This year will be Apple’s (AAPL) breakout year, according to Dan Ives, global head of technology research at Wedbush Securities.
During an interview with CNBC, Ives projected that AI could add “$75 to $100 per share” to the company’s valuation, dismissing concerns about European regulators and pointing to Apple’s offensive positioning in the consumer AI space.
He drew a comparison to Alphabet’s (GOOGL), (GOOG) strong performance last year.
Jeff Kilburg, founder, CEO, and CIO of KKM Financial, noted that investors have been rotating out of previous winners like Nvidia (NVDA) and Meta (META) into laggards like Apple (AAPL) and Alphabet (GOOGL), (GOOG), which presented buying opportunities during the lows of the tariff announcements in April.
Kilburg expressed particular enthusiasm for Alphabet’s (GOOGL), (GOOG) momentum, noting the company surpassed $400B in revenue for the first time. He highlighted the efficiency gains in Google’s Gemini platform, which now processes 10B tokens per minute while serving costs have dropped 78% in one year.
“I get giddy about Google,” Kilburg said, describing the company as “the tip of the spear moving forward.”
Despite what Ives called a “software apocalypse” with massive selloffs across the sector, both analysts see opportunity in the carnage.
Ives characterized the current moment as a “table pounder” time to buy oversold names like Salesforce (CRM), CrowdStrike (CRWD), Microsoft (MSFT), Oracle (ORCL), and ServiceNow (NOW).
“We’re going to look back at this moment as a table pounder time to own the names that I think have just really been massively sold off,” Ives said.
The analysts also addressed the volatility in cryptocurrency markets, with Kilburg identifying MicroStrategy (MSTR) as a “falling knife” after dropping 72% from its all-time highs.
“Cryptocurrency overall is in a gut check moment,” Kilburg said, noting that in times of distress, crypto “becomes way over-cooler and exaggerate to the overall global macro sentiment.”
However, both analysts maintain long-term optimism despite the current turbulence in tech and crypto markets.
Ives described the sell-off as a “digestion period” rather than a fundamental shift.
“This is not the end.” He emphasized that the current indiscriminate selling represents significant opportunities for investors willing to weather the volatility.