Goldman Downgrades Apple Amid ‘Less Positive’ Outlook
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Analyst David Bailey told investors Monday shipments of iPhones, iPods and Macs are lower than expected as the company copes with a tighter economy.
As a result, Bailey also cut his target price for Apple shares to $115 from $125.
Bailey said the apparent lack of any new product category for the upcoming January MacWorld 2009 removes “a potential catalyst” for shares, causing “Apple to try to generate demand in a tough environment.”
Despite the short-term challenges, the analyst told clients he believes Apple will remain ahead of competitors.
Bailey’s downgrade follows last week’s target price cut by Morgan Stanley’s Kathryn Huberty. Huberty cut her target price to $95 from $100, citing the weak economy. Along with trimming Apple stock, the analyst also lowered projections for iPhone sales during calendar 2009 to 14 million units, down from 19 million handsets.
Ed Sutherland is a veteran technology journalist who first heard of Apple when they grew on trees, Yahoo was run out of a Stanford dorm and Google was an unknown upstart. Since then, Sutherland has covered the whole technology landscape, concentrating on tracking the trends and figuring out the finances of large (and small) technology companies.
