Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) stock has a lot going for it, Tom Forte of Telsey Advisory Group told CNBC in a recent interview.
The comment comes after the company’s 7-for-1 stock split which just recently took effect. Asked whether Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) would still be too expensive for casual investors, the Telsey senior internet analyst said that this might be the case.
However, he noted that the stock “has a lot going for it”. He told CNBC:
“I do think that it’s still on the high-end but I think it’s materially more attainable than say $700 a share. And the good news for Apple right now is I think the stock has a lot going for it. The stock split, I think, in and of itself, may not drive the stock higher, but new product news – and there’s a lot of it coming from Apple – I think will drive the stock higher.”
Regarding that $700 price mentioned by the analyst, he was asked about his 12-month price target which is at $700, near an all-time high for Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL). “Isn’t now the time to sell the stock given that it has had such a fantastic rally just since the announcement of that stock split? [The stock has rallied] 21%,” the analyst was asked.
Forte answered by saying that historically speaking, on a short term basis, an investor will do very well if he or she bought stocks in the company before product announcements. This, he said, is because of all the speculation about each new device coming from the Cupertino, California-based giant. On the other hand, he noted that historically, on a short term basis, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) trades lower after product announcements.
Given that the world is still waiting for the next iPhone and is rumored to be debuting an iWatch and a better Apple TV offering, the analyst said that the product pipeline and news flow suggests the stock to trend up in the near term.
Asked about high expectations for the iPhone-maker given reports that the iWatch will be released in October and that the company may produce 5 million of these devices every month, Forte said that though anticipations are great, the addition of an iWatch and a better Apple TV “could be very good news for the stock”.
Watch the video below where the analyst also talks about the lack of hardware announcements at the recent Worldwide Developers Conference:
Valiant Capital managed by Christopher R. Hansen reported a 258,431-share stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by the end of the first quarter. This stake is valued at about $138.71 million. Appaloosa Management Lp managed by David Tepper is also a shareholder with 250,378 stock by the end of March. Daniel Benton’s Andor Capital Management also has 250,000 shares in the company as of the end of the first quarter.
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