Market Pundits Disagree On Battleground Apple Stock - Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Shares of Apple have been stuck in a trading range for the past three months after recovering a portion of its 2012 losses. Investors and market pundits have been debating the Apple story, questioning management, and trying to determine if the company is a value play, or just a value trap.Market technician J.C. Parets is bearish on the stock:

Bull case for $AAPL is this is a bull flag & January break was a false breakdown & island reversal http://t.co/ClZ5ewt0Ek
— J.C. Parets (@allstarcharts) March 11, 2014

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For players like Doug Kass, the technical outlook isn't so concerning. On Tuesday, Doug Kass tweeted a bold prediction to his followers.

Ludacris Forecast for Today: The Nasdaq trades lower while Apple is +1% to +2%. A rare occurrence. $AAPL
— Douglas Kass (@DougKass) March 11, 2014

Traders will be watching price action at the critical $550 figure, which served as resistance in February after shares rallied to fill an enormous gap created after the company reported first quarter earnings.Shares of Apple have been propped up by management who bought $14 billion of its own stock over a two-week period following the first quarter earnings release.Shares of Apple are up 0.7 percent to $534.80 in Tuesday's session.