Why Apple’s stock is beating the market even as the tech sector sells off

Published: Nov. 18, 2025 at 5:54 p.m. ET

What was once the biggest knock against Apple’s stock is now proving to be a positive as tech shares come under pressure.

Not only has Apple’s stock AAPL beaten the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index COMP since the start of November, but it’s outperformed the more broad-based S&P 500 SPX as well. That partly owes to the fact that AI plays have been hard hit in recent sessions, but Apple isn’t seen as an AI stock.