Needham ups Apple price target to $260 on strength of buybacks

Needham analysts Martin and Medina are bullish on Apple (AAPL), raising their price target to $260 and reiterating a “Buy” rating. They see Apple’s hefty $110 billion share buyback program as a strategic advantage compared to competitors who are pouring resources into Generative AI.
In addition, the analysts wrote ina note to clients, “We believe that Apple should build an advertising business, just as Amazon.com has done.”
Emily Dattilo for Barron’s:
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The team offered a few reasons Apple should jump into advertising.
First, total global ad spending this year will be $966 billion, and mobile advertising will be $500 billion, dwarfing the consensus call for Apple’s 2024 revenue of less than $400 billion.
Second, ad margins tend to be 70% to 80%, which would bolster margin expansion without requiring price hikes on products.
And third, what could this mean for the company’s balance sheet? “We calculate that selling CTV [Connected TV] ads on AppleTV+ alone would add 140 basis points to revenue growth, thereby doubling Apple’s consensus revenue growth of just 1% in fiscal 2024,” analysts wrote. “Adding ads to the app store would accelerate revenue growth even faster.”

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MacDailyNews Take: We believe an ad-supported tier is coming to Apple TV+ sooner or later.
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