Why Is Apple Stock Sliding Tuesday?

Apple Inc AAPL stock is trading lower Tuesday after Barclays analyst Tim Long downgraded the stock from Equal-Weight to Underweight and lowered the price target from $161 to $160.

The analyst slightly lowered his AAPL estimates following another round of checks. He still picks up weakness in iPhone volumes and mix and a lack of bounce-back in Macs, iPads, and wearables.

The biggest takeaway from the latest checks is incrementally worse IP15

data points out of China, together with developed markets, remaining soft. 

There is some emerging market strength, but not enough to offset. While Long expects a largely in-line December quarter, he lowered his March quarter estimates below consensus. 

The analyst noted that the March quarter should be close to seasonal, while Street is still modeling 10 points above seasonal. 

Also Read: Apple's Chinese Partner Luxshare Set to Transform iPhone Production Landscape with Major Acquisition

Long lowered his March quarter revenue estimates for iPhones and Wearables, netting revenue and EPS down low single digit vs. his prior

forecast. 

For Services, while the App Store is tracking 10% growth in the December quarter off an easy compare, he expects it to decelerate to a mid-single digit by September 24. 

Long's March quarter estimate is now mid-single digit below the Street across revenue and EPS, where he forecasted a Y/Y revenue decline

following a flat December quarter and four quarters of declines before that.

The analyst noted that the continued weak results and multiple expansions are unsustainable. He also believes 2024 will bring more service risks to light.

Long projected Q1 EPS of $2.09 (prior $2.08) versus consensus of $2.10.

Also Read: LinkedIn's Advertising Boom: How It's Becoming the New Go-To Platform for Digital Marketers

Price Action: AAPL shares traded lower by 3.72% at $185.38 on the last check Tuesday.

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