A big Apple Inc. bull just got more upbeat.
Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives boosted his price target on Apple shares
AAPL,
to $220 from $205 Wednesday, with his new target now the highest among those tracked by FactSet. The stock, up 0.7% shortly after Wednesday’s open, recently changed hands just above $180.
Ives was optimistic about Apple heading into the iPhone 15 cycle.
“Our recent Asia supply chain checks give us further incremental confidence that this upcoming iPhone 15 product cycle could be another trophy case moment for Cupertino kicking off this fall with expected units and ASPs [average selling prices] that could yet another easily surpass current Street expectations,” he wrote in a note to clients.
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The company enters the period with a “massive position of strength” in his view, thanks to strong demand for the more expensive Pro-level models, including in the crucial China market.
“The initial iPhone units bogey for FY24 looks to be in the ~235 million unit range and we would expect an upside bias,” Ives commented.
Beyond iPhones lies a compelling narrative around services, he noted. The company will get closer to the $100-billion mark for annual services revenue come fiscal 2024 (FactSet estimates call for $92 billion), which Ives said would be up substantially from just above $50 billion in fiscal 2020.
“Herein lies the key to the valuation re-rating that we believe will continue to take place around Apple’s stock as the Street further appreciates the sheer massive potential of this services revenue that we now assign a valuation in the $1.4 trillion range,” Ives wrote. “We believe Apple’s fair valuation could be in the $3.5 trillion range with a bull case $4 trillion valuation by FY25.”
Apple has been hovering above a $2.8 trillion market capitalization.
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This story originally appeared on Marketwatch
