Apple Inc’s massive run might be drawing to a close, at least according to one Wall Street firm.
The technology giant got a rare downgrade this morning from Nomura Instinet analyst Jeffrey Kvaal, who said yesterday that iPhone X sales, as well as other positives for the company, are already baked into the stock price.
NEUTRAL
Kyaal lowered the rating to neutral.
“We argue that the stock’s gains for the iPhone X supercycle are in the late innings,” Kvaal wrote.
“We believe unit growth, if not quite Average Selling Price growth, is well anticipated by consensus and a historically full multiple,” he said.
NOT ENOUGH
The boost from services is not enough to lift the stock further at this point and that repatriation might also be priced in, he added.
Apple downgrades have been rare this year. Before yesterday, two cuts to neutral or the equivalent in June were the last, Bloomberg data show.
POSITIVE OUTLOOK
One of those firms has since upgraded the shares.
Analysts are still overwhelmingly positive on the stock, which has been the largest contributor to the S&P 500 Index’s gains this year, with 36 firms rating it a buy, eight advising hold and zero sell recommendations.
CHEAPER OPTIONS
Cowen analyst Karl Ackerman last week said that more customers could be opting for cheaper versions of the iPhone rather than the pricier iPhone X, suggesting that the average selling price could be lower than Wall Street anticipates.
Shares of contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) came under pressure yesterday after a report that Apple Inc is looking to shift some orders from the Taiwanese company to Intel Corp. TSMC shares fell NT$55, or 2.4 percent, to close at NT$2,235 on the local main board, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed. Despite the losses, TSMC is expected to continue to benefit from sound fundamentals, as it maintains a lead over its peers in high-end process development, analysts said. “The selling was a knee-jerk reaction to an Intel-Apple report over the weekend,” Mega International Investment Services Corp (兆豐國際投顧) analyst Alex Huang
TRANSITION: With the closure, the company would reorganize its Taiwanese unit to a sales and service-focused model, Bridgestone said Bridgestone Corp yesterday announced it would cease manufacturing operations at its tire plant in Hsinchu County’s Hukou Township (湖口), affecting more than 500 workers. Bridgestone Taiwan Co (台灣普利司通) said in a statement that the decision was based on the Tokyo-based tire maker’s adjustments to its global operational strategy and long-term market development considerations. The Taiwanese unit would be reorganized as part of the closure, effective yesterday, and all related production activities would be concluded, the statement said. Under the plan, Bridgestone would continue to deepen its presence in the Taiwanese market, while transitioning to a sales and service-focused business model, it added. The Hsinchu
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has approved a capital budget of US$31.28 billion for production expansion to meet long-term development needs during the artificial intelligence (AI) boom. The company’s board meeting yesterday approved the capital appropriation plan for purposes such as the installation of advanced technology capacity and fab construction, the world’s largest contract chipmaker said in a statement. At an earnings conference last month, TSMC forecast that its capital expenditure for this year would be at the higher end of the US$52 billion to US$56 billion range it forecast in January in response to robust demand for 5G, AI and
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) investment project in Arizona has progressed better than expected, but it still faces challenges such as water and labor shortages, National Development Council (NDC) Minister Yeh Chun-hsien (葉俊顯) said yesterday. Speaking with reporters after visiting TSMC’s Arizona hub and attending the SelectUSA Investment Summit in Maryland last week, Yeh said TSMC’s Arizona site turned a profit of NT$16.14 billion (US$514 million) last year in its first full year of mass production. “TSMC told me it was surprised by the smooth trial run of the first fab, which has left the company optimistic about the project’s outlook,”
RSS