The company controlled 17.4% of the global smartphone market last year per IDC’s estimates, up from 15.9% in 2020. Apple’s market share growth last year was a result of the company’s dominant position in the 5G smartphone market. That’s good news for the company, as 5G smartphone adoption is expected to increase in the coming years. The global smartphone market was reportedly worth $274 billion last year, and it is expected to clock an annual growth rate of 7.6% through 2030. At this pace, smartphone sales would generate close to $530 billion in revenue by the end of the decade. Paying that high of a P/E would be totally fine if Apple were set to post strong revenue growth.
The jump in Apple’s stock price was driven by the company’s better-than-expected numbers. It earned $1.53 per share on revenue of $90.8 billion, while analysts were expecting $1.51 per share on earnings on $90.5 billion in revenue. Apple Inc designs, manufactures, and markets smartphones, personal computers, tablets, wearables, and accessories worldwide. A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. State Street Corp increased its position in Apple by 10.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 584,010,284 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $136,074,372,000 after purchasing an additional 55,935,105 shares during the period.
Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $285.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, September 9th. StockNews.com cut Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, New Street Research reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $235.25. Apple released fiscal 2024 second-quarter results (for the three months ended March 30, 2024) on May 2, and shares of the company popped nearly 6%.
- Mac’s installed base reached an all-time high, with about half of the customers this quarter being new to Macs, Maestri says.
- So a sustained breakout through that upper level will be needed for the stock to avoid disappointing investors in the coming year.
- The recurring portion of Apple’s services — think subscriptions like Apple TV+ — is growing faster than the transactional services, Maestri tells analysts.
- “The staggered rollout of Apple Intelligence could curtail some of the device upgrade cycle’s momentum, but the combination of robust services revenue growth and healthy iPhone 16 demand positions Apple well for the holiday season,” Bourne said.
This segment includes various offerings like Apple Pay, TV+, Music, and the App Store, for example. Apple is far from an upstart, but a cash-rich balance sheet, debt it can manage well, and a “wide moat” via its How to buy a penguin very devoted customer base all make this a stock that likely has a floor. However, it is a prominent part of the S&P 500, and that means it is always at risk of being caught up in market-wide selloffs.
Apple wants the dismissal of a case accusing it of illegally dominating the smartphone sector. The company was set to go to court asking a federal judge to throw out the U.S. The amount the U.S. tech giant has offered is 10 times higher than an initial plan to invest $10 million and will be invested over the next two years. Some digital services look like banks, act like banks, but aren’t banks — meaning they can, for instance, close down your account without notice. The top U.S. consumer watchdog will supervise Apple Inc. and other major technology firms that offer digital wallets and payment apps, finalizing a proposal from last year with several changes. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Apple and Berkshire Hathaway.
Cook also said Apple Intelligence — a key set of AI features that the company is heavily marketing the iPhone 16 on — was a compelling reason for consumers to upgrade. User adoption of iOS 18.1, which launched in the US on Monday and included the first Apple Intelligence features, was twice the rate of iOS 17.1 a year ago. Apple reported a profit and revenue beat for its fiscal fourth-quarter earnings on Thursday as Wall Street looked for early indicators of how the new iPhone 16 is selling with Apple Intelligence. That’s much needed right now considering that Apple’s rival Samsung is already reaping the benefits of offering AI-specific features on its latest Galaxy flagship phones.
Featured Articles and Offers
The iPhone is truly the centerpiece of the business, as other products are essentially designed around it. That is especially true of new applications, such as subscription bundles and augmented reality. However, iPhone, now in its 16 version, is a mature business, and perhaps a victim of its own success, as adding updated versions of existing products is less profitable than the next new device or technology. Upgrade cycles contribute more to the company’s bottom line than innovation.
Financials
It is expected that Apple A Contribution to the SCF Literature will launch the 16th edition of iPhone models in the fall of this year, with newer iterations continuing in the years ahead. Consequently, this is still very much going to be a hardware company three years from now. It is growing, though not at the rate it was, and that growth is likely priced into the stock already. The company has helped its own growth in relatively poorer countries by offering installment plan purchases. That has helped it expand in Europe and China, and it now has its sites set on deeper penetration of emerging economies. And the company has a new challenge, given its reliance on China, both for production and sales of Apple products.
Price Score
Discover which analysts rank highest on predicting the price target of AAPL. Discover which analysts rank highest for AAPL overall weighted by direction, price target, and price movement. Like other analysts, Ng is focused on the impact of AI and all of the software features Apple is set to release in the next few months. Analyst Jacob Bourne at Emarketer, a sister company to Business Insider, said that Apple’s earnings “show its resilience in the face of market headwinds, with iPhone demand improving in China where premium models sales surpassed expectations.” So it isn’t surprising to see why there are several rumors of Apple working on a headset that’s expected to support both AR and virtual reality (VR). A Bloomberg report in the 9 biggest virtual reality stocks November 2021 claimed that Apple is working on an autonomous electric car that may hit the market as early as 2025.
I judge the stock price to be vulnerable at these levels, both chart-wise and due to its hefty valuation. However, if any business can continue its run of being in Wall Street’s good graces, this is it. As for sentiment, the best way to view that is in the chart pattern (at least, that’s my view after charting stocks for 44 years). On that measure, Apple is again a victim of its own success, but there is a potential silver lining. At around $225 a share, its price has stagnated while younger businesses like Nvidia (NVDA) have rocketed higher, the way Apple’s stock used to do.
However, its price has been trending up steadily, not dramatically, since back in August 2020, when it split its stock price 4-for-1. The stock decline came amid a broader sell-off in mega-cap tech stocks following earnings reports from Microsoft and Meta Platforms, with shares of both tech firms down about 5%. “The staggered rollout of Apple Intelligence could curtail some of the device upgrade cycle’s momentum, but the combination of robust services revenue growth and healthy iPhone 16 demand positions Apple well for the holiday season,” Bourne said. “What else is going on there is that the installed base of active devices reached an all-time high,” he says. “We had the Top 2 top-selling smartphones in urban China,” Cook says, referencing a third-party report.