Barron’s Plays Apple Sentiment Ping-Pong
What’s going on with Apple shares and iPhone? Depends who you ask and when. A piece from Barron’s (via Apple News+) illustrates this well, under the headline, “Apple Stock Had an Awful September. But the Quarter Wasn’t Half-Bad.” Playing a solo game of ping pong, Barron’s points out that:
Demand for iPhone 14 Pro/Pro Max started so strong, Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives wonders/wondered whether Apple would be able to meet holiday demand Data seen by one Jefferies analyst has the analyst thinking iPhone 14 demand in China is not as strong as had been expected There was the dreaded Bloomberg report from last week that had Apple backing off of plans to increase iPhone 14 production While Apple shares got the tar beaten out of them last week (down about 7%), they actually ended the September quarter up about 3%. According to Barron’s, that put the company “on pace for its best quarterly performance since the fourth quarter of 2021.” Rosenblatt Securities analyst Barton Crockett raised his rating on Apple shares from “Neutral” to “Buy.” He also upped his price target on the shares from $160 to $189. That got drowned out though when… BofA analyst Wamsi Mohan downgraded the shares from “Buy” to “Neutral,” dropping his price target on the shares from $185 to $160 Taking an even tack was KeyBanc analyst Brandon Nispel. While noting near-term negativity for Apple shares spurred by the Bloomberg report, he and his think it’s “neutral to consensus expectations and […] would take advantage by buying on the pullback.” He’s got an “Overweight” rating on Apple shares and a price target of $185. There are still more “pro” players than “anti” where Apple shares are concerned. “Of the 41 analysts tracked by FactSet,” says Barron’s, “78% rate the stock as a Buy, 15% say it is a Hold and 7% rate it as a Sell.