Apple stock soars as Morgan Stanley names it a top pick

Morgan Stanley’s upgrade of Apple as its top pick and a positive outlook on the launch of Apple Intelligence boosted the stock price of Apple to new highs on July 15. Additionally, analyst Erik Woodring has also raised the price target for Apple shares to $273 based on a new upgrade cycle triggered by the company’s AI platform. 

Also Read: Microsoft unveils software to integrate Large Language Models 

Woodring’s breakdown highlights that Apple Intelligence can set off a chain reaction of device refreshes over the next several years. He anticipates that Apple will ship 498 million iPhones in the next two years only, which is a new record.

Loop Capital boosts Apple’s target price and rating

Loop Capital also helped boost investor confidence by increasing its target price from $170 to $300 and upgrading Apple to buy. Analyst Ananda Baruah stated that Apple still has the opportunity to be the consumer’s platform of choice for AI, similar to its perceived dominance in digital content and social networks.

Apple introduced the AI suite in June at the Worldwide Developers Conference with the tag ‘AI for the rest of us.’ This announcement took the company’s stock to its first record high of 2024. Since the announcement, Apple’s share price has risen 17%, while the Nasdaq 100 Index has risen by 7% in the same period.

Woodring pointed out that the market for the next iPhone 16 would be robust and that there would be a huge increase in device upgrades. He said that Apple Intelligence would expand the value of Apple’s ecosystem and force more than 1.3 billion users to update their gadgets. This expected increase in demand is predicted to kick off a multi-year device refresh cycle beginning in fiscal year 2025. 

However, the integration of Apple Intelligence will initially be possible only for devices that have A17 Pro and M-Series chips; thus, it will be available only to 15% of Apple’s installed user base. This includes a majority of Mac users but only 8% of the current iPhone and iPad users. Therefore, more than 1. 2 billion iPhones, iPads, and Macs will require the implementation of new AI features. 

Apple plans gradual rollout of AI features across languages

Apple Intelligence will be launched in the autumn and will first be available for English-speaking iPhone users in the United States. Over the next 12 to 24 months, Woodring expects non-English functionality to increase, which will increase the platform’s value, lead to more upgrades and improvements, and positively affect Apple’s stock price. 

Similarly, there is also an increasing focus on Apple’s operation in India, which is helpful to its bright prospects. Sales in India alone stood at $8 billion by July 15, according to Bloomberg News. This country is one of the most dynamically developing markets for Apple, and the company assembles more devices here and has two big stores. This growth is consistent with Apple’s overall plan to expand its manufacturing and sales operations across the world.