Melius sees further upside in Apple ahead of earnings

Apple

Mon 14:22

 
** Melius Research remains optimistic about Apple AAPL.O CEO John Ternus' long-term strategy across HomeView, wearables, and services
** Brokerage says services could benefit from premium Siri offerings over time, while AAPL also has potential to expand into the server market
** Melius maintains "buy" rating and price target of $370, representing a 7.7% upside to the stock's last close of $343.46
** Melius expects new Macs, including a touchscreen notebook, and sees long-term upside from Duo and a redesigned 2027 anniversary iPhone
** "With Steve Smith being installed as the new M&A chief, we also expect to see AAPL get more active in tuck-in M&A, which could help deliver innovations faster," it adds
** Melius says AAPL's proprietary chips and unified memory architecture are beginning to show their value, supporting stronger demand for Macs and, increasingly, iPhones, while reinforcing the co's pricing power
** Co hit $5 trillion in market cap earlier this year
     ** Shares of co marginally down in premarket
     ** 26 of 43 brokerages rate the stock "buy" or higher, 13 "hold" and 4 "sell" or lower; their median PT is $332.5 - LSEG-compiled data
** As of last day's close, stock up 26.3% YTD

 (Reporting by Kanishka Ajmera in Bengaluru)
 ((mail to: Kanishka.Ajmera@thomsonreuters.com))