Tech Roundup: Apple claims a new title and more picks for the year ahead
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The first week of 2022 was loaded with more prognostications from Wall Street analysts making their picks for the top stocks in various areas of the tech sector. But, it was Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) that was able to claim a top spot that no other company has ever held before.

That was reaching a market cap of $3 trillion, which Apple (AAPL) reached on Jan. 3. To put that level in some perspective, Apple (AAPL) became the first company to hit $1 trillion in valuation in 2018, and it crossed the $2 trillion mark in 2020. By the end of the week, Apple (AAPL) was back to having a market cap of "only" $2.83 trillion. But, needless to say, Apple (AAPL) has come a long, long way since 1997, when Dell's (NYSE:DELL) said he would shut company down and give whatever proceeds were left Apple's (AAPL) shareholders.
In other Apple (AAPL) activities, the company set March 4 as for its next shareholders' meeting, which will be held virtually.
Back to the forecasts for the rest of this year, and there have been plenty of them...
UBS analysts led by John Hodulik anticipate cable cord cutting and the continuing evolution of 5G wireless technology to remain top issues for communications service providers in 2022. Mizuho Securities expects Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) to gain more strength in the data center market, and with its bread-and-butter memory chips. Mark Lipacis, of Jefferies, is expecting good things from chip-equipment makers Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT), Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) and KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC), and initiated his coverage of all three companies with buy ratings. And Needham analyst Bernie McTernan called Uber (NYSE:UBER) his top pick of the year, and also added the ride-sharing giant to Needham's conviction list.
Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) may be planing on spinning off its Mobileye self-driving technology unit this year. But for the time being, the semiconductor giant is touting Mobileye's newest partnerships with several leading automakers.
Meanwhile, Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD)
is ramping up its efforts in the gaming chip space with new products aimed at challenging Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA).
Alibaba (NYSE:BABA) got a vote of confidence from noted investor Charlie Munger, as the Berkshire Hathaway vice chairman used his Daily Journal investment firm to buy 300,000 more shares of the Chinese Internet and e-commerce leader. With that purchase, Munger now owns approximately $72 million worth of Alibaba's (BABA) stock. Reaction to Munger's purchase gave Alibaba (BABA) shares a boost as the week went on.
In the media arena, the owners of The Athletic scored, as the New York Times confirmed it is purchasing the sports news subscription site for $550 million in cash. The deal is expected to close by the end of the first quarter.
Based on the viewership figures for the debut episode of The Book of Boba Fett, Disney+ (NYSE:DIS) seems to have found "the way" with its new Star Wars series.
Meanwhile, Disney (DIS) has closed its Hong Kong Disneyland theme park until Jan. 20 as part of an effort to contain the spread of the Omicron variant of the Covid-19 virus. It is the fourth time Hong Kong Disneyland has been closed due to the Covid pandemic.
Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) continued to rule the streaming ratings roost, as the latest Nielsen (NYSE:NLSN) data showed strong numbers for its Lost In Space series reboot.