The tech giant first listed its shares on public exchanges on Dec. 12, 1980, at $22 a share. After several Apple stock splits and more than a billion iPhones later, the stock has gained 43,371 percent on a price appreciation basis, according to CNBC.
But the company has had a tough time lately. Back in May, an analyst predicted that the company’s shares would fall to $175 over the next 12 months due to weak iPhone X sales.
“iPhone volumes are not deteriorating, though iPhone X remains uninspiring,” analyst Jeffrey Kvaal said in a note to clients. “Apple guidance implied third fiscal-quarter iPhone unit volumes that were better than feared. We do not believe, however, sell-through has meaningfully improved.”
And earlier this month, two Wall Street firms slashed their price targets on Apple, also because of low demand for the iPhone. The reduction was made after UBS surveyed 6,900 consumers across five countries and found that only 18 percent said they will purchase an iPhone in the next 12 months, which is down from 21 percent in 2017. And in China, analyst Timothy Arcuri said interest has reached a new low in the country, where purchase intent is at 23 percent, down 6 percent from the previous year.
As a result, UBS cut its price target on Apple to $210 from $225 a share, but kept the buy rating on the stock. In addition, Rosenblatt Securities cut Apple’s price target to $165 from $200, also due to lower shipments of iPhones. The Wall Street firm also lowered its earnings estimates for Apple for 2019.
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“We have lowered our iPhone shipment estimates for C1Q19 twice over the last two months,” Rosenblatt Analyst Jun Zhang wrote in a note. “Although we are at the low end of consensus iPhone estimates, we believe the Street will continue to trim down their estimates.”
