Apple shares to rally to $260 as it beats out Android in AI race, Rosenblatt says

Apple 's commitment to privacy could soon pay off by giving it a leg up over its competitors, according to Rosenblatt. The firm upgraded the Magnificent 7 member to a buy rating from neutral in a Wednesday note. Analyst Barton Crockett simultaneously raised his price target to $260 from $196. Shares of the iPhone maker have rallied 10% year to date. Crockett's updated price forecast implies that the stock could gain another 24% from its Tuesday closing price of $209.07. AAPL YTD mountain AAPL YTD chart While Apple has lagged some of its mega-cap technology peers this year, Crockett believes that the tide could soon turn. As a catalyst, he cited a U.S. consumer survey indicating that by far the top feature consumers want when it comes to artificial intelligence is strong privacy, which lends Apple an advantage. "One could reasonably argue that the strong consumer interest in privacy favors Apple. That's because Apple, unlike AI predecessors, has put privacy front and center as part of its AI marketing push and architecture," Crockett wrote. "Apple laid out what it called a Private Cloud Compute architecture that keeps personal information on personal devices, and does not allow non-permissioned release of that information to anyone else, including Apple and third party LLMs," he added. An additional advantage for Apple comes from its AI approach, which allows the firm some immunity from cost pressures at hyperscalers. Against this backdrop, Crockett sees the scales "tipping the AI risk/reward in favor of Apple." — CNBC's Michael Bloom contributed to this report.