hedge funds’ favorite stocks, the recent selloff drove investors away, with the total number of long hedge fund positions of those funds in our system dropping to 133 by the end of the third quarter of 2015, from 144 at the end of June. Carl Icahn remains the biggest fan of Apple in our database, with his fund holding 52.7 million shares according to its latest 13F filing.

Shareholders of Schlumberger Limited. (NYSE:SLB) should be very pleased today, as the stock is up by roughly 5% after the firms latest earnings report was released yesterday. The company posted earnings of $0.65 per share, beating analysts’ estimates of $0.63 per share. Revenue fell by 9% to $7.74 billion, below the consensus of $7.79 billion. The company said it plans to further reduce its workforce by 10,000 employees as the slump in the oil market continues to negatively impact business. According to a report from the Wall Street Journal, Schlumberger is also in talks to repurchase its Iranian unit, Well Services of Iran, but the talks are in early stages and no further details are available.

Schlumberger Limited. (NYSE:SLB) gained in popularity among hedge funds, with 61 of the funds we follow having reported a stake in the company as of the end of September, up from 55 a quarter earlier. Ken Griffin is betting heavily on this stock, having boosted his stake by nearly 150% during the quarter, amassing a little over 8.5 million shares.

Find out why Intuitive Surgical, Starbucks, and American Express are trending today on the following pages.