Analysts remain bullish on Apple (NASDAQ:) despite a stock price increase leading up to a major event focused on AI advancements. Their optimism hinges on Apple’s potential for an “AI-triggered refresh cycle.”
While the event is expected to highlight developer tools, analysts emphasize their core belief: “Apple Silicon offers the highest efficiency performance-to-power profile for inferencing on-device and in the cloud.” However, they acknowledge Apple needs to convince investors of this advantage.
Beyond technical prowess, key questions surround Apple’s strategy. Analysts highlight two. Firstly, Gen AI capabilities. They ask whether Apple can demonstrate audio interaction and multi-modality on par with competitors while offering clear value to existing Apple devices
Secondly, they ask how Apple will navigate potential business conflicts and antitrust concerns with major third-party partners, particularly in light of speculation around a strategic alliance with OpenAI.
The analysts point out that OpenAI’s recent GPT-4o demo used an iPhone 15 Pro, potentially hinting at a closer collaboration.
Furthermore, analysts emphasize the need for clarity on Apple’s cloud strategy. They argue investors need to understand how Apple plans to “offload larger tasks to the cloud,” including the type of silicon envisioned for these cloud operations.
Despite potential profit-taking after the event, analysts remain a buyer on weakness. However, their bullishness is conditional: “tight LLM integration with AAPL o/s and native applications” and a clear vision for Apple Silicon’s role in the cloud are crucial factors. The analysts maintain their price target of $220.
