Merrill Lynch hikes Apple target to $290

Analyst Wamsi Mohan offers five reasons to remain bullish on Apple.

From a note to clients that landed on my desktop Wednesday:

We expect Apple shares to benefit from

1. 1. 5G adoption (see Global Smartphone note published today) driving consistent 200mn+ iPhone units C20-22,
   2. wearables portfolio attractively priced to support adoption ($169 Airpods, $200 Apple Watch),
   3. continued strong demand for iPhones,
   4. continued y/y gross profit dollar growth is favorable for stock price trend,
   5. current share price discounts no growth in hardware revenue and we view low-single-digit growth as reasonable.

Multi-year iPhone visibility and stability, combined with continued double-digit Services revenue growth, should drive the multiple higher, in our opinion.

Maintains Buy rating, raises price target to $290 from $270. 

My take: This won't be the last of Apple's December price target hikes.