Piper says Apple's near-term results less relevant, ups target to $158

Piper says Apple's near-term results less relevant, ups target to $158 Piper Jaffray analyst Michael Olson raised his price target for Apple to $158 from $155 following the company's March quarter results.

The March and June quarters are less relevant as the iPhone 8 launch nears, Olson tells investors in a post-earnings research note. Near-term iPhone unit expectations have been adequately reset and any June quarter iPhone miss would be overshadowed by investor anticipation for iPhone 8, the analyst argues.

He recommends owning Apple shares due to growing anticipation around the next iPhone X and a favorable trajectory for services revenue. Olson maintains an Overweight rating on Apple. The stock is down 2% to $145.02 in premarket trading following last night's earnings report.