Apple Rises After Morgan Stanley Names Stock ‘Top Pick’ for AI

Apple’s shares gained 2% on Monday after Morgan Stanley boosted its price target and named it a “top pick,” citing AI’s boost to device sales

Last month, the iPad manufacturer introduced Apple Intelligence to catch up with Alphabet’s Google and Microsoft-backed OpenAI. The new technology was designed to entice customers to upgrade their devices to utilize it.

Apple’s market value, the highest in the world at approximately $3.6 trillion, increased to $235.37 before the bell, a nearly 20% increase from the previous year.

Morgan Stanley analysts asserted;

The analysts stated that the new technology is compatible with only 8% of iPhone and iPad devices, and Apple has 1.3 billion units of smartphones presently in use by customers. They also predicted that the company could sell nearly 500 million iPhones over the next two years.

Morgan Stanley, which had previously anticipated that Apple would sell between 230 million and 235 million iPhones annually in the next two years, has increased its price target for the company’s shares from $216 to $273.

According to LSEG data, the stock has outperformed the S&P 500 index this year and has an average ” buy ” rating with a median price target of $217.

Given the GenAI-enabled smartphones’ excitement, industry analysts anticipate that Samsung and Apple will be at the forefront of the global smartphone market recovery this year.

Apple increased its global smartphone sales to 45.2 million in the three months ending in June from 44.5 million a year prior. However, its market share decreased from 16.6% to 15.8% during the same period, as indicated by IDC data.