RIP Apple: Analyst predicts doom after Apple Watch

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Apple hell. Like a hot Samsung retail store. Photo: GDS-Productions/Flickr
Up in flames: Is this what Apple will look like by the end of 2015? Photo: GDS-Productions/Flickr

You know that scene in a horror movie where everything seems to be good, but things are just a bit too quiet?

Well, according to analyst Abhey Lamba of Mizuho Securities, Apple is there right now. With the company coming off its most profitable iPhone launch ever, exciting new devices on the horizon and a stock price that recently hit an all-time high, what else is there for the self-respecting analyst to do but predict that doom is right around the corner?

What is the metaphorical monster ready to leap out of a cupboard and savage Apple to bloody death, so soon after it hits its glorious peak? Why, the Apple Watch of course.

And according to Lamba, it could cost Apple big.

In a note published Thursday, Lamba argued that AAPL shares could fall by 20 percent this year as iPhone sales slow down, and the Apple Watch isn’t enough to offset this decline.

“While F1Q15 results will likely be extremely solid and March guidance could indicate continued momentum, we believe iPhone sales will decelerate more than normal later in the year,” said the guidance note to clients. “Additionally, our checks indicate that Apple Watch sales could be disappointing and other categories are unlikely to offset the slowdown in iPhone sales creating pressure on out-year estimates.”

And why not? What says “end of days apocalypse” more than share prices which rose almost 40 percent in 2014, and two new iPhones that Apple quite literally couldn’t build fast enough to fill demand?

If you need me, I’ll be sitting in the lifeboat.

Via: CNBC

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