Goldman Sachs analyst Michael Ng has reaffirmed a Buy rating and $330 price target on Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) ahead of the company’s fiscal second quarter 2026 earnings release scheduled for April 30, arguing that the stock’s year-to-date underperformance reflects a temporary headwind rather than any deterioration in the company’s competitive position or long-term earnings power.
AAPL has declined approximately 4 percent year-to-date in 2026 while the S&P 500 has gained around 2 percent over the same period, a divergence driven primarily by surging DRAM memory chip prices caused by an AI-driven supply shortage that began in autumn 2025 and has pushed component costs higher across the premium smartphone category.
Ng’s note framed the disconnect between Apple’s stock performance and its underlying business trajectory as a potential entry point rather than a warning sign, writing in his research communication that the recent data points support rather than undermine the bull case for Apple.
The analyst projects Apple will report fiscal Q2 2026 earnings per share of $2.00, a figure that sits above the Wall Street consensus estimate of $1.93 and reflects expected strength across iPhone revenue, Mac revenue, gross margins, and a favourable currency backdrop that has eased the translation headwinds Apple faced in several comparable periods.
Apple’s smartphone market position provides the most concrete current-period evidence for Goldman’s thesis, with the company capturing 21 percent of global smartphone market share in Q1 2026, the first time in its history it has led the global market in an opening quarter, driven by iPhone 17 demand momentum, aggressive trade-in programmes, and notable share gains in China, India, and Japan.
TSMC’s earnings call, which confirmed outperformance in the high-end smartphone segment, was cited by Goldman as external corroboration of the demand picture, with Apple being the clearest beneficiary of any premium smartphone strength given its concentration at the top end of the market where component cost inflation is more easily absorbed through pricing than in mid-range devices.
On the services side, Goldman forecasts 14 percent year-on-year Services revenue growth for the quarter, supported by iCloud Plus, AppleCare Plus, prior price increases on Apple TV Plus, and the advertising business, with App Store growth expected to remain more modest at around 7 percent in the March quarter according to tracking data cited by UBS in a separate note maintaining a Neutral rating with a $280 target.
The divergence between Goldman at $330 and UBS at $280 captures the broader Wall Street ambivalence toward Apple heading into earnings, with the overall consensus sitting at a Moderate Buy derived from 16 Buy recommendations, 8 Holds, and 1 Sell, producing a mean price target of approximately $304.85 that implies roughly 12.8 percent upside from current trading levels.
Bank of America Securities has also raised its Apple target to $325, citing strong iPhone sales and the likelihood of an earnings beat, while the broader institutional community is treating the DRAM cost headwind as a known and manageable risk rather than a structural deterioration in Apple’s margin profile, given the company’s active efforts to secure DRAM supply contracts that could stabilise costs through the second half of 2026.
Beyond April 30, the two catalysts drawing the most investor attention are WWDC 2026, scheduled for June 8 to 12, where Apple is expected to unveil a redesigned chatbot-style Siri as the centrepiece of its artificial intelligence strategy, and the Fall 2026 iPhone lineup, which Goldman projects will include the long-anticipated iPhone Fold, a foldable device that would open an entirely new product category for the company and provide a hardware upgrade catalyst not seen since the original OLED transition, with Cirrus Logic having already been confirmed as a manufacturing programme partner alongside GlobalFoundries as Apple continues building its domestic supply chain footprint.
