The Zhitong Finance App learned that Wedbush analyst Dan Ives maintained the “outperforming market” rating of Apple (AAPL.US) and raised the target price from $300 to $325, setting a new high on Wall Street. Ives expects the tech giant to usher in a “golden era of growth” in 2025. Affected by the news, Apple's stock price hit a record high intraday on Thursday.

Ives said, “We believe Apple is entering a multi-year iPhone upgrade cycle driven by artificial intelligence, which is still underestimated by Wall Street. Rome wasn't built in a day, and Apple's artificial intelligence strategy wasn't built in a day, but the seeds of Apple's smart strategy are being formed and will change Apple's consumer growth narrative over the next few years.”

Ives believes that a series of artificial intelligence applications under development will accelerate the growth of Apple service revenue and catalyze iPhone upgrades over the next 12 to 18 months.

Meanwhile, research firm BTIG on Thursday urged investors to be cautious about Apple stock.

BTIG analyst Jonathan Krinsky pointed out that Apple's stock price rose 2% or more for the fifth consecutive week last week. After this continuous upward trend, one-month forward returns were quite unfavorable for the company.

Krinsky said that as Apple “once again becomes the company with the highest market capitalization in the world, with a market capitalization close to 4 trillions of dollars, we are cautious about the stock price performance in January next year.”

Apple's stock price hit $260 in early trading on Thursday, hitting a new intraday high, then rebounded slightly. The stock eventually closed up 0.3% to $259, setting a record closing record.

Apple experienced a difficult start in 2024. Sluggish iPhone sales, increased competition in the Chinese market, and antitrust regulations put pressure on the stock. Early data on the Apple iPhone 16 series did not boost Wall Street's confidence, and investment firm Jefferies rarely downgraded Apple's stock rating.

Other analysts, including Ives, are still bullish on Apple stock, as more optimistic iPhone shipment data gave people confidence in Apple's artificial intelligence strategy. Apple's fourth-quarter earnings report released in early November showed that iPhone sales exceeded expectations, although overall performance fell short of expectations.

With the release of the new MacBook Pro series and the addition of artificial intelligence features to the iPhone, iPad, and macOS in mid-December, Apple's stock price began to rise to a new high in early November. Over the past month, Apple has outperformed several of the so-called Big Seven. During this time, Apple shares rose by more than 11%, Meta by 6.7%, Microsoft by 4.4%, and Nvidia by 1%.

However, macroeconomic uncertainty may adversely affect Apple. Trump's imposition of tariffs on China could affect the price of Apple products assembled in China, and the worst case scenario would increase the cost of each iPhone by $256. The Fed's interest rate cut in 2025 may be lower than expected. This has also raised concerns about high interest rates and continued inflation, weakening consumer confidence.