For a long time, experts have warned against high valuations of US equities. Wall Street is unimpressed: several experts remain positive. Analyst recommendations and price objectives of all well-known banks as well as independent research institutes are continuously evaluated. The opinions of the experts on U.S. stock are still quite positive for some companies.
For the Apple stock, which has already risen about a third this year alone, 32 analysts continue to make a buy or better recommendation. Nine experts are neutral. Sale, however, is not advisable. The US investment bank Morgan Stanley recently raised the price target from 182 to 194 dollars and remained “overweight” in the research note. Currently, the stock is trading at a good 151 dollars. Raising average selling prices across the entire product line is the key point of the latest product launches by the iPhone maker, analyst Katy Huberty said last week.
Just a few days ago, the company presented, among other products, the iPhone X, which costs a proud 999 dollars. Huberty stressed Apple is an aspirational brand. Among the customers is a high degree of loyalty and together with a weaker dollar, the company is therefore in a position to raise prices, without fear of losing demand. Toni Sacconaghi, Sanford C. Bernstein senior research analyst, also recommends buying the stock with a price target of 175 dollars. In his opinion, the high prices are likely to overcompensate any downturn in demand.
Social media giant Facebook is already on a high altitude flight this year. And yet the analysts remain well upbeat towards the company of Mark Zuckerberg. Almost all the experts put their vote on buy. Analysts from JMP Securities, RBC Capital and Barclays expect the stock to outperform the social networks or even the entire US stock market over the next 12 months.
The online streaming service, Netflix , whose share has increased by more than half since January, is backed as buy rated by 42 analysts and three recommend holding it – with a single sale. While several analysts have reiterated their estimates in the past few days, the latest detailed analysis is from the beginning of August – when the end of the partnership with Walt Disney became known. However, JP Morgan analyst Doug Anmuth noted that this is unlikely to have a significant negative impact on the number of subscribers to Netflix because the service itself has broad content.
Not only analysts are largely positive for their companies. Investment guru Warren Buffett also supports the view – at least in the long-term. The Dow Jones will rise to one million points in 100 years, he said recently at an event organized by the Forbes magazine. On Thursday both the Dow and the S&P marked fresh record after Fed statement.
