Two leading investment and analysis firms have joined with others in raising AAPL target prices recently, in part because the stock has already outperformed most expectations on its most recent bull run. Longtime Apple analyst Gene Munster from
Piper Jaffray has raised his target from $120 to $135 on the strength of iPhone 6 demand, while Morgan Stanley analyst
Katy Huberty raised her view to $126 per share from the previous $115, which the stock has already surpassed. The two join a growing list of AAPL bulls.
AAPL over the last month
Munster polled some 80 Apple retail stores and found that while 58 percent of iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus models were now available (up from six percent immediately after the launch), this was far short of meeting demand for all models. As noted in our earlier story, online Apple Store availability of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus are also still constrained, with ship times being shorter for the 16GB model but longer in the larger capacities -- up to 3-4 weeks in the case of the 128GB iPhone 6 Plus.
Full availability of all models probably won't happen until the end of December at the earliest, Munster predicted, with some constraints likely to be in place until spring. While Piper Jaffray and some other analysts, like
UBS' Steven Milunovich and
Evercore Partners, expect strong iPhone 6 demand to fuel growth, some investment firms -- including
RBC Capital Markets -- have predicted that the forthcoming Apple Watch will do modestly well in its first year, providing $10 billion in new revenue during its first full year of availability.
Huberty's official prediction of $126 for AAPL could extend to as high as $150 in her "bull case" scenario, reports
AppleInsider, due to a general underestimation of how well the Apple Watch might do. Huberty, like some other analysts, think the Apple Watch could turn out to be a sleeper hit for the company in much the same way the original iPad surprised analysts.
Due to the overall growth of the wearables market, she think Apple could sell as many as 30 million Apple Watches -- which are reckoned to have an average selling price of $520 or more across the different models -- in the first full year. While others aim for a more modest 10 million units, the overall message of the optimism is that Apple has succeeded in creating a new revenue stream. Even if the Apple Watch starts off modestly, analysts believe the product will gain steam over time, just as the iPod and iPad did.
Currently, the five investment firms that have raised AAPL price targets over the last month are Evercore Partners (now aiming for $135 per share), Morgan Stanley ($126), Piper Jaffray ($135), RBC ($120) and UBS ($125). The stock looks to close the week at another record high on Friday, following its breaking of all AAPL all-time records for both share price and market cap last Friday.
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