Apple Analyst Opinions Are Unchanged by WWDC

By Trey Thoelcke Updated Jun 11, 1:50PM EDT · Published Jun 10, 1:15PM EDT

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The Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) Worldwide Developer Conference, or WWDC, filled the pages of financial and technology news alike. The conference centered on software with no significant blockbusters. Wall Street analysts, for the most part, kept their official opinions the same. The bulls stayed bulls. The holds remained holds. The sells persisted in skepticism. Here is what some of the analysts had to say.

Brian White at the firm Cantor Fitzgerald held to his Buy rating and kept the $195 price target for Apple the same. He liked the expansion in Apple’s “ecosystem,” such as the introduction of the iOS 9 and the watchOS 2. He represented his firm’s opinion that the market is unjustifiably bearish on the company.

Amit Daryanani, another Apple bull at the firm RBC Capital Markets, sees Apple’s stock heading toward $150 per share. He thinks the new software introductions will “entrench” Apple users, increasing their loyalty to the company.

Katy Huberty, at the firm Morgan Stanley, remains Overweight on Apple’s stock, with a $166 price target unchanged. She believes that services, such as Apple Music and Apple Pay, will contribute heavily to the company moving forward. Barron’s quotes her as saying, “We continue to see a bull case of 20% of profits from Services by 2017 as monetization of the user base improves with more personalization and new apps and services.”

Tim Arcuri, at Cowen, rates the company Outperform and sees the company’s stock price heading toward $140. He also likes the “ecosystem lock-in.”

ALSO READ: More Analyst Views on Apple After WWDC

Sundeep Bajikar, at Jefferies, has a Hold rating on Apple with a $135 price target. According to Barron’s, he saw the software introductions as “neutral” for Apple’s prospects.

The sells also found new steam for their opinions from the WWDC. Adnaand Ahmad and Jean Beaubois, at the firm Berenberg, held firm on their Sell rating for Apple’s stock. They do not like how the iPhone lies at the center of Apple’s product universe.

Moreover, Doug Kass at Seabreeze Partners is still a “perpetual Apple bear.” Barron’s quoted this insightful and interesting comment, “The business landscape is more competitive, and perhaps not as profitable as some project.”

Overall, Wall Street is positive on Apple’s prospects. Thomson/First Call calculates the mean target price at $148.75, representing a 15% increase from its current stock price.

About the Author Trey Thoelcke →

Trey has been an editor and author at 24/7 Wall St. for more than a decade, where he has published thousands of articles analyzing corporate earnings, dividend stocks, short interest, insider buying, private equity, and market trends. His comprehensive coverage spans the full spectrum of financial markets, from blue-chip stalwarts to emerging growth companies.

Beyond 24/7 Wall St., Trey has created and edited financial content for Benzinga and AOL's BloggingStocks, contributing additional hundreds of articles to the investment community. He previously oversaw the 24/7 Climate Insights site, managing editorial operations and content strategy, and currently oversees and creates content for My Investing News.

Trey's editorial expertise extends across multiple publishing environments. He served as production editor at Dearborn Financial Publishing and development editor at Kaplan, where he helped shape financial education materials. Earlier in his career, he worked as a writer-producer at SVE. His freelance editing portfolio includes work for prestigious clients such as Sage Publications, Rand McNally, the Institute for Supply Management, the American Library Association, Eggplant Literary Productions, and Spiegel.

Outside of financial journalism, Trey writes fiction and has been an active member of the writing community for years, overseeing a long-running critique group and moderating workshop sessions at regional conventions. He lives with his family in an old house in the Midwest.