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Apple's shares were set to open 8.3 percent
higher on Wednesday, after the company posted the biggest ever
quarterly profit reported by a public corporation.
Apple sold a record 74.5 million iPhones in the quarter and
reported a 70 percent surge in China sales.
"We had to increase our cell widths and chart heights after
Apple's blow-out December-quarter print," RBC Capital Markets
analysts wrote, raising their price target to $130 from $123.
At least 13 brokerages raised their price targets on the stock.
Cantor Fitzgerald was the most bullish with a price target of
$160 - implying a market valuation of more than $900 billion by
the end of the year. [RCH/US]
The stock closed at $109.14 on Tuesday. It has risen 39 percent
in the past 12 months, adding more than $177 billion to the
company's market capitalization. That's nearly half the market
value of Exxon Mobil Corp <XOM.N>, the second-largest listed
U.S. company.
With a cash pile of $178 billion, Apple may increase its capital
return program to more than $200 billion over three years, RBC
Capital Markets analysts said.
Apple said last April it would return more than $130 billion to
shareholders by the end of 2015. The company is due to update
its capital return program in April. [ID:nWNBB0463Z]
Analysts also expect Apple to continue to benefit from growth in
China and a surge in new customers, including those making the
switch to Apple from smartphones using Google Inc's <GOOGL.O>
Android software.
"We believe that our thesis on Apple is playing out, that
Apple's ecosystem will drive share gain over original equipment
manufacturers focusing on specs," Oppenheimer & Co analysts
wrote in a note titled "A Juggernaut Named Apple".
Apple said it would release its next product, the Apple Watch,
in April and reach 40 company stores in greater China by
mid-2016.
"We believe that Apple is on the cusp of multiple new product
launches that are likely to reinvigorate earnings growth
relative to Street expectations," analysts at J.P. Morgan wrote.
Apple's shares were trading at $117.40 before the bell. Based on
projected earnings growth, the stock should trade at $132.80,
according to StarMine's Intrinsic Value model.
(Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)
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