Apple Stock to Hit $325, Wedbush Securities Cites "Golden Era of Growth"

Apple shares edged lower in early Thursday trading but a longtime bull on the stock suggests its march to a $325 valuation "is still being underestimated by" Wall Street.

Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives, who raised his price target on the stock by $25 to $325 a share, argues in a note published Thursday that "many bears and longtime Apple naysayers that have missed the last $1 trillion-plus upward move in market cap for Apple have miscalculated three very important dynamics of the Apple story."

"I believe Apple is on pace to reach the $4 trillion market cap threshold and be the first member of this exclusive club," Ives said.

Ives, who has a "buy" rating on the stock, sees Apple Intelligence, the company's new AI feature, as a major driver of growth. He estimates that around 300 million iPhones in circulation are prime for an upgrade to the 15 and 16 versions, which carry the Apple Intelligence features.

Apple's 'unmatched' installed base: analyst Ives

That, alongside its "unmatched" installed base of more than 2 billion devices using the iOS operating system and a services business valued at $2 trillion, offer a compelling case for the group's longer-term prospects.

"Consumer AI will go through Apple's ecosystem with over 20% of the world's population ultimately interacting with AI on an Apple device the next few years," Ives said.

"I believe the success of iPhone 16 with a strong holiday season in tow will be the launching pad for a renaissance of growth in Cupertino over the next 12 to 18 months that kicks off in this December quarter."

Related: Analysts revisit Apple stock price targets after earnings, iPhone 16 outlook

Finance chief Luca Maestri said current-quarter sales, a key metric for investors, would likely rise by low- to mid-single digits percent from last year's $119.58 billion.

At the time that forecast disappointed Wall Street analysts, who were looking for an early indication that Apple Intelligence was sparking demand for the newly released iPhone.

AI-driven upgrade cycle

Ives, however, sees Apple shifting "north of 240 million iPhone units" over the group's current fiscal year, which began in October.

"As this AI-driven upgrade cycle takes hold, this will be the highest iPhone unit sales year in Apple's history," Ives said. "We believe there are 100 million Chinese iPhones in the window of an upgrade opportunity alone for 2025."

Apple shares were marked 0.19% lower in premarket trading to indicate an opening bell price of $257.70, a level that would peg the stock's market value at just under $3.9 trillion.

Stock Price Forecast
The 32 analysts with 12-month price forecasts for Apple stock have an average target of 239.78, with a low estimate of 180 and a high estimate of 300. The average target predicts a decrease of -7.44% from the current stock price of 259.05.
Analyst Consensus: Buy
Target Low Average Median High
Price $180 $239.78 $250 $300
Change -30.52% -7.44% -3.50% +15.81%
Analyst Ratings
The average analyst rating for Apple stock from 33 stock analysts is "Buy". This means that analysts believe this stock is likely to outperform the market over the next twelve months.
Recommendation Trends
Bar Chart
1 Year
Rating Jul '24 Aug '24 Sep '24 Oct '24 Nov '24 Dec '24
Strong Buy 13 13 13 13 13 13
Buy 9 9 8 8 8 8
Hold 8 9 10 10 10 10
Sell 1 1 1 2 2 2
Strong Sell 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total 31 32 32 33 33 33
Latest Forecasts
Columns
Analyst Firm Rating Rating Action Price Target Upside Date
Erik Woodring Morgan Stanley Morgan Stanley Buy Reiterates $273 Buy Reiterates $273 +5.38% Dec 13, 2024
Laura Martin Needham Needham Strong Buy Reiterates $260 Strong Buy Reiterates $260 +0.37% Dec 10, 2024
Daniel Ives Wedbush Wedbush Buy Reiterates $300 Buy Reiterates $300 +15.81% Nov 29, 2024
Erik Woodring Morgan Stanley Morgan Stanley Buy Reiterates $273 Buy Reiterates $273 +5.38% Nov 25, 2024
Tom Forte Maxim Group Maxim Group Hold Maintains $203 → $215 Hold Maintains $203 → $215 -17.01% Nov 1, 2024
More Analyst Ratings
Financial Forecast
Annual Quarterly
Download
Revenue This Year
422.70B
from 391.04B
Increased by 8.10%
from 391.04B
Revenue Next Year
456.49B
from 422.70B
Increased by 7.99%
from 422.70B
EPS This Year
7.54
from 6.08
Increased by 24.06%
from 6.08
EPS Next Year
8.48
from 7.54
Increased by 12.49%
from 7.54
Fiscal Year FY 2020 FY 2021 FY 2022 FY 2023 FY 2024 FY 2025 FY 2026 FY 2027 FY 2028 FY 2029
Period Ending Sep 26, 2020 Sep 25, 2021 Sep 24, 2022 Sep 30, 2023 Sep 28, 2024 Sep 30, 2025 Sep 30, 2026 Sep 30, 2027 Sep 30, 2028 Sep 30, 2029
Revenue 274.52B 365.82B 394.33B 383.29B 391.04B 422.70B 456.49B 485.61B Upgrade Upgrade
Revenue Growth 5.51% 33.26% 7.79% -2.80% 2.02% 8.10% 7.99% 6.38% Upgrade Upgrade
EPS 3.28 5.61 6.11 6.13 6.08 7.54 8.48 9.52 Upgrade Upgrade
EPS Growth 10.44% 71.04% 8.91% 0.33% -0.82% 24.06% 12.49% 12.15% Upgrade Upgrade
Forward PE - - - - - 34.35 30.53 27.22 Upgrade Upgrade
No. Analysts - - - - - 47 43 18 Upgrade Upgrade
Historical EPS numbers are GAAP, while forecasted numbers may be non-GAAP.
Revenue Forecast
Revenue 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029
High 452.7B 503.0B 555.2B Pro Pro
Avg 422.7B 456.5B 485.6B Pro Pro
Low 390.8B 409.4B 420.7B Pro Pro
Revenue Growth
Revenue Growth 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029
High 15.8% 19.0% 21.6% Pro Pro
Avg 8.1% 8.0% 6.4% Pro Pro
Low -0.1% -3.1% -7.8% Pro Pro
EPS Forecast
EPS 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029
High 8.24