Bank of America Merrill Lynch downgrades Apple stock to neutral on anticipated slowdowns
On Wednesday, analysts with Bank of America Merrill Lynch downgraded Apple stock to neutral and lowered a price target from $142 to $130, citing several short-term pressures on shares.
Apple is still a solid company and should deliver on its product pipeline, but its stock simply isn't providing the best balance of risk to reward, according to a memo by the analysts obtained by Bloomberg. Bank of America is anticipating shares to be hurt by a variety of factors in the immediate future, among them decelerating iPhone sales and slower gains in China.
Investors may also be more cautious because of slower gross profit growth, less dramatic earnings beats, and a diminished chance of further capital return programs like Apple's current dividends and buybacks.
Shares could also be impacted by next-generation iPhones, the analysts said. Upcoming devices -- typically referred to as the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus -- are expected to be just modest improvements over current iPhones, adding faster processors, more RAM, better cameras, and Force Touch, but nothing inherently revolutionary. The products should ship sometime this fall, most likely in late September.
Apple shares have been hit hard in recent weeks, falling from almost $133 in mid-July to $114.64 by the end of trading on Tuesday. The company has also been a drag on the Dow Jones Industrial Average for months. It set new internal records for its June-quarter fiscal results, but these were still below high Wall Street forecasts.
Despite the company's recent struggles, other investment banks have stood by Apple, including RBC Capital Markets, which earlier this week reiterated its $150 target. Analyst Amit Daryanani expects a blockbuster "iPhone 6s" launch in September, setting the way for a major fall shopping season for the Cupertino, Calif., company.
Apple is still a solid company and should deliver on its product pipeline, but its stock simply isn't providing the best balance of risk to reward, according to a memo by the analysts obtained by Bloomberg. Bank of America is anticipating shares to be hurt by a variety of factors in the immediate future, among them decelerating iPhone sales and slower gains in China.
Investors may also be more cautious because of slower gross profit growth, less dramatic earnings beats, and a diminished chance of further capital return programs like Apple's current dividends and buybacks.
Shares could also be impacted by next-generation iPhones, the analysts said. Upcoming devices -- typically referred to as the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus -- are expected to be just modest improvements over current iPhones, adding faster processors, more RAM, better cameras, and Force Touch, but nothing inherently revolutionary. The products should ship sometime this fall, most likely in late September.
Apple shares have been hit hard in recent weeks, falling from almost $133 in mid-July to $114.64 by the end of trading on Tuesday. The company has also been a drag on the Dow Jones Industrial Average for months. It set new internal records for its June-quarter fiscal results, but these were still below high Wall Street forecasts.
Despite the company's recent struggles, other investment banks have stood by Apple, including RBC Capital Markets, which earlier this week reiterated its $150 target. Analyst Amit Daryanani expects a blockbuster "iPhone 6s" launch in September, setting the way for a major fall shopping season for the Cupertino, Calif., company.
Comments
I can't believe these clowns are paid millions to write this crap.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/markets/2015/08/04/apple-stock-implosion-billions/31110665/
stock analyst (noun) an individual engaged in the enterprise of convincing others to pay them fees in exchange for batcrap advice which ends up costing them even more money. see also confidence scam.
I hope those investors that listen to BOAs advice sue the analysts once Apple proves 'em wrong.
Did the AI author intentionally avoid mentioning that Apple's stock price has also generally rebounded within 30 days the previous 17 times this has happened? The news is not doom and gloom. On the contrary there's an expected price recovery
http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/markets/2015/08/04/apple-stock-implosion-billions/31110665/
Nuts to you with your details and context /sAn apparently Apple supportive post from you? Ah, but I suppose you accidentally failed to notice the sting in the tail of that link /s ...
The last part of the article Mr Google linked to is this ... "By itself, that (stock's history of bouncing back after falling below the 200-day moving average) is probably not the best reason to go out and buy the stock," according to a Bespoke report."
Which is in fact, IMHO, BS in the case of Apple due to the unending stock manipulation it suffers at the hands of analysts. This is the very time to buy AAPL! I bet Tim did.
Where's the proof from Apple? There is none because it doesn't exist. So they're going off stupid market share reports from 3rd party analyst firms.
they probably sold a big chunk of aapl two weeks ago, and now they want to make very low entries and so they come up with BS..
Nice standard to have to meet each quarter.
With Apple it's always what's next? Wall Street says ok you gave us larger screen phones now what? Ok you gave us the Watch, now what? Ok you gave us an updated ?TV, now what? Ok the car is coming, what comes after that? With other companies analysts view them as the best is still coming (They've done that with Amazon for 15 years). With Apple the view is always their best days are behind them.
Yet they never ask ExxonMobil "you gave us gasoline, now what?"
If Apple continues to make the SAME profits they've been making, and not a penny more, they can probably buy the fucking planet in a decade. But no, they have to show more "growth" every quarter/year, both in profits, and revenue, even beyond sales.
f@ck!ng idiots. What an amazing job an analyst has to literally make sh!t up and get paid lots of money for it. At one point does anyone that regulates the market, seeing how they are gaming the system, take notice of the manipulation?
What is the share value of apple on a steady profit (0 growth but steady profits)? Subtract that from the current share price and you know what value in the stock is based on growth forecast (read: fantasy, either positive or negative)