But if Dan Ives is right, the good times are going to continue to roll well into the New Year and beyond.
Hitting that number isn't a certainty. Lots of things would have to go right for the company, and it would have to avoid significant setbacks, he said. But it's a good bet the company's stock will continue to soar in the near term and hitting that bigger target is a distinct possibility, he said. At the end of last year, though, the company hit a wall, with sales plunging in China in particular, helping to drag down Apple's stock. In fiscal 2019, which ended this past September, Apple sold only about 190 million iPhones, Ives estimates. iPhone demand is likely to stay about the same this fiscal year; Apple is likely to sell between 185 million to 190 million through the year that ends in September 2020.
Apple customers tend to be extraordinarily loyal to the company, Ives said. So it's highly likely that when those customers do upgrade their phones, they'll replace them with new iPhones, he said. But the company's windfall could be even bigger than those numbers suggest, he said. Since Apple released the iPhone 6, the average price it charges for a phone has gone up significantly, thanks in large part to it putting a $1,000 price tag on the iPhone X and its successors. Those prices could go even higher with the 5G phones, further boosting Apple's revenue, Ives said.
By contrast, Apple earned $55.3 million, or $11.89 a share in its recently ended fiscal year, on $260.2 million in sales. It earned $59.5 million, or $11.91 a share, on $265.6 million in sales in fiscal 2018.