Apple (AAPL) Event Offers Few Surprises, Susquehanna Notes
Susquehanna analyst Chris Caso noted the Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) event offered few surprises. The firm maintained a Positive rating and price target of $155.
Caso commented, "AAPL held its annual launch event yesterday, launching new iPhones as expected, along with an iPad Pro and a new Apple TV. Most of what we heard yesterday was already anticipated by ourselves and by most of the Street. We expect that bears will highlight that iPhone 6s isn’t sufficiently different from iPhone 6. But what we think is more important is that it’s quite different from iPhone 5/5s, and the key for AAPL to grow iPhone sales this year is not to convert existing iPhone users but rather to convert the 73% of iPhone users who have yet to upgrade to iPhone 6. Along those lines, we think the announcement of an iPhone upgrade plan, which provides an affordable annual upgrade path and ties consumers into AAPL’s ecosystem (as opposed to tying consumers to carriers), is an important detail to watch, which could help to shorten upgrade cycles. We view the new Apple TV and iPad Pro as important for locking people into the ecosystem, albeit with limited impact to earnings. We continue to believe the outcome of AAPL’s stock by year-end will be determined by whether iPhone manages to show Y/Y growth in 2H15 – yesterday’s announcement doesn’t change our constructive view."
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Shares of Apple closed at $110.15 yesterday.