One of the most bullish Apple analysts is predicting that the iPhone-maker’s stock price still has plenty of room to rise.
Apple shares hit an all-time high of $300 last week and currently trade just under that mark. In his latest note to investors, Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives is predicting huge gains for AAPL in 2020, but not all analysts are nearly as optimistic.
According to Ives, Apple is poised for the long-rumored upgrade “supercycle” investors have been dreaming about for the last three or four years. 5G iPhones coming out in the second half of 2020 could finally trigger a transformational supercycle. Ives predicts demand could surpass 200 million units.
Apple’s booming services revenue stream adds a one-two punch to the stock’s potential target price. Ives, who has been one of the most bullish Apple analysts lately, says we will likely see the stock hit $350 or even $400 by the end of 2020. Meanwhile, the investing gurus over at Goldman Sachs envision quite the opposite.
Goldman Sachs pans Apple stock
Despite partnering with Apple for the Apple Card, Goldman Sachs’ analysts think the tech company is currently overvalued. The firm’s chief U.S. equity strategist, David Kostin, predicts Apple’s earnings growth will be relatively unimpressive this year. Kostin says Apple’s fourth-quarter surge in 2019, when it rose 31.5% in value, was way too big. He estimates profits in 2020 will fall well short of investors’ expectations.
Goldman Sachs has been much more bearish on Apple stock during the last six months. While Ives is hoping for a big boom from the 5G iPhone, it’s just as likely that consumers hold on to their older 4G iPhones a bit longer. The 2020 iPhone lineup isn’t expected to feature the super-fast 5G speeds we’ve been dreaming about for the last two years. That model supposedly won’t come until 2021 at the earliest.
Another problem with the 2020 supercycle pipe dream is the slow rollout of 5G networks. AT&T and Verizon are just barely starting to roll out 5G to a few cities with very limited coverage. Running out to buy a 5G iPhone you can’t really use won’t make a lick of sense to most consumers in 2020 unless they just have to be first.
