Have We Seen A Long-Term Bottom In Apple?

Apple Inc. AAPL shares are trading higher by $2.66 at $96.75 in Friday's session. Three days removed from its Q1 earnings report that failed to meet Wall Street expectations, the issue is now trading nearly $3 higher than it was at Wednesday's close ($93.42). That marked its lowest close since June 2014.

In the meantime, it approached a critical support level in Thursday's session and for now has come out victorious. For investors that felt they missed out on buying the artificial low from the August 24 Flash Crash ($92), they were afforded another opportunity on Thursday, when it fell into the $92 handle, but only reached $92.30 before rebounding to close at $94.09.

Related Link: Apple: The Aftermath

In Friday's session, the issue found support ahead of that level and has rebounded into the upper $96 handle.

Now Apple bull and bears alike may be reevaluating their buying strategy. With the bad news out and the issue not swooning into the $80 handle, will they get another shot to buy in the $92 handle?

Bulls that feel they have missed the bottom will be lining bids in the higher $92 just as other investors stepped ahead of the $92 low on Thursday.

Bears, or investors wanting to cover shorts, will be searching for a catalyst to send the shares back to the lows. With the earnings report out of the way, they will be relying on a broad decline in the market downgrades from the Wall Street analysts.

That may guarantee we have seen a long-term bottom in Apple.