Apple was slapped with its second major stock downgrade of the week on Thursday as fears mount on Wall Street about lukewarm demand for its flagship iPhone.
Piper Sandler & Co. lowered its rankings for Apple’s stock to “neutral” from “chubby” on Thursday.
The firm’s analysts, who had been bullish on Apple since March 2020, pointed to fears a few weakening economic environment in China, Bloomberg reported.
“We’re concerned about handset inventories,” analyst Harsh Kumar wrote within the note to clients. “Growth rates have peaked for unit sales.”
Kumar also pointed to other signs of trouble, akin to a disputed ban on the most recent Apple Watch model as a result of alleged patent infringement, based on MarketWatch.
Apple’s stock sank greater than 1% to $181.91 on Thursday.
Despite the downgrade, Piper Sandler still has a price goal of $205 for Apple shares.
Overall, Apple shares have plunged greater than 5% for the reason that start of the 12 months.
The stock slide has erased the equivalent of about $155 billion from the tech giant’s valuation, based on Bloomberg.
The most recent downgrade got here just two days after analysts at Barclays reclassified Apple’s stock to “underweight” from “neutral” and lowered their price goal for the corporate’s shares to $160, down from a previous goal of $161.
Barclays analysts said sales checks indicated softening demand for the iPhone in China and other developed markets.
“Our checks remain negative on volumes and blend for iPhone 15, and we see no features or upgrades which are prone to make the iPhone 16 more compelling,” the Barclays analysts said.
While Apple has increasingly focused on software services akin to its Apple TV+ streaming platform to drive revenue, the corporate stays heavily reliant on the iPhone and other hardware to spice up sales.
Overall, the proportion of analysts who’ve bullish rankings on Apple’s stock has reached a three-year low, based on Bloomberg data.
The market expects Apple’s revenue to grow just 3.6% in fiscal 2024.
Wall Street has soured on Apple even after the corporate’s shares rose nearly 50% last 12 months amidst a broader tech sector rally. The Cupertino, Calif.-based firm briefly became the primary company in history to attain a $3 trillion valuation.
