Here's what every major analyst said about Apple's blockbuster earnings report

Published Thu, Apr 29 20217:47 AM EDTUpdated Thu, Apr 29 202111:02 AM EDT

Apple thumped Wall Street expectations for the quarter, earning several hikes in price targets from some major analysts and causing some of the more bearish observers to soften their stance. The consumer tech company beat revenue expectations across the board for the opening months of the year and reported a wider-than-expected gross margin. The company also raised its dividend and authorized an even bigger stock buyback program. However, on the downside, Apple did not reinstate guidance for the current quarter. Here's what top analysts had to say after the report. The results generated a broadly positive reaction on Wall Street, including an upgrade to neutral from sell by Goldman Sachs . JPMorgan analyst Samik Chatterjee, who has an overweight rating on the stock, said in a note to clients that the quarter showed how Apple is strengthening its position for long-term leadership. "The 5G iPhone cycle is not only playing out in the form of strong consumer upgrades and switchers, but it is also positioning Apple for a higher share of the overall smartphone market on account of its leadership in 5G devices, and in turn driving the Services transformation through better leverage of a faster growing installed base." JPMorgan also raised its price target to $165 per share from $150. Other analysts were more cautious on the near-term growth prospects for Apple after a strong iPhone cycle. "When and to what degree the strength in spending from the pandemic will unwind is clearly the key question," said Bernstein's Toni Sacconaghi, who has a market perform rating on the stock. "We believe it may be difficult for Apple to grow in FY 22, and currently model revenues fractionally down in FY 22 … but it could be worse." Shares of the tech giant were up 0.3% in Thursday morning. Here's what other analysts had to say about the report. Barclays- Equal weight rating, price target to $138 from $136 "Apple handily beat Mar-Q revenue and EPS with strength from all segments and much better gross margin and OM. iPhone revenue beat by 19%, work from home helped iPads and Macs again, and Services growth accelerated. GM of 42.5% hit a multi-year high on cost savings, FX and improved mix. China was a standout as expected, up 88% y/y. June-Q revenue is expected to decline more than normal seasonality on supply constraints and steeper rollover on iPhones." Goldman Sachs- Upgraded to neutral from sell rating "We are upgrading our rating from Sell to Neutral after Apple posted another large beat and implied a raise vs. our June revenue expectations. Our original view that the iPhone cycle would disappoint in the midst of COVID was clearly wrong. Not only has Apple done better than we expected on iPhone during the cycle but Mac and iPad have also materially outperformed our forecasts." Morgan Stanley- Overweight rating, price target to $161 from $158 "We expect consensus to move toward our above Street FY21 and FY22 revenue and EPS forecasts as strength across the portfolio and across regions combined with expected backlog growth in iPads and Macs speak to sustained revenue trends which has been a key investor debate. While the March quarter won't fully put to rest FY22 estimate risk concerns, the strength helps de-risk consensus FY22 estimates given the higher FY21 revenue base implies current consensus is reflecting no Y/Y revenue growth despite accelerating installed base growth and user engagement." UBS- Buy rating, price target to $155 from $142 "Apple's strong across the board fiscal 2Q results should be supportive of the stock and validates the 'stickiness' narrative in our view as almost every "Product" delivered meaningful rev upside relative to our forecast, with the exception of Wearables. Additionally, 'Services' rev beat our forecast by almost 8% driven in part by all time record engagement in App Store, iCloud, Arcade, News, Apple Card and Fitness, consistent with our recent analysis of UBS Evidence Lab data." Baird- Outperform rating "Consolidated revenue grew 54% YOY to $89.6 billion, with iPhone revenue up 66%. The company also increased its buyback authorization by $90 billion and raised its dividend 7%. The question could be, is this as good as it gets, and while the company faces tougher comps through the year, we continue to like the near- and long-term WFA opportunities, driven by continued strong product and services innovation. Raising our estimates." Evercore ISI- Outperform rating "We are sticking with our OP rating and $175 target as this quarter highlighted the trifecta of – a) accelerating iPhone demand with 5G, b) expansion of gross-margins and c) better monetization of services – the combination of these factors continues to imply a > $5.00 EPS potential for AAPL." Raymond James- Outperform rating, price target to $185 from $160 "We reiterate our Outperform rating and raise our price target to $185 following March quarter results. AAPL put up a solid report for March, as they caught up with iPhone demand that couldn't be fulfilled in Dec due to the later iPhone launch. Mac and iPad also delivered solid upside, driven by work/learn from home trends. As has been typical of late, the company didn't provide specific guidance for June, but noted that revenue would be down more than seasonally normal due to the abnormally stronger March." Cowen- Outperform rating, price target to $180 from $153 "Apple's record Mar Q results were well above Consensus forecasts driven by double-digit % growth in all hardware segments and geographies. The 70% GM achieved by Services was also noteworthy. While our iPhone growth expectations remain on track, we believe there could be incremental upside to iPad & Mac forecasts going into CY22 once the near-term PC component shortages are resolved." Citi- Buy rating, price target to $170 from $150 "Wednesday night Apple reported March F2Q results that, across the board, beat on every metric including iPhone, services, MACs, wearables, gross margins and EPS. In fact, it was almost the perfect quarter except for two items, which are 1) no guidance for the June quarter and 2) commentary during the conference call that the June quarter will be seasonally weaker than normal due to the March quarter strength of iPhone and lingering supply chain issues of $3-4 billion" Bank of America- Neutral rating, price target to $160 from $155 "We had expected the March quarter to be strong given the delayed launch of iPhones last year, and we also expect this strength to continue into the June and September quarters. However, starting in the December quarter, Apple will face tough comps, and F2Q22 will comp against the 54% y/y overall revenue growth, and 62% y/y product revenue growth, seen this quarter. Reiterate Neutral on risk/reward balance where we see tough y/y comps and limited upside to already high gross margin." Piper Sandler- Overweight rating "However, management did note the June quarter would be subseasonal due to 1) the timing of the iPhone 12 launches and 2) $3 billion to $4 billion of supply constraint headwinds. During the March quarter, almost all geographies and product lines set records. In addition, a major highlight included the 270 bps sequential gross margin increase to 42.5% due to a favorable mix. Just as impressive is the expectation that June quarter gross margin only declines 50 bps sequentially." Canaccord- Buy rating, price target to $165 from $155 "We believe Apple is well-positioned to continue to benefit from the 5G upgrade cycle and anticipate strong overall growth trends as 5G smartphones ramp and its installed base expands with higher-margins services revenue. Apple's ecosystem approach, including an installed base that exceeds 1.65B devices globally and now over 1B iPhone users, should continue to generate strong services revenue. Longer term, we expect the higher-margin services revenue growth to outpace total company growth and drive gross margin expansion." Needham- Buy rating "We believe AAPL is driving its valuation multiple expansion in 3 ways: diversifying hardware on-ramps into AAPL's ecosystem through add-on products like watches, iPads, AirPods, HomePod Speakers, MACs, iPhones, etc; driving 'ecosystem lock-in' by adding utilities such as Apple Pay, Apple Care, Family Plan pricing, etc. Maximizing revenue per AAPL user through adding subscriptions such as Fitness+, Arcade, News, Music, TV +, Cloud, Apple One, etc." Jefferies- Buy rating, price target to $175 from $160 "Apple announced strong Mar. Q results well ahead of consensus on all metrics. We think the Street still underappreciates Apple's opportunity with 5G. In our view, there's much more to come and we're only in the initial innings of Apple's 5G adoption cycle. We continue to rate the shares a Buy and take our PT to $175." Wells Fargo- Overweight rating "We think the positive post-close reaction in shares of Apple is justified amid a strong top / bottom-line beat - most notably reflecting: 1) broad-based product strength / upside (products and geos; note that non-iPhone product rev. was +46% y/y), 2) continued / deepening confidence in Apple's services growth - rev. at +27% y/y; record level installed base and +40M paid subscriptions seq./ accelerated from +35M/qtr trend over prior four qtrs" Deutsche Bank- Buy rating, price target to $165 from $160 "We also modestly raise our estimates on the improved outlook and move our price target from $160 to $165 on the revised estimates. With the demand for AAPL products remaining strong and product/services offerings continuing to grow (increasing the $ per person spent on AAPL offering), we believe that a premium valuation for AAPL is justified and we maintain our Buy rating."

Tim Cook, chief executive officer of Apple Inc., speaks with attendees after an event in Cupertino, California, U.S., on Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2019.

David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Apple thumped Wall Street expectations for the quarter, earning several hikes in price targets from some major analysts and causing some of the more bearish observers to soften their stance.

The consumer tech company beat revenue expectations across the board for the opening months of the year and reported a wider-than-expected gross margin. The company also raised its dividend and authorized an even bigger stock buyback program.

However, on the downside, Apple did not reinstate guidance for the current quarter.

Here's what top analysts had to say after the report.