AAPL
New highs, same old Apple questions
Apple’s stock has been strutting around near all-time highs, and now BofA Securities is basically saying: cool, but let’s see the numbers. Analyst Wamsi Mohan reiterated a Buy rating and slapped a $380 price target on the iPhone giant, pointing to a likely solid June quarter ahead of the company’s third-quarter earnings report on July 30.
The real investor obsession: margins and iPhones
This is classic Apple: the stock can do a victory lap, but the Street immediately starts squinting at the small print. Mohan says investors will be glued to:
- gross margins, because Apple’s profit engine is still the thing that makes everyone pretend spreadsheets are exciting
- cost inflation, since even Cupertino can’t escape the vibes of a pricier world
- iPhone demand, especially whether the so-called supercycle is actually super or just, you know, marketing with a fancier jacket
Services is also doing the heavy lifting here. Mohan sees that business offsetting some App Store weakness, with margins he thinks can stay fat and maybe even get fatter over time.
The Tim Cook subplot
There’s also the dramatic seasoning: this is being framed as Tim Cook’s final quarter as CEO. That doesn’t change the math on the income statement, but it absolutely changes the conversation in investor-land, where every Apple earnings call can feel like a sequel nobody asked for but everybody will watch.
Big picture: Apple isn’t being judged on whether it’s good anymore. It’s being judged on whether it can stay absurdly good while the iPhone cycle, Services margins, and leadership transition all pile into the same earnings call.