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Wall Street is growing even more bullish on Apple stock after the company reported its second-quarter earnings results on Thursday.
The results, which beat analyst expectations for profit and revenue, revealed that Apple's iPhone business in China was finally turning a corner after a yearlong slowdown and that the company expected a strong third quarter driven by the upcoming release of its iPhone 16.
"This was an upbeat conference call in our view as stronger September guidance is just the opening act for the main event which is an AI-driven super cycle starting with iPhone 16 launching in mid-September," the Wedbush analyst Dan Ives said, adding: "The worst is now behind Apple in the key China region."
Ives raised his Apple price target to $285 from $275, representing an upside of 30% from Thursday's close.
Boosting Ives' confidence in Apple's business is the potential for it to significantly monetize artificial-intelligence technologies.
"We believe AI technology being introduced into the Apple ecosystem will bring monetization opportunities on both the services as well as iPhone/hardware front and adds $30 to $40 per share," Ives said.
Apple offered guidance for the third quarter, with revenue expected to jump 5% year over year, ahead of Wall Street expectations for revenue growth of 4.3%.
"Our view is betting against Cook and Cupertino into an AI-driven supercycle led by iPhone 16 and Apple Intelligence is the wrong move for investors as the renaissance of growth returns to the Apple story," Ives said.
The Goldman Sachs analyst Michael Ng also grew more upbeat on Apple stock following its results.
Ng raised his Apple price target to $275 from $265, arguing that the iPhone maker was "on the cusp of a multi-year replacement cycle for iPhone."
"The F4Q24E gross margin outlook supports our view that iPhone revenue in the September quarter should be strong given that iPhone has the highest margins in the Products portfolio, providing mix benefits, and that the recent Service gross margin expansion to the mid-70% range is durable," Ng said in a Thursday note.
Shares of Apple jumped as much as 2% in Friday's trading session, bucking the trend of the broader market's 2% decline following a weak July jobs report.
