Google ruling ‘a near best-case scenario’ for Apple, says Morgan Stanley

After Judge Amit Mehta issued a ruling in the Google (GOOGL) remedies case, Morgan Stanley analyst Erik Woodring would describe the ruling “as a near best-case scenario” for Apple (AAPL) given that the company can still collect Traffic Acquisition Cost payments from Google with conditions and can renegotiate the default search socket annually. The only scenario that could have panned out better for Apple was “no change” and the status quo remaining, argues the analyst, who notes that Apple needs to offer a bit more flexibility in distributing search to users, but adds that “the remedies are even more watered down than we expected.” The firm, which believes this should be a clearing event for the stock, keeps an Overweight rating and $240 price target on Apple shares.