Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) shares rose slightly in premarket trading Wednesday, after Wedbush Securities analyst Daniel Ives issued a price target boost to $160 from $150 for the iPhone maker, while setting out a bull case that could lift it to $200 from $175 a share.
The new bull estimate represents a potential 61% upside from Apple’s current price near $124 and change.
The upgrade comes amid what the long-term Apple bull analyst calls an iPhone 12 “supercycle”. According to Ives, the Cupertino-based company is seeing “major tailwinds,” not seen since 2014.
Ives argues that recent channel checks in Asia continue to be bullish around iPhone 12 demand both in China and the United States. In the U.S., he says he is seeing a “clear tick up” demand for the 6.1 inch model of the iPhone 12. The Pro Max model is also attracting “very strong demand”, which bods well for average selling prices heading into FY2021, as per the analyst.
The rapid increase in demand in China is driving sales for the latest iPhone 12 5G, which Ives describes as “the strongest product cycle for Cook & Co. thus far since iPhone 6 in 2014.”
The analyst, whose AAPL price target is the highest on the Street, believes that while the projections are 215 million iPhone units for fiscal 21, Cupertino could sell more than 240 million units. If such an estimate materializes, then Apple would beat the previous record of 231 million iPhone 6 units sold in 2015. iPhone sales have remained relatively stable since then.
AAPL Price Action
As of writing, Apple shares are up 0.35%, to $124.82. The $2.1 trillion market cap company trades at 31x forward 12-month EPS estimates. Trailing-12 P/E prints above 37 times. Apple’s 52-week range is $53.15 – $137.98.
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