The Motley Fool·2025-09-07 08:20Core Viewpoint - Apple has avoided significant negative impacts from a recent antitrust ruling involving Alphabet, which is beneficial for its revenue stream from search engine agreements [1][5]. Group 1: Antitrust Lawsuit Developments - The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has filed and won two antitrust suits against Alphabet, focusing on its monopolistic practices in internet search and adtech software [3]. - A federal judge ruled against the DOJ's most severe remedies, allowing Alphabet to maintain control over its Chrome browser, which is crucial for its advertising revenue [3][4]. - The judge prohibited exclusive agreements in the future but allowed Alphabet to continue paying Apple for default search placement on iOS devices, preserving a significant revenue stream for Apple [6][4]. Group 2: Financial Implications for Apple - Alphabet pays Apple over $20 billion annually to be the default search engine on iOS devices, which is a critical part of Apple's services revenue [5]. - Following the antitrust ruling, analysts have slightly increased their target prices for Apple, with the average target price rising to $237 per share from $231 per share [7]. - Despite the increase, the consensus target price implies about 4% downside from the current share price of $240, indicating that Apple remains expensive compared to other tech companies [8]. Group 3: Valuation Metrics - Apple's stock trades at 36 times earnings, which is considered high given the expected annual earnings growth of only 10% over the next three years [8]. - The price-to-earnings-to-growth (PEG) ratio for Apple is 3.6, significantly higher than Alphabet's 1.7, Amazon's 1.9, Meta Platforms' 1.5, Microsoft's 3, and Nvidia's 1.2 [9]. Group 4: Innovation Concerns - Apple has not launched a groundbreaking new product in the last eight years, raising concerns about its innovation pipeline following the introduction of major products like the iPhone and iPad [10].