BofA sees ‘many reasons’ an Apple deal with Perplexity AI would make sense

BofA notes media articles suggest that Apple (AAPL) is looking to buy, or partner with, Perplexity AI, adding that any such deal would likely be positive for shares that are “currently in the penalty box” given Apple is largely viewed as an AI laggard. The firm, which adds that it does not have any direct knowledge of the probability of such a deal, sees “many reasons a deal would make sense,” including access to a high quality AI company with state of the art AI search and answering capability, access to talent and AI expertise, product synergies driven by improving Siri and monetizing hardware and services, and preventing this asset from falling into a competitor’s hands and providing access to the search advertising market as an alternative to Google (GOOGL). BofA maintains a Buy rating and $235 price target on Apple shares.