Apple Inc (AAPL) Stock Price Target Raised To $160 Amid Mixed Apple Watch Reviews, Online Services Outage

Apple Inc (AAPL) stock fell last week due to market concerns over the Apple Watch and online services outage. Apple’s online services suffered a major blow as users were unable to make purchases.

Apple’s App Store and iTunes were down 11 hours last Mar. 11. The Mac App Store and iBooks store were also affected. The company said the outage was due to an internal technical error, reports Reuters.

Shares of Apple stock fell US$2.25 or 1.8 percent to $122.26 on Mar. 11. Since the day Apple Watch was unveiled, the stock had declined 5.6 percent. Analysts who were skeptical of Apple’s first smart wearable product have previously warned of the hype associated with the Apple Watch.

Although there were mixed reviews of the Apple Watch, its pricing structure has apparently impressed most analysts as many have increased their price targets on Apple stock. Nomura Holdings Inc analysts Michael Dilmanian and Stuart Jeffrey revised their Apple stock target price from $123 to $129 per share, reports ValueWalk.

Evercore Partners ISI analysts Rob Cihra and and Edison Yu said they have increased their previous target of $140 to $160 per share. Analysts from several firms have agreed that the high prices of the Apple Watch may have an upside surprise to product’s average selling price and margins.

Meanwhile, Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty said in a report that the average selling price of Apple’s latest product could climb as high as $618 in the first 12 months. Apple has announced in last week’s Spring Forward event that the starting price of the Apple Watch will be at $349. The 18-karat gold versions, the most expensive Apple Watch, will be priced at $10,000 and above. Morgan Stanley’s previous estimate of the device’s ASP was $500.

Evercore has estimated that Apple will sell 18 million units of the Apple Watch. The analysts in the firm believe the watch will reach a 5 percent “attach rate” to the iPhone’s customer base by early 2015. They also predicted that Apple’s smartwatch would become a successful mainstream product.

The analysts identified China as a strong market for the Apple Watch. With the Apple Watch heading to China on April 24, Chinese consumers are expected to welcome it with open arms.

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