Citi Ups Price Target On Apple

In a note out Tuesday morning, analyst Jim Suva of Citi Research upped his price target on Apple Inc. AAPL to $145 from $135, citing higher Apple Watch ASPs and higher capital return expectations. Suva said, "Citi estimates 3 million units sold in the June quarter and 17 million units in the first four quarters or a run rate of 20 million units per full year (~5-7% penetration of the iOS installed base). We are updating our model to reflect the ASPs which are much higher than what we initially modeled (blended ASP of $651 vs $350). We are estimating 59%/40%/1% mix for AAPL Sports/Watch/Edition. "We also update our model to reflect a share buyback announcement in April to increase the current program from $90bln by end of FY 2015 to $120 bln by end of FY 2016. Our FY 2015 and 2016 EPS are now $8.72 (vs $8.46 prior) and $9.15 (vs $8.63 prior). On an unchanged target multiple of 13x, our revised target price is $145. We maintain our Buy rating on AAPL shares." Shares of Apple were trading slightly lower in the premarket.