Here's Why Apple Analysts Are Bullish Over 'Peek Performance' Event

Apple, Inc. AAPL announced a few breakthrough products at its Spring launch event, dubbed "Peek Performance," held on Tuesday.

Here are all the sell-side reactions to the announcements:

The Apple Analysts: Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty maintained an Overweight rating and $210 price target on Apple shares.

Needham analyst Laura Martin has a Buy rating and $170 price target.

KeyBanc Capital Markets analyst Brandon Nispel has an Overweight rating and $191 price target.

Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives maintained an Outperform rating and $200 price target.

Citigroup analyst Jim Suva has a Buy rating and $200 price target.

While, Loup Ventures analyst Gene Munster says AAPL will be a "$250 stock in the next couple of years."

Apple Remains Morgan Stanley's Top IT Hardware Pick: Apple's product announcements are a testament to the unmatched output of its $26 billion, plus, R&D engine, Huberty said.

The company has successfully brought 5G capabilities to a sub-$500 iPhone price point, ported the M1 SoC to an additional iPad model and announced an in-house SoC, named M1 Ultra for the new Mac Studio, the analyst noted.

The iPhone SE3 likely presents upside risk to the iPhone estimates for 2022, the analyst said.

Apple marked the first real expansion into live sports with the announcement of Friday night Major League Baseball games being added to Apple TV+, Huberty said.

The products announced represent tens of millions of incremental product shipments that will likely help the company maintain strong retain rates, bring in more users and grow both hardware and services spend per user, she added.

"Apple remains our Top Pick in IT Hardware given durable fundamentals, predictable cash flows, additional 2022 product launches, and platform stability in an otherwise uncertain and volatile market backdrop," Morgan Stanley said.

Key Software Takeaways: The addition of two exclusive Major League Baseball games to Apple TV+ suggests the company could be following Amazon, Inc. AMZN, Martin said.

Apple's decision to add exclusive sports rights to its streaming service puts Netflix, Inc. NFLX at a disadvantage, the analyst indicated. Apple, the analyst said, could emerge the winner of the streaming wars due to its abundant free cash flow, captive iOS audience, and its willingness to follow clever strategies.

To entertain consumers, streaming services should air sports, news, reality TV, competition shows etc., Martin said. Amazon Prime Video and Walt Disney Company DIS are leading the way in this, and Apple is cautiously following, she added.

"AAPL's gentle shift toward content (i.e., software) and services that maximize consumer lock-in into AAPL's ecosystem should be a key long-term upside value driver through higher lifetime customer value," Needham said.

Related Link: How Apple Can Win With A $199 iPhone

Implications Of Apple's Announcements: The event is neutral to Apple and moderately negative to Qualcomm, Inc. QCOM, given the lack of mmW support, Nispel said.

The analyst sees the iPhone SE3 as a key "low-end, high performance" iPhone that can attract new iPhone users. The iPad Air, armed with the M1 chip, will help solidify Apple's dominant market share in tablets, he added.

Apple's first sports rights deal with the MLB shows the company's willingness to enter into sports media rights, Nispel said. This will make it very difficult for traditional media companies such as Fox Corp FOXA, Disney-owned ESPN and AT&T, Inc. T-owned Turner to compete, he added.

iPhone SE Boost to Volume: With the A15 chip, the iPhone SE will be the fastest and most powerful phone at these price points by a wide margin, Wedbush analyst Ives said. Citing initial supply chain checks, the analyst estimates iPhone SE sales at over 30 million units.

The new M1 Ultra chip, according to Wedbush, is a staggering technological achievement.

iPhone SE Will Increase Interest: The iPhone SE price points are modestly higher than expected, Suva said. The renewed affordable iPhone SE lineup will likely buoy consumer interest in iPhones as opposed to investor fears of sharp declines following an estimated unit growth of about 25% in fiscal-year 2021, the analyst added.

More Sports Deal to Follows: MLB's Friday Night Baseball is a great starting point for live sports on Apple TV+, Munster said. The analyst expects more deals to follow.

"My money is now on something around the NFL and, eventually, Formula One," the analyst said.

Mac Studio and Studio Display combo targeting creative pros is an upsell for professionals, who were using the 27-inch iMac that had a starting price of $1,7000 and has since then been discontinued, Munster said. The Mac Studio with M1 Ultra chip and Studio Display costs a combined $5,500, the analyst noted.

Munster also expressed surprise at Apple choosing to keep the price of the 5G-enabled iPad Air unchanged at $599, given the strong demand for the product.

Despite the 8% increase in the price of the iPhone SE relative to its previous iteration, Apple will sell as many of the product as they can make for the next couple of quarters, the analyst said. Munster estimates iPhone SE's revenue share of total iPhone revenue at 15%.

AAPL Price Action: At last check, Apple shares were rallying 2.98% to $162.13.

Photo: Courtesy of apple.com