Zero net cash could mean Apple shares go up 7 percent: analyst

But what really helped tame investors’ fears was the company’s announcement of a massive $100 billion stock buyback.

“There’s going to be a shift over the next few quarters and couple years where investors are less interested on what the iPhone numbers [are] in any given quarter,” said Munster, who spent more than two decades as an analyst at Piper Jaffray. “They’ll be more interested in about what they buy back.”

While Apple CEO Tim Cook did not specify a timetable for the buyback during the conference call, Munster predicted it will be faster than expected.

“The last time [Apple] gave a time frame they exceeded that by 25 percent,” he said. “If you take the approach that Apple is a very systematic company and they’re going to follow the patterns that they’ve done in the past, you can get to those conclusions.”

Munster rated the quarter as an “A-,” and said it wasn’t a “blow-out quarter,” but there’s still room for positive growth.

Over the next six months, Munster predicted the buzz around Apple will be in anticipation of new phones, including three models coming out this fall, with one rumored to be 25 percent larger than current models. Meanwhile, Apple executives have said the iPhone X is the most popular phone in China.

“You can sort of read into that, that they think there is more room for higher priced phones,” he concluded.

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