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Apple stock continued to rise on Friday.
Sascha Steinbach / Getty Images for Apple
Apple
Stocks rallied for the fourth consecutive session on Friday, hitting the pace for a record close to and in range of an intraday record. Wall Street analysts continue to pick up expectations in the run-up to the company’s December quarterly figures, which should be expected next Wednesday after trading close.
The consensus forecast calls for $ 102.8 billion in revenues and earnings of $ 1.40 per share. The Street is looking for massive iPhone sales after launching its iPhone 12 lineup late last year, with continued power from Macs, iPads, wearables and services.
On Friday, Cowen analyst Krish Sankar reiterated his Outperform rating on Apple (ticker: AAPL) stocks, raising his price target from $ 133 to $ 153.
Sankar expects the company to exceed expectations for the quarter, both up and down, mainly driven by strong demand for iPhone. He expects $ 104.5 billion in revenue and earnings of $ 1.46 per share. The analyst estimates that Apple sold 77 million iPhones in the quarter, an increase of 97% consecutively and 7% year over year. He expects iPhone sales of $ 60.1 billion, up 7% from a year ago, while service revenues are up 26% to $ 16 billion.
Apple remains Sankar’s top choice in the IT hardware industry for several reasons.
First, he believes the iPhone 12 upgrade cycle should continue to move up towards revenues in calendar year 2021. Second, he expects the service segment to “remain resilient”, with paid subscription growth trends likely to remain on track. given new offerings such as Fitness +. And finally, contributions from Mac, iPad and wearables will “remain strong,” with long-term potential from new areas such as electric vehicles and augmented and virtual reality, he writes.
Apple was up 0.9% to $ 138.12 in recent trading. The stock’s previous record, set on Thursday, was $ 136.87. The stock’s intraday peak was 139.67, also recorded on Thursday. For the week, the stock is up about 8.7%.
Write to Eric J. Savitz at [email protected]