Tuesday saw a 3% drop in Apple’s (AAPL.O) stock, hitting a seven-week low. Barclays had downgraded the company’s shares, citing concerns that the market for its products—from the iPhone to the Mac—would not pick up steam in 2024.
LSEG data indicates that Barclays is the second brokerage to have a “sell” rating on the company, which currently has the highest number of bearish recommendations in at least two years.
Since the beginning of the year, Apple has struggled with a decrease in demand, and the company has predicted lower holiday-quarter sales than Wall Street has predicted. After the resurgence of regional rival Huawei, its performance in China has also raised concerns.
In a client note, Barclays analyst Tim Long stated, “The iPhone 15 has been lackluster and we believe iPhone 16 should be the same,” citing the country’s recession as well as the muted demand in developed nations.
Additionally, the brokerage alerted investors to the growing dangers facing Apple’s services division, which has been criticized for its app store policies in a number of nations, including the US.
Based on LSEG statistics, Long’s suggestion accuracy is rated four out of five stars on Apple.
In recent years, the division has frequently exceeded the growth of Apple’s hardware segment and currently contributes about 25% of the company’s total revenue.
The Tuesday share sell-off was expected to deduct around $90 billion off Apple’s market value. In 2023, the stock that makes up a substantial 7% of the weight of the S&P 500 experienced a nearly 50% increase, reaching a new high in mid-December amidst a broader rise in Big Tech firms.
