Apple (AAPL) hit an all-time intraday high Tuesday as Wall Street analysts issued bullish outlooks on the stock ahead of the release of Apple Intelligence.
Apple shares reached $237.49 on Tuesday, before paring gains, eclipsing its prior record of $237.23 on July 15. The stock’s climb put it further ahead of Nvidia (NVDA) as the world’s most valuable company, after Nvidia’s gains earlier in the week jeopardized the iPhone maker’s lead. Meanwhile, Nvidia (NVDA) fell around 6% Tuesday amid trade tensions in the semiconductor sector.
Analysts at Morgan Stanley (MS), Bernstein, and Evercore ISI have reiterated their Buy ratings on Apple stock this week. Positive preliminary iPhone shipment data posted by International Data Corporation (IDC) showed strong demand for Apple’s previous smartphone models. Sales were also helped by Apple’s rollout of the iPhone 16.
“Despite the staggered rollout of Apple Intelligence in markets outside the U.S., Apple will continue to grow in the upcoming holiday season,” said Nabila Popal, IDC’s data & analytics senior director, in a statement Monday. IDC data released Monday showed global iPhone shipments rising 3.5% in the third quarter from last year.
The news comes amid concerns over weak demand for Apple’s iPhone 16 lineup. Wall Street analysts initially interpreted shorter shipping times for the iPhones as an omen. The thinking was that if customers could easily get their hands on the new iPhones, then there was an oversupply of the phones available to purchase versus last year, Yahoo Finance’s Daniel Howley reported. Jefferies (JEF) last week downgraded Apple stock from Buy to Hold, citing doubts over whether its newly AI-enabled phones will live up to expectations. But Morgan Stanley said in a note to investors Monday that Apple was simply better prepared for the iPhone 16 release than past launches.
“Our supply-chain checks suggest that this cycle, Apple has asked its suppliers to prepare component inventories earlier than typical patterns to avoid supply constraints, in contrast to past cycles where supply shortages kept new model iPhone Pro/Pro Max supply/demand imbalanced for months,” Morgan Stanley’s Erik Woodring wrote. “ We believe that better supply conditions are one of the contributing factors to why iPhone lead times are shorter this cycle than in recent cycles.”
Apple released its new iPad mini equipped to run its suite of AI features, Apple Intelligence, on Tuesday. Apple will begin its rollout of Apple Intelligence on Oct. 28, though Morgan Stanley notes that more significant updates will come in December and then again in March of 2025.
Despite a rocky start to 2024 — from struggling iPhone sales and layoffs to clashes with antitrust regulators at home and abroad — Apple stock is up 31% from last year, rising 3.6% over the last week alone. Analysts see the stock climbing further to $245.40 over the next 12 months, according to consensus estimates compiled by Bloomberg.
Apple is set to report earnings Oct. 31, and Wall Street analysts tracked by Bloomberg expect earnings to rise 9% from last year to $1.59 per share. Some 40 analysts recommend buying the stock, while 19 have a Hold rating and two recommend selling shares, Bloomberg data show.
Laura Bratton is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on X @LauraBratton5.
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