Wall Street Expert Calls For Another 50% Gain For Apple Stock

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) stock has been one of the biggest laggards in the Magnificent Seven in recent years. The company is playing it slow and steady with Apple Intelligence, and as it opens up its wallet to move a portion of iPhone manufacturing to India, there isn’t much to get excited about. But it’s times like these, when the news is mostly bearish, that tend to be the best time to load up on Apple shares.

While many analysts have grown a bit sour on Apple amid its recent bearish slump, there is one big-name analyst who doesn’t appear to be backing down. Tigress Financial’s Ivan Feinseth is hanging onto his $300 per-share price target (the equivalent of a 50% gain from current levels) and buy rating, even as other Wall Street analysts skew towards hold.

While it’s tough to see past recent headwinds for the more robust secular tailwinds that could kick in come 2026 and 2027, I do think that staying the course with Apple remains wise, especially now that the valuation has become a whole lot more palatable after not soaring back to prior highs following the infamous post-Liberation Day market sell-off.

Apple’s services growth strength shouldn’t be ignored

Undoubtedly, Apple’s services growth has been a major source of multiple expansion in recent years. In many ways, the services business is a steady rock that can support Apple through the worst of times. And though it’s difficult to know what the final impact of Trump’s tariffs will be, I do think that diversifying manufacturing into geographies beyond China is a wise idea, even if there were no such hefty tariffs in place.

In any case, Apple Intelligence could be the next big jolt that the services segment needs to level up. While the most exciting AI features have yet to come as Apple aims to catch up with the likes of its smartphone rivals, I do think that Apple will not fall short as it shows up a few years late.

Furthermore, much of the new AI-driven features revealed at this year’s WWDC (Worldwide Developers Conference) were heavily underrated. Indeed, it’s pretty handy (and innovative) to have things like live translation, AI call screening, and even an AI coach!

New AI features are on the way

With rumors swirling around an AI doctor in the works and a large language model (LLM) version of Siri, I think it’s a bad idea to bet against Apple’s position in the AI race at a time like this. One has to think that a number of AI-driven features could act as significant drivers of services growth.

Additionally, with Bloomberg recently reporting that Apple execs have had discussions about acquiring AI search firm Perplexity, there’s a good chance that a bit of M&A could move Apple to the front of the pack in this ongoing AI race. Indeed, Perplexity AI is an incredibly popular AI startup that could challenge the big search engines. Of course, a deal won’t come cheap, but given Apple’s ability to bring out the best in the technology, I think a high sticker price could be well worth the price of admission.

Time will tell if Apple makes a Perplexity deal happen. If it does, I think AI-driven search could be a profound growth engine for Apple’s services business.

Tariffs have made Apple stock tough to hold, let alone buy more of!

As Jim Cramer recently stated, Apple has become a tougher stock to own while it’s “caught in the crosshairs” of Trump’s trade war. Indeed, it’s hard to tell how much pain tariffs will cause. Either way, I think selling the stock today could be ill-advised as several catalysts come into effect over the next two years. Whether we’re talking about Siri LLM, the new slate of iPhones, or a cheaper, lighter version of the Vision Pro, Apple has the hardware to fuel a significant growth reacceleration.

Furthermore, I believe Apple CEO Tim Cook is doing a commendable job of navigating these tariffs, given the harsh circumstances. Undoubtedly, moving iPhone production over to the U.S. just isn’t practical in the medium term. And while Trump may threaten company-specific tariffs, I ultimately believe that Apple will be fine in the long term, given its long-term game plan. Perhaps Feinseth is right to stay bullish on Apple stock amid services growth and AI tailwinds, as most other analysts become a bit jittery from the tariff turbulence and relative lack of the AI “awe” factor.

The post Wall Street Expert Calls For Another 50% Gain For Apple Stock appeared first on 24/7 Wall St..