Apple stock has its first record in 2025. Wall Street convinced by iPhone demand potential

Apple shares hit an all-time high on Monday, surpassing the previous record set in December 2024. Analyst Loop Capital recommended buying the company's securities and raised the target on them to the maximum on Wall Street, as he expects Apple's new line of smartphones to be the starting point for two years of increased demand. Sales of the iPhone 17 in the U.S. and China have significantly outpaced the last version in the first ten days.

Quotes of Apple for the first time in 2025 jumped to a record. Shares rose in price by 4.8% on Monday, October 20. The company for a long time remained one of the outsiders of the S & P 500 index: in April, the decline reached 31% since the beginning of the year, recalls Bloomberg. Since then, however, its value has risen by more than 50%.

The company's stock was supported by Loop Capital's decision to improve its rating from neutral to a buy recommendation. In addition, senior analyst Ananda Barua raised the target price of Apple shares from $226 to $315 - this is the highest target on Wall Street. It implies growth of quotations by about 25% from the closing level of Friday's trading.

Investors also reacted to signs of stronger-than-expected demand for the new iPhone lineup - reinforcing hopes that the long-awaited device refresh cycle has begun, the agency wrote. Counterpoint Research analysts reported over the weekend that sales of the iPhone 17 series in the first 10 days in the U.S. and China outpaced the previous lineup by 14%.

"Our supply chain analysis indicates that we are now at the beginning of a long-awaited mass device refresh cycle that assumes steady growth in iPhone shipments through the end of 2027," Barua wrote in a note cited by CNBC. - While Wall Street has already priced some degree of outperformance of the iPhone 17 lineup into the stock price, we believe there remains significant potential to exceed those expectations through the end of 2027."

Loop Capital estimates that Apple's plans to release iPhones with differentiated designs, including lighter and foldable devices, are likely to boost demand for the company's flagship products, which will have a positive impact on quotations.

Investors expected a similar impulse after the release of iPhone 16, but were disappointed: the announced AI-functions were either postponed or not implemented at all, Bloomberg writes. However, more and more analysts are reconsidering their attitude to Apple after the release of iPhone 17.

Evercore ISI has placed the company's securities on its tactical outperform list. "We believe Apple is well positioned to beat current consensus estimates for the third quarter and could provide an upbeat outlook for the December quarter," Evercore said in a note to clients, as quoted by CNBC. - Our positive outlook is driven by iPhone data indicating that this may not be just another round of upgrades: delivery times for the base model iPhone 17 are already exceeding last October's levels."

Analyst Ben Reitzes of Melius Research wrote that Apple is "regaining form" and is "eager to prove its strength to skeptics," Bloomberg cited his note. He emphasized positive trends in China and "the overall momentum of new models," and noted that future products could be additional catalysts for growth.

However, Apple still doesn't get as much love from analysts as the other tech giants in the Magnificent Seven. Even after an improved rating from Loop, only 58% of analysts tracked by Bloomberg recommend buying its securities - the smallest share in the "Magnificent Seven" except for Tesla.

Jefferies' Edison Lee - one of four analysts recommending selling Apple stock - warned over the weekend that "iPhone 17 sales momentum continues to weaken," Bloomberg writes. In early October, he downgraded the paper to "below market" (underperform), adding that the hype surrounding a potential foldable iPhone is "exaggerated": the price of such a device would be high, and it would likely begin to "cannibalize" sales of the Pro Max version.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor