S&P downgrades Apple shares to "Hold' on valuation
Citing risk-reward considerations, analysts for Standard and Poor's Equity Research cut their rating on shares of Apple Inc. to "Hold" early Monday.
"We believe Apple's fundamentals remain strong on market-share gains in desktops and laptops, success with digital-media players and software, and notable inroads in the smartphone category," wrote analyst Scott Kessler.
As a result of these successes, the analyst said he believes Apple should trade at a greater premium to the price/earnings-to-growth rate of the S&P 500 Technology Sector. He therefore raised his 12-month target price on shares of the Cupertino-based company to $155 from $135.
Simultaniously, however, Kessler hedged long-term bets on the stock by cutting his rating to a "Hold."
"We think our downgrade is warranted by risk-reward considerations, especially with expectations high and Apple scheduled to report June-Q results on Wednesday," he wrote.
In late May, Standard & Poor's announced that Apple had joined its prestigious S&P 100 index of big blue-chip companies.
"We believe Apple's fundamentals remain strong on market-share gains in desktops and laptops, success with digital-media players and software, and notable inroads in the smartphone category," wrote analyst Scott Kessler.
As a result of these successes, the analyst said he believes Apple should trade at a greater premium to the price/earnings-to-growth rate of the S&P 500 Technology Sector. He therefore raised his 12-month target price on shares of the Cupertino-based company to $155 from $135.
Simultaniously, however, Kessler hedged long-term bets on the stock by cutting his rating to a "Hold."
"We think our downgrade is warranted by risk-reward considerations, especially with expectations high and Apple scheduled to report June-Q results on Wednesday," he wrote.
In late May, Standard & Poor's announced that Apple had joined its prestigious S&P 100 index of big blue-chip companies.
Comments
Let's see what drjjones has to say about this...
Citing risk-reward considerations, analysts for Standard and Poor's Equity Research cut their rating on shares of Apple Inc. to "Hold" early Monday.
"We believe Apple's fundamentals remain strong on market-share gains in desktops and laptops, success with digital-media players and software, and notable inroads in the smartphone category," wrote analyst Scott Kessler.
As a result of these successes, the analyst said he believes Apple should trade at a greater premium to the price/earnings-to-growth rate of the S&P 500 Technology Sector. He therefore raised his 12-month target price on shares of the Cupertino-based company to $155 from $135.
Simultaniously, however, Kessler hedged long-term bets on the stock by cutting his rating to a "Hold."
"We think our downgrade is warranted by risk-reward considerations, especially with expectations high and Apple scheduled to report June-Q results on Wednesday," he wrote.
In late May, Standard & Poor's announced that Apple had joined its prestigious S&P 100 index of big blue-chip companies.
I think you need to look at their rating by StarMine analyst and see their accuracy at judging right was 10 percent of the time on judging recommendations on AAPL. That means they were WRONG 90 percent of the time lol on AAPL. Not a good record .
I think you need to look at their rating by StarMine analyst and see their accuracy at judging right was 10 percent of the time on judging recommendations on AAPL. That means they were WRONG 90 percent of the time lol on AAPL. Not a good record .
Somehow I knew you'd be right on top of this one...
Somehow I knew you'd be right on top of this one...
Tee hee! Silly analysts!
Let's see what drjjones has to say about this...
You called that one.
Aha! There's a bump in AAPL... possibly due to this news...
Y'know, it would be really cool if AI were to cook up a floating chat tool to discuss AAPL matters... it works really well on www.icompositions.com and would be better suited to the moment-by-moment fluctuations in the stock market versus the "think/write/post/wait-for-response" time frames inherent in bulletin boards...
Aha! There's a bump in AAPL... possibly due to this news...
Y'know, it would be really cool if AI were to cook up a floating chat tool to discuss AAPL matters... it works really well on www.icompositions.com and would be better suited to the moment-by-moment fluctuations in the stock market versus the "think/write/post/wait-for-response" time frames inherent in bulletin boards...
Agreed.
Reality is not always a factor.
Aha! There's a bump in AAPL... possibly due to this news...
Y'know, it would be really cool if AI were to cook up a floating chat tool to discuss AAPL matters..
That would be great!!
Most of us here are not trading AAPL based on AI's updates of analyst recommendations (heaven help those who are......).
There are SO MANY investing-type forums where this sort of drivel is constantly hyperventilated upon. Why does AI have to stoop to this, and just add to the noise-to-signal ratio?
I'm OK with reporting what the analysts are saying. I tend to disagree with most of it, but it's our choice to discuss or not.
I am "OK" with it too, and it is fun stuff in small measure. It is just that the frequency of it makes it feels like Gresham's Law is at work .....
I think you need to look at their rating by StarMine analyst and see their accuracy at judging right was 10 percent of the time on judging recommendations on AAPL. That means they were WRONG 90 percent of the time lol on AAPL. Not a good record .
How? It looks like another paid service.
http://yahoo.starmine.com/?page_set=login
Mac Rumors has an analyst tracker, but how to get to it is anything but obvious, I forget how to find it.
Most of us here are not trading AAPL based on AI's updates of analyst recommendations (heaven help those who are......).
LOL! It really is unbelievable how VERY bad these so called 'expert' analysts are.
What's ridiculous is that the 12-month target still has a low end of $135, below the current price. I can see shares dropping if earnings aren't as spectacular as expected Wednesday, but does anyone actually think they could be below $140 at the end of the year?
There are plenty. If there weren't, then Apple wouldn't be at 143 right now. It would be far higher. Remember for every buyer there is a seller out there. It certainly may seem like Apple can do nothing but go up, but at some point everyone who wants to own Apple will own all they want to own, and at that point, the people selling will start to make progress. I'm very worried that the stock might go down after earnings, no matter how good the are. I think the market has already assumed a huge earnings blowout, and if that's the case, then there's really nothing Apple can do to push its stock higher during the earnings report.
There are plenty. If there weren't, then Apple wouldn't be at 143 right now. It would be far higher. Remember for every buyer there is a seller out there. It certainly may seem like Apple can do nothing but go up, but at some point everyone who wants to own Apple will own all they want to own, and at that point, the people selling will start to make progress. I'm very worried that the stock might go down after earnings, no matter how good the are. I think the market has already assumed a huge earnings blowout, and if that's the case, then there's really nothing Apple can do to push its stock higher during the earnings report.
I beg to strongly disagree. No one knows for sure what AT&T is paying Apple per phone and per contract. This will whet your appetite.
http://www.thestreet.com/_htmlatb/ne.../10369581.html
"People close to the companies tell TheStreet.com that AT&T is paying Apple a bounty of between $150 and $200 per phone -- plus $9 a month per phone over the life of the typical two-year customer contract."
If these numbers are close to reality, no one has them baked into the current price.An upside surprise would not be impossible on earnings day. Watch for high volume and look to see if there are high number upside block trades which would indicate Hedge Fund and Institutional buys.
I beg to strongly disagree. No one knows for sure what AT&T is paying Apple per phone and per contract.
Exactly. But there are plenty of people out there that readily believe the most optimistic view. And that's why the stock has gone up so much in the past few months. If that amount isn't true, then SOMEBODY is going to be disappointed and sell.
If these numbers are close to reality, no one has them baked into the current price.An upside surprise would not be impossible on earnings day. Watch for high volume and look to see if there are high number upside block trades which would indicate Hedge Fund and Institutional buys.
What, you think you're the only person who read that article today? Gee, why didn't the stock go up 10% when it hit? Maybe it's already baked in? Nah! The market's dumb and only people who read AI know how great Apple is doing right now!
Want to buy my shares for 160 in 3 weeks?