After reaching a market value of two-trillion dollars earlier this week, Apple may yet surge by another 27 percent, according to Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives (via BusinessInsider).
Ives believes that Apple has the potential to make further significant gains over the next year, even though the company has already hit the milestone two-trillion dollar valuation. He has classified Apple stocks with an "outperform" rating, with a target price of $515 and an optimistic bull case of $600. This prediction would place Apple as much as 27 percent higher than it closed yesterday.
"We still believe the stock has a lot of gasoline left in the tank with an iPhone 12 'supercycle' on the near term horizon," Ives wrote.
Ives described the possibility as a "once in a decade" opportunity, as "we estimate roughly 350 million of Cupertino's 950 million iPhones worldwide are in the window of an upgrade opportunity." He believes in "massive pent-up demand around this supercycle," which is the main indication that Apple's price could surge going into next year. China is also crucial to Ives' analysis, where he sees "considerable strength" that could account for approximately 20 percent of iPhone upgrades over the next twelve to eighteen months.
Beyond the iPhone, Ives' thesis places considerable emphasis on Apple's increasing services ventures, which he values between $700 billion to $750 billion. He believes that Apple services could generate more than $60 billion in annual revenue next year alone. He also recognizes the boom in wearables, such as AirPods and Apple Watch, which have seen an increase in sales of 25 million units this year.
