Apple (AAPL) stock notched a record high in intraday trading on Tuesday and at least one Wall Street analyst believes the company is marching toward a market capitalization of $1 trillion, a milestone no public company has yet reached.
XApple shares dipped 0.3% to close at 178.39 on the stock market today. Earlier in the session, the stock hit an all-time high of 180.48. That topped its previous record high of 180.10, reached on Jan. 18. Apple now has a market cap of about $910 billion.
"With fiscal 2018 guidance now hittable/beatable and inventory issues in the rearview mirror given recent data points out of Asia, it appears Apple shares are now on the yellow brick road to hit the elusive trillion-dollar club (followed by Amazon (AMZN), which we believe will hit this mark in 2019) over the coming months in our opinion," GBH Insights analyst Daniel Ives said in a report Tuesday.
Wall Street is starting to appreciate the massive iPhone upgrade opportunity on the horizon for Apple, with three new models slated for release this year, Ives said.
"We estimate Apple has roughly 350 million iPhones that are in the window of opportunity to upgrade over the next 12 to 18 months," Ives said. "Now it's about which model and price point strike a chord for these customers to ultimately upgrade as the iPhone X demand has softened since reaching a supply/balance level in late December."
Many iPhone users have bypassed the iPhone X and iPhone 8 series cycle and are looking for new handsets and features that will get them off the fence, Ives said.
Ives reiterated his "highly attractive" rating on Apple stock with a price target of 205.
In addition to the new iPhones, other catalysts for Apple stock include a potential $300 billion share buyback, which could be announced in April, Ives said.
Plus, Apple's installed base of 1.3 billion devices worldwide creates opportunities for selling more services and other devices, he said.
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