BNP Paribas raises Apple stock target, citing memory shortage opportunity

Today, BNP Paribas raised its price target on Apple to $300 from the $260 it set in its last investor note. Here are the details.

Apple could turn memory shortage into opportunity

Over the past few weeks, we’ve seen several reports The research firm has mapped the impact of the memory shortage on the smartphone market.

These reports generally indicate that while Apple has been get benefits Amid the successful iPhone 17 series, low-end phone makers have been hardest hit by the ongoing memory shortage, as their profits have little room to absorb higher component costs.

Today, BNP Paribas released an investor note (via Bloomberg) believes Apple’s supply chain and scale put it in a better position to withstand these pressures and even gain share.

As a result, BNP Paribas raised its rating on Apple stock to “outperform” from “neutral” and set a target price of $300, an increase of 15.3% from $260.

from Bloomberg:

“With memory shortages disproportionately impacting smaller peers in the lower and mid-range, we believe Apple can leverage its scale and unique supply chain to drive iPhone share growth while continuing its transition to higher-end devices,” analyst David O’Connor wrote.

He added that while Apple was also affected by memory issues, “iht (sic) has more advantages in terms of revenue and cost compared to its peers.”

period Last quarter’s earnings callApple Chief Executive Tim Cook and Chief Financial Officer Kevan Parekh said the company ended the December quarter with very little iPhone inventory after stronger-than-expected demand, leaving it in a “supply chase” to catch up.

They added that the restrictions at that time were related to chip production constraints rather than memory, which had a small impact on the December quarter but were expected to have a larger impact on profit margins in the March quarter, which Apple was considering. Report expected on April 30.

Cook also said Apple has “a range of options” to deal with rising memory costs, but did not disclose specifics.

Apple shares closed at $270.23 today, up 2.59%. Although the recent volatility in the overall market is partly related to conflict involving iran.

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