Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) stock inched closer to a $1 trillion market cap on Tuesday, making yet another all-time high following Monday’s keynote presentation at the Worldwide Developer Conference. The products and services that Apple chose to highlight, as well as the ones it didn’t, give investors some hints at management’s focus heading into the second half of 2018.
Wall Street analysts had positive things to say about Apple stock this week after the company released several key software updates, but analysts are already reading between the lines. Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty says Apple’s augmented reality and artificial intelligence software updates are the most important for long-term investors.
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“With full integration available on the iPhone, iPad, HomePod and Apple Watch, we believe this brings Siri one encouraging step closer to competing with the likes of Amazon’s ( AMZN) Alexa and Google’s ( GOOG, GOOGL) Assistant,” Huberty says.
Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi says what Apple didn’t mention was as telling as what it did.
“There was not a single mention of the HomePod, which had been a major focus for Apple at the prior year’s WWDC — perhaps indicating Apple’s efforts to reassess the HomePod after an apparently weak launch in February,” Sacconaghi says.
In addition to no hardware updates on the AirPower wireless charging mat, the iPad Pro or the iPhone SE 2, Sacconaghi says Apple didn’t update Apple Music subscriber counts or comment on new streaming content. While Apple investors may be disappointed in the lack of news, Sacconaghi says it leaves the door open for more potential stock catalysts later in the year.
“To be fair, WWDC remains first and foremost an event for software developers, so these omissions are not necessarily surprising or concerning — but they do suggest that Apple still has much to announce as the year progresses,” Sacconaghi says.
Apple investors did get one piece of good iPhone news this week. In an interview with CNBC on Monda, CEO Tim Cook said he doesn’t believe the iPhone could be subject to potential tariffs as a result of a trade war between the U.S. and China.
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Apple stock traded at new all-time highs on Tuesday above $193 per share, pushing Apple’s market cap to $950 billion, within 5.3 percent of the $1 trillion mark.
Bernstein has a “market-perform” rating and $190 price target for AAPL stock. Morgan Stanley has an “overweight” rating and $214 target for Apple.
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Apple Inc. (AAPL) Analysts Read Between the Lines at WWDC originally appeared on usnews.com
