Hudson’s Square Research’s Daniel Ernst told CNBC on Tuesday that Apple’s (AAPL) first smartwatch, which was officially launched yesterday at an exclusive event in San Francisco, might contribute 5 to 10% to the iPhone maker’s bottom line in its first fiscal year. And while it’s hard to recommend the name given the stock market’s record levels, he said there are few companies innovating at Cupertino’s level.
“I just don’t find another company that I feel that comfortable with, not even from a safety standpoint,” Ernst said. “This is not just defensive. They are growing. They are an inexpensive stock. They are doing all the right things for shareholders. I don’t know what’s not to love about it.”
AAPL closed Monday at $127.14. It is $0.83 down in pre-market trading Tuesday. On valuation measures, Apple shares are currently priced at 17.22x this year’s forecasted earnings compared to the industry’s 19.97x earnings multiple. Ticker has a PEG and forward P/E ratio of 1.15 and 13.79, respectively. Price/sales for the same period is 3.69 while EPS is $7.39. Currently there are 34 analysts that rate AAPL a ‘Buy’, 11 rate it a ‘Hold’. 2 analysts rate it a ‘Sell’. AAPL has a median Wall Street price target of $140.00 with a high target of $165.00.
In the past 52 weeks, shares of the tech giant have traded between a low of $73.05 and a high of $133.60. Shares are up 70.96% year-over-year and 15.63% year-to-date.
Leave a Reply