After a not-so-enterprising first-half of the year, Apple Inc. shares began picking up steam in the second-half. An analyst at Wedbush said Sunday, Cupertino is inching closer to a milestone.
Apple on Doorstep of $3 Trillion Market-Cap
Apple is on pace to become the first $3 trillion market-cap company this week, as investors begin to better appreciate the company’s robust fundamental story into 2022, analyst Daniel Ives, and a prominent Apple bull said in a note.
“Hitting $3 trillion is another watershed moment for Apple as the company continues to prove the doubters wrong with the renaissance of growth story playing out in Cupertino,” the analyst said in the note.
The “linchpin” to Apple’s valuation rerating, according to the analyst, is the company’s Services business, valued at about $1.5 trillion by the Street, and its flagship hardware ecosystem, which is in the midst of its strongest product cycle in over a decade.
Ives noted that the iPhone growth story is playing out into 2022 despite supply chain issues. The analyst is also anticipating new product introductions such as the highly anticipated AR headset Apple Glasses, which will likely make its debut in the second-half of 2022.
What It Would Take for Stock to Reach the Milestone
Apple closed Friday’s session up 2.80 percent at $179.45, and added an incremental 0.22 percent to $179.84 in after-hours trading.
At Friday’s close, Apple had a market capitalization of $2.944 trillion.
Apple has 16.41 billion shares outstanding, according to the Yahoo database. For the company to hit the magic number of $3 trillion, the stock has to reach $182.8, which is merely $3.35 more than its Friday’s close. It appears to be a very doable target for the shares, which added $17.61 in the week ending Dec. 10.
Apple is currently the most valued company in the world. The second-ranked Microsoft Corporation, which is the only other company in the $2 trillion club, has a valuation of $2.572 trillion.
Ives has an Outperform rating on Apple shares and a $200 price target, with a bull-case price target of $225.
By Shanthi Rexaline
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