Longbow Research Downgrades Apple

Analyst Believes iPhone cycle is just ‘good, not great’

An astonished occurrence falls on what is one of the most popular stocks in the market— Longbow Research downgrades Apple.

According to a Wall Street analyst, the iphone cycle will be a disappointment in 2018.   

The company, who is committed to giving investors insight to ensure their success, lowered its rating for Apple shares to neutral from buy, foreseeing the company will ship fewer iPhones than expected in fiscal 2018.  

The analyst, Shawn Harrison says, “[we are] seeing only a good, not great iPhone cycle. Apple found iPhone price elasticity with the introduction of the X blunting some demand. Reception of the iPhone 8/8Plus was lukewarm with Apple shifting production back toward the iPhone 7 as a result.”

Due to this, the analyst lower his fiscal 2018 iPhone unit shipment prognosis to 233 million from 248 million; contrary to Wall Street’s consensus of 239 million.

Consequently, Apple kicked off Wednesday’s trading session down 0.3 percent.

Indeed, for Apple this is a rare happening . However, 2018 is being a bit harsh to the company. In fact, the last time Apple was downgraded was on December 19, by Nomura Instinet.    

They downgraded Apple to neutral from buy, due to the company’s high valuation compared to previous iPhone cycles.

Meanwhile, Bank of America Merrill Lynch has higher hopes for the company, reiterating its buy rating and raising its price target to $220 from $180 for Apple shares. This is 25 percent above Tuesday’s closing price, and it is also the highest target among major investment banks that cover Apple.

Yet, with Apples turbulent moments this year, they seem to still be doing just fine. Apple’s stock is up 50 percent the last 12 months.

This information was obtained from, “Apple gets rare downgrade because analyst believes iPhone cycle is just ‘good, not great’”