Analyst Believes AAPL Could Hit $1 Trillion Market Cap By 2014

Gene Munster, analyst for Piper Jaffray, has raised his predictions for Apple stock in the next twelve months. Earlier this year Jaffery predicted that the stock could easily hit $718 per share, but this morning he announced that Piper Jaffray sees Apple breaking $1,000 per share in the next year.

On the back of strong iPhone sales and an average consumer upgrade path of 21 months, Munster believes that  a whopping 85 percent of current iPhone users plan on upgrading to the next iPhone when it’s released. “If we assume an average iPhone life of 21 months, and 85% of users upgrade to a new iPhone, that implies 45% of iPhones through 2015 are ‘in the bag,” he said. “We believe demand remains strong for the iPhone 4S based on global store checks and momentum from the 3rd-gen iPad launch.”

In short, Munster and Piper Jaffery believe that Apple is set to almost double its market capitalization from $576.79 billion to a whopping $1 trillion by 2014. But where is that extra value coming from?

Gene Munster, speaking on behalf of Piper Jaffery:

the companies we consider to be the 10 most relevant competitors to Apple (Samsung, HTC, RIMM, NOK, SNE, DELL, HP, MSFT, INTC, GOOG) represent nearly $1 trillion in market cap today. We believe 20% of that value, or ~$200 billion could shift to Apple through 2014. Thus there is potential for Apple to repeat history and add another $400 billion to its market cap. At a $1,000 share price (roughly $1 trillion in market cap) Apple would represent 26% of the total US tech market cap from 17% today.

These forecasts come on the heels of AAPL shares breaking previous records last week, reaching over $614.21 per share. Additionally, Katy Huberty, from Morgan Stanley, estimated that Apple stock could reach $720.00 by the end of the year, with a “bull case” scenario seeing the stock hit $960.00 per share in the next twelve months.

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