John Konopka on Wedbugh hikes its Apple target $30 to $350 - 'Interesting. Last summer Daniel Ives and Laura Martin were pounding the table that Apple was dead if it didn’t purchase Perplexity. So much for that. Six months later Gemini is the hot ticket and Perplexity is mired in copyright problems. I guess Tim Cook didn’t do so badly after all. Let’s see what everyone is saying next June.'
on Wedbugh hikes its Apple target $30 to $350 - 'Robert: Without even looking, I’m sure Micron Technology (MU), of Boise, Idaho, is one of your infrastructure plays. They are the only large-scale domestic producer of memory chips, which are in short supply now for the big players in AI and are projected to become even more so over the next few years. After 17 years of being all in on AAPL, my wife and I took a significant plunge into MU on September 4, and are most pleased with the results to date. That said, I’m a little nervous about the scale of MU’s planned investment in major expansions in Boise, near Syracuse, NY, and in Hiroshima. On the other hand, I’m glad to see them striking while the iron is definitely heating up.'
on Wedbugh hikes its Apple target $30 to $350 - 'Several major investment firms have recently raised their forecasts for the S&P 500 for year-end 2026. The highest forecast I’ve seen for the S&P 500 is 8,000. That’s over a 16% increase from Friday’s closing level. Just tracking with the S&P 500 at a 16% gain would place Apple at about $325 per share at the end of next year.'
on Mark Gurman: Johny Srouji is talking about leaving Apple - 'That’s not a bad point David, I admit I didn’t think about them initially; my brain just has them so entangled in x86 legacy. But that’s a very dated outlook by me.'
on Mark Gurman: Apple's AI and robotics teams are draining talent - 'Wasn’t Gurman going to take time off? Paraphrasing Gurman, Apple has fallen behind in AI. These people were at Apple when they fell behind in AI. But it is bad for Apple that they are leaving. The honest question is, is it really bad for Apple that these guys left? I don’t know the answer but we will see if Apple can meet expectations with the Siri upgrade. If they do, then all this is water under the bridge. If not, then that could have been part of the reason for these people leaving.'
on Wedbugh hikes its Apple target $30 to $350 - 'From Dan’s mouth to Wall Street’s ears. (Then to my pocketses. 🙂 )'
on Wedbugh hikes its Apple target $30 to $350 - 'Mr. Ives, I wholeheartedly concur with your assessment of Apple’s C2026. My only critique would be your omission of Apple Vision Pro revenues.'
on Evercore hikes its Apple target $25 to $325 - 'Japan is wonderful. I went there in 2019 for the Rugby World Cup. They did an amazing job preparing their nation and their rugby team for the event (although they did slightly underestimate the beer thirst of rugby fans). I definitely want to go back again some time when it isn’t “all about rugby”, because I think it is a very beautiful country. I would advise, though, that in late summer, it is very hot and humid. No real Apple angle here. Maybe more Cherry Blossoms.'
on This week's Apple trading strategies (12/8-12/12/25) - 'The Wedbugh and Evercore hikes go along with my previously stated belief, that some on wallstreet are just trying to get ahead of everyone else as everyone [on WS] starts realizing that Apple has all it’s [AI] ducks in order, and will be made manifest this spring up to and including WWDC. Sure the success of the iPhone 17 has had a good affect on revenue, but this spring should be really, really good for aapl. Plus the rumors of a foldable, an anniversary iPhone, and a touch screen laptop won’t hurt. And maybe even a AVP Air?'
on Wedbugh hikes its Apple target $30 to $350 - '@PED There’s a typo in the heading. Wedbugh > Wedbush'
on Evercore hikes its Apple target $25 to $325 - 'David. If I could just come on your lawn for a bit. I too was a hold out for GPT/LLMs on the basis that I had refined my search techniques over decades and LLMs were for lazy people. Everyday I am blown away what chatGPT can do for me. Sure there a few mistakes or responses that go off on a tangent – but here’s the thing you correct it and it learns and gets better and better. It’s memory of what I previously searched means it’s responses are continually getting more context aware – something that regular search engines are pretty poor at. This weekend I have been building itineraries for an upcoming trip to Japan. I start with a city name and over the next 15 mins together we build a day plan with heaps of suggestions and optimised travel paths, best transport options based on departing from out hotel, train timetables and price options, refined suggestions for lunch now that it knows what food we like, a shortlist of van drivers, diversions for the kids, etc. This used to take me a couple of days. Closer to travelling I will verify some of the key info and update my plans as needed, but for now the amount of time getting 80% of the task complete is invaluable.'
on Evercore hikes its Apple target $25 to $325 - 'Gregg, at what retail price point are you pegging that Vision Pro? No use case and a high retail price (for no use case) doomed the first generation. A killer sports and/or concert use case could propel sales dramatically and make that price point much more palatable. I’m just wondering where you see them pricing the next Gen.'
on Evercore hikes its Apple target $25 to $325 - 'My primary focus was on Siri as the expectation for investors. Along with Siri, I’ve never felt the need to use any LLM. I’d much rather do my own research WITH provenance for information, than to have some AI that can’t distinguish between fact and “hallucination” generate for me based on “what words most probably fit together.” Now get off my lawn! 🙂'
on Mark Gurman: Apple's AI and robotics teams are draining talent - 'Well Zuckerberg already blew $77 billion on the Metaverse, the last big dream (fantasy?) he chased, even renamed the company after it. Were there any repercussions from that mega-moonshot waste of capital?'
on Mark Gurman: Apple's AI and robotics teams are draining talent - 'Remember when Apple was doomed after Ives’ departure? Me neither.'
on Mark Gurman: Apple's AI and robotics teams are draining talent - 'The fact that Gurman only ever talks about one half of the picture – who’s leaving Apple – and never the other half – who’s going to Apple – ensures that I almost never pay any attention to what he says or concludes about the talent flow related to anything Apple is doing. And if Apple is indeed not be prioritizing development of its own LLM, it would be great news to me and an indicator of the high competence and strategic insight of senior Apple management, rather than the panic signal that Gurman wants it to be.'
