Apple shares close higher on Friday, more than 200 employees from Project Titan to be laid off, CNBC reports

According to a report by CNBC last week, citing sources with knowledge of the matter, over 200 employees from Apple Incs (AAPL) autonomous vehicle group, also known as Project Titan, have been dismissed.

Apple shares closed higher for the sixth time in the past ten trading sessions on NASDAQ on Friday. It has also been the sharpest daily surge since January 4th. The stock went up 3.31% ($5.06) to $157.76, after touching an intraday high at $158.07, or a price level not seen since January 2nd ($158.85).

Shares of Apple Inc have inched up 0.01% so far in 2019 compared with a 6.30% gain for the benchmark index, S&P 500 (SPX).

In 2018, Apple’s stock went down 6.79%, thus, it again underperformed the S&P 500, which registered a 6.24% loss.

“As the team focuses their work on several key areas for 2019, some groups are being moved to projects in other parts of the company, where they will support machine learning and other initiatives, across all of Apple,” a spokesperson for the tech giant said in a statement, cited by CNBC.

“We continue to believe there is a huge opportunity with autonomous systems, that Apple has unique capabilities to contribute, and that this is the most ambitious machine learning project ever,” the person added.

In 2018, Apple appointed Doug Field, a Tesla engineering vice president, to manage its Project Titan alongside Bob Mansfield.

Last weeks layoffs from the autonomous vehicle group were seen internally as expected restructuring under the relatively new leadership, CNBC also reported.

According to CNN Money, the 34 analysts, offering 12-month forecasts regarding Apple Inc’s stock price, have a median target of $180.00, with a high estimate of $260.00 and a low estimate of $140.00. The median estimate represents a 14.10% upside compared to the closing price of $157.76 on January 25th.

The same media also reported that 21 out of 41 surveyed investment analysts had rated Apple Inc’s stock as “Hold”, while 17 – as “Buy”.

Weekly Pivot Levels

By using the traditional method of calculation, the weekly levels of importance for Apple Inc (AAPL) are presented as follows:

Central Pivot Point – $155.84
R1 – $159.99
R2 – $162.21
R3 – $166.36
R4 – $170.50

S1 – $153.62
S2 – $149.47
S3 – $147.25
S4 – $145.02