Apple's stupendous stock rise follows another pessimistic report from Goldman Sachs

Apple shareholders had another glorious day.

Their company's stock rose a whopping 10.47 percent today to close at US$425.05 on the New York Stock Exchange.

It's since climbed to US$427.44 in after-hours trading.

The latest increase came after Apple released a spectacular quarterly earnings report on Thursday (July 30) after markets closed.

That same day, the company also announced a 4:1 stock split. That may make Apple stock more appealing to smaller investors who don't want to shell out US$400 for a single share.

Here's one of the more intriguing aspects to the story: Apple's meteoric performance came shortly after a pessimistic forecast last week by Goldman Sachs.

According to Business Insider, the Wall Street investment house was maintaining a "sell" rating on Apple stock.

In a note to clients on July 22, Goldman Sachs predicted the share price would eventually fall to US$299. That would reportedly be due to weakening demand for iPhones through the end of 2020.

On that day, Apple shares opened at US$386.77. Then they went into a tailspin later that week, closing at US$379.46 a week ago.

Since then, Apple shares have spiked upward by 15.3 percent.

Ben Lovejoy, a writer with 9to5Mac, pointed out that Goldman Sachs has issued three gloomy reports about Apple's share price in less than a year.

After the first of these blasts came in September 2019, Motley Fool contributor Billy Duberstein wrote a rebuttal called "Why Goldman Sachs' Downgrade of Apple Is Totally Ridiculous".