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- Apple's latest earnings report exceeded analyst expectations and alleviated concerns of a slowdown in iPhone sales.
- The company launched a $90 billion stock buyback program and raised its quarterly dividend by 4%.
- "Apple remains our top pick and this was another masterpiece performance by Cupertino," Wedbush said.
Ongoing concerns of a slowdown in iPhone sales were put to rest on Thursday after Apple reported solid earnings results that exceeded analyst expectations on both the top and bottom line.
While revenues declined for the second quarter in a row, falling about 3% year-over-year, the company's quarterly iPhone sales exceeded $51 billion, which beat analyst estimates by $2.5 billion. The strong sales in iPhone helped offset weakness in Apple's Mac and iPad divisions.
For future growth, investors are looking forward to Apple's expected September launch of the iPhone 15, as well as its expansion into India, which the company mentioned nearly 20 times on its earnings call.
Also giving Apple investors confidence is the company's announcement of a new $90 billion stock buyback program and a 4% increase to the company's quarterly dividend, to $0.24 per share.
Shares of Apple jumped more than 5% on Friday, adding $135 billion to the company's market value, which stood at about $2.77 trillion.
Here's how three Wall Street analysts reacted to Apple's solid earnings results.
Wedbush: "Lebron-like results from Cupertino."
Rating: Outperform, $205 price target
"Cook & Co. delivered an impressive iPhone beat and gave a relatively upbeat outlook going forward that should give the Street further confidence that Cupertino is riding out this macro storm in Rock of Gibraltar-like fashion. An uptick in China demand speaks to further share gains that Apple is seeing with iPhone 14 Pro along with higher ASPs globally that we believe is now in the $900+ level giving Apple tailwinds in this market... Overall, Cook talked about a stable consumer demand environment with particular strength in emerging markets as Apple continues to aggressively bet on a number of key markets with India front and center," Wedbush said.
JPMorgan: "Negating Macro Headwinds with Execution."
Rating: Overweight, $190 price target
"The results and guidance are exactly what investors were looking for from the company to feel reassured of its defensive positioning and at the same time the greater resilience of Big Tech in general in the current macro as well as on potential further macro deterioration, making it palpable to still keep paying 26x NTM earnings for AAPL shares. While we can see some investors squirm about a 26x earnings multiple, we believe the resilience of the business proving out in the numbers currently as well as the early part of the pandemic (2020) will amply justify the reasons to pay a premium," JPMorgan said.
Goldman Sachs: "iPhone continues to gain share."
Rating: Buy, $209 price target
"We gain confidence in our Buy rating and believe AAPL shares continue to be attractive. First, the iPhone beat was driven by recapture of lost sales due to earlier supply issues as well as better-than-expected performance in developing markets... Second, Services revenue grew +5% yoy with all-time revenue records in App Store, Music, iCloud, and payments, continuing to prove Services to be a reliable source of long-term growth... Third, AAPL's generous shareholder capital return program continues to support the stock," Goldman Sachs said.