Apple last Thursday released financial results for its fiscal 2022 first quarter ended December 25, 2021. The company posted an all-time revenue record of $123.945 billion, up 11 percent year over year, and quarterly earnings per diluted share of $2.10. Apple Inc. is Morgan Stanley’s 2022 Top Stock Pick.
Morgan Stanley’s Katy Huberty applauds “one of the cleanest quarters in recent memory,” particularly noting the strong growth displayed by the Mac and Services. The analyst says the results “illustrate the strength and stability of Apple’s product and services ecosystem, a clear differentiator in a more difficult market environment.”
That is particularly evident when coupled with the “stronger-than-anticipated” March quarter guide, which the company delivered despite the ongoing – albeit easing – supply constraints, and hard-to-match year-over-year comps…
management expects the current quarter’s performance to be “above seasonal strength.”
On top of that, there’s the June quarter’s anticipated launch of the iPhone SE3, which is likely to provide a boost in F3Q quarter as well. As such, Huberty increased her FY22 revenue growth forecast from 6% year-over-year to 8%.
Apple remains Huberty’s “top pick for 2022” with an Overweight (i.e., Buy) rating and a new price target of $210 (up from $200). The implication for investors? Upside of ~21%.
MacDailyNews Take: Own Apple stock, don’t trade it. If you accumulated during the recent irrational AAPL dip into earnings, you did a very good job!
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That’s a pretty good pick.
I’m no expert, but for awhile and seeming accelerating because of new econ challenges like inflation, AAPL is, seemingly bucking the tech trend by being safe place to park $$ and provide returns.
AAPL is almost like a hard asset, like real estate, gold/other PMs and some commodities…with cash flow.
There’s S&P500 stocks that are hitting price levels that are significantly low as compared to ATHs and potential growth. But they come with higher risk. Apple lowers risk but multi bagger single year gains will not happen.
Manage risk according to what you can afford to lose. And consider taking a part of your capital for long term investment like Apple.