Oppenheimer Upgrades Apple (AAPL) to Outperform; iPhone 6/6 Plus Launch Seen as Major Success
Get Alerts AAPL Hot Sheet
Rating Summary:
39 Buy, 26 Hold, 7 Sell
Rating Trend: = Flat
Today's Overall Ratings:
Up: 13 | Down: 16 | New: 3
Join SI Premium – FREE
(Updated - October 9, 2014 7:34 AM EDT)
Oppenheimer upgraded Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) from Perform to Outperform with a price target of $115. Analyst Andrew Uerkwitz expects the iPhone 6/6 Plus to be, by far, Apple's most successful phone launch.
"Due to its numerous hardware and software upgrades, we are expecting market share gains as well as a shorter replacement cycle. We also expect AAPL to keep investor interests high when Apple Pay and Apple Watch piggy back on the iPhone's success; though earnings contribution from both will initially be minimal. One risk to our call—despite having above Street estimates, we believe Apple Watch sales will initially underwhelm, but be a long-term success," said Uerkwitz.
"We believe iPhone 6 and 6 Plus combined will be the best selling iPhone generation to-date as iOS 8 and larger displays draw much broader consumer appeal than before—ultimately growing Apple's market share. (risk: sales are so good, next gen iPhone sales decline year-on-year)," continued the analyst. "We believe iPhone 6 and iOS 8 will bring important features to AAPL's overall ecosystem that increases user stickiness: 1) Apple Pay, 2) HealthKit and Health App, and 3) integration between OS X and iOS, and 4) HomeKit. We believe these will drive market share gains."
Uerkwitz sees revenue/EPS of $182.9B/$6.43 and $208.1B/$7.31 for Q4 and FY15.
For an analyst ratings summary and ratings history on Apple click here. For more ratings news on Apple click here.
Shares of Apple closed at $100.80 yesterday.
Serious News for Serious Traders! Try StreetInsider.com Premium Free!
You May Also Be Interested In
- Erste Group Downgrades Apple (AAPL) to Hold, 'new products do not currently have the potential to significantly improve momentum'
- Morgan Stanley Upgrades EPAM Systems (EPAM) to Equalweight
- EQT Corp. (EQT) PT Raised to $43 at Mizuho
Create E-mail Alert Related Categories
Analyst Comments, Analyst EPS View, Hot Upgrades, UpgradesRelated Entities
EarningsSign up for StreetInsider Free!
Receive full access to all new and archived articles, unlimited portfolio tracking, e-mail alerts, custom newswires and RSS feeds - and more!