Filed under: Apple Financial
AAPL down sharply after two ratings cuts
Bad day for Big Rainbow: RBC Capital's Mike Abramsky and Morgan Stanley's Kathryn Huberty cut their ratings and price targets on Apple stock, both citing weakness in consumer spending on PCs.
AAPL was down 17.38 at 110.86 (-13.58%) as of this writing: a 20-minute-delayed chart is above.
Abramsky's price target on AAPL shares is now $140 (down from $200), while Huberty's is lower at $115 (down from $178). Huberty also notes Apple will struggle because the company "does not play" in the sub-$1,000 laptop market.
In a slim bit of good news, Abramsky raised his estimate of the number of iPhone units sold during the fourth quarter to six million, up from five.
AAPL's price during the trading day has been its lowest in over a year.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Moose said 12:14PM on 9-29-2008
IE, its a good time to buy!
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Luke Hatcher said 12:34PM on 9-29-2008
With that type of drop on nothing more than speculation about generic consumer spending, it sounds like a great time to buy AAPL. Apple has diversified its products to a point where I see it weathering the storm.
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Bob said 12:36PM on 9-29-2008
it's good they lowered those estimates. at home last week our family bought an iPhone and a 24" iMac. and at work after taking possesion of a new Xserve and MacBookPro last quarter, we just placed an order for three tricked out MacPros. so, i'm trying my hardest to keep the supply moving. :-)
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Schell said 12:41PM on 9-29-2008
These people are constantly getting it wrong, and as a result, scaring already jittery investors who should be *holding on* to this stock.
Apple is going to kill it this earnings season. Their iPhone sales have been through the roof and, by all accounts, their Education Sale was a rip-roaring success.
It's fairly common knowledge that brokers are good at one thing: getting right in reverse. A few months ago, based on "through the roof" sales they had appl at 210. Now, because the stock isn't performing, they change their tune about spending, and change their estimate/outlook to match. In a few weeks, when the market begins to preform again, their estimate/outlook will again change. People, investors especially, have to understand that it's the entire market that is turning and, when the stock of a great company (aapl) drops like this, there is only one thing to do: buy.
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Murphy Mac said 12:47PM on 9-29-2008
Looks like the high-fliers are getting smacked harder than other techs. MSFT and CSCO doing ok. GOOG off a fair bit, even for GOOG.
It's funny to see the analysts wielding so much power to move the price when we've all seen how many times they're way wrong.
Maybe not so funny.
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John said 12:52PM on 9-29-2008
If Apple were to release a notebook that is around $700 CAD and a desktop that can be customized instead of iMac's (since most users can only install ram), they would have even more sales, thus better profits. Everyday I talk to at least a few people in the market for a new pc. I try to sway them towards a mac but they all say the same thing. "I can buy a Windows based laptop for around $700.00 with a 17" screen. Why should I spend $1200.00 for a macbook with a 13" screen?" At that point it really doesn't matter what I say.
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mettmann said 2:45PM on 9-29-2008
agreed - with monies tight, its going to be a big pull for the public to be spending $$ on electronics, especially the upcoming holiday season.
Although AAPL has a $12B cap, in my opinion they need to start refocusing effort on lower cost laptops to to open target markets and increase share...
mettmann said 2:49PM on 9-29-2008
whoops - I meant $95B cap...
JKT said 1:09PM on 9-29-2008
If these "analysts" really knew what the stock was going to do, they'd have used that info to invest themselves and would be retired in the Caymans right now. The fact that they're working every day like the rest of us knows they know no more than the rest of us.
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Craig said 1:19PM on 9-29-2008
Good time to buy. New notebooks should sell well since its expected to be a full redesign, and with new iPods and strong iPhone sales, the holiday season looks noting but bright for AAPL.
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jbar said 1:22PM on 9-29-2008
At $111, this is a huge opportunity.
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Pete said 1:35PM on 9-29-2008
I just bought 20 shares. I've been waiting for it to get in the low $100's again.
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Kevin said 1:35PM on 9-29-2008
I don't feel quite so horrible now for selling several months ago when it hit $125. I made a nice 25%, but it wasn't what it could have been. Oh well. If I had some money I'd probably buy in now. Of course many stocks are good buys right now.
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nxiv said 1:46PM on 9-29-2008
if history is any indication, when analysts lower their rating on aapl, it's a good time to buy. keep in mind their analysis is a lagging indicator, meaning by the time they downgrade, it's too late to sell. but it's a great time to buy if you're bargain hunting for quality stocks at overdiscounted prices.
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KSP48 said 1:53PM on 9-29-2008
Well, I bought some today.
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Majormauser said 3:15PM on 9-29-2008
Pay Your Shareholders Apple make it worth while to own your stock
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Cory Schulz said 4:23PM on 9-29-2008
I've never purchased stock before and generally have no idea what I'm doing, but I'm smart enough to know that this is an amazing opportunity. How would I go about buying stock? E*Trade?
Thanks in advance for any advice!
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Chris said 5:09PM on 9-29-2008
Please research the market before jumping in, especially with what happened today. Your bad picks are the gains for other investors that take the time to study the market before jumping in head-first.
Pete said 10:30PM on 9-29-2008
Sharebuilder.com makes it real easy.
michael said 6:17PM on 9-29-2008
Markets are going down, but wait, AAPL doesn´t loose enough, uh, ah, we could seed some rumours, we should send them to hell, they produce hardware, annoying for stock holders..
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