For a while, analysts spent most of their time describing the many ways Apple was doomed. But now their tune may be changing, at least when it comes to Apple’s stock price. According to a recent survey of analysts by Fortune, now over 60% of analysts predict Apple’s stock price will rise above $100. This is a significant increase from a year ago, when only 4 out of 45 analysts predicted that Apple’s stock price would rise above $700, the $100-equivalent of Apple’s stock price since its 7-for-1 stock split last month.
Analysts’ expectations now range from a low of $87.00 from Morningstar’s Brian Collelo to a high of $124 from Hilliard Lyons’s Stephen Turner. The average is above $100 at $101.49.
BTIG’s Walter Piecyk new expectation of $112 marks one of the most substantial upgrades among the analysts, up 30% from $86. He attributes his increased optimism to the expanding iPhone upgrade opportunity at U.S. carriers.
“Historically we estimate that ~20% of AT&T’s subscriber base was eligible for an upgrade during an iPhone launch quarter. That eligibility dropped to a low of the mid-teens in the second half of 2013 due to the stricter upgrade policies,” Piecyk wrote earlier this week. “We expect AT&T’s new Mobile Share Value plan to increase the percentage of AT&T post-paid subscriber base eligible to upgrade to over 65% by the time the next iPhone launches. In absolute terms that is the difference between 10 or 11 million eligible for upgrades and 45-50 million.”
Below is a chart from Fortune detailing analyst’s current predictions for Apple’s stock price.
Updated to clarify BTIG upgrade.
