Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) has been surprisingly solid over the past few months and has continued on a steady trajectory. Most other Magnificent Seven stocks have slowed down after delivering record gains in the last two years, but AAPL stock is still up 25.6% over the past year. Could the stock reach $300 this year? Let’s take a look.
Apple posted quarterly revenue of $124.3 billion, which was up just 4% year-over-year but beat analyst estimates by 0.22%. Diluted EPS grew over 10% to reach $2.4 and beat analyst estimates by 2.26%, though analysts have been pretty concerned due to iPhone sales missing estimates as sales collapse in China. “Greater China” revenue came in at $18.5 billion against expectations of $20.9 billion. In the year-ago period, China sales were at $20.8 billion.
Apple Intelligence also didn’t make as big of a splash, but analysts don’t seem to worry since Apple has been playing it cautious with AI in the past few years. It has instead focused on augmented reality, which has also been lackluster in terms of sales.
All things considered, its Q1 2025 earnings report didn’t offer anything new. It makes sense why the stock has been flat since then.
Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives has an optimistic outlook and increased the stock’s price target to $325. He anticipates that Apple is entering a multi-year AI-driven iPhone upgrade cycle. This is the highest price target on AAPL right now.
Conversely, analyst Edison Lee downgraded Apple to underperform with a price target of $202.33. He cited concerns over weak iPhone demand and subdued consumer interest in AI features.
The consensus price target currently is at $242, which implies some 3.37% upside potential.
AI has been the driving force behind big-cap tech giants and Apple hasn’t involved itself too much with it. That said, if Apple stumbles upon a major breakthrough elsewhere, it could reach $300, but it is unlikely.
In fact, the opposite could happen. AAPL stock could decline this year as Apple’s growth metrics have started to become stale. You could blame it on China or something else, but with Apple’s foray into augmented reality not paying off, there isn’t much to hang on to for a big positive catalyst this year.
You’re already paying 31 times forward earnings and over 8 times forward sales for this stock. A more realistic scenario would be for AAPL stock to reach $250 if the current market conditions persist.
Despite the near-term outlook not being that good with AAPL stock for now, I still think there’s good reason to hold on. Growth is expected to pick up this year and accelerate more next year. Analysts expect 8.85% EPS growth for all of fiscal 2025 and 12.25% EPS growth for fiscal 2026.
They also expect the top line to grow 4.7% in 2025 and then accelerate to 8.11% in fiscal 2026. Both these metrics are expected to grow more in the years ahead. Plus, Apple could still pull off a win with AR/VR. The sector is still new and Apple’s investments are giving it a lead.
