Apple is set to become the first company to reach a market capitalisation over $1 trillion (£670bn), analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald have predicted.
In the first Wall Street note to value Apple at more than $1 trillion, analysts at the investment bank said the launch of the Apple Watch and growth in China will propel the technology company to new heights.
Brian White and Isabel Zhu, the analysts, increased their price target for Apple shares from $160 to $180, which would value the company at $1.05 trillion. Apple’s current market value is $750bn.
The research has been published just weeks before Apple’s latest product, the Apple Watch, goes on sale around the world.
The analysts, said: “Next month, Apple will enter its first new product category in five years, while media reports over the past several weeks have highlighted potential new areas of future innovation. Also, we believe Apple’s iPhone portfolio and position in China have never been stronger.”
The analysts based their valuation on the assumption that the Apple Watch will sell 20.6m units in the first year and said that Apple could reach 15pc to 20pc of mobile phone users in China, which would potentially mean $133bn to $178bn of sales.
They also predicted that Apple will launch a television, based on reports that it has developed a new online streaming service, and said that if rumours that the company is working on a car are true this would represent a “$549bn opportunity in the US market”.
However, Cantor Fitzgerald also listed some threats to Apple on its path to a trillion dollar valuation, such as problems retaining staff and avoiding litigation with competitors.
Earlier this year Apple became twice as large as the world’s second-largest listed company, oil giant ExxonMobil. The company’s share price has been boosted by better than expected sales of the iPhone 6, while ExxonMobil has been dragged down by a 50pc collapse in the oil price.
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