By Senad Karaahmetovic
Oppenheimer analysts cut the price target on Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) stock to $170 per share from the prior $190 to reflect ongoing China supply woes.
The slashed price target reflects lowered FY23 EPS estimates, which have come down due to “later-than-expected iPhone production capacity recovery in China.” Moreover, the analysts also lowered estimates to reflect supply constraints during the holidays, as well as more conservative accessories, and software and service revenues associated with new phone sales.
Along these lines, the FY23 EPS estimate goes down to $6.12 from $6.46. Oppenheimer expects Apple to sell 76 million iPhone units in F1Q23, which is lower by 6.5 million units than previously expected.
“Since the reported loss of iPhone capacity over a month ago, we have reduced a cumulative 10M iPhone sales from F1Q23. While we still expect a substantial sales recovery in F2Q23 due to channel fill, our latest model assumes 5M iPhone sales lost NT, due to unmet demand during the 2022 holidays. We are incrementally more concerned over iPhone demand into 2023,” the analysts wrote in a note.
Still, analysts remain positive on the Apple stock long-term.
“While we take an incrementally more negative near-term view on F1Q23 product and service sales and iPhone demand into F2Q23, our long-term bullish view on Apple is unchanged. We expect Apple to remain well positioned to take share across hardware and online services, driven by its superior user experience, product quality, and performance,” they added, reiterating the Outperform rating.