Analysts are somewhat split on Apple’s latest quarterly results. Despite beating on both the top and bottom line , Apple slipped 1%, largely due to a decline in year-over-year revenue a well as weaker sales in for the iPhone, Mac and iPad. AAPL YTD mountain Apple stock was trading lower after quarterly results. Chief financial officer Luca Maestri didn’t provide any relief, suggesting revenue would decline in the fiscal fourth quarter. Apple doesn’t provide official forward guidance and has not done so since 2020 over macroeconomic uncertainty. The report and management comments left some analysts uneasy about the stock. Morgan Stanley’s Erik Woodring reiterated an overweight rating on Apple but lowered his price target to $215 from $220. Woodring said Morgan Stanley largely overestimated third-quarter guidance as well as iPad and Mac revenue, but remained upbeat on an expected acceleration for iPhone and services sales. “Where we largely got the September quarter guide wrong was over-estimating iPad and Mac revenue, both of which face challenging Y/Y compares in the September quarter, in addition to continued postCOVID demand digestion. Otherwise, the September quarter guide was solid, as Apple continues to see strength in the right places,” Woodring said in a Friday note. Bank of America’s Wamsi Mohan remained neutral on Apple, accompanied by a $210 price target that equates to roughly 10% upside. Mohan pointed to weakening smartphone sales and casted doubt as to whether the company could increase revenue in the iPhone segment ahead of the next product launch in September. “The guidance suggests typical launch timing for iPhones but with the backdrop of a weak US smartphone market we think it’s unlikely that iPhone rev significantly re-accelerates,” Mohan said. “iPads and Macs continue to suffer from post-COVID spending normalization.” Others were more sanguine on Apple’s latest numbers. Citi’s Atif Malik was encouraged by Apple’s quarterly results in a positive catalyst note from the firm on Friday, which reiterated a buy rating and a $240 target price, or roughly 26% upside from Monday’s $191.17 close. “With both iPhone and services sales expected to accelerate Y/Y [year-over-year] in the Sep-Q, we maintain our view that Apple is more focused on maximizing gross profit per unit of iPhone from migration to premium phones and related services than volume,” Malik said. Wells Fargo analyst Aaron Rakers, meanwhile, said the firm expected Apple stock to pull back somewhat in the near-term, while growing in the company’s services segment remained a positive trend. Rakers maintained an overweight rating on Apple stock with a $225 price target, or about 18% upside from Thursday. JPMorgan’s Samik Chatterjee also reiterated an earlier overweight rating with a $235 price target, or about 23% upside, and said Apple third-quarter results were largely in line and didn’t necessitate a material outlook change. “While investors might fret at the hint of a modestly weaker than expected Sep-Q (F4Q) guidance, including guiding to a modest year-over-year revenue decline relative to expectations of modest growth heading into the print, the variances to the outcomes are relatively minor and does not change the overall trajectory where Apple expects to eke out modest revenue gains on a constant currency basis despite the uncertainty surrounding the macro, and the tough comparables from a year ago in relation to Mac and iPads,” Chatterjee said. Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs analyst Michael Ng was little surprised by Apple’s latest results, and maintained a buy rating on the stock with a $222 price target, or 16% upside. Despite a miss on sales from the company’s major products, Ng was similarly encouraged by an increase in services growth. Apple’s installed base growth, secular growth in services, and new product innovation should more than offset cyclical headwinds to product revenue, such as a reduced iPhone unit demand due to a lengthening replacement cycle and reduced consumer demand for the PC & tablet category,” Ng wrote Thursday. — CNBC’s Michael Bloom contributed to this report.
