Apple Nears $3 Trillion. The Stock Won’t Be Stopping There, Says Analyst.

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Tech giant

Apple

was inching toward a market-cap milestone in trading Wednesday.

Apple

(ticker: AAPL) shares hit another record at the close Tuesday of $188.06, the stock’s fifth record for the year. If

Apple

closes at or above $190.73 on Wednesday, the iPhone maker officially will have a market cap of $3 trillion.

Shares of Apple were rising 0.4% to $188.77 in early trading Wednesday.

Apple’s stock has been on a roll, surging 45% in 2023. Investors have bought up shares of the company along with other tech companies amid excitement around the future of artificial intelligence. Traders also have been buying up the stock following new product announcements, including the highly anticipated Vision Pro headset.

“This product and application build out could be another tailwind to Services
revenue in FY25 as more consumers start to make the path down the mixed reality headset with Apple as Vision Pro price points start to come down markedly in FY25,” Wedbush analyst and long-time Apple bull, Dan Ives, wrote in a research note Wednesday. He rates Apple stock at Outperform with a $220 price target.

Ives believes Apple’s annual services revenue, which includes the App Store and Apple Music, can hit $100 billion in fiscal 2024. Services revenue in 2022 was $78.1 billion.

“Herein lies the key to the valuation rerating that we believe will continue to take place around Apple’s stock as the Street further appreciates the sheer massive potential of this services revenue,” Ives said. “… We believe Apple’s fair valuation
could be in the $3.5 trillion range with a bull case $4 trillion valuation by FY25.”

Write to Angela Palumbo at angela.palumbo@dowjones.com