Apple Stock Jumps Nearly 3% Premarket: Analyst Says ‘$25 Overhang’ Removed After Google Antitrust Ruling

Apple stock rose nearly 2.80% in Wednesday’s early premarket session as analysts weighed in on the impact of Alphabet’s antitrust ruling on the tech giant’s fortunes.

The US District Court of the District of Columbia’s ruling, which did not disallow Alphabet from striking deals with companies for its Google services, is seen as a positive for Apple. Apple receives $20 billion per year from Google to set it as the default search engine on its iOS devices, according to Gene Munster of Deepwater Asset Management. 

The tech venture capitalist noted that this makes up 15% of Cupertino’s operating income. “Apple also gets a nice win because the ruling forces Google to renegotiate the search deal annually,” Munster said.

In a note published just after the ruling was made public, Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives said, “This was a black cloud worry over Apple's stock as investors worried a Google Chrome breakup and/or forced to extinguish the search deal with Apple was potentially on the docket.”

Ives called it a “monster win” for both Apple and Alphabet. The analyst now sees Apple working out a larger partnership with Google's Gemini artificial intelligence (AI) initiative. “There will be some tweaks to the partnership, but ultimately, this removes a $25 overhang on  Apple's stock in our view that the Street will digest very bullish as this ruling now is finally in the books after years of speculation.”

Ives has an ‘Outperform’ rating on Apple stock, and he maintained his $270 price target after the ruling.

CNBC Mad  Money host Jim Cramer expressed similar sentiments. In a post on X, the stock picker said, “If Google will not be barred from making payments for preloading, I don't know why it doesn't make a deal with Apple now.

“I do think that others might want to pay Apple, but Gemini is ripe for a combination and can pay a fortune to Apple.”

He said the ruling has “incredible importance” for Apple. “It will now get the Google money AND instead of buying AI, it will have a rich company pay IT to take that company's AI,” he said, adding that this could mean “no $200 billion check to NVDA from Apple.”

Cramer apparently referred to Apple potentially spending less on its own AI initiatives and relying on Google’s models instead.

On Stocktwits, retail sentiment toward Apple stock failed to budge as the sentiment meter read 35/100, suggesting a ‘bearish’ mood as of early Wednesday. The message volume also remained ‘low.’

Apple stock has lost about 8% this year.

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