Perplexity is ‘no brainer’ deal to help launch Apple’s AI strategy, says Wedbush

Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives says that in the AI Revolution there is an arms race going on between Big Tech stalwarts Nvidia (NVDA), Microsoft (MSFT), Alphabet (GOOG) (GOOGL), Amazon (AMZN), Meta (META), OpenAI, Oracle (ORCL) and many others to monetize the biggest tech trend in the last 50 years, while Apple (AAPL) is “at a highway rest stop on a bench watching this 4th Industrial Revolution race go by at 100 miles an hour.” With the biggest and most entrenched consumer installed base in the world with 2.4B iOS devices and 1.5B iPhones, Cupertino does not have to be first out of the gates on AI and can still win the consumer AI Revolution race, Wedbush argues. But that window is narrowing and it’s a worrying dynamic for Apple, the firm adds. Wedbush believes Perplexity is the “no brainer” deal to help launch Apple’s AI strategy. Investors would loudly cheer a Perplexity deal, and it would get Cupertino off this AI treadmill at 2.0 speed, Wedbush says, adding that the time has come for Apple to do a big M&A deal and its Perplexity. The firm has an Outperform rating on Apple with a price target of $270 on the shares.