Oppenheimer downgrades Apple ahead of Thursday’s earning report
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On Wednesday, Apple was downgraded to “perform” from “outperform” by Oppenheimer, which also removed their $250 price target. This marks the fifth downgrade the company has faced this month, following similar actions by Jefferies, MoffettNathanson, Loop Capital, and DBS Bank.
Oppenheimer analyst Martin Yang echoed the concerns of others by highlighting issues with iPhone sales in his downgrade. He pointed to “a twofold challenge ahead for iPhone growth,” specifically mentioning intensified competition in China and a “lack of compelling Apple Intelligence and generative AI apps” to spur device upgrades in the short term.
Independent research has shown that iPhone sales in China dropped by 18.2% during the December quarter, with global unit sales decreasing by about 5% in the last quarter of the previous year, largely due to increased competition in China.
Apple’s stock experienced a 1.3% decline on Wednesday. Despite being down 9% from its December peak, the stock has enjoyed a 7% increase over the last two days, marking its strongest two-day rally since June. This recent uptick in stock price is partially attributed to the positive implications for Apple from the rise of China’s AI startup DeepSeek, despite broader tech market pressures.
MacDailyNews Take: Looks like this Oppenheimer dropped a dud as AAPL is down only fractionally, less than 1% in today’s trading so far.
Apple is scheduled to announce its fiscal first-quarter (holiday 2024) results after the market closes on Thursday. As always, we’ll have the results for you on our home page as soon as they are released, right around 1:30pm PT / 4:30pm ET on Thursday, January 30th.
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