Apple Estimated to Sell 26.3 Million Apple Watches in 2015 [Chart]

J.P. Morgan has increased Apple's price target to $145 taking into account the launch of the Apple Watch in April.

Analyst Rod Hall issued a note to investors Wednesday, a copy of which was provided to AppleInsider, in which he moved his December 2015 price target up $5 to $145. The increase comes alongside J.P. Morgan's first forecast for the Apple Watch, in which its "central case" sees the company selling 26.3 million units in calendar 2015.

Hall says there will be about 400 million potential Apple Watch customers by the end of March. This is based on the number customers that have an iPhone 5 or newer. He forecasts that 5% of those customers will purchase an Apple Watch by the end of the year.


Making the assumption that the 'sport' version of the watch will represent 95% of sales, Hall believes the device will net Apple 39% margins. However, if the stainless steel version or the gold 'Edition' model are more popular, his predictions will be conservation.

J.P. Morgan also increased its fiscal 2015 EPS forecast by 2.4% to $9.21. Apple Watch growth is said to accelerate in 2016 with penetration reaching 13% of compatible iPhone owners by the year's end contributing to 10.4% higher EPS forecast of $10.50.

Yesterday, Apple became the first $700 billion company in the U.S. More details on that can be found here.

[via AppleInsider]