Some investors may be baffled by (NASDAQ: AAPL) stock's strong performance recently, including a gain of more than 5% over the last week and nearly 39% year to date. They may wonder: Shouldn't the fact that Apple's revenue declined nearly 3% year over year in fiscal 2023 weigh on stock price performance? But there's a strong catalyst bubbling under the surface, keeping the bulls upbeat.

One key part of Apple's business bulls are betting on is none other than its services segment -- a segment consisting of revenue streams that are more consistent, reliable, and predictable than the company's hardware sales. We're talking about Apple's revenue from advertising, AppleCare, cloud services, digital content, and payment services. Together, these high-margin, fast-growing parts of Apple's business are transforming the company.

Here's a closer look at why Apple's services business is such a strong catalyst for the stock.

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Source Fool.com