5 Reasons Why J.P. Morgan Still Likes Apple

NEW YORK (TheStreet) - Almost everybody loves Apple(AAPL) , but J.P. Morgan has found five more ways to love the technology giant.

Everything Apple does is subject to incredible levels of scrutiny, as the media, analysts, Wall Street, and fan-boys all pay attention to the latest and greatest from Cupertino. There are countless websites devoted to rumors about Apple, while hordes of media, developers and fanboys flock to the company's events.

From iPads to iPhones, iPods and Macs, Apple's product are everywhere. Just look at Apple's first quarter results when the tech giant earned $13.87 a share on revenue of $46.33 billion. Wall Street estimates weren't even close.

Apple's stock has had an incredible run year-to-date, gaining 27.5%, and 47.3% over the past twelve months, far outpacing the broader markets. Even with these outsized gains, the stock is relatively under-owned, compared to other stocks in the Russell 1000.

Here are the five reasons why J.P. Morgan is still incredibly bullish on Apple.

Apple is a sector unto itself

Apple has become so enormous in market cap ($480 billion and climbing), scope (nearly every company wants to be associated with Apple), and breadth (just look at the number of stories about Apple), J.P. Morgan argues the iPhone maker is a sector by itself. The investment bank rates Apple overweight with a $625 price target.

Apple's weight in the S&P 500 is 3.7% (as of Feb. 10), larger than any single company by far, besting the likes of Microsoft(MSFT) and IBM(IBM) .

Even more impressive is that Apple would be the sixth-largest industry weighting in the S&P 500, besting Insurance (3.4%), Food & Staples Retailing (3.1%), Diversified Financial Services (3.0%) and Media (2.8%). If it were a sector, Apple would be the eighth-largest, surpassing Materials (3.6%), Utilities (3.4%), and Telecom (2.6%).