If you're looking for someone bullish on Big Tech, Dan Ives is your guy. The Wedbush Securities Managing Director just cranked up his price target on Apple Inc. (AAPL) to $350, which would represent about a 26% jump from where the stock is trading now. And he's not just pulling numbers out of thin air—there's a real thesis here about iPhones and artificial intelligence converging at just the right moment.

The iPhone 17 Is Beating Expectations

In a statement posted on X this Monday, Ives pointed to two main catalysts: the iPhone 17 is selling better than Wall Street expected, and Apple's AI momentum is accelerating faster than many anticipated. According to Ives, Apple is currently performing "above Street" expectations, particularly with the iPhone 17 lineup.

Sales have been trending positively heading into year-end, and here's the kicker—there's notable strength in China. That's significant because China has been a brutal battleground for smartphone makers lately, with local competitors breathing down Apple's neck. If Apple is gaining traction there, that's a meaningful data point.

2026: The Year Apple Actually Goes All-In on AI

But the real meat of Ives' upgrade thesis centers on 2026. He believes that's when Apple will truly "enter the AI Revolution" in a way that fundamentally changes the game. This isn't just about adding some AI features to Siri—Ives is talking about a full-blown consumer AI revolution that drives a hardware supercycle.

His vision is that Apple will sit at the center of this transformation for years to come, with waves of consumers upgrading their devices to access AI capabilities that simply won't work on older hardware. It's the classic Apple playbook: create something people didn't know they needed, then make it so compelling that upgrades become inevitable.

It's Nvidia's World, Everyone Else Just Lives in It

Ives isn't just bullish on Apple, though. He's calling this moment the early stages of a "Fourth Industrial Revolution," and while Apple might win the consumer side, the entire AI infrastructure is being built on Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) silicon.

Ives has a memorable way of putting it: "It's Nvidia's world, everyone else is paying rent." He points to a supply-demand imbalance where chip demand outstrips supply by a factor of twelve. That's not a small gap—that's a chasm.

As for concerns about a tech bubble, Ives isn't buying it. He uses a colorful metaphor to describe where we are in this bull market: if the AI party started at 9 p.m., we're only at 10:30 p.m. now, and this thing is going until 4 a.m. The massive capital expenditures by Big Tech—which he compares to "building Vegas in the desert"—are necessary foundations for the next decade of growth, not signs of excess.

Table Pounders and Big Predictions

Looking at the broader market, Ives sees a favorable macroeconomic path ahead. He's predicting the S&P 500 could hit 7,000 in the coming weeks and the Nasdaq could eventually surge to 30,000. Those are big, bold numbers.

He's advising investors to hunt for "table pounder" opportunities in what he calls the "second and third derivatives" of AI. His list includes Palantir Technologies Inc. (PLTR), Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), and Tesla Inc. (TSLA)—for which he has an $800 bull case price target. These are the companies he sees as essential holdings for riding this technology cycle.

Apple Has Actually Been Lagging

Here's an interesting twist: despite all this bullish talk, Apple (AAPL) has actually underperformed the broader tech market in 2025. Shares are up 11.32% year-to-date, which sounds decent until you realize the Nasdaq 100 index has returned 22.49% in the same period. Over the past year, Apple has gained just 14.71%. On Friday, the stock slipped 0.68% to close at $278.78.

The stock maintains strong price trends across short, medium, and long-term timeframes, though it carries a poor value ranking at current levels. So Ives is essentially arguing that the market hasn't fully priced in what's coming—that 2026 AI supercycle he's so excited about.

Whether he's right or not, the thesis is clear: Apple is about to shift from AI bystander to AI leader, and when that happens, the stock has a lot of room to run. At least, that's the story if you're Dan Ives.