Wall Street analysts are blaming a relatively-unknown for Apple stock dipping 4.6 percent Wednesday. Following yesterday’s downgrade of Apple by JMP Securities on concerns over a slowdown at supplier Foxconn, another Apple-watcher replied any link with Apple’s health is a coincidence.
“Apple’s contribution to Han Hai (which uses the trade name Foxconn) is limited,” Oppenheimer analyst Yair Reiner told investors Wednesday. “The correlation between Apple and Hon Hai’s revenue therefore appears to be a product of coincidence more than causality,” the analyst wrote.
Noting JMP Securities’ Alex Guana has been way off the mark in predicting Apple’s quarterly announcements, Fortune blasted the analyst. “He really distinguished himself Wednesday by downgrading Apple and casting aspersions on its product sales even as customers were still (five days after launch) lining up outside Apple Stores in the early morning hours to buy the latest iPad.” JMP Securities’ downgrade of Apple was the first since October.
Guana had written that Foxconn growth had been sliding, a possible signal of product change by Apple. Reiner noted revenue from Apple comprises just 21 percent of Foxconn’s income, a percentage the Oppenheimer expert described as “a relatively modest portion.”
