Wedbush analysts said Friday that Apple Inc.’s doubters and bears have missed the last more than $1 trillion rise in the stock price by missing three important factors.
Some of the most bullish analysts, led by Dan Ives, wrote in a Friday note to clients that Apple AAPL 1.02% has a “unmatched” installed base of more than 2 billion iOS devices and 1.5 billion iPhones. Another 300 million are due for an upgrade.
The note said that the customer base is becoming more valuable because the services business is worth $2 trillion. The note also said that consumer AI “will go through Apple’s ecosystem, with over 20% of the world’s population interacting with AI on an Apple device in the next few years.”
They wrote, “We believe that the success of the iPhone 16 and the coming strong holiday season will be the start of a renaissance of growth in Cupertino over the next 12 to 18 months.”
As we head into the holiday season, Wedbush rates Apple’s stock as “outperform” and sets a 12-month price goal of $300, which is about 28% more than its current price. Out of the 52 experts who follow the stock on FactSet, this is the highest price target.
Early in September, Apple showed off the next version of iPhones, the 16 series, and some new features that use generative AI on the iPhone. Apple Intelligence was made available in October for the iPhone 16 and high-end iPhone 15 models through iOS 18.1 software updates.
Ives thinks iOS 18.2 will come out next week, and he said that so far, demand for the iPhone 16 has been slightly above to usually in line with expectations around the world.
“Importantly, Apple Intelligence has not yet rolled out in China or many other countries. April is likely to be the month for these AI launches, and a Chinese tech partner will be named soon to help set the date for this rollout in this key region,” he wrote.
He also said that the 18.2 release would be a big software update that would add a bunch of AI tools, such as ChatGPT integration. Visual Intelligence, an image playground, and other tools will also be part of it.
Wedbush also thinks the stock will do well in the long term, expecting an AI journey that will shape the company’s future over many years.
It was said in the note that Apple could sell more than 240 million iPhones in fiscal year 2025, which would be the most in the company’s history.
Apple stock was a little higher before the market opened. It has gained 22% so far this year, while the S&P 500 SPX 0.56% has gained 25.8%.
The market value of the stock has grown to more than $3.5 trillion, making the company the most valuable in the world.
