AAPL’s $8 surge in after-hours trading has stalled in an interesting place, a hair from a midpoint Hidden Pivot at 197.66. A decisive penetration of that resistance would imply more upside to the 214.58 target shown. We’ll probably know soon whether buyers have the moxie to push the stock a total of 12% higher on upbeat earnings news that came out after Tuesday’s close. I have my doubts AAPL will reach the target — but then, I’ve never been impressed with the company’s overpriced hardware, nor with ‘genius’ support that could never explain why iTunes at times acted almost like a virus on Windows-based systems.

“Smartphones Are Like Radial Tires…”

But don’t take my word for it. Here’s what the always astute Andy Kessler had to say op-ed in the Wall Street Journal recently:  “Smartphones are now like radial tires. Everyone has one and they don’t wear out. Phone franchises are fickle. Ask Motorola or Nokia , if you can find them. One near-term sign of distress: Marketing tech products with splashy colors, as Steve Jobs did with tangerine iMacs almost 20 years ago, means the fun part is almost over. Apple hopes to make it up in services, but Google leads in maps, Netflix in video, and Uber in transportation. Apple is falling behind in most other growth segments. The company’s destructive seed is its desperate need for a new product category. It won’t be watches.”  Even if there are good reasons for AAPL to make an important top here, I’ll go with my charts. As noted above, if the stock can push decisively past 197.66, or close above it for two consecutive days, I’d infer that more upside to 214.58 is an odds-on bet. _______ UPDATE (August 2. 12:19 a.m.): The stock traded as high as 201.92 intraday, shortening the odds of a further move to 214.58.