This article was originally published on Fool.com. All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.
Shares of Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) have already climbed more than 70% so far this year, but will surge to new all-time highs in 2021.
That's according to Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives. On Tuesday, Ives raised his price target on Apple stock from $150 to $160 -- but outlined a bull case for it to climb as high as $200. His new base target represents potential gains for investors of roughly 7% over the stock's closing price on Tuesday of about $124. It's the bull case, however, that should have investors excited.
Ives cited several potential catalysts for Apple, most notably continuing strong demand for the iPhone 12 heading into the strategically-important holiday season. Ives noted a "clear uptick" and brisk sales in both the United States and China, the company's largest markets.
"Demand remains very healthy with strong pent up demand for upgrades heading into holiday season for this latest iPhone 12 5G," Ives wrote in a note to clients. He went on to characterize this as the "strongest product cycle for Cook & Co. thus far since iPhone 6 in 2014."
Will Apple's stock hit $200?
If this is the long-awaited supercycle that many Apple investors have been anticipating, it could be a record-setting year for the iPhone maker. The company previously revealed that it has an installed base of more than 1.4 billion active devices, with the iPhone making up an estimated 950 million of those.
If roughly one-third of current iPhone users upgrade to the latest version, that would result in as many as 350 million iPhones sold over the coming year. To give that number some context, Apple sold roughly 185 million iPhones last year. Given the recent advent of 5G and the number of devices in the upgrade window, it's conceivable that Apple could sell twice as many iPhones -- but not likely -- making the $200 stock price a bit of a stretch.
This article was originally published on Fool.com. All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.
