Goldman Sachs reiterated its "conviction buy" rating on Apple on Tuesday, citing an expected earnings beat this quarter and high projected demand for the tech giant's next iPhone.
A survey Goldman conducted found that 44 percent of respondents plan to buy the new iPhone 7 when it is released during the fall.
"This implies a shortening of the replacement cycle, as a third of upgrades are expected to come from current generation (<1 year old) iPhones. In addition, it reflects a high number of iPhone 7 sales to switchers (near 25%) from other platforms such as Android, suggesting that Apple will continue to gain share," Goldman said in a note.
The newest model of Apple's flagship device is expected to be released later this year. Shares of Apple have gained about 4 percent this year, and closed up 1.3 percent Tuesday.
Goldman added it expects Apple to enter an upward estimate revision cycle.
"We expect a beat and raise quarter from Apple, with revenues of $54.4bn (vs. consensus at $52.0bn and guidance of $50-53bn) and EPS of $2.17 (vs. consensus at $2.00). Our above-consensus view is driven by iPhone units, which we model at 53.6mn vs. consensus at 50.0mn."
Apple reports quarterly results April 25 after the bell.
Apple in 2016
— CNBC's Michael Bloom contributed to this report.
