Piper Sandler ups AAPL to $300 as teen iPhone ownership hits new high

Posted:
in General Discussion
Fresh results from Piper Sandler's latest teen survey are in and they indicate Apple's mindshare among smartphone-wielding teenagers has never been higher, prompting the firm to boost its price target on shares of the iPhone maker.

Apple maintains its dominant market share among teens in the U.S., according to the results of a new survey.
Apple maintains its dominant market share among teens in the U.S., according to the results of a new survey.


In a research note seen by AppleInsider, Piper Sandler analyst Harsh Kumar outlined some of the key findings from the investment firm's semi-annual "Taking Stock with Teens" survey, which asked 5,200 teens about their brand preferences earlier in 2020.

Of the respondents, the survey notes that 85% had an iPhone, the highest percentage seen in the survey and up from 2% from previous years. The analysts add that the iPhone has room to grow, with 88% of teens saying their next device will likely be an Apple handset.

The runner-up was Android, with 8% of the share of anticipated purchases. That's down from the reported 10% in the 2019 survey.

Among smartwatches, the Apple Watch remained the leader among teens with 25% of respondents saying they owned one of Apple's flagship wearables. Of the rest of the respondents, 69% didn't own any kind of smartwatch, however.

This year's survey also marks the first time that Piper Sandler has included a question about AirPods. Of the teen survey-takers, 52% said that they already owned a pair of AirPods, while 18% of those who don't stated that they plan to buy them within a year.

Credit: Piper Sandler Companies
Credit: Piper Sandler Companies


"Overall, we believe the already strong attach rate and solid purchase intent demonstrates Apple's ability to drive additional hardware growth outside of the company's primary product set," the analyst wrote.

Based on the results of the survey, Kumar believes that teens still hold a "strong preference" for Apple products, adding that the trend is promising given Apple's long-term goal of driving services revenue and accessories in lieu of dampening smartphone demand.

While the premium smartphone market has become "mature," the analyst said he believed "Apple's ability to maintain and slightly grow its market share provides a solid base for a 5G product cycle refresh over the next few years."

Kumar stands out as the only analyst who has recently upped their AAPL share price, though Piper Sandler's current target is roughly in-line with JP Morgan's most recent $335 target and Morgan Stanley's $298 target from early April.

Piper Sandler is maintaining its Overweight rating for AAPL, but bumped its price target to $300 from $260. That's based on an updated multiple of 24x, up from 21x previously, largely due to the results of the teen survey.

As of 1:05 p.m. Friday, AAPL is trading at $265.09, up 2.18% on the day.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 3
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member
    Seems only yesterday we were being told the iPhone was no longer popular with the younger generation. They wanted something hip and innovative like Samsung’s offerings. In fact, we were informed, the young were abandoning the iPhone in droves for the greener pastures of Android as Samsung’s ads showed hip and groovy youngsters dancing in the streets with their Samsung phone while iPhone users were sitting depressed by electrical outlets waiting for a charge and sullen iPhone users with notch haircuts looked sad and lonely. You remember those times, don't you? If correct, the charts in this article describe a damning situation for Android when matched against the iPhone where the young are concerned. 
  • Reply 2 of 3
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,213member
    lkrupp said:
    Seems only yesterday we were being told the iPhone was no longer popular with the younger generation. They wanted something hip and innovative like Samsung’s offerings. In fact, we were informed, the young were abandoning the iPhone in droves for the greener pastures of Android as Samsung’s ads showed hip and groovy youngsters dancing in the streets with their Samsung phone while iPhone users were sitting depressed by electrical outlets waiting for a charge and sullen iPhone users with notch haircuts looked sad and lonely. You remember those times, don't you? If correct, the charts in this article describe a damning situation for Android when matched against the iPhone where the young are concerned. 
    This is the same general result every year isn't it? Going by their survey that gets reported here annually pretty much every teen in the country already owns an iPhone and has for years. I don't recall it ever showing iPhones weren't cool anymore. Sounds more like the same storyline from 2013 being recycled.
    https://daringfireball.net/linked/2013/10/09/piper-jaffray-poll
     (BTW the survey only asks high income families so teens in middle-class and lower income families wouldn't typically be included). 

    And from last year
    https://forums.appleinsider.com/discussion/213206
    edited April 2020
  • Reply 3 of 3
    davgregdavgreg Posts: 1,037member
    We will see how many go back before long.

    If the Recession bites in hard, these expensive phones will become a financial albatross around the necks of many 'aspirational' buyers.
    edited April 2020
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