(News Bulletin 247) – Apple shares topped the Dow Jones index on Thursday, with the stock confirming its catch-up since the start of the month.

The action of the Californian technology giant is currently up 1.7% to return to its annual highs, while analysts say they are more confident about the group’s prospects.

In a note released in the morning, the Canaccord Genuity teams – buying the title – say they have raised their price target from 170 to 180 dollars, praising in particular the stability of iPhone sales.

“We also believe that Apple continues to benefit from its product mix as well as from a more favorable evolution of its production costs, which leads us to slightly raise our gross margin forecasts,” said the Canadian broker.

With an ecosystem that can rely on an installed base of more than two billion devices, including a billion iPhones, Apple should also take advantage of its rise in services, underlines Canaccord.

Also referring to the resistance of the iPhone, Credit Suisse analysts raised their target on the title from 184 to 188 dollars, particularly welcoming the good sales of the device in China.

This leads it to revise upwards from 92.2 to 93.3 billion dollars its estimate of turnover for the quarter ended at the end of March, against a consensus which is currently targeting 92.5 billion dollars.

Its forecast for earnings per share (EPS) goes from 1.43 to 1.45 dollars, while analysts are currently targeting an average profit of 1.43 dollars per share.

Apple is due to release the financial results for the second quarter of its 2022/2023 fiscal year on April 4.

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