By Rex Crum, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Apple Inc. remained in the tech
sector spotlight Friday with its annual Worldwide Developers
Conference coming up and Bill Shope, of Goldman Sachs becoming the
latest industry analyst to raise his price target on the consumer
electronics kingpin.
Apple (AAPL) ended the day off by $2.38 a share to close at $633
as anticipation continued to grow ahead of its developers
conference, which starts Monday in San Francisco. On Wednesday, the
company took one potential announcement off the table when it said
it would acquire high-end headphone and streaming music company
Beats for $3 billion. While there has been some hope that Apple
will introduce the next version of the iPhone, many analysts expect
the company to turn the focus of the conference toward software and
connected-home services.
Shope, who raised his price target on Apple to $720 a share from
$635, said Friday that even though refreshed hardware products such
as the iPhone and iPad serve to drive up the price of Apple's
stock, "platform enhancements such as mobile payments, connected
home solutions, and personal health monitors should be far more
important for driving switching costs and installed [customer] base
expansion over time.
Shope's $725-a share target price on Apple puts him at the high
end of analysts who cover the company, and comes on the heels of
Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster, who on Wednesday raised his outlook
on Apple to $732 a share fraction from $640, and UBS analyst Steve
Milunovich, who lifted his target for Apple's stock to $700 a share
from $625 on Thursday.
Among analysts surveyed by FactSet, sentiment toward Apple has
grown over the last two months. Of the 41 analysts listed with
price targets on Apple's stock, 29 have raised their targets since
April. The average price target is $637.57, with Brian White, of
Cantor Fitzgerald, leading the pack with a $770-a-share target.
Typically, anticipation over what Apple unveils at the
conference has been a catalyst for the company's stock performance,
while the stock tends to give up some of its gains in the days and
weeks after the conference.
BTIG analyst Walter Piecyk noted that Apple's stock price has
risen by 8% in the month leading up to WWDC this year, and since
2008, has averaged a gain of 4.1% for the month before the annual
conference. However, Apple shares have shed an average of 1.4% in
the month after WWDC over each of the past six conferences.
People are also trying to get on the Apple bandwagon before the
close of trading on Monday. On that day, all Apple shareholders of
record will be included in a 7-for-1 stock split that will take
effect on June. 9.
Along with Apple, decliners included Yahoo Inc. (YHOO), Facebook
Inc. (FB), Pandora Media Inc. (P) and Oracle Corp. (ORCL).
Mild gains came from Netflix Inc. (NFLX), Microsoft Corp.
(MSFT), Intel Corp. (INTC) and Micron Technology Inc. (MU).
The Nasdaq Composite Index (RIXF) ended the day down by 5 points
at 4,242, while the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) managed
to close in positive territory.
More tech news from MarketWatch:
Apple is still an iPhone story, for now
Apple hits new "Beats" ahead of WWDC
Apple price target raised to $720 at Goldman Sachs
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