JPMorgan has issued a rare stock target cut on Apple, lowering its target price by $10 to $215 on soft iPhone demand in China.
According to AppleInsider, the stock target cut came after Apple’s recent earnings report. The company revealed that its China iPhone sales declined “only mid-single digits.” Nonetheless, when combined with an 11% year-over-year revenue decline in China, JPMorgan opted to cut the stock price.
“Apple looked to explain the F2Q revenue outlook for a roughly -5% decline y/y through the tougher compares on account of the iPhone supply fill-in during F2Q last year,” wrote JP Morgan in a note seen by AppleInsider, “excluding which revenues are expected to track flat y/y despite a tough macro backdrop.”
“However, putting aside the comparables, the key driver of the weaker outlook for the company in F2Q relative to expectations, which has more reaching consequences to the outlook beyond F2Q, is primarily the headwinds to Macs, iPad, and Wearables,” the note continues.
The firm also raised concerns about Apple’s non-iPhone hardware sales, such as the Mac and iPad.
“While iPhones contribute a large majority of Product revenues for the company, and minor variances even in relation to comparables drive a significant variance in the financials,” the note says, “we believe the bigger concerns from the EPS print will be demand for the other Hardware product categories.”
Given the importance of the Chinese market to Apple’s growth, a decline in sales could spell trouble if the company cannot reverse it.