“It’s a No-Brainer,” Says Wedbush Analyst Urging Apple (AAPL) Toward $30B Perplexity AI Deal

Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives believes that Apple (AAPL) should acquire Perplexity AI, an AI search engine backed by Nvidia (NVDA). The Top analyst called this potential deal a “no-brainer” move to boost the tech giant’s artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities.

Ives highlighted the race among leading tech companies, such as Nvidia, Microsoft (MSFT), Alphabet (GOOGL), Amazon (AMZN), Meta (META), OpenAI, and Oracle (ORCL), to capitalize on AI. He said this is “the biggest tech trend in the last 50 years.”

Analyst Says Perplexity Can Jumpstart AAPL’s AI Strategy

Ives sees Apple making slow progress on AI despite having the largest base of iOS users. At this pace, he does not see Siri becoming a top AI tool for consumers, especially given the fast moves other firms are making.

The analyst said that Perplexity, currently valued at about $14 billion, could reshape AAPL’s AI plans and work well with Siri. Further, he estimates the acquisition cost for Apple could be around $30 billion, which he said is “a drop in the bucket relative to the monetization opportunity.”

Moreover, Ives anticipates that investors would “loudly cheer a Perplexity deal,” which would speed up Apple’s AI efforts. “The time has come for Apple to do a big M&A deal…and it’s Perplexity,” the analyst concluded.

It must be noted that AAPL’s largest acquisition to date is its $3 billion purchase of Beats in 2014. Thus, the proposed Perplexity AI acquisition would reflect a major shift in Apple’s M&A strategy.

Is Apple a Buy, Sell, or Hold?

Turning to Wall Street, AAPL stock has a Moderate Buy consensus rating based on 15 Buys, 10 Holds, and one Sell assigned in the last three months. At $228.29, the average Apple stock price target implies a 9.68% upside potential.

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