Apple’s surge to record highs faces a major test next month. What it must do to pass
Apple ‘s incredible eight-week march to record highs faces a major test next month. Like many investors, we want to see the company meet the moment and keep the rally going. The iPhone maker’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) kicks off on June 8, offering another chance to impress Wall Street with its rather uneven artificial intelligence execution. The event comes during a year of change for Apple as long-time CEO Tim Cook prepares to hand over the reins in September and a big AI partnership with Alphabet ‘s Google gets underway. The question is: Can Apple finally deliver on a truly conversational Siri? Ben Reitzes at Melius Research thinks so — predicting the new Siri will be “a lot better” with help from Google and its Gemini large language models. “We are seeing evidence that Siri could prove to be an agentic interface that can further differentiate the Apple ecosystem and ignite a level of excitement with developers not seen since the early days of the App Store,” wrote Reitzes, Melius partner and head of technology research. “In short, Apple may be on the brink of some real AI sizzle.” In addition to being embedded in Apple’s platforms, Reitzes and his team envision a world in which must-have apps such as Uber , Lyft , and DoorDash get “really integrated into Siri.” If users engage with apps more often and developer activity increases, that means more App Store revenue, which would further boost Apple’s high-margin services business. Melius raised its Apple price target to $385 per share from $355, implying nearly 25% upside from Tuesday’s close. Apple has been trying with little success to markedly improve Siri since unveiling two years ago a partnership with OpenAI to offer ChatGPT as an option to answer more complex queries. After also struggling with its in-house efforts to build on that, Apple decided to pivot, announcing in January an alliance with Google to leverage Gemini. Jim Cramer said Tuesday on CNBC that he has noticed some incremental improvements. “I know it’s like sixth grade, but this thing is headed to high school.” He added, “By the time we get to WWDC, I’m talking a freshman.” Apple’s rally has taken it above our Club price target of $300, which we will re-evaluate after WWDC. Like Jim and Reitzes at Melius, Bank of America is also bullish on a new Siri. “If AI assistants become the new front door to search, apps, commerce, scheduling, payments, and workflow completion, we think Apple should have meaningful leverage over model providers, app developers, merchants, advertisers, and payment networks,” BofA analysts wrote. They increased their price target on Apple to $380 from $330. AAPL YTD mountain Apple (AAPL) year to date performance Wall Street sentiment, however, has not always been this upbeat on Apple’s AI roadmap. When the company first unveiled its AI suite, dubbed Apple Intelligence, at WWDC 2024 , investors found the updates and those that followed to be more evolutionary rather than revolutionary. The next year, at WWDC 2025, Apple underwhelmed on AI again. While dropping in the immediate aftermath of the events, Apple shares finished higher both years. Last year, despite the lack of AI “sizzle” as Reitzes put it, the new iPhone 17 models had enough software and hardware improvements to become a roaring success. As Apple embarks on a new chapter, its multiyear partnership with Alphabet is a win for both companies. Apple gets Google to power its AI features, including a Siri upgrade, for a reported $1 billion. Google already pays Apple way more to be the default search engine on its devices, as Jim pointed out during Tuesday’s Morning Meeting . Apple also gets to avoid spending the hundreds of billions of dollars that Google has and will spend on AI infrastructure. For Alphabet, which Jim also loves, it keeps Google front and center on both iPhones and Android devices. Bottom line With less than two weeks until WWDC 2026, the rally in Apple makes it easy to keep our “own, don’t trade” designation on the stock. Jim summed up best in his weekly column: “The quiet upward propulsion of Apple is a great joy.” The stock has surged 25% since its Iran war low on March 30 — finishing Tuesday just below Friday’s record-high close of nearly $309. That turnaround has sent Apple shares up more than 13% year to date compared to the S & P 500 ‘s nearly 10% gain over that same stretch. (Jim Cramer’s Charitable Trust is long AAPL, GOOGL. See here for a full list of the stocks.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust’s portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . 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