Evercore ISI Reiterates Outperform on Apple, $365 PT
Evercore ISI analyst Amit Daryanani reiterated an Outperform rating and $365 price target on Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL).
“Apple announced a refreshed Mac mini lineup this morning, with new models that’ll feature the new M6 and M5 Pro chips; preorders will begin today with availability expected on Sept.
22. Notably, base models for the M6 and M5 Pro begin at $899 and $1,699, respectively, reflecting a $300 increase versus the original M4/M4 Pro launch prices.
However, after accounting for prior intra-cycle price increases tied to higher memory costs, today’s launch represents a further $100 step-up versus the most recent mini pricing.
The M6 base model will include a 12-core CPU, 12-core GPU with Neural Accelerators, a Dual 16 core Neural Engine, 16GB of standard unified memory configurable up to 32GB, and up to 170GB/s of memory bandwidth.
Performance is expected to be meaningfully higher, with Apple citing up to 4x faster AI performance, 2x faster graphics and storage, and 40% faster CPU performance versus the prior M4 generation.
The M5 Pro version starts will scale to an 18-core CPU, 20-core GPU, up to 64GB of unified memory and 307GB/s of memory bandwidth, targeting more demanding pro workflows and larger local AI models.
Both models add Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6 and upgraded 2.5Gb Ethernet, with a 10Gb option available, while the M5 Pro model also adds Thunderbolt 5.
In terms of pricing strategy, it appears Apple is pairing higher starting price points with higher AI performance, more powerful silicon, better memory bandwidth and upgraded connectivity, reinforcing their broader Mac strategy of using Apple silicon + AI capability to justify premium pricing.
Net/Net: We view the new Mac mini as another example of Apple using its own silicon to push the Mac portfolio further into higher-value AI workflows.
Apple continues to position its Mac mini lineup as a local AI/deskside compute companion and not just a low-cost desktop.
While pricing is higher than the prior lineup, the step-up in performance, memory bandwidth, connectivity and local AI capability should somewhat help justify the premium, particularly for enterprise, creator and agentic-compute use cases.”
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