Apple Stock ‘Won’t Work’ Until This 1 Thing Happens, According to Analysts

Apple (AAPL) whitethorn person wowed Wall Street with its upbeat forecast, but not everyone is convinced the rally tin last. After the iPhone shaper projected a stronger-than-expected fiscal archetypal quarter, signaling renewed maturation and a surge successful iPhone 17 Pro demand, shares initially popped earlier slipping back.

While immoderate analysts, similar Citi’s Atif Malik, hailed the results arsenic impervious of a almighty upgrade rhythm and raised their terms targets, Needham’s Laura Martin struck a cautious tone.

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In a enactment pursuing the earnings, Martin said Apple’s banal “won’t enactment until determination is an iPhone replacement cycle,” informing that contempt Apple’s monolithic moat, precocious valuation and mounting contention could support the banal grounded until consumers commencement upgrading successful force.

Apple, based successful California, stands arsenic a forward-looking institution and a worldwide person successful hardware, software, and services. Its portfolio spans iconic devices similar the iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch, alongside wide utilized platforms specified arsenic the App Store, iCloud, Apple Music, and Apple TV+. The institution presently boasts a marketplace headdress of $4 trillion and a Magnificent Seven status.

Apple surpassed the $4 trillion people amid the caller banal surge tied to beardown request for the iPhone 17 series, and optimistic guidance and precocious peaked at $277.32 connected Oct. 31. Over the past 52 weeks, the banal has shown solid, albeit not spectacular, gains with a total instrumentality of 20.9%. Year-to-date (YTD) show has been positive, but it remains somewhat muted compared to the highest-growth tech peers. The banal has gained 7.9% this year.

With the stock terms adjacent its caller precocious and the valuation elevated, overmuch of the upside whitethorn already beryllium baked in, reinforcing expert caution that without a caller catalyst (like a wide iPhone replacement cycle), further meaningful gains could beryllium harder to achieve.

The banal is trading astatine a premium astatine 33.4 times guardant earnings, compared to the assemblage median and its humanities average.

Apple released its fiscal Q4 2025 results connected Oct. 30, for the 4th ended Sept. 27. The institution reported total gross of $102.5 billion, representing an 8% year-over-year (YOY) increase. Its net per stock (EPS) came to $1.85, up 13% connected an adjusted ground from the anterior twelvemonth and up of expectations. AAPL reported full gross of $416.2 cardinal for the afloat year, representing 6.4% maturation YOY.