The last time we got a price target for Apple from FBR Capital, a Washington-based investment management company, was September 2013, and the target was $75 per split adjusted share.
On Thursday, with a new pair of analysts assigned to the company, FBR re-initiated coverage with a market-high price target of $185.
Our long-term confidence in this technology heavyweight,” they write, “stems from a number of massive growth opportunities over the coming years including: (1) increased focus on its services business, (2) ramping penetration of the Chinese mobile market, and (3) upside from new device categories (e.g., wearables).
“We believe the Street is currently underestimating the top-line/profit growth potential in these key areas with Apple’s all-important software platform at the epicenter of its solutions. ”
Are we in nosebleed territory yet? To get to $185, FBR’s Daniel Ives and James Moore had to multiply their 2016 EPS estimate by 20. Apple’s 12-month trailing P/E ratio — the one that matters, I’m told — is 17.03.
Below, the current price targets for Apple, as fresh and up to date as we can make them. Note that FBR’s $185 per share is $45 above Wall Street’s median target and nearly $60 above Thursday’s closing price.
Follow Philip Elmer-DeWitt on Twitter at @philiped. Read his Apple (AAPL) coverage at coins2day.com/ped or subscribe via his RSS feed.
