What happened
Shares of Universal Display (OLED 0.65%) gained 12% in July of 2018, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence. The company enjoyed another serving of mass-market interest based on Apple (AAPL -0.57%) news, but this monthlong surge was really just a bounce back from an unreasonably deep dive in the first half of the year.
So what
As a part of the supply chain behind the Apple Watch, and now the iPhone X, Universal Display has become prone to surging or plunging on the slightest Apple whim. The addition of organic light-emitting diode screens to the iPhone X drove Universal Display's share price through the roof in 2017, and then the stock came crashing down when the iPhone X started showing signs of weakness. Here we are again, watching Universal Display shares getting back on their feet, and the only real news was that Apple is expanding its use of OLED screens to the point of bringing in a second hardware supplier.
Image source: Universal Display.
Now what
Cupertino is always a nice client to have, but Apple is far from the only pony in Universal Display's stables. The company already serves a large portion of the even higher-volume Android market, big-screen OLED television sets are becoming a significant contributor to the company's results, and the future will include a push into the mainstream through OLED lighting panels. Long story short, this stock really shouldn't swing on Apple's news alone, and Universal Display still looks cheap with year-to-date returns running at a negative 42%.
