The rating has been downgraded by investment banks, and Apple's stock price has hit a new low in nearly two months.
On January 4th local time, Harsh Kumar, an analyst at investment bank Piper Sandler, downgraded Apple's rating citing concerns about insufficient demand for iPhones. This is the second time this week that the investment bank has downgraded its rating on Apple.
Kumar believes that Apple's sales growth rate has peaked and is concerned that its phone inventory in the first half of 2024 will be too high. He downgraded its rating from "overweight" to "neutral" and lowered its target stock price by $15 to $205. However, since March 2020, Kumar has been optimistic about Apple.
Piper Sandler is not the only one who has seen Apple suffer. On Tuesday, Barclays also downgraded its stock rating from "neutral" to "underweight" and lowered its target price to $160. Barclays predicts that Apple may fall more than 15% in 2024.
Barclays Bank analyst Tim Long believes that the poor sales of iPhone 15 will continue; Although the iPhone 16 has not been released yet, it is expected that there will be no major upgrades that will stimulate consumers to upgrade and upgrade. Barclays Bank also pointed out that the decline in consumer electronics may continue for a long time, which is a huge challenge for Apple.
In the Chinese market, Apple's sales are also facing considerable pressure. According to market research firm Counterpoint, sales of iPhone 15 decreased by 4.5% compared to iPhone 14 within 17 days after its release. Barclays Bank pointed out in a report that in China, one of Apple's largest markets, iPhone 15 sales are "lackluster" and "Mac, iPad, and wearable devices lack rebound".
In addition, Apple has recently been embroiled in a fierce legal lawsuit. The patent dispute between the company and medical technology company Masimo resulted in the Apple Watch Ultra 2 and Apple Watch Series 9 with blood oxygen sensor technology being temporarily banned in the US market. At present, this lawsuit is still ongoing.
Wall Street is almost unanimously optimistic about tech giants in the US stock market, but its attitude towards Apple is more cautious. Among large technology companies, Apple is the only one to experience a decline in revenue over the past four quarters. Wall Street analysts estimate that Apple's revenue growth in the 2024 fiscal year will only be 3.6%, while its profit growth will be 7.9%.
Apple's financial performance for the fourth quarter of the fiscal year 2023 (the third quarter of the calendar year) as of September 30, 2023 showed a revenue of $89.5 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 1%; The net profit was 22.956 billion US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 11%.
Due to the impact of a rating downgrade, Apple's stock price fell 1.27% to close at $181.91 per share, hitting a new low in nearly two months. According to the latest Reuters statistics, Apple's market value has fallen by nearly $170 billion since entering 2024. However, Apple remains the company with the highest market value in the world, with a market value exceeding 2.8 trillion US dollars.