Apple's stock, which is up 77 percent in the past 12 months and closed Tuesday at about $576 a share, will top $1,000 within two years, spurred by the possible launches of iPhone 5 and an Apple TV before Christmas, as well a possible deal with China Mobile to sell devices in the world's largest mobile-phone market, analysts tell CNBC.
"I couldn't be more bullish on Apple right now," Brian White, an analyst with Topeka Capital Markets, a broker-dealer, told CNBC Asia's "The Call’’ on Tuesday.
"We have got an iPhone 5 expected in September, I think we are going to see an iPad mini at the same time in September, we have got an Apple TV that's clearly on its way in the next several months.’’
White, the first analyst to breach the $1,000 target threshold with his $1,001 stock-price forecast for Apple, raised it further in April to $1,111 within a 12-month timeframe.
Apple shares closed nearly 1 percent higher on Tuesday after falling about 2 percent the prior day after hosting a conference for software developers in which Apple’s new CEO, Tim Cook, unveiled Apple’s new mapping service and an improved search capabilities for its SIRI voice assistant, raising the stakes against rival Google and its Android mobile platform, Reuters reported.
Apple’s new mobile software, available in the fall, will come with its own mapping system that will replace Google Maps, until now a loaded app on the iPhone and iPad, from which Google Maps gets about half of its mobile map traffic, Reuters reported.
Scott Sutherland of Wedbush Securities told CNBC that growth in China will also contribute to the continued rally in Apple shares, especially if China Mobile starts selling the iPhone. China Mobile, the world's biggest telecom carrier by subscribers, said last month that it is negotiating with Apple to carry iPhones in China.
Apple's efforts to integrate local languages in China and emerging markets to its devices are another positive, said Sutherland. "I think that's going to be a continued growth engine for Apple in China and other emerging markets," he said.
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