Tech giant Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) popped up just a bit in Thursday afternoon’s trading, as it proved it wasn’t taking a ruling about it and Epic Games lightly. While Epic Games is clearly on the ropes, Apple is looking for a new court to look into the ruling: the Supreme Court.
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Apple put out a direct appeal to the Supreme Court in the U.S., asking it to review the ruling that allowed app developers to include links and the like to alternative payment methods that bypassed Apple’s own infrastructure. It’s the latest in a long series of such moves made previously, though it’s not clear whether or not the Court will take up the request. An answer might come by the end of this year or early next year, and that answer may ultimately be “no.”
But Epic Games is having troubles of its own; it’s also asked the Court to intervene on whether or not the Apple App Store’s policies are in violation of antitrust laws. Epic Games is clearly hurting; it’s in the process of laying off around 16% of its staff and is ditching Bandcamp as well as SuperAwesome. Based on reports from CEO Tim Sweeney, the problem was that Epic Games’ eyes were simply too big for its stomach as it worked to turn Fortnite into an entire ecosystem property. However, it ultimately pursued too much too quickly and spent more than it brought in in a bid to accomplish that.
Is Apple a Buy, Sell, or Hold?
Apple itself, meanwhile, remains a favorite with many analysts. The combination of 21 Buy ratings and eight Holds makes Apple stock a Moderate Buy with analysts. Meanwhile, investors get access to a 21.68% upside potential thanks to Apple stock’s average price target of $207.69.
