Gene Munster remains optimistic about Apple despite recent challenges, including Jefferies downgrading the stock to underperform following reports of cancelled all-glass iPhone production due to low yields. According to reports from The Financial Express, Munster disagrees with the downgrade and expects Apple to outperform the rest of the Mag 7 in the next year. He attributes Apple's current stock price performance to investor concerns about the iPhone super cycle reaching its peak, where growth jumped from a flat 1.5% average to roughly 15-20% over the past five quarters. The stock trades around $325, below its 52-week high of $344.57, with Apple maintaining a market cap of $4.75 trillion. Munster has been actively sharing his views on Apple's second-quarter results, pushing back on early headlines suggesting a miss and expressing confidence that Apple did not miss the iPhone number in Q2. He recently shared his thoughts on X, writing "I disagree and think the next year AAPL will outperform the rest of Mag 7," emphasizing his bullish outlook despite near-term market noise.
Munster is calling for investors to "Get ready for an AI tsunami" following NVIDIA's revised estimates that suggest a significantly larger AI market than previously anticipated. As reported by The Financial Express, NVIDIA's CY27 revenue guide indicates the AI brain will be 40% bigger next year than expected just 24 hours earlier. Munster expressed optimism regarding NVIDIA's recent earnings announcement, predicting substantial revenue growth for the upcoming year, projected at a minimum of 70%, compared to the market's expectation of 44%. Despite NVIDIA's gross margin guide of 74% for October coming in below Street's 75% estimate, Munster views this as a minor blip against the much larger AI opportunity. The stock trades around $217, near its 52-week high of $236, with NVIDIA maintaining a market cap of $5.24 trillion. Munster has high hopes from Anthropic too, noting that "Anthropic's business continues to be on fire, and for the first time meaningfully moving the growth needle for NVIDIA."
According to Oppenheimer's latest analysis, SpaceX could see its stock price nearly double as its NVIDIA-powered AI expansion opens up significant revenue opportunities. The research firm raised its SpaceX price target to $280 from $250, implying a 99% upside from current levels of $140.71, and maintained its 'Outperform' rating. Oppenheimer identified SpaceX's vertically integrated AI platform as a key differentiator, noting the company owns valuable data, has access to substantial capital and NVIDIA GPUs, and can build infrastructure rapidly. SpaceX could retain 100% of the revenue generated through Cursor and Grok or capture around 50% when acting as an AI infrastructure wholesaler. The company's first Starmind AI1 satellite will pair 72 Rubin GPUs with 36 Vera CPUs, with Deepwater's Gene Munster estimating that SpaceX already contributes nearly $5 billion, or 5%, of NVIDIA's quarterly revenue, up from 3%. SpaceX expects to exceed 2 GW of compute capacity by year-end 2026 and approach 10 GW by year-end 2027, with its broader power-and-cooling pipeline totalling 20 GW.
Munster expects xAI to overtake both OpenAI and Anthropic within months, driven by significant improvements in their AI model performance. According to The Financial Express, Grok 4.6 jumped from 8th to 4th on the Artificial Analysis leaderboard, which Munster interprets as accelerating momentum rather than a one-off event. He expects Grok to reach the top of the leaderboard by January, with Grok 4.7 incorporating Cursor data for the first time and Grok 5.0 drawing on SpaceX's full engineering data breadth. Munster describes this next model as "a monster" that OpenAI and Anthropic should be paying attention to. He's betting the climb continues, with Grok 4.7 due in about a month and Grok 5.0 expected around December. The trigger for this rapid ascent is the combination of Grok 4.7's Cursor integration and Grok 5.0's access to SpaceX's comprehensive engineering data, resources that Munster believes give xAI a distinct competitive edge.
Despite concerns about 400 Apple employees moving to OpenAI, Munster remains skeptical about OpenAI's ability to successfully compete with Apple. As reported by The Financial Express, he argues that OpenAI's challenge lies in designing, manufacturing, and distributing a comprehensive family of devices and services at affordable price points. Munster advises new Apple CEO John Ternus to make a "splashy AI hire by year-end" despite the potential cost of $50 million annually, citing immediate benefits in AI talent recruitment, product development energy, and stock price appreciation. He emphasizes that Apple's advantage lies in its ability to leverage Google's AI models while OpenAI faces the high hurdle of creating a compelling alternative for Apple users. AI is moving much faster than the smartphone era did, with the biggest long-term risk for Apple being losing control of the interface between consumers and AI. Munster recently shared his views on X, writing "Given Apple can lean on Google's models, it's unlikely that OpenAI can create an AI-powered consumer device family that compels consumers to switch because it's 10x better than Apple."
Across all major technology stocks, Munster maintains a consistent message that near-term market noise should not distract from structural growth stories. According to The Financial Express, Apple is up over 20% year-to-date and nearly 36% in the last year, while NVIDIA has gained over 16% year-to-date and nearly 27% in the last year. Munster's analysis suggests that investors should focus on key developments including Ternus's first AI hire, NVIDIA's earnings call details, and Grok's next two releases as critical signposts for the technology sector's future direction. His overall read on Apple's second-quarter results was bullish, and he pushed back on early headlines suggesting a miss, with his lingering question being what happens once the current iPhone super cycle cools. John Ternus replaced Tim Cook as Apple's CEO on September 1, 2026, and Munster has offered pointed advice, writing "Your first priority: reverse the brain drain" and "A humble suggestion to Ternus on his first day; make a splashy AI hire by year-end."
