Apple Inc. (AAPL) in Great Short-Term Standing Amid iPhone X Buzz Captivating the Market
Everyone on Wall Street knows Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has a highly-hyped iPhone 8 soon heading the market's way- the tech titan's delivery of a 10th anniversary edition model of the smartphone that anchored a multi-billion dollar empire.
Top analyst Michael Olson Piper Jaffray is out with a bullish research note diving into consumer upgrade intentions on back of conducting a survey of over 400 iPhone users in the U.S. The results? It would seem a like percentage have plans to spring for the upgrade to the sleek iPhone 8 in the fall when juxtaposing the numbers Olson witnessed in a survey he polled the year prior.
As such, the analyst reiterates an Overweight rating on shares of AAPL with a $190 price target, which implies a 16% increase from current levels.
From Olson's stance, this iPhone survey bodes well for the tech titan, as he explains: "We believe this suggests awareness of potential for a more robust feature set with this year's iPhone is not universal. We will monitor buying intentions following the announcement of the new device(s), which will be unveiled on 9/12, to see if there is any change in upgrade interest for existing iPhone users. We recommend owning AAPL due to growing anticipation around iPhone X and an favorable trajectory for services revenue."
Overall, it is an advantageous time to be an Apple shareholder, as Olson contends, "AAPL is well positioned near-term as proximity to iPhone X captures investor attention. Apple has indicated that, despite reporting favorable iPhone unit volumes in the most recent quarter, iPhone is being negatively impacted by rising awareness of the upcoming device. While we are less certain of broad consumer awareness around the upcoming product, this commentary suggests that the device is likely to see a more robust uptake rate than previous iPhone cycles, except perhaps the iPhone 6 launch."
For the year that came on back of the iPhone 6 release, unit sales rose 36% year-over-year, and as such, the analyst is projecting the forthcoming iPhone 8 cycle to bring in 12% year-over-year gains. By the time the 10th anniversary edition iPhone starts shipping, Olson predicts Apple will have a base of roughly 330 million iPhone users on a device two years or older.
Michael Olson has a very good TipRanks score with a high ranking of #65 out of 4,642 analysts and a 65% success rate. Olson yields 18.2% in his yearly returns. When recommending AAPL, Olson realizes 20.0% in average returns on the stock.
TipRanks analytics exhibit AAPL as a Buy. Based on 34 analysts polled by TipRanks in the last 3 months, 25 rate a Buy on Apple stock while 9 maintain a Hold. The 12-month average price target stands at $170.55, marking a nearly 4% upside from where the stock is currently trading.
