Brean Capital began coverage of Apple stock on Monday, calling for a $160 price target, and for revenue to beat Wall Street consensus for the next three years, driven by higher-than-expected iPhone sales.
Analyst Ananda Baruah issued a note to investors on Monday, a copy of which was provided to AppleInsider, forecasting annual revenue figures for 2015 to reach $232 billion. He sees Apple's revenue ballooning to $295 billion by 2017, exceeding Wall Street expectations.
Brean shipment figures call for 228 million iPhones in 2015, above market consensus of 222 million. This alone is anticipated to boost Apple's outlook, but Baruah further estimates than iPhones typically carry a gross profit margin of 45 percent, exceeding the roughly 40 percent margin for Apple as a whole.
The iPhone 6 Plus is thought to have an even greater 60 percent margin, and account for as much as a third of iPhone shipments, compared with a Street-suggested proportion closer to a quarter.
On the matter of operating expenditures, Baruah said that the company should be able to ramp them down, percenage-wise, now that both the iPhone 6 and the Apple Watch have been released.
Apple is set to announce March-quarter results later on Monday. The centerpiece of the announcement will be a conference call with analysts and journalists scheduled for 2 p.m. Pacific time, or 5 p.m. Eastern.