Apple

Rosenblatt analyst Barton Crockett reiterates Apple with a Neutral and maintains $189 price target.

By Dan Gallagher Apple has finally parked its expensive car dreams. The timing is good, as its other ambitions require a lot of gas in the tank. Apple took the formal step recently of telling employees on its car project — dubbed Project Titan — that it is shutting down the program and redirecting its efforts toward generative artificial intelligence, The Wall Street Journal reports. Neither are terribly surprising moves. The car effort has been under way for at least a decade with various starts and stops but ultimately made little sense for a company with no experience in producing any form of vehicle — and powerful reasons to avoid such a low-margin business. Generative AI, meanwhile, is the hottest thing going in tech. It is now the prime focus of Apple’s big-tech competitors and has turned chip maker Nvidia into the third most valuable U.S. company — behind Apple

By Angela Palumbo Apple stock has fallen nearly 8% this year and a move by Goldman Sachs to remove the tech giant from its “Conviction List” on Friday has only sent the shares lower. Goldman Sachs analysts removed Apple from the U.S. Conviction List on Friday after the stock spent 274 days there. The list includes between 20 and 25 “of what we believe to be our most differentiated fundamental Buy ideas across our U.S. stock coverage,” the firm said. Shares of Apple were down 1.5% Friday to $178.01. Goldman Sachs didn’t clarify the exact reasoning for removing Apple from the list. In the research note, the firm said there are many reasons a stock could get removed, including a rating downgrade, price realization, the passage of catalysts, or the subcommittee believing there are better opportunities elsewhere. Apple has been lagging its peers this year in the Magnificent 7 —

By Jacob Sonenshine The stock market just doesn’t want to go down right now, but no one should let their fear of missing out on gains override their risk management. Nothing looks like it can stop the market. The Nasdaq Composite is on pace to close at a new all-time high, up 1.6% for the week, while the S&P 500 is on pace to close the week up 0.8%, which would also be a record. The benchmark index has now risen for two consecutive weeks. We know what investors are thinking. The gains can keep coming, driven by an economy that is neither too hot nor too cold. The personal consumption expenditures price index rose 2.4% year over year in January, in line with estimates, and durable-goods orders came in lower than expected. The economy is growing, but only moderately, and the Federal Reserve can keep thinking about when it

Apple (AAPL) is fielding concerns from selected public and private entities about possible security risks ahead of new rules in the European Union requiring the company to open up its devices to outside app suppliers, Reuters reported, citing company documents. Beginning March 7, Apple will be required to allow iPhone and Ipad users to download and buy apps from additional sources besides its App Store platform. The new rules mandated by the EU’s Digital Markets Act are intended to provide outside developers with more access into the Apple ecosystem, although the so-called “sideloading” of apps also is fueling worries from certain users whether the new sources will be safe. “These agencies – especially those serving essential functions such as defense, banking, and emergency services – have reached out to us about these new changes,” Apple said Friday in a guidance paper obtained by Reuters.

Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives reiterates Apple with a Outperform and maintains $250 price target.

CFRA, an independent research provider, has provided MT Newswires with the following research alert. Analysts at CFRA have summarized their opinion as follows: According to a Bloomberg report, AAPL is ending a decade-long effort to build an electric car. Ditching the car initiative could be seen as a near-term positive, in our view, as the news allows AAPL to improve cost efficiencies. More importantly, greater R&D spend can now be allocated toward AI initiatives, where we believe AAPL has a greater chance of success, and improving its overall ecosystem of products. While we think the car initiative likely offered the greatest long-term upside to AAPL’s revenue trajectory, it was also likely to erode margins. Still, we viewed the car initiative as more of a “pie in the sky” opportunity and investors are unlikely to see this as having major implications to the stock price as it wasn’t modeled into our

By Aaron Tilley Apple has put an end to its decadelong push to build its own electric vehicle, an effort once seen as having the potential to transform the auto industry. That transformation, which has been under way for years, continuously increased the level of difficulty Apple faced as it spent billions trying to catch or exceed the capabilities made available during a revolution led by Tesla Motors. The secret group inside the iPhone giant — known internally as Project Titan — has been informed that Apple would be shutting down its efforts in building a car while the company ramps up investments in the area of generative artificial intelligence, a person familiar with the situation said. Some of the employees inside the group will be shifting to Apple’s AI group, while other employees working on car hardware will likely face layoffs. Bloomberg News earlier reported the plans. Apple has

By Adam Clark Apple hasn’t said much about its artificial-intelligence plans. Investors hoping for that to change might need to wait until the iPhone maker’s developers’ conference. Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference is expected to take place in June and is likely to be the time when the company makes its AI announcements, according to Citi analyst Atif Malik. Apple CEO Tim Cook said in the company’s latest earnings call that the company was investing in the technology and would make an announcement later this year. “Apple hasn’t publicly talked about its AI efforts in details, and concerns have been around the company… lagging other tech giants in the race. We note that the company has been making notable progress in recent months,” Malik wrote in a research note. “Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) may mark the announcement of various Apple AI tools.” Speculation for the event has largely revolved around the

Apple’s Vision Pro spatial computing device is extremely unique, say analysts at BofA Securities in a research note, and they expect developers to unleash numerous apps over time to drive increased use. They note that Apple has said more than 600 apps are designed to offer spatial experiences when used with the Vision Pro. “In our opinion, apps that leverage the immersive nature of Vision Pro and offer a differentiated experience will be among the most popular ones,” say the analysts, citing examples ranging from front row views of sports, immersive video conferencing and personalized workouts with an interactive trainer in a virtual environment. The analysts say that so far Netflix, YouTube, and Spotify have stated they currently do not have any plans to develop a dedicated app for the Vision Pro.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Stock Analyst Ratings Date Upside/Downside Analyst Firm Price Target Change Rating Change Previous / Current Rating 02/02/2024 16.15% JP Morgan $225 → $215 Maintains Overweight 02/02/2024 8.04% Oppenheimer → $200 Reiterates Outperform → Outperform 02/02/2024 35.05% Wedbush → $250 Reiterates Outperform → Outperform 02/02/2024 -14.65% Barclays $160 → $158 Maintains Underweight 02/02/2024 18.85% Needham → $220 Reiterates Buy → Buy 01/31/2024 35.05% Wedbush → $250 Reiterates Outperform → Outperform 01/31/2024 2.1% Rosenblatt → $189 Reiterates Neutral → Neutral 01/30/2024 35.05% Wedbush → $250 Reiterates Outperform → Outperform 01/18/2024 21.55% B of A Securities $208 → $225 Upgrades Neutral → Buy 01/10/2024 8.04% Redburn Atlantic → $200 Downgrades Buy → Neutral 01/04/2024 10.74% Piper Sandler $220 → $205 Downgrades Overweight → Neutral 01/03/2024 -10.32% DA Davidson → $166 Initiates Coverage On → Neutral 01/02/2024 -13.56% Barclays $161 → $160 Downgrades Equal-Weight → Underweight 12/20/2023 35.05% Wedbush → $250 Reiterates

Apple (AAPL) is expected to unveil its first generative artificial intelligence-enabled software upgrade at the Worldwide Developers Conference in June, Morgan Stanley said in a note Friday. “We believe that new [large language model]-enabled software features can help accelerate iPhone replacement cycles, especially given the component requirements to run AI in the cloud and on-device,” Morgan Stanley said. Morgan Stanley said “every 0.25 year decrease in iPhone replacement cycles” is anticipated to drive an upside of roughly 6% to its fiscal 2025 iPhone unit and revenue forecasts. The firm said it sees the software upgrade, and the expected launch of iPhone 16 in September, “as upside catalysts to help reaccelerate growth” in fiscal 2025. Morgan Stanley said its fiscal 2025 revenue and EPS estimates for Apple are 1% to 4% higher than consensus and “remain largely unchanged” after the company released its fiscal Q1 results Thursday. The firm maintained its