Why 1 Top Analyst Says Apple Is a Screaming Buy Right Now

3 days ago 4

Keith Speights, The Motley Fool

Tue, March 31, 2026 astatine 3:46 AM CDT 4 min read

Tech is simply a wreck. So acold successful 2026, the exertion assemblage is the second-worst-performing assemblage successful the S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC). Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), which ranks arsenic the world's second-largest exertion institution by marketplace cap, is among the laggards. Shares of the iPhone shaper are down much than 10% twelvemonth to date.

However, Wall Street remains mostly bullish astir Apple. The statement 12-month terms people for the banal reflects an upside imaginable of astir 20%. Roughly 60% of the analysts who screen Apple complaint it arsenic a "buy" oregon a "strong buy."

Will AI make the world's archetypal trillionaire? Our squad conscionable released a study connected the 1 little-known company, called an "Indispensable Monopoly" providing the captious exertion Nvidia and Intel some need. Continue »

At slightest 1 apical Wall Street expert believes that Apple is simply a screaming bargain close now. Morgan Stanley's (NYSE: MS) Erik Woodring thinks the banal tin leap astir 28% from its existent level implicit the adjacent 12 months. Why is Woodring truthful optimistic astir Apple's near-term prospects?

An Apple iPhone successful  a person's hand.

Image source: Getty Images.

Morgan Stanley precocious released its AlphaWise Global Smartphone Survey. And the results bode good for Apple's maturation successful 2026 and into 2027. In particular, the Wall Street firm's survey recovered that the fig of consumers successful the U.S. and China who program to upgrade to caller iPhones implicit the adjacent 12 months reached a grounds high.

This involvement successful upgrades isn't an industrywide phenomenon. Woodring expects Apple to beryllium the lone large planetary smartphone vendor that volition summation marketplace stock this year. He thinks rivals utilizing Alphabet's (NASDAQ: GOOG) (NASDAQ: GOOGL) Android operating strategy could spot importantly little smartphone request owed to higher prices resulting from a terrible imbalance betwixt proviso and request for representation chips.

Apple faces the aforesaid representation shortage. However, Woodring believes that the company's awesome marque loyalty should let it to upwind the tempest amended than its apical competitors.

Morgan Stanley's survey reinforced this optimism. It recovered that Apple's nett switching complaint roseate to 11% -- a five-year high. The caller survey revealed that Apple was the lone large smartphone marque with a affirmative nett switching complaint and the lone marque with an improving rate.

Why are customers anxious to upgrade to caller iPhones? Many of them are motivated by "new and precocious features," according to the AlphaWise Global Smartphone Survey. Other driving factors see amended instrumentality prime for newer iPhones and a wide basal of customers eligible for upgrades.

Read Entire Article