Shares of Apple Inc. began 2024 with a selloff, after Barclays analyst Tim Long stated it was “time for a breather,” citing weak {hardware} gross sales as iPhone 15 demand disappoints.
“We are still picking up weakness on iPhone volumes and mix, as well as a lack of bounce-back in Macs, iPads and wearables,” Long wrote in a be aware to shoppers. “The biggest takeaway from the latest checks is incrementally worse [iPhone] 15 data points out of China, together with developed markets remaining soft.”
He reduce his ranking on the inventory
AAPL,
to underweight from impartial, and trimmed his worth goal to $160 from $161. The new goal implies 14.6% draw back from present ranges.
The inventory slumped 3.6% on Tuesday to $185.64, for its lowest shut since Nov. 13. It was additionally Apple’s greatest one-day decline because it dropped 2.9% on Sept. 7, 2023.
Long stated iPhone 15 gross sales have been “lackluster” and believes Phone 16 gross sales would be the similar, as he expects different {hardware} classes to stay weak. He stated it’s time for buyers to take a “breather” on the inventory, as he doesn’t suppose it will probably maintain rallying within the face of downbeat demand information, prefer it did in 2023.
“We expect reversion after a year when most quarters were missed and the stock outperformed,” Long wrote.
He expects Apple to report “in-line” fiscal first-quarter outcomes, which runs by means of December, however he trimmed his second-quarter to additional beneath consensus expectations.
He now expects earnings per share and income for the quarter by means of March to be down within the low-single-digit share vary, whereas the FactSet consensus requires EPS to be up 2.6% at $1.57 and income to rise 1.1% to $95.8 billion.
Apple’s inventory surged 48.2% in 2023, or nearly double the S&P 500 index’s
SPX
achieve of 24.2%, at the same time as income for every quarter of fiscal 2023 by means of September was beneath that of a 12 months in the past. The 2023 achieve began with a 3.7% selloff on Jan. 3, 2023.
Long is now one among simply 4 of the 44 analysts surveyed by FactSet who’re bearish on Apple’s inventory, whereas 27 (61%) are bullish and 13 are impartial. His $160 worth goal is nineteen.2% beneath the common goal of $197.92.
Source web site: www.marketwatch.com
