Why Did This Analyst Reiterate A Buy For Apple?

Abhey Lamba, a senior technology analyst at Mizuho Securities, has reiterated a Buy rating and a $575 price target for Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) stock, based on checks that reaffirm their view that an Apple iPhone refresh may come earlier this year than last year. Apple is currently trading at $431.14, although it had reached highs of $434.92 around mid-morning today.

Lamba believes that a new iPhone model may debut as early as mid-year, which is earlier than many analyst’s predictions of an iPhone launch in August.

Lamba at Mizuho Securities states that, “Our checks reaffirm our view that Apple is preparing to refresh its iPhone lineup earlier this year than last year. While shipments in the March quarter are expected to experience a significant sequential drop, we expect a new version of iPhone in the June-July time frame. For the March quarter, our checks are currently indicating that the company is likely to deliver total phone units in the 35-40M range, which is in line with current consensus. For the June quarter, shipments will depend on the timing of the product refresh”…