Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty said she thinks the market is underestimating both the growth and value impact of Apple’s (AAPL) Services business, which she sees being the key growth driver for Apple over the next five years. Following the firm’s survey, which signaled spending increases over the next year, she tells investors in a new note that she is confident Apple can sustain annual Services growth of greater than 20% over the next five years.
However, the consensus is predicting Apple’s Services growth rate slows to the mid-teens by FY20, noted Huberty, who points out that her Services forecast is 11% above consensus over the next four years. Though the market was negative about the changes Apple plans to make to its financial disclosures, she views the change as a corroborating data point that Apple is approaching a services-led margin inflection, comparing it to when Amazon (AMZN) began breaking out AWS revenue and profits at the start of 2015.
Following the firm’s Apple survey, Huberty raised her price target on Apple shares to $253 from $226 and keeps an Overweight rating on the shares.
